The Print Collection of Ferdinand Columbus (1488–1539): A Renaissance collector in Seville
Abstract
BOOK REVIEWS Mark P. McDonald, The Print Collection of Ferdinand Columbus (ï±ï´ï¸ï¸âï±ïµï³ï¹): A Renaissance collector in Seville. London, British Museum Press, ï²ï°ï°ï´. ISBN ï°ï·ï±âï´ï±ï²ï¶ï³ï¸âï±. Two hardback vols. in slipcase with CD-ROM: vol. ï©, ïµï²ï° pp.; vol. ï©ï©, ïµï¹ï² pp., ï²ï° col. illus., ï´ï·ï° b. & w. illus. £ï¹ï¶. It is tempting to resort exclusively to superlatives in describing this two-volume set accompanied by a CD-ROM. It deals with the print collection of Ferdinand Columbus, the illegitimate son of Christopher, born in ï±ï´ï¸ï¸. Educated at the Spanish court with his halfbrother, he became one of the leading Spanish humanists and an important adviser to Charles V. Around ï±ïµï°ï¹, during a progress with the Imperial Court through Europe, Ferdinand found the opportunity to expand his library and to buy large numbers of prints. Within a few years he had amassed a collection of around ï³,ï²ï°ï° sheets and had recorded them in an inventory. This is the oldest-known catalogue of a print collection and shows a surprisingly well thought out structure, relying on a combination of subject-matter, size and typology, combined with a more literal description of the image. Armed with this information, it has proved possible to reconstruct the collection,