Beinecke MS 128                                                      Spain, s. XVI^^ex
Hernan Perez de Oliva, Historia de la invencion de las Yndias

          ff. 1r-33v    Historia de la inuencion de las Yndias, y de la
     conquista de la nueua Espana que escreuia el maestro Fernan Perez de
     Oliva natural de Cordoua...[f. 1v blank; f. 2r:] Narracion primera.
     Cristoual Colon, Genoues, natural de Saona, fue ombre de alto animo...a
     los hijos de los Reyes, para que en las fiestas las cantassen, y destos
     las oyan los otros. Fin de la ystoria de Colon.

          J. J. Arrom, ed., Hernan Perez de Oliva, Historia de la Inuencion
     de las Yndias (Bogota, 1965) pp. 39-126. L. Olschki, "Hernan Perez de
     Oliva's 'Ystoria de Colon,'" Hispanic American Historical Review 23,
     no. 2 (1943) pp. 165-96. J. J. Arrom, "A Sixteenth-century Account of
     the Voyages of Columbus," Gazette 19, no. 2 (1944) pp. 21-22.

          Paper (thin and brittle, with a slight gloss; watermarks: Briquet
     Croix latine 5678), ff. ii (later paper) + 33 + i (later paper), 210 x
     155 (170 x 100) mm. Written in 28 long lines, frame-ruled in hard
     point.
          I-III^^8, IV^^8 ( + 1 at end, f. 33). Catchwords for each folio below
     written space, at right.
          Written in italic by one hand.
          Headings on ff. 1r and 2r in square capitals and round humanistic,
     executed in brown ink, as text.
          The ink has eaten through the paper at some points, but has not
     seriously affected the text.
          Binding: s. xix-xx. Narrow spine of mottled brown leather with
     marbled paper sides. Printed on the upper cover: "Fernan Perez de
     Oliva. Narracion Cristobal Colon. Historia inedita muy interesante.
     1583."

          Written in Spain, probably in the last quarter of the 16th
     century, judging from the watermarks (Briquet gives examples of this
     type for 1576 and 1579); there appears to be no mention in the manuscript itself
     of the date 1583, printed on the front cover, although Arrom considers
     it accurate ("An Early Unpublished Manuscript on the Discovery of
     America," Texas Quarterly 3, no. 2 (1960) p. 170). Note in cursive (s.
     xx) inside front cover: "If lost please return to G. S. Hellman, 331 W.
     71st." (Probably George Sidney Hellman, author born in New York, N.Y.,
     14 Nov. 1878, who often served as a consultant on rare books for the
     Morgan, Widener and Schiff collections.) Presented by Frank Altschul in
     1944, in memory of Prof. William Lyon Phelps.

     Bibliography: Faye and Bond, p. 32, no. 128.

     Barbara A. Shailor