Download PDF The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books Christopher Columbus His Son and the Quest to Build the World Greatest Library eBook Edward WilsonLee
Download As PDF : The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books Christopher Columbus His Son and the Quest to Build the World Greatest Library eBook Edward WilsonLee
Named a Best Book of the Year by * Financial Times * New Statesman * History Today * The Spectator *
“Like a Renaissance wonder cabinet, full of surprises and opening up into a lost world.” —Stephen Greenblatt
Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Biography
The impeccably researched and vividly rendered account of the forgotten quest by Christopher Columbus’s son to create the greatest library in the world—“a perfectly pitched poetic drama” (Financial Times) and an amazing tour through sixteenth-century Europe.
In this innovative work of history, Edward Wilson-Lee tells the extraordinary story of Hernando Colón, a singular visionary of the printing press-age who also happened to be Christopher Columbus’s illegitimate son.
At the peak of the Age of Exploration, Hernando traveled with Columbus on his final voyage to the New World, a journey that ended in disaster, bloody mutiny, and shipwreck. After Columbus’s death in 1506, the eighteen-year-old Hernando sought to continue—and surpass—his father’s campaign to explore the boundaries of the known world by building a library that would collect everything ever printed a vast holding organized by summaries and catalogues, the first ever search engine for the exploding diversity of written matter as the printing press proliferated across Europe. Hernando restlessly and obsessively amassed his collection based on the groundbreaking conviction that a library of universal knowledge should include “all books, in all languages and on all subjects,” even material often dismissed as ephemeral trash ballads, erotica, newsletters, popular images, romances, fables. The loss of part of his collection to another maritime disaster in 1522—documented in his poignant Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books—set off the final scramble to complete this sublime project, a race against time to realize a vision of near-impossible perfection.
Edward Wilson-Lee’s account of Hernando’s life is a testimony to the beautiful madness of booklovers, a plunge into sixteenth-century Europe’s information revolution, and a reflection of the passion and intrigues that lie beneath our own attempts to bring order to the world today.
Download PDF The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books Christopher Columbus His Son and the Quest to Build the World Greatest Library eBook Edward WilsonLee
"I just thought it was a difficult read. I got about a quarter of the way thru and had to put it down. I was falling asleep on the train ride home. I may pick it back up again to see if it gets any better."
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The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books Christopher Columbus His Son and the Quest to Build the World Greatest Library eBook Edward WilsonLee Reviews :
The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books Christopher Columbus His Son and the Quest to Build the World Greatest Library eBook Edward WilsonLee Reviews
- This is an extensively researched book about the life of Hernando Colon, son of Christopher Columbus, and the Biblioteca Colombina he created in 1539. Prior to his death Hernando collected between 10,000 and 20,000 items for his library, including over 3000 books. His library was organized using a system he created for it and was the first library to use bookshelves where the books were shelved vertically. He collected any paper object that struck his fancy, including playing cards and lyrics to songs.
This was a fascinating read about one man’s bibliomania and his desire to collect every book on every subject. It is well written and doesn’t get overly bogged down in the author’s research. - This book is delicious. There's no other way to put it. It is a delightful romp through Renaissance Europe, highlighting Hernando Colon's book buying trips in various places. It is a fantasy for any bibliophile, to have the freedom and resources to travel and build one's own library at the same time. An intellectual feast not to be missed!
- I now have a special place in my heart for Hernando Colón. His collections and organizational systems are totally mind-boggling and absolutely fascinating. As a "natural son" (not the product of a legitimate union) Colón could "win legitimacy only by showing himself to be his father's son in spirit." Colón strove to achieve this distinction by accumulating massive amounts of written works, printed images, music, and plants to create a collection that would far surpass any other collection of its time. Colón also kept meticulous details in multiple ledgers and created complex organizational systems. This book dives into some of Colón's collections, examines particular items in the collection, offers insight into why some items were especially important to Colón and analyzes why some were never discussed by the collector.
This book is very dense and I wouldn't recommend it to the average book lover but if you're ready to go on a deep dig then this is the book for you! - One easily forgets what happened during the late Renaissance or sixteenth century. So many things were happening in Western Europe and the Americas and this book brings them together, beautifully. Not only did Columbus make his voyages to America but St. Peter's was being built and the Sistine Chapel ceiling was being painted by Michelangelo. Luther Nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Witternberg Cathedral and the recently invented printing press was turning out books and pamphlets galore. In the midst of this time, Hernando Colon, Christopher's illegitimate son, was living and travelling in the midst of these things and collecting thousands of books which were eventually brought to Sevilla for his library.
This was truly the first information age and Hernando attempted to "googlize" it.
Also interesting to me is how many of the names of the first families of Spain have continued for the last 500 years.. - I was intrigued--Columbus had a son who created the world's greatest library? Why hadn't we heard about him? What happened to all the books? How did he even embark on such a quest? I had to read this book.
Hernando may have been an illegitimate son but in 1502 his father Christopher Columbus took the thirteen-year-old along on his fourth voyage to the New World. Hernando started his life familiar with lands and cultures that most of the world didn't even know existed.
The book recounts Columbus's discoveries and his struggle to maintain his status and share of New World wealth for his heirs.
The Admiral of the Ocean reigned as the greatest explorer for only a short time before he was dethroned. He became old news as successive explorers stole attention and acclaim. Spain sought to discredit Columbus as the first to discover the New World, desirous of keeping all the New World wealth. Hernando determined to return and solidify his father's status by writing a book about his father's life--essentially the first biography.
The other part of the book is Hernando's thirst for knowledge, his obsession with collecting books of every kind, in every language--even if he couldn't read them. He collected prints and maps and art and ephemera gleaned from small booksellers.
He kept lists of his books and when he lost over a thousand books in a shipwreck he knew which ones he needed to replace. He developed methods to catalog and organize the books and to retrieve the information in the books.
Hernando was called upon to create a definitive map of the New World so that Spain and Portugal could finalize their territorial rights. He began an exhaustive dictionary but abandoned it knowing he could never finish it.
As he traveled across Europe, Hernando came into contact with all the great thinkers whose ideas were rocking the world Erasmus, Luther, Rabelais, Thomas More. During Hernando's lifetime, Henry was looking to divorce Catherine, Suleiman was conquering the Eastern reaches of Europe, and the Holy Roman Emperor was crowned as the head of church and state. Luther's teaching had fueled the Peasant's Revolt and the anti-authoritarian Anabaptist movement arose.
In his later life, Hernando settled down and built his house and perfected his library. His garden was an arboretum containing plants and trees from across the world.
Hernando's achievement was remarkable. His goal to order all human knowledge for accessible retrieval was monumental. But after his death, most of his work and library were lost to neglect and time.
Through the life of one man, The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books gave me a panoramic view of the 16th c., an overview of the life and achievements of Christopher Columbus, and a biography of his son Hernando.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. - Intriguing history
- I just thought it was a difficult read. I got about a quarter of the way thru and had to put it down. I was falling asleep on the train ride home. I may pick it back up again to see if it gets any better.
- I quit after 103 pages of Christopher Columbus' voyages. Still wondering about the books of his bastard son as per the book description. Returned this loser.
