The single most crucial document for Columbian scholarship is
Christopher Columbus's log, or day-by-day account, of his first voyage
to the New World. The original document has not survived, but three
texts transmit versions of the log: a unique manuscript summary of
Columbus's account, written in the hand of Bartolome de Las Casas;
chapters 15-41 of the Historie attributed to Fernando Colon and
translated into Italian by Alfonso de Ulloa; and the reports of
Columbus's first voyage contained in book 1, chapters 35-75 of Las
Casas's Historia de las Indias. Now, for the first time, Columbian
scholars have access to the three texts in a single volume presented in
a form which allows detailed comparisons among them. Using Las Casas's
summary of the original log as the text of reference, Dr Lardicci has
carefully identified in the other two texts, using a simple system of
numbering, corresponding passages, expansions of the reference text, and
completely new material. In addition, this entirely unprecedented
synoptic edition contains new scholarly editions of the three texts
accompanied by new English translations. Dr Lardicci introduces her work
with a detailed and fascinating study of the histories of the three
texts, their individual characteristics, and the relationships among
them. Useful commentary on unusual terminology and a new edition and
transation of the notations, or postils, found in the margins of Las
Casas's summary account, complete this fascinating volume.
