The catalogue of shipwrecked books : Christopher Columbus, his son, and the quest to build the world's greatest library
Edward Wilson-Lee (Author)
"Edward Wilson-Lee tells the story of Hernando Colón, a singular visionary of the printing press-age who also happened to be Christopher Columbus's illegitimate son. Hernando sought to build a library that would collect everything ever printed: a vast holding organized by summaries and catalogues. He restlessly and obsessively amassed his collection based on the conviction that a library of universal knowledge should include 'all books, in all languages and on all subjects, ' even material often dismissed as ephemeral trash: ballads, erotica, newsletters, popular images, romances, and fables. The loss of part of his collection to a maritime disaster in 1522 (documented in his Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books) set off the final scramble to complete this project"-- Adapted from the publisher's website
Print Book, English, 2019
Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, 2019