Columbus left written records of each of the four voyages to the Indies he made as the envoy of the king and queen of Spain, compiled as the circumstances of his life grew more complicated with the political and governmental problems associated with the exploration and colonization of the New World. The journals which Columbus wrote for each voyage have been lost and Columbus's own writings are composed entirely of narrative letters corresponding to single phases of expeditions. One exception is this text, Columbus's Log, transmitted in a single manuscript and written in the hand of Las Casas. The document is not a complete copy but a version that is in part a summary and in part a literal transcription of a source described at its outset as Libro de la primera navegacion y descubrimiento d'estas Indias. The original Columbian text was probably delivered to the king and queen at Barcelona in April 1493 on the return from his first voyage. This edition comprises an introduction, English translations of the three texts (DB, FH and LC) and critical editions of the