The first decades of the 16th century witnessed the unprecedented development of the artist's print. It was a time of great discoveries when the most prominent Renaissance artists, such as Albrecht Durer, Lucas van Leyden and Marcantonio Raimondi, concentrated on producing prints of extraordinary quality and breadth of subject. It was also when the first print collections came to be established, and Ferdinand Columbus - the illegitimate son of Christopher Columbus - assembled the greatest collection of all, in Seville. By the time Ferdinand died he had amassed over 3200 prints bought on his travels throughout Europe and which formed part of his private library, the largest in the world at that time. The print collection has been completely lost, but in Seville there survives a detailed inventory that has provided a basis for a reconstruction of his collection. The first volume of this publication contains 13 chapters. The first six discuss the life and times of Ferdinand Columbus: he accompanied his father on the final voyage to the New World in 1502, he was a personal friend of Erasmus, and adviser to Charles V. Also examined is his unique system of print classification, his library and the type of prints he owned. Other chapters by contributing authors explore
the history of printmaking and collecting during the Renaissance period, print markets and the groups of prints in Ferdinand's collection such as maps and satires. An appendix provides a translation of Ferdinand's 'programme for a universal library', the first such document of its kind. The second volume provides a transcription and translation of the Seville inventory, with full details of more than 1500 prints that have been matched. A CD-Rom containing the inventory entries is also included to facilitate future research.
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