The International Prester John Project: How A Global Legend Was Created Across Six Centuries

Christopher Columbus' Notes

At some point before his famous voyage across the Atlantic, Christopher Columbus annotated a copy of Marco Polo's Il Milione, a book that is still extant.

In the margins we find two annotations related to Prester John, which confirm that Columbus had thought of Prester John as the wealthy and powerful "Ongchan." These notes are mentioned in Brewer's (p. 286) list of Prester John texts.

In addition to this circumstantial evidence of Columbus' interest in Prester John, an anonymous crew member's journal makes explicit what Columbus's ownership of the Polo book implies. 
 

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