Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 edition. Excerpt: ... amerigo vespucci letter to piero soderini. introduction The Problem Amerigo Vespucci is the most enigmatic figure in the history of American exploration. Almost immediately after his death critics began to impugn his veracity, and brand him as an impostor; and these attacks persist to the present day. Another school of historians took up the cudgels in his behalf, seeking to justify his statements and vindicate his reputation. Many other writers, feeling that truth usually lies somewhere between two such divergent attitudes, prejudiced neither for nor against Vespucci, eager only to arrive at the truth, have displayed the utmost ingenuity in attempting to solve the various historical cruces which abound in the writings of the Florentine navigator. If at the present day little progress has been made toward the definitive solution of many of these points, the reason is plain. The philologist no less than the historian is puzzled by the Vespucci "Letters"; yet no philologist has ever seriously grappled with the problems in them. Vespucci's writings have had a strange and complicated history. They have suffered at the hands of translators, copyists, printers, and even, it is to be feared, at those of modern editors. The texts on which we base our judgments are vastly different from those which left the author's hand. The extant versions of these must be critically examined, collated and classified; critical texts must be established before historians can hope to form accurate judgments based upon The Soderini Letter Introduction Vespucci's writings. The critical study of these texts is therefore our immediate problem. Lest this judgment should appear arrogant, it is well to indicate that such a study has long been a recognizedneed among...