COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 273 



voyage of discovery. This letter had been translated from Italian into 

 French and a smaller edition published at Paris. The letter was a 

 mere sketch, but contained so much that was new and interesting- that 

 Eingman translated it into Latin and published it in pamphlet form at 

 Strassburg in August, 1503. 



Jean Basin, of Sandaucourt, the second member of the Gymnase, was 

 like Gautrin Lud, a canon of the Ghapitre of St. Die, and a classical 

 scholar of unusual attainments. His leisure hours were devoted to 

 literature. He was wealthy and luxurious, and inhabited a handsome 

 canonical residence which stood at the northwest corner of a block or 

 irregular group of buildings, of which the house of Gautrin Lud, with 

 its printing office, formed the southeast or diagonally opposite corner. 



A copy of the Strassburg edition of the Cosmographiae Introductio 

 found its way in 1524 to the library of Fernando Columbus, son of the 

 great admiral, at Seville, where it became one of the favorite volumes 

 of that renowned collector of rare and interesting books. Fernando 

 Columbus was an inveterate traveler, and from his copious notes writ 

 ten on the margin and fly leaf of the Cosmographire, he would seem to 

 have read it mainly for the information that it gave on the geography 

 and climate of Europe, and to have overlooked or ignored the rank 

 injustice which it offered to the memory of his father. Fernando had 

 this book in his possession during the fifteen years preceding his death 

 in 1539, and the fact that he did not in his famous History of Christo 

 pher Columbus denounce the Cosmographia3 and its author, is held by 

 M. Harrisse and other experts to prove that the history attributed to 

 Fernando was not actually written by him or within his knowledge. 



A very interesting feature of this exhibit was a map prepared by 

 Prof. G. Brown Goode, of the National Museum at Washington, show 

 ing the places in the United States that have been named in honor of 

 Columbus. 



RELICS OF SPANISH OCCUPATION IN AMERICA 



This exhibit consisted of a series of large photographs showing 

 views of all the places identified with Spanish domination within the 

 territory of the United States, including St. Augustine, New Mexico, 

 Arizona, and California. 



I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



WILLIAM E. CURTIS. 

 Kear- Admiral STEPHEN B. LUCE, U. S. N., 



Commissioner- General of the United States to the 



Columbian Historical Exposition, Madrid, Spain. 

 H. Ex. 100 18 



