[Rarebooks] fs: Are you an Amerigan? (1798)

[Joslin Hall Rare Books]

ELOGIO DI AMERIGO VESPUCCI che reporto il premio dalla nobile Accademia 
Etrusca di Cortona...

by Stanislao Canovai.
Firenze; Presso Giovacchino Pagani: 1798. 4th edition.

So- are we Americans or Colombians? Canovai (1740-1811), a mathematics 
professor, was a vociferous supporter of those one might whimsically term 
"Amerigans" -those who believed that Amerigo Vespucci "discovered" America 
before Columbus.

Vespucci certainly came out first nominastically, thanks to a German 
cartographer named Martin Waldseemuller who plunked his name down on a map 
in 1507, but latter-day scholars seem to have pretty much concluded that 
the naming of the Americas for Vespucci was the culmination of one of 
history's most far-reaching con jobs...

Vespucci made, or claimed to have made, voyages in 1497, 1499 and 1501 and, 
if he was telling the truth, appears to have been the first European to 
reach the South American continent itself. He was also more astute than 
Columbus in terms of realizing that this large mass of land was not, in 
fact, any part of China. Vespucci was famed as a navigator, although some 
scholars have protested that if you take his sailing accounts literally he 
would appear to have been the first European to sail directly across South 
America (jungles and all) into the Pacific, and also across much of the ice 
cap of Antarctica... but such are quibbles for the professors. It is the 
arguing that is important. This argument in favor of Vespucci was first 
published in Florence in 1788, with later editions in Cortona in 1789 and 
Modena in 1790, in addition to this last Florentine edition of 1798.

The book is illustrated by a portrait frontispiece engraved by Stefano 
Rinaldi, said to be based on the only surviving likeness of the navigator. 
In an 1814 letter, Thomas Jefferson explains that he is sending a friend 
the portrait of Vespucci that he has cut out of his copy of the "Elogio" 
(apparently the 1788 edition). Jefferson notes-

"The portrait is named in the catalogue of Vasari, and mentioned also by 
Bandini in his life of Americus Vaspucius, but neither gives it's history- 
both tell us there was a portrait of Vespucius taken by Domenico, and a 
fine head of him by Da Vinci, which however are lost, so that it would seem 
that this of Florence is the only one existing..."

Hardcover. 4.75"x7.5", 196 pages; portrait frontispiece; bound in new red 
cloth with a leather spine; raised bands, gilt title; covers fine; 
internally there is a small amount of foxing and a light stain at the 
bottom corner of the first two text leaves. [04193] $600.00

Illustrations->
<http://www.joslinhall.com/images/th-04193.jpg>
<http://www.joslinhall.com/images/th-04193-a.jpg>


JOSLIN HALL RARE BOOKS, ABAA
Fine books of the 16th-20th centuries
Post Office Box 516, Concord, Massachusetts 01742 USA
telephone (617) 492-5367
email <office at joslinhall.com>;
~~
Our full-service website features 82 separate subject
categories, is updated daily and has full search
capabilities. http://www.joslinhall.com
~~
Subscribe to our free email News List and get special
discounts and offers on selected books! Send e-mail to
<JHRBnews- at joslinhall.com>; and put the word
"subscribe" (without quotes) in the Subject line of your note.
~~
Check out our "Featured Book"
http://www.joslinhall.com/today1.htm
~~

TERMS:
All payments must be in U.S. funds and negotiable through a U.S. bank;
We accept checks, money orders, American Express, Visa and Mastercard.
Books may be reserved pending payment; Institutions may be billed;
Standard courtesies to institutions and the trade; Postage charges
are $5.00 for the first book, and $1.50 for each additional book.
Shipments outside the U.S. will be billed at cost. We accept returns
if we are notified within ten days of your receipt of the books-please
ask for full instructions and terms. Massachusetts residents must add
5% state sales tax.

As members of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of
America we are committed to upholding high professional
standards and making sure your bookbuying experience is
enjoyable.

Subscribe to the free Rare Books Mailing List
http://www.rarebooksmailinglist.com