Antonio Nebrija.
Introductorium in Cosmographiae libros [Introduction to cosmography].
Salamanca: Printer of Nebrija, ca. 1498.
Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (53)
Early Description of the New World
Antonio Nebrija, best known for attempting to standardize the Castilan dialect of Spanish as a written language, had many geographical interests. Advisor to Columbus's son Ferdinand Colón, Antonio Nebrija attempted to update the geography of Ptolemy, Strabo, Pliny, and other classical sources “to the reality of our times” and to include information from the discoveries of contemporary European explorers. This book contains one of the earliest descriptions of the New World.