PORTOLANO. Portolano con le Isole Seche e Secagli, dentro e fuora acqua , in Italian, DECORATED MANUSCRIPT ON PAPER [probably Genoa, mid-17th century] 4° (219 x 147mm). 71 leaves, 1 1 8 (xviii glued to stub of i), 2-4 1 8 (xviii used as pastedown), COMPLETE, first 3 and final 7 leaves blank, otherwise pagination to 220 followed here, 23-26 lines written in a cursive hand in brown ink within lead-ruled bounding lines, justification: 195 x 132mm, titles and capitals in calligraphic or fanciful letters including flourishes, faces, small birds, flowers, insects, etc, FIFTEEN FULL-PAGE VIEWS OF PORTS, THREE HALF-PAGE BATTLE-SCENES, ONE BAS-DE-PAGE WITH GALLEYS AND A SHIP, ONE SCENE OF A HANGING, all drawn in pen and brown and red ink (lower corner of first blank torn, a few worm holes in first and all final blanks). 17th-century limp vellum (lower half of upper hinge split, top outer corner of lower cover torn, spine and lower cover lightly wormed, lacking fore-edge ties). The journey charted in this amusing and curious portolano concentrates particularly on the ports and anchorages along the northern coast of the western Mediterranean - from Capo Sta Maria di Leuca on the heel of Italy to Sanlucar da Barrameda (near Jerez) in Andalucia. The voyage starts in Genoa and, after following the coast west to Sanlucar ('bonissima terra et qui vi e un rio per la quale si va a Siviglia'), returns there before moving onto Naples, Taranto and Gallipoli (where there is a scene of a sea battle, dated 1638, involving Spanish and Sicilian galleys and the French armada), and reaching Capo Sta Maria. A further circuit takes in the islands of the Mediterranean and ends in Malta. The advantages and disadvantages of each port of call are mentioned -- shelter for galleys and ships, the presence of sandbanks -- and the distances between ports are given. The views of the major harbours are painted in an informative, entertaining and naive manner: schematically arranged they contain flying birds, windblown trees, and the seaborne ships and galleys are manned and moving. The ports illustrated are Genoa (p.5), Marseilles (p.14), Barcelona (p.21), Alicante (p.25), Cartegena (p.28), Malaga (p.33), Cadiz (p.36), Sanlucar (p.38), Portovenere (p.41), Civitavecchia (p.46), Naples (p.49), Montecristo (p.100), Palermo (p.108) and Messina (p.115). The five additional scenes are on pp.24, 56, 66, 77 and 105.
PORTOLANO. Portolano con le Isole Seche e Secagli, dentro e fuora acqua , in Italian, DECORATED MANUSCRIPT ON PAPER [probably Genoa, mid-17th century] 4° (219 x 147mm). 71 leaves, 1 1 8 (xviii glued to stub of i), 2-4 1 8 (xviii used as pastedown), COMPLETE, first 3 and final 7 leaves blank, otherwise pagination to 220 followed here, 23-26 lines written in a cursive hand in brown ink within lead-ruled bounding lines, justification: 195 x 132mm, titles and capitals in calligraphic or fanciful letters including flourishes, faces, small birds, flowers, insects, etc, FIFTEEN FULL-PAGE VIEWS OF PORTS, THREE HALF-PAGE BATTLE-SCENES, ONE BAS-DE-PAGE WITH GALLEYS AND A SHIP, ONE SCENE OF A HANGING, all drawn in pen and brown and red ink (lower corner of first blank torn, a few worm holes in first and all final blanks). 17th-century limp vellum (lower half of upper hinge split, top outer corner of lower cover torn, spine and lower cover lightly wormed, lacking fore-edge ties). The journey charted in this amusing and curious portolano concentrates particularly on the ports and anchorages along the northern coast of the western Mediterranean - from Capo Sta Maria di Leuca on the heel of Italy to Sanlucar da Barrameda (near Jerez) in Andalucia. The voyage starts in Genoa and, after following the coast west to Sanlucar ('bonissima terra et qui vi e un rio per la quale si va a Siviglia'), returns there before moving onto Naples, Taranto and Gallipoli (where there is a scene of a sea battle, dated 1638, involving Spanish and Sicilian galleys and the French armada), and reaching Capo Sta Maria. A further circuit takes in the islands of the Mediterranean and ends in Malta. The advantages and disadvantages of each port of call are mentioned -- shelter for galleys and ships, the presence of sandbanks -- and the distances between ports are given. The views of the major harbours are painted in an informative, entertaining and naive manner: schematically arranged they contain flying birds, windblown trees, and the seaborne ships and galleys are manned and moving. The ports illustrated are Genoa (p.5), Marseilles (p.14), Barcelona (p.21), Alicante (p.25), Cartegena (p.28), Malaga (p.33), Cadiz (p.36), Sanlucar (p.38), Portovenere (p.41), Civitavecchia (p.46), Naples (p.49), Montecristo (p.100), Palermo (p.108) and Messina (p.115). The five additional scenes are on pp.24, 56, 66, 77 and 105.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
