Leo's works:

Cosmographia Del Africa:
Leo's most important work is the Cosmographia Del Africa, a text first published in Italy in 1550. This initial publication was the work of Ramusio, a Venetian editor who did not know Leo, and admitted to 'modifying' Leo's text. For centuries, scholars worked on this 'modified' version, or its translations (some good, some particularly bad).
In
1931, Ms. Angela Codazzi 'discovered' Leo's original manuscript in the Library of the Vatican, unveiling great differences between Ramusio's text and Leo's original words. Unfortunately since this discovery, no scholar has edited and published the manuscript- though several have worked on excerpts. Amongst the most impressive is D. Rauchenberger's German translation of the pages relating to Leo's travels in the Sudan (in, Johannes Leo der Afrikaner, Seine Beschreibung des Raumes zwischen Nil und Niger nach dem Urtext, 1999, Harrassowitz Publishing House). Professor O. Zhiri (UC Davis) and Professor N. Zemon-Davis (Princeton) have also done extensive work on the manuscript. As of 2003 there was talk of finding funding for editing the manuscript...

Editions (by Language):

Italian:
Title Della descrittione dell'Africa et delle cose notabli che ivi sono
Publication information In Ramusio, Primo volume delle navigationi et viaggi, Venice, Giunti, 1550
Comments Ramusio does not say how he obtained Leo's manuscript, but he 'rewrote' it, making significant changes (which are observable when comparing to the 1526 manuscript)

Title Della descrittione dell'Africa et delle cose notabli che ivi sono
Publication information Ramusio's text was reedited in 1554, 1563, 1588, 1606 and 1613
Comments The 1588 edition has a modified preface which claims Leo died in Rome.

Title Della descrittione dell'Africa et delle cose notabli che ivi sono
Publication information Luigi Plet, Venice, 1837
Comments Re-edition of Ramusio's text by different editor

Title Della descrittione dell'Africa et delle cose notabli che ivi sono
Publication information Turin, Eindaudi, 1978
Comments Re-edition of Ramusio's text by different editor

French:
Title Historiale Description de l'Afrique tierce partie du monde...
Publication information Trans. by Jean Temporal, Lyon, 1556, t.I
Comments This translation was based on the 1550 and 1554 editions of Ramusio's text. According to Massignon, it is a poor translation, and he finds at least 400 alterations between Temporal's text and Ramusio's.

Title Historiale Description de l'Afrique tierce partie du monde...
Publication information Reedited in 1556 (Anvers, Plantin), in 1564 (Leyde, Berton), in 1830 (Paris, Cordier)
Comments Re-edition of Temporal by different editors

Title Description de l'Afrique
Publication information in Schefer, Charles, Recueil de Voyages et de documents pour servir a l'histoire de la geographie, Paris, Leroux, 1896
Comments Charles Schefer reedited Temporal's translation, using a more modern French vocabulary.

Title Description de l'Afrique
Publication information Trans. by Alexis Epaulard Paris, Maisonneuve, 1956 and 1980
Comments Most recent complete translation of Leo's text. The translation was based on Ramusio's texts, though the translator also alludes to a manuscript(which had been discovered by A. Codazzi in 1931).

Latin:
Title De totius Africae descriptione libri IX...
Publication information Trans. by Jean Florian, Anvers, Jean Latium, 1556, and 1588. Reedited in Zurich (A. Geisner, 1559) and in Leyde (Elzevir, 1632)
Comments According to Massignon this is a very poor translation of Leo's work. Unfortunately it served as a basis for the first English and Flemish texts.

Flemish:
Title Pertinente beschryvinge van Africa
Publication information Trans. by Arnout Leers, Amsterdam, 1665
Comments Translation based on the latin version, which itself was a poor translation of Ramusio's version.

German:
Title Beschreibung von Africa
Publication information Trans. by G. Lorbach, 1805
Comments Translation based on Ramusio's 1550 edition.

English:
Title A geographical historie of Africa...
Publication information Trans. by John Pory, London, Georg Bishop, 1600
Comments Translation based on the Latin version, which itself was a poor translation of Ramusio's version.

Title The history and description of Africa
Publication information Trans. by John Pory, London, Robert Brown Editions, Hakluyt Society,1896
Comments Translation based on the Latin version, which itself was a poor translation of Ramusio's version.

Arabic:
Title Wasf Ifriquia
Publication information Trans. by M.Hajji and M.Lakhdar, Beyrouth, 1983 (with an earlier edition published in Rabat)
Comments Translation based on Epaulard's 1956 French edition. The first complete Arabic translation of Leo's work. Supposedly, there is a 'rival' translation by a Syrian scholar, published in Saudi Arabia, but of poor quality.

Other known works by Leo Africanus:
Few of Leo's other writings are still available today. Actually, no one knows whether or not Leo produced many other written works, or if the political turmoil of the 1520s made him unable to write (some scholars speculate that his numerous allusions to scholarship- that he supposedly read or wrote- are slight exxagerations on his part!). In the Cosmographia, he alludes to several books he claims to have written, or planned to write. We shall not list these 'hypothetical' works here, as a good list of them may be found in Jean Leon L'Africain a la Renaissance (O.Zhiri, Droz, 1991, p15-24). However, here is al list of known works:

Title De viris quibusdam illustribus apud Arabes
Language Latin
Publication information in Hottinger, J-H, Bibliothecarius quadripartitus, Zurich, 1664
Comments This text lists nearly 30 famous personages in Arabic history, and a brief biography for each.

Title Arab-Hebrew-Latin Vocabulary
Language Arab, Hebrew, Latin
Publication information Manuscript kept in the Escurial Library. Click here for pictures of pages of the Manuscript.
Comments This text was commissioned by a Jewish doctor living in Italy, Jacob Ben Simon.

Title Treatise on Metric arts
Language Latin
Publication information in A. Codazzi, Il trattato dell'arte metrica di Giovanni Leone Africano, Studi orientalistici in onore di Giorgio Levi Della Vida, vol. I, Rome, 1956
Comments