In 1548 Christiern Smed (also known as Carsten Smedeken) of Lüneburg sailed out from Lisboa as a member of one of the Portuguese expeditions to India. From there he wrote a letter home which was later printed in an extended version, first in German in 1555 and 1557, then in Danish in 1559, and later two times in German. Only one copy of the Danish edition (LN 1504) has survived, and this copy is published here as a digital facsimile.
A manuscript (in a later transcript) of Christiern Smed’s letter exists. A number of additions have been made in the printed versions, i.a. they contain another, short, letter from Christiern Smed to his family, dated 1550.
The small text has numerous fantastic details about strange creatures in Africa and India – such as people with dog’s heads and others with a foot so big that it can be used as a parasol – and the second letter concludes that Germany is the best place to live.
Leaf D1 is missing from the copy.
Reference: Michael Harbsmeier: ”På opdagelse” in Rejsen, ed. Keld Grinder-Hansen, Nationalmuseet 1992, pp. 21-33.
