The first Interview of Christopher Columbus with the Natives of America.
Engraved for Middleton's Complete System of Geography.
[n.d., c.1777.]
Etching and engraving. 295 x 175mm (11½ x 7"). Trace of water stain to lower left corner.
Christopher Columbus (1451 – 1506) landed within the Bahamas Archipelago in October 1492 at a locale he named San Salvador. Mistaking the Carribean island for the East-Asian mainland, he referred to its inhabitants as "Indians". Severely underestimating the circumference of the Earth, Columbus had hypothesized that a westward route from Iberia to the Indies would be shorter and more direct than the overland trade route through Arabia. If true, this would have allowed his royal Spanish patrons entry into the lucrative spice trade. Plate to Charles Theodore Middleton's 'A new and complete system of Geography ... Embellished ... with ... copper plates, etc.', London 1777-78.
[Ref: 9664] £75.00
[n.d., c.1777.]
Etching and engraving. 295 x 175mm (11½ x 7"). Trace of water stain to lower left corner.
Christopher Columbus (1451 – 1506) landed within the Bahamas Archipelago in October 1492 at a locale he named San Salvador. Mistaking the Carribean island for the East-Asian mainland, he referred to its inhabitants as "Indians". Severely underestimating the circumference of the Earth, Columbus had hypothesized that a westward route from Iberia to the Indies would be shorter and more direct than the overland trade route through Arabia. If true, this would have allowed his royal Spanish patrons entry into the lucrative spice trade. Plate to Charles Theodore Middleton's 'A new and complete system of Geography ... Embellished ... with ... copper plates, etc.', London 1777-78.
[Ref: 9664] £75.00