Note 373 — Chapter IX · 1504-1524.
Reading edition
A manuscript containing the Italian text of Verrazzano’s letter was found in 1837, by G. W. Greene, consul from the United States at Rome, in the Magliabecchian library of Florence, in a volume of miscellanies, marked “Class xiii. Cod. 89. Verraz.” With this letter was another written by Fernando Carli to his father, dated Lyons, August 4, 1524. As Carli remarks in his communication that it inclosed a copy of Verrazzano’s letter to Francis I., it is believed that the transcript he speaks of is the copy found in the Magliabecchian library.—Vide Life and voyages of Verrazzano, by G. W. Greene. North American Review. vol. xlv. October, 1837.
Ramusio placed in the third volume of his collection of voyages and travels a condensed form of Verrazzano’s letter, entitled “The relation of Giovanni da Verrazzano, Florentine, to the most Christian king of France, Francis I., of the land by him discovered in the name of his majesty; written at Dieppe, July 8, 1524.—Al Christianissimo Re Di Francia Francesco Primo, Relatione di Giovanni da Verrazano Fiorentino della terra per lui scoperta in nome di sua Maesta scritta in Dieppa, adi 8. Luglio M.D.XXIIII.”—Raccolta di navigationi e viaggi. Ramusio. vol. iii. fol. 350.