A rare isolario showing cities, ports and islands between Venice and Constantinople, as well as Cyprus and Jerusalem. It was first published in 1597. This edition was published without the text. Several of the maps and plans resemble those in G.F. Camocio’s ‘Isole famose’, particularly the maps of individual Greek islands, among which are Corfu, Crete and Cyprus. They were probably engraved by Natale Bonifacio.

The “book of islands”, or isolario, was invented and initially developed in Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Like the portolano, or pilot-book, to which it was related, it had its origins in the Mediterranean, as an illustrated guide for travelers in the Aegean Archipelago and the Levant.

First published in 1597. This edition, published without any text, was edited by M. Sadeler and contains three more maps than the first, including Giacomo Fanco’s map of the Holy Land and Cyprus ‘Questa Tavola e l’Antica Siria ch’era destinta in dodici Tribu hora si chiama la Soria et Terra Santa poseduta dal Turco’. Venice: Giacomo Franco, 1597. 140 x 190mm (Zacharakis 2976/1958; Bank of Cyprus 41, not in Laor)

Rosaccio (c. 1530-1620) was a Venetian physician and cosmographer. He was an authority on the Geography of Claudius Ptolemy, of which he published the Italian version of Ruscelli, with additions by himself in 1598-1599. He produced many small format atlases and geographical works, as well as works on astronomy and astrology.