This part contains a continuation of Chauveton’s translation of Benzoni’s Historia, begun in Part IV.

Relative to the engraved portrait of Columbus found in this part, Jefferson wrote on August 9, 1814, to Joseph Delaplaine, at work on his Repository of the Lives and Portraits of Distinguished American Characters : “ Your favor of July 28 is just recieved, and I now inclose you the print of Vespucius, which I have cut out of the book, & which is taken from the same original in the gallery of Florence from which my painting was taken . . . Between the 4 ^th. & 5 ^th. parts of the great work of De Bry. is a print of Columbus, and an account of it which should give it some authority. it is very small, and not very much resembling my copy of his portrait from the Florentine gallery. De Bry’s book is very rare and very expensive. yet probably it may be in some of the libraries of Philadelphia, perhaps the Loganian. if not, m ( ^~ r) Wood, if he comes on to copy my Columbus, may copy this print also from my Debry. both may be worth inserting in your work. DeBry says his was given to him by the painter who drew the portrait of Columbus . . . ”

Delaplaine replied from Philadelphia on August 17: “. . . At your suggestion I enquired at the Loganian & other libraries for the work of De Bry, but in vain. In speaking to my worthy friend D ^r. Barton on the subject, he informed me that he believed the work was not in America except in your possession. He spoke of its great value, and I at the same time mentioned that it contained an engraved portrait of Columbus, and that De Bry says it was given to him by the painter who drew the portrait of Columbus. That I derived this information from you & added further, that an account of the print accompanied it which should give it some authority . . .”

To this Jefferson replied on August 28: “ . . . I have taken from the 2 ^d. vol. of De Bry a rough model of the leaf on which is the print he has given of Columbus, and his preface. it gives the exact size and outline of the print, which, with a part of the preface, is on the 1 ^st. page of the leaf, and the rest on the 2 ^d. I have extracted from it what related to the print, which you will percieve could not be cut out without a great mutilation of the book. this would not be regarded as to it’s cost, which was 12. guineas for the 3. vols in Amsterdam, but that it seems to be the only copy of the work in the US. and I know from experience the difficulty if not impossibility of getting another. I had orders lodged with several eminent booksellers, in the principal book-marts of Europe, to wit, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfort, Madrid, several years before this copy was obtained at the accidental sale of an old library in Amsterdam, on the death of it’s proprietor . . . ”

Jefferson then compared the three likenesses of Columbus from which Delaplaine was to make his choice, namely: “ 1. the print in Muñoz’ work, from a copy of Rincon’s original, taken in the 17 ^th. century by an indifferent hand, with conjectural alterations suggested by the verbal description of the young Columbus of the countenance of his father.

[The work of Muñoz was described to Jefferson, from the copy in Barton’s library, by Delaplaine in his letter of August 17.]

" 2. the Miniature of De Bry, from a copy taken in the 16 ^th. century from the portrait maid by order of the K. & Queen, probably that of Rincon.

" 3. the copy in my possession, of the size of the life, taken for me from the original which is in the gallery of Florence. I say, from an original, because it is well known that in collections of any note, & that of Florence is the first in the world, no copy is ever admitted; and an original existing in Genoa would readily be obtained for a royal collection in Florence. Vasari, in his lives of the painters, names this portrait in his catalogue of the paintings in that gallery, but does not say by whom it was made. it has the aspect of a man of 35. still smooth-faced, & in the vigor of life, which would place ”