Columbus on Himself

Supposed as an antidote to potted biographies and piecemeal reconstructions of his voyages, this quantity attracts on considered picks from Christopher Columbus’s personal writings–chronologically organized, and translated into idiomatic English–to relate his self-perception and private historical past, so far as is feasible, in his personal phrases. The result’s a full and vivid (and infrequently stunning) portrait of this advanced man and the position he thought he was destined to play as God’s instrument on earth.

Twenty-four illustrations, maps of Columbus’s routes throughout the Atlantic and his travels within the West Indies, and an index additional improve this introduction to his life and discoveries.