Show A VALUABLE BOOK 1 ONLY EIGHT PAGES BUT WORTH THOUSANDS A tali tate of or the ilia days aa ilie 1110 a in quest of tit the tile new corli in lit flu tint etyle by the ulf coverer of Ain america arlea N TUG THE steamship V spree which ITS arrived a tow few days ago there nat na a t imported a thin little volume of only eight pages the appraised of which was 2000 says y a new now york paper the booklet Is a latin of a letter written by christopher columbus giving a report of bis his discovery of what he supposed to have been only some islands oft off the coast of ingia stephen ck a printer of rome struck oft off a few copies of tho the translation la in 1493 not all of these thesa are now to be found in the barlow dario sale of americana at the american art galleries in 1880 a copy of the edition identical with nith the one that came on the spree was sold to drayton brayton ivea ives tor for 2200 2 there la Is a dispute tits p ute among the authorities thorit ties les as to whether or no the edition of the columbian letter of which the two little books are copies Is the first printed reproduction mr air eames of the lenox library says that no two authorities agree as to the priority of date of the publication of columbus report Ilar clarrisse risse stoutly maintains that this Pla rinck edition la Is the third ance of the letter while R 11 II major of the british lalow um advances arguments said to be both logical and weighty to show allow that it is the first ellis in the catalogue claims that major his proven this impression to be the first john russell bartlett Dart lett also placed this particular edition first firs t in the john carter brown library but however much the antiquarians kiy disagree among themselves there Is no doubt as to the great value of the book which Is printed in clear type on heavy paper the dimensions of the pages are 7 1 16 ancher I 1 full by 5 3 10 some of the leaves have a water mark the device being a pair of scales it if printed in abo world the letter would occupy about a column and two thirds the binding of the 2 copy which was as imported by dodd alcad co the fifth avenue booksellers is a full blue crushed lebant morocco with a double of red levant lei ant the binder Is joly of paris parts the first sentence of the fi foreword reword or preface 13 1 as fol aws Epi stola coloni colont cut eta s nostra debet de insures indie indle supra gangem cuper ingells translated the foreword entire reads letter from christopher colom to rhom our age howeth much concerning the islands c c india beyond the ganger recently discovered in the search of which ho he was sent under the auspices and unit at the expense of the roost most invincible sovereigns of spain ferdinand For dinard and isabella addressed to the most noble lord gabriel sanchis ls treasurer of the moat most serene se rene monarchs which the noble and learned man leander de cosco tran translated from the spanish idiom into latin the third day of the calends of may alay 1193 the year one of tho the pontificate of alexander VI |