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BORDONE, Benedetto : (No title)

85 x 145 mm., small area of margin loss repaired in far upper right margin level with the text, otherwise good condition.

"This map appears in an atlas of the islands of the world, or 'Isolario' as they were called. The first atlas, issued in c.1485 by Bartolommeo dalli Sonetti, was confined to the eastern Mediterranean. The second, containing this map, covered the whole world. The first edition was entitled 'Libro di Benedetto Bordone'. All of the three subsequent editions of this work carried the title of 'Isolario'.Appearing on the reverse of page VI, the map lacks detail. It is purported to have been of Greenland but recent arguments by Suárez point to it being of the North American continent. The name given to this land mass is 'Terra de lavoratore' after João Fernandes of the Azores, who arrived at Cape Farewell, Greenland, in 1500. 'Stretto pte del modo novo' depicts the area corresponding to the latitude of the Caribbean, the land mass shown below it being South America. This is derived from the world map at the beginning of the atlas. The fictitious islands of 'brasil' and 'asmaide' appear here as they did on many maps of this period. Although clearly representing America the geography of the coastline is however derived from the north-east Asian one, the two often being interrelated at this time" (Burden 8). It is on a full sheet of Italian text with a map of Scandinavia on verso. An analysis of the text setting identifies this as being from the 1547 edition. Burden 8; Karrow pp. 89-93; Suarez p. 66.

BORDONE, Benedetto : (No title)

85 x 145 mm., small area of margin loss repaired in far upper right margin level with the text, otherwise good condition.

'This map appears in an atlas of the islands of the world, or 'Isolario' as they were called. The first atlas, issued in c.1485 by Bartolommeo dalli Sonetti, was confined to the eastern Mediterranean. The second, containing this map, covered the whole world. The first edition was entitled 'Libro di Benedetto Bordone'. All of the three subsequent editions of this work carried the title of 'Isolario'.Appearing on the reverse of page VI, the map lacks detail. It is purported to have been of Greenland but recent arguments by Suárez point to it being of the North American continent. The name given to this land mass is 'Terra de lavoratore' after João Fernandes of the Azores, who arrived at Cape Farewell, Greenland, in 1500. 'Stretto pte del modo novo' depicts the area corresponding to the latitude of the Caribbean, the land mass shown below it being South America. This is derived from the world map at the beginning of the atlas. The fictitious islands of 'brasil' and 'asmaide' appear here as they did on many maps of this period. Although clearly representing America the geography of the coastline is however derived from the north-east Asian one, the two often being interrelated at this time' (Burden 8). It is on a full sheet of Italian text with a map of Scandinavia on verso. An analysis of the text setting identifies this as being from the 1547 edition. Burden 8; Ginsberg 7; Karrow pp. 89-93; Shirley 'Atlases in the BL' T.Bord 1a; Suarez p. 66.

BORDONE, Benedetto : (NO TITLE)

240 x 385 mm., with very minor holes in the centrefold caused by the stitching of the book, a not uncommon occurrence, professionally restored, otherwise in good condition.

The 'Isolario', or ‘book of islands’, was a cartographic form introduced and developed in Italy during the 15th and 16th centuries. Like the portolano, or pilot-book, to which it was related, it had its origin in the Mediterranean, as an illustrated guide for travellers in the Aegean Archipelago and the Levant. Bordone’s 'Isolario' was the second to be printed and the first to give prominence to the transatlantic discoveries. Skelton quotes Almagia as saying that it is, in fact, ‘the earliest complete work of its kind to have been produced by the printing-press in Italy or anywhere else.’ The 'Isolario' is divided into three books, devoted respectively to the ‘islands and peninsulas’ of the western ocean, to the Mediterranean, and to the islands of the Indian Ocean and the Far East. While this order corresponds very roughly to that of Ptolemy, it gives conspicuous priority to the discoveries across the Atlantic. The most desirable map in the atlas is this classic oval world map, for many years thought to be the first printed in this projection. It is in fact derived from the exceedingly scarce Francesco Rosselli map of c.1508. However unlike the Rosselli, Bordone omits the unknown land at the South Pole and separates the continents of Asia and America. The six traditional wind directions are marked and named outside the map. This example is from the second of four editions which was published in 1534. It is the earliest obtainable world map in an oval projection. Provenance: acquired from Tooley Adams January 2012. Bordone (1460-1531) was a Paduan illuminator and wood-engraver who was apparently established at Venice by 1494. Skelton, TOT facsimile edition; Harrisse 'Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima', no. 187; Nordenskiöld, A.E. (Facsimile) pp. 103-4; Shirley World 59; Skelton Introduction to facsimile edition; World Encompassed no. 83.

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