Los Libros Catalanes de la Biblioteca de Fernando Colon (1488-1539)

Between 1509 and the date of his death in 1539, Ferdinand Columbus, second son of his world-opening father Christopher, devoted much of his fortune and time to the building of a universal library, one that would hold all knowledge. In that perhaps impossible quest, he set about purchasing, throughout Spain and Europe, as many texts (printed and manuscript) as came to his attention, in any language and on any topic. By 1539, he had gathered approximately 15,500 titles, being the largest library in Europe at that time and remaining so throughout the sixteenth century. The collection, now housed in the "Biblioteca Colombina" of the Cathedral of Seville, has been reduced through transfer, destruction of various types and theft to approximately one third its original size. A full display of its contents is, however, still available in a series of unique manuscript catalogues prepared by Ferdinand himself. Principal among these is the so-called Abecedarium B. Organized alphabetically, it contains over 80,000 brief thematic, authorial, incipit and title entries, all interrelated through a series of coding numbers assigned to a given book at the moment of cataloguing. The present study focuses on the Catalan language materials once held in the Library. Through an attentive sifting of all the entries, the recombination of those of Catalan texts via the coding numbers in the principal catalogue, and the comparison of that data with scattered indications available in the other repertories, 260 texts have been identified. Comparison of the resulting list with current catalogues of known early Catalan materials shows a considerable number of previously unknown and unsuspected items. The "Descriptive Catalogue" presents the full range of Columbus' notations of the pieces, as well as notes on the text and the authors, with bibliographic references to recent studies. Items surviving in the collection are newly described by direct personal inspection, as are a number now transferred to other holdings. The "Preface" briefly reviews the major aspects of Ferdinand's life as pertinent to the Library, with particular regard for the formation of the collection and the development of the catalogues. It also considers the development of the book industry in Catalonia, reflects on the nature of those now lost works known only through Columbus' records, and evaluates his Catalan holdings in the context of his acquisitions in other languages.