Everyone has heard of Christopher Columbus, but how many of heard of his sons, Diego and Ferdinand? This book tells the story of Columbus' family from the point of view of Ferdinand who traveled with his father on some of his voyages, but later made a name for himself as a scholar and voracious collector of books and other print material. Ferdinand was too young to accompany his father on his early voyages, but served as a page in the court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella where he gained a good education. He accompanied his father on his fourth voyage, but when Columbus died in 1505, Ferdinand began his life long quest to gather and catalog all the books, pamphlets, and printed pictures he could find. Unlike other scholars of his age, he didn't focus on the classics or religious texts. Instead, he delighted to find lesser known texts, including printed newspapers, handbills, and writings from marginalized groups like the Moors and others. As his collection grew, he developed systems of organizing and cataloging the material that was ahead of his time. He also became important in politics, since his study had given him a broad understanding the the workings of the world. Constantly fighting to keep the memory of his father alive, he wrote a biography of Columbus that became one of the most important sources for modern understandings of his life and accomplishments.
This is another book that was available on Libby as a celebration of the 250 anniversary of the founding of America. As a librarian, I found the story of Ferdinand's bibliophilia and innovative cataloging system very interesting. If the author is to be believed, Ferdinand's library was the forerunner of such library staples as card catalogs, indexes arranged by topic, and even placing books vertically instead of laying them down horizontally on shelves. I was also interested to hear how Ferdinand interacted with other famous people of the Renaissance and had a front row seat to important events like the opening of the Sistine Chapel fresco by Michelangelo, and the formation of the Protestant reformation. That being said, the writing of this book is very academically dense, and I admit that at times I found myself tuning out. I am not sure how interesting this book would be to the general public, but it should be required reading for anyone studying the history of libraries. (416 p. 2019)
