658 , MISCELLANEOUS PAPEES. 



berico must have been known quite well during the first part of the 

 sixteenth century, although we do not know a single example of the 

 name having been used in any official authentic Spanish document re- 

 lating to Vespucci. 



COSMOGRAPHI^ INTBODUCTIO. 



Thanks to the discoveries and researches of Alex, de Humboldt, 

 D'Avezac, and a few others, we know a great deal about the Cosmo- 

 graphicv Introdnctio of the Vosgian gymnasium of St. Die, in which is 

 found the first announcement of the name America as the name of the 

 New World. The interested reader will find all the descriptions, dis- 

 sertations, and conclusions of the extraordinary value attached to ihis 

 now very celebrated small quarto volume in the " Bxamen critique," 

 by Alex, de Humboldt, 5 vols., Paris, 1839; "Martin Hylacomilus 

 Waltzemuller," by D'Avezac, Paris, 1867; and "Nouvelles recherches 

 sur I'origine du nom d'Amerique," by Jules Marcou, Paris, 1888, in 

 Bulletin Soc. geographic. 



The only addition to our knowledge about the printing press of St. 

 Die, is that it was removed in 1512 to Strasburg, from whence, very 

 likely, it came; and that the same types used for the Gosmogra'pliiw 

 Tntroductio were used at Strasburg in 1512 and 1513 to finish the print- 

 ing of the Ptolemey's Geography of 1513, two-thirds of it having been 

 printed at St. Di6 between 1505 and 1510, as D'Avezac has proved. So, 

 instead of calling it the Strasburg's Ptoleme, it ought to be called the 

 Vosgian Gymnasium Ptoleme, or at least the St. Di6 and Strasburg's 

 Ptoleme. 



M. Ed. Meaume has lately proved the existence of a fourth edition, 

 or more properly speaking, fourth issue, of the GosmograpMa; Introductio 

 of St.-Die, which had been considered by d'Avezac and Mr. H. Harisse 

 as an amalgamated copy, composed with parts taken from the first and 

 third issue or edition. (See "Recherches critiques et bibliographiques 

 sur Americ Vespuce et ses voyages," par Ed. Meaume, Chapitre iii, 

 "La (Josmograj)hicv Introductio, dtude bibliographique sur les quatre 

 premieres editions — Saint-Die, 1507, p. 83, in "Memoires de la Societe 

 d'Archeologie, Lorraine," 3'^""^ s^rie, vol. xvi, Nancy, 1888.) 



The late M. Meaume thought that this rei)rint or last issue was made 

 in 1508, although dated, like the third edition, 29th August, 1507. It is 

 very probable that Waltzemiiller (Zlacomylus) tried a second time to 

 place secretly his name as the author of the book instead of the col- 

 lective name of the Vosgian Gymnasium; but being promptly detected, 

 the issue was stopped at once, just as Gauthier had stopped the distri- 

 bution of the first issue. This ex[)lains the great rarity of the fourth 

 issue or edition. Only four copies are now known: the one called the 

 Chartener's copy of Metz, now in the possession of M. Langlard, of 

 Nancy; the second copy, described by Mr. Harisse in his " Bibliotheca 

 Americana Vetustissima," under No. 47, p. 92, belonging to the Lenox's 



