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Collection Summary

Creator: Corsali, Andrea, fl. 1517.
Title: Letter of Andrea Corsali 1516-1989 [electronic resource]: with additional material.
Date Range: 1516 - 1989
Collection number: MS 7860
Extent: 6 cm. (3 v.)

 

Introduction

Scope and Content

The manuscript is a contemporary copy of "Lettera di Andrea Corsali allo Illustrissimo Signore Duca Juliano de Medici, Venuta Dellindia del mese di Octobre Nel M.D. XVI". It was prepared for Andrea Gritti, Doge of Venice from 1523. It provides the only known narrative of a Portuguese voyage in 1515 down the African coast, around the Cape of Good Hope, and into the Southern and Indian Oceans, making landfall at Goa on the Indian coast, later travelling down to Cochin at the foot of India. After rounding the Cape, Corsali observed the curious behaviour of an unrecorded group of Stars (the Southern Cross) which he described and illustrated. The letter was sent from Cochin to his patron, Giuliano de Medici, in Florence (15 pages, the last page blank). Also two volumes of research material: 'The Corsali manuscript', Horden House, 1989. 'The Corsali manuscript research notes', Horden House, 1989.

Background

Corsali was a Florentine under the patronage of the Medici family in the Service of the Portuguese. See "The Corsali manuscript", Horden House, 1989.

 

Preferred Citation

Items from this collection should be cited as [manuscript item title], Letter of Andrea Corsali 1516-1989 [electronic resource]: with additional material., National Library of Australia, MS 7860, [manuscript item number].

 

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