Roselly de Lorgues - Christophe Colomb - 1887

Roselly de Lorgues. Christopher Columbus. Paris, Brussels, Geneva, Victor Palmé, 1887, 588 pp.

A quarto volume (295 x 210 mm), half-leather with corners, spine with raised bands ornate, gilded head (binding of the period). Very good condition of the binding. Interior fresh, without foxing.

Third large illustrated edition with varied borders on every page and color chromolithographs.

Roselly de Lorgues traces the life of the Genoese navigator from his youth to his four transatlantic voyages, drawing on Spanish and Italian documents that had been recently uncovered. The work describes the démarches undertaken with the Spanish sovereigns, the 1492 crossing, the discovery of the Antilles, and the political difficulties faced by Columbus during his later years.

The originality of this biography lies in its deeply religious interpretation. The author presents Columbus as a man entrusted with a providential mission, destined to spread Christianity in the New World. This apologetic vision is part of the 19th-century Catholic movement that sought to promote the cause of beatification for the explorer.