The ''Libro de los Epítomes'' (''The Book of Epitomes'') is a catalogue summarising part of the library of around 15–20,000 books which Ferdinand Columbus () assembled in the early sixteenth-century in an effort to create a library of every book in the world. The manuscript is currently part of the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection in Copenhagen.

Background and library

Ferdinand Columbus (1488–1539) was a Spanish bibliographer and cosmographer, and the son of the explorer

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

.Book of Lost Books Discovered in Danish Archive
Jason Daley, Smithsonian.com, 11 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019. In the early sixteenth century he embarked on a project to create a library of every book in the world, assembling around 15–20,000 books during his lifetime and creating the largest library of his day. Unlike other collectors who sought Greek and Latin manuscripts, Columbus recognised the significance of print and prioritised printed books and ephemeral and popular printed material such as

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

s and newspapers.Manuscript reveals lost books of Christopher Columbus' son's library.
Interview with Edward Wilson-Lee, ''

Newshour ''Newshour'' is BBC World Service's flagship international news and current affairs radio programme, which is broadcast twice daily: weekdays at 1400, weekends at 1300 and nightly at 2100 (UK time). There is also an additional online programme ...

'', BBC World Service, 10 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019. The collection has been housed at

Seville Cathedral The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See (), better known as Seville Cathedral (), is a Catholic cathedral and former mosque in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It was registered in 1987 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, along with the adjoining Alc� ...

since 1552, but only about a quarter of the books have survived; these form the Biblioteca Colombina of the Institución Colombina.

The Book of Epitomes

To create the ''Libro de los Epítomes'', Columbus used a team of readers and writers to prepare a summary of each book in his library. The entries vary from just a few lines for the smaller works to 51 pages for the larges

around 46 pages for major works such as the writings of Plato

There are 1877 epitomes in the bo

which consists of 982 leaves (1,964 pages) and is thick.

Rediscovery

The catalogue was positively identified in 2019, after Guy Lazure of the

University of Windsor The University of Windsor (UWindsor, U of W, or UWin) is a public university, public research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has approximately 17,500 students. The university was incorporated by ...

in Canada suggested it could be a "bibliographical tool" from Ferdinand Columbus's library. It had been thought lost since its existence was last recorded in Spain at the time of Columbus's death. It was found as part of the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection in Copenhagen, a collection established by Árni Magnússon (1663–1730), an Icelandic scholar who donated his collection to the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

at his death in 1730. The manuscript is currently part of the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection with the

shelfmark A shelfmark is a mark in a book or manuscript that denotes the cupboard or bookcase where it is kept as well as the shelf and possibly even its location on the shelf. The closely related term pressmark (from press, meaning cupboard) denotes only t ...

AM 377 fol. N. Kıvılcım Yavuz suggests that the volume might have arrived in Denmark together with a collection of manuscripts brought by Cornelius Lerche, an envoy to the Spanish court. A similar catalogue of Columbus's collection of some 3,200 prints was already known, and was published in 2004.

Significance and future work

According to

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

academic Edward Wilson-Lee, author of a recent biography of Columbus and account of his library, ''The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books'', "It's a discovery of immense importance, not only because it contains so much information about how people read 500 years ago, but also, because it contains summaries of books that no longer exist, lost in every other form than these summaries". Plans for the manuscript to be digitised and transcribed were already hinted at in April 2019. In December 2019, Matthew James Driscoll from the Arnamagnæan Institute at the

was awarded a three-year research grant by the Carlsberg Foundation to conduct further studies on the manuscript. The project is titled "The Book of Books: Hernando Colón's Libro de los Epítomes" and began in May 2020.

References

External links

Digitised old black and white photographs of AM 377 fol. from the Arnamagnæan Manuscript CollectionHernando Colón’s Book of Books: AM 377 fol.🐊 Lagarto Project, crowdsourcing paleographic transcription
{{Italic title 16th-century books Catalogues Seville