‘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.