IRVING, Washington (1783-1859). Autograph manuscript fragment from Book XV, Chapter VII of  A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, published New York, 1828.  

1 page, 25 lines with a few excisions and additions, 8vo, tipped to a larger sheet, matted and framed with a portrait of Irving (unexamined out of frame). Provenance: sold Goodspeed's Book Shop, 19 December 1888 (label on back of frame).

'IN THE MEANTIME QUIBIAN BEHELD WITH SECRET INDIGNATION THESE STRANGERS INTENDING THEMSELVES IN HIS DOMINIONS"

A fine Irving fragment describing Columbus's planned departure from Santa Maria de Belen and Quibían's response. The Columbian expedition reached Quibían's domains in 1503, and Columbus decided to found a settlement near the mouth of the river. A flood had made travel up the river for exploration possible, but by the time Columbus was ready to leave, the water "had subsided to such a degree that there was not above half a fathom of water on the bar....[Columbus] was obliged therefore to wait until the rains should again swell the river." In the meantime, Quibían grew suspicious of the Columbus brothers, whos friendship Columbus had tried to secure with "various presents but in vain. The cacique...sent messengers around and ordered all his fighting men to assemble at his residence under a pretext of making war upon a neighboring province."   Ultimately, Quibían defeated the Spanish. RARE: Only two other fragment's from Irving's Life of Columbus have appeared at auction in the last 45 years.  


Property from the Frost Family Collection, New Hampshire