Lot 180: BORDONE, BENEDETTO.

Libro de Benedetto Bordone nel qual si ragiona de tutte l'Isole del mondo [Isolario]. Venice: Nicolo d'Aristotile, detto Zoppino, 1528

first edition, folio (306 x 205mm.), title printed in red and black within woodcut border, full-page diagram, 7 double-page maps and 104 maps in the text, all woodcut, twentieth-century decorated boards, lacking final blank, some leaves misbound (as is often the case), F4 torn and repaired with some loss of text, I3 with marginal hole (not affecting text), sold not subject to return

Nordenskiöld Collection 1, 27; cf. Phillips Atlases 162; Sabin 6417; Shirley 59

Besides the oval World map, eleven of the maps relate to the Americas. The work is in the tradition of the Mediterranean island book, with coverage expanded to include the whole World as a series of islands. The Adriatic and Greek archipelago are covered in sixty-four maps, many very similar in outline to those of Bartolommeo dalli Sonetti. The most significant map, cartographically speaking, is the the double-page World map, held for many years to be the first such use of an oval projection. Although the majority of the maps are simple in form, it should be noted that their begetter was an illuminator by training rather than a cartographer. Despite its shortcomings, Bordone's work was practical and popular and saw several editions.