Columbus' First Voyage is a Latin reader with many notes on the five short passages, and vocabulary items, as well as an excellent introduction, glossary, illustrations, map, chronology, and bibliography. It is a tiny book of forty pages, written by Constance P. Iacona and Edward V. George.
There are many explanations of exotic items, some of which had parallels in the Old World and the Latin language. There is also a presentation of the passages in two forms: one with few notes and one with many. I'm not sure what the point is of having both.
The advantages I see in this book are that it is not from the Classical Age, yet it is good, clear Latin, so it exposes readers to new uses of the Latin language; it is based on what to me seems like modern history -- the discovery of the New World -- which may be more interesting to some than the turmoil in the top echelons of Republican Rome; it guides a hesitant reader through most of the pitfalls of translation. Not all the pitfalls are covered and five passages seem just a tease.
