Ferdinand Columbus, (Italian: Fernando Colombo, Spanish:
Fernando Colón; 15 August? 1488 - 1539) the second son of
Christopher Columbus, returned from the New World, and collected
one of the largest private libraries of the sixteenth century.
This library, La Bibliotheca Colombina, included about 15,000
volumes, of which about 7000 survive today, including 1194 books
printed before 1501. Ferdinand Columbus's library, which also
includes a number of volumes from the personal library of
Christopher Columbus, is preserved in the Cathedral of the City
of Seville in Andalucia. Among the volumes in La Bibliotheca
Colombina is the manuscript catalogue of Ferdinand's print
collection. According to Mark McDonald, editor of this
manuscript catalogue listing 3200 sheets (including 390 prints
by Albrecht Dürer), no print collection from the fifteenth or
sixteenth century has survived, and the manuscript catalogue of
Columbus' print collection is the only record of such a print
collection that has survived. The catalogue