THE NAME AMERICA. 657 



truly authentic letter of Vespucci that had yet been found in Italy. 

 It was discovered by Siguor Davari conservatore dell 'archivio Gonzoga 

 di Mautova, and although very short — only seven lines — is luostiinpor- 

 tant for it is wholly written by Vespucci, who was, as I have said be- 

 fore, an excellent calligraphist. The date is : Syhilie die xxx decembris 

 M"GCCC"LXXXXn (Sevilla, the 30 Dec, 1492), and consequently 

 before the return of Colombo from his first voyage. The very distinct 

 signature is : 



Ser. Amerigho Vespucci mer- 

 chante fiorentino for 



- Sybilia. 

 I have received a photograph of the letter and its address, by the 

 courtesy of an Italian friend; and I here give the facsimile of it, as 

 well as of the signature to a letter of Vespucci to the Cardinal Arch- 

 bishop of Toledo, dated Sevilla, 9 December, 1508, which was published 

 in facsimile by the Spanish Government in 1878. Those two letters 

 are the only authentic ones we possess; and the signatures are too 

 important in the question of the origin of the name America not to be 

 carefully studied. 



-fTST^. 



'Sow we have, without any possible doubt, the Christian name of 

 Vespucci, written by himself Amerigho with only one r and an h at the 

 last syllable, in 1492; and Amerigo with only one r and no h in the 

 Lihros de cuentes y despachos de armadas a Indian in 1495. 



Gilbert© Go vi* thinks that it is the Italian Fra Giovanni del Giocondo, 

 who translated and changed too freely Amerigho into Alberico. It is 

 only a personal opinion, without any base to rest upon, for the original 

 letter of Vespucci to Lorenzo Pierfrancisco de Medicis is unknown. 

 Generally, translators do not alter and change the signatures of authors; 

 and so long as wo have no positive proof to the contrary, we must say 

 that Vespucci used for his Christian name, in 1502 or 1503, the name 

 Alberico or Alberigo. But as his second letter to Piedro Soderini, writ- 

 ten in 1504, is signed Amerigo, it is evident that he did not make use of 

 the name Alberico for any length of time. There are certainly strong 

 sus{)icions that he made use of it, not only in his first letter to Medicis, 

 but also because Goiuara, a Spanish historian of great reputation, in 

 his General History of tiie Indies of 1551, uses both names, saying 

 Americo or Alberico Vespucci, showing that in Spain the name of Al- 



"Govi died suddenly at Rome, in June, 1889, a few months only after his comicuni- 

 cation to the- Accademia dei Lincei. He was a pbysicist-matheinaticiau of taleut* 



H. Mis. 142 42 



