Empire of eloquence: the classical rhetorical tradition in colonial Latin America and the Iberian world

Abstract

methods that Hernando employed in ordering his collection that the authors reconstruct from his bibliographic records, most notably the Registrum A or Memorial de los libros naufragados, a catalogue of the more than 1,500 books that he had sent back to Spain via ship during his shopping spree through Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy but were lost at sea. Chapter Five tells the fate of the library after Hernando’s death, when it was moved out of the villa, first to the Dominican convent of San Pablo and then, in 1557 to the Biblioteca Capitular in the Cathedral of Seville, where it remains to this day. For the most part, it’s a rather melancholy story about the gradual loss of approximately half of the collection due to theft, neglect, and abuse before it was placed under the guardianship of the Fundación Capitular Colombina, newly created by the archdiocese of Seville and the Cathedral Chapter in 1991. The book concludes with five appendices of extremely useful primary documents, translated into English, including the Memoria by Juan Pérez, one of Hernando’s librarians and steward of the library after his death; Hernando’s will as well as a proposal to King Ferdinand for an expedition of circumnavigation; his appointment at the Casa de Contratación; and his Memorial al Emperador. Overall, this meticulously researched and very readable book makes an important contribution to early modern studies, as well as to the history of knowledge and information technology more broadly by reclaiming Hernando Colón as a pioneer in the early modern revolution of knowledge. Indeed, as the authors point out, Hernando’s collection ‘predates most of the works that are usually acknowledged as agents of these changes’ (194). As such, it will be indispensable reading for book historians, historians of science, and early modernists alike.