De Insulis nuper in Mari Indico repertis in Carolus Verardus: Historia Baetica.
Basel: I.B. [Johann Bergman de Olpe], 1494.
Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (48.1)
Columbus’s Voyage and the New World
This edition of the Columbus letter, printed in Basel in 1494, is illustrated. The five woodcuts, which supposedly illustrate Columbus’s voyage and the New World, are in fact mostly imaginary, and were probably adapted drawings of Mediterranean places. This widely published report made Columbus famous throughout Europe. It earned him the title of Admiral, secured him continued royal patronage, and enabled him to make three more trips to the Caribbean, which he firmly believed to the end was a part of Asia. Seventeen editions of the letter were published between 1493 and 1497. Only eight copies of all the editions are extant.