Forum Rare Books | Rare Books

< Back

Columbus or Vespucci: who discovered America?

CANOVAI, Le Père Stanislao.
Elogio d'Amerigo Vespucci che ha riportato il premio della nobile Accademia Etrusca di Cortona nel dì 15. Ottobre dell'anno 1788. Con una dissertazione giustificativa di questo celebre navigatore, del P. Stanislao Canovai. Terza editione. Con illustrazioni ed aggiunte, e con una seconda dissertazione sulle vicende delle longitudini geografische.

Woodcut vignette on title, sm. elegant woodcut initials.

N.p.(Modena) n.pr., 1790. 4to. Contemporary boards, handwritten title-label on spine. Woodcut vignette on title, sm. elegant woodcut initials. (2), III-XVII, 39; 55; 64 pp. (1) pp.

Rare third enlarged edition (second edition with the second 'Dissertazione') of this prize-winning eulogy by Stanislao Canovai on Merigo Vespucci as the true discoverer of the continent that was to take his name, helt at the famous Accademia Etrusca di Cortona on 15 October 1788. In Canovai's view Columbus was an impostor, ever fooled by visions of Asia and India. Canovai devoted his life to proving that Vespucci discovered America. In relation to a later edition of this work, Sabin says that "It is hardly possible to understand how the calumnies against Amerigo, which have so long been taught in every school, could have, for many years, survived this excellent refutation."
The Elogio was to provoke a storm of controversy between the Italians who believed that their countryman Vespucci was the first discoverer and those who regarded his accounts as spurious and gave rise to a spate of scholarly research on the early Spanish explorers. In two letters Canovai counters the criticisms of Bartolozzi and Tiraboschi in rather splenetic terms.
Father Stanislao Canovai (1740-1811), a mathematics professor of the University of Florence, vociferously argues that Vespucci landed in America before Columbus, and that he discovered Brazil before Cabral.
After the first edition (Florence, Pietro Allegrini, 1788), editions were published in Cortona (1789); our edition in Modena (1790) and in Florence (Giacchino Pagano, 1798). Canovai later restated and expanded his argument in his Viaggi d'Amerigo Vespucci (Florence, 1817).
Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512), was born in Florence. He entered the commercial service of the Medici and in 1492 moved to Seville. He 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. It is certain that he accompanied Alonso de Ojeda to the New World in 1499. By agreement the two separated shortly before land was sighted in the West Indies, and Vespucci alone explored the mouths of the Amazon. Subsequently he sailed along the northern shore of South America and among the islands. He returned to Spain in 1500, and in 1501 he entered Portuguese service to explore the southern coast of South America. He explored about 6000 miles of South American coastline. The scientific application of his discoveries is most remarkable: he evolved a system for computing nearly exact longitude (previously determined by dead reckoning); and he arrived at a figure for the earth's equatorial circumference that was only 50 miles short of the modern measurement. It was he who first accepted South America as a new continent, and not part of Asia. As a result of his efforts world geography was transformed. In 1507, with the publication of Martin Waldseemller's Cosmographiae Introductio the name America first appeared as applied to the continent. His voyage completed in 1502, Vespucci returned to Spain.

The Eulogy is dedicated to Duke Giovanni Luigi di Durfort (pp. iii-vi). The preface of the editor to the reader follows on pp. vii-xvi; on p. xvii is a 'Condizioni' and on p. xviii an 'Avvertimento'. The Eulogy itself is on pp. 1-39; the 'Dissertazione I. sopra Amerigi Vespucci' on pp. 1-55; and the 'Dissertazione II. sulle vicende delle longitudine geografice estratta dal T. IX dei Saggi dell'Acc. Etr. di Cortona' on pp. 64, followed by two pages with 'Errori' and 'Correzioni'.

Good copy in original boards.

Sabin 10704; Borba de Moraes (1983) I, 149 ("a classic and sought after work"; JCB II, ii, 3177. Cf. Leclerc 102 .

Related Subjects: 18th Century Americana Discovery & Exploration Italy Navigation Travel & Voyages Voyages

Add to Shopping cart

€ 4.500,00

Prices in EUROS (€), shipping and BTW/VAT extra.

< Back

Terms of sale

All items are offered subject to prior sale. Prices are nett and in (€) EURO. VAT/BTW, postage, and insurance are not included.

Free shipping for orders over € 2,500. EU customers: if applicable, please quote your VAT number when placing orders.

Preferred mode of payment: by credit card through our secure online payment service, which is facilitated by Ogone. If you wish to make other arrangements, please contact us. Terms of sale

E-mail this to a friend

Antiquariaat FORUM B.V.
Tuurdijk 16
3997 MS t Goy-Houten,
The Netherlands

Phone: (+31) (0)30 601 1955
Fax: (+31) (0)30 601 1813
E-mail: info@forumrarebooks.com
Web: http://www.forumrarebooks.com