La Colombiade, ou la Foi portée au Nouveau Monde. Poëme.

A Paris, chez Desaint et Saillant, et Durand, 1756. 8vo. Engraved portrait. VIII. 184 pages. 1 leaf. 10 out-of-text engraved plates. Full green morocco, ornate ribbed spine, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, edges painted red (contemporary binding). Original Edition of this famous epic poem composed of ten songs that tell the story of the discovery of "La Colombiade" by Christopher Columbus, the protagonist. It recounts his journey, his encounters with the inhabitants, the customs, the industries, the animals, the landscape and the battles that took place. It's the story of Christopher Columbus himself, in the form of a poem explaining the problems of financing, the adventures of the voyage, the discovery and part of the conquest. The publication of this work earned its author the praise of her most illustrious contemporaries: of Fontenelle, who called her his daughter; of Clairaut, who compared her to Madame du Châtelet; of La Condamine; of Voltaire who, receiving her in Ferney, went to meet her and put a laurel wreath on her head. She was also elected to all the Academies, and soon became a member of those of Rouen, Lyon, Padua, Bologna and Rome (see Larousse). Since the 19th century, some sources attribute the origin of Colombia's name to the presence of Francisco de Miranda (1750-1816), the famous precursor of Latin American emancipation against the Spanish empire, at a theatrical performance of this work during his stay in Paris during the French Revolution. It was in memory of this performance that he is said to have attributed the name "Colombeia" or "Colombia" to his project for a republican federation of South American states, later taken up by Simon Bolivar for his "Gran Colombia", the partition of which gave rise to the current boundaries of Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela. The volume is illustrated with an engraved portrait of the author and ten intaglio plates. A very fine copy bound in contemporary green morocco. On the attribution to this work of the origin of the name of Colombia, see Gonzalo A. Ramírez Cleves "El nombre de Colombia".