[Maidegascar, Zanzibar, Scorsia, Inebila, Imangla, Scilam, Dondina]

Antique woodcut map of Sri Lanka, Madagascar. Printed in Venice between 1528 and 1565.

Reference 12208

Description

Three rare woodcut maps by Benedetto Bordone on one sheet. The first shows Madagascar with Zanzibar and Mauritius. On verso a map of Scilam (Sri Lanka, Ceylon) and Dondina. Furthermore the mythical islands of male and female described by Bordone as islands in Southeast Asia, named Inebila and Imangla.

Thomas Suarez in Early Mapping of Southeast Asia about the male and female islands:

The final map of Southeast Asia covers the familiar Ptolemaic islands of maniole, bazacata, and isole di satyri, as well as imangla and inebila, to curious islands new to the repertoire of Southeast Asian lands found on printed maps. Bordone, repeating popular lore, explains in the Isolario that the island of imangla is inhabited exclusively by women, while inebila in an island on which only men live. If a women of imangla gives birth to a girl, they keep the child, but if a boy is born, he is sent to inebila at the age of three.

From Libro di Benedetto Bordone... de tutte l'isole del mondo..., more commonly known as Isolario of Bordone, which first appeared in Venice in 1528. Three further editions followed in 1534, 1547 and 1565. The maps of all four editions were printed from the same woodblocks in Venice.

Details

Cartographer	Benedetto Bordone
Title	[Maidegascar, Zanzibar, Scorsia, Inebila, Imangla, Scilam, Dondina]
Publisher, Year	Venice, 1528-1565
Plate Size	8.4 x 14.6 cm (3.3 x 5.7 inches)
Sheet Size	30.0 x 20.7 cm (11.8 x 8.1 inches)
Reference	Suarez, T.: Early Mapping of Southeast Asia, fig. 67

Condition

Two ink stains. Very good condition.

Cartographer

Benedetto Bordone was an Italian cartographer, chart- and mapmaker who worked in Venice during the beginning of the 16th century. He is best known for his Isolario, a geographical, historical and cultural description of the islands of the Mediterranean and the world, which first appeared in 1528. The genre Isolario was very popular in Italy at that time and was intended as an illustrated guide for sailors. Bordone also describes new discoveries in South and North America for the first time in an Isolario. The book contains a record of Pizarro's conquest of Peru, the earliest known printed report of the event. Of particular interest are 12 woodcut maps of America and the earliest map of Japan as an island printed in Europe.

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Benedetto Bordone: [Maidegascar, Zanzibar, Scorsia, Inebila, Imangla, Scilam, Dondina].

Antique woodcut map of Sri Lanka, Madagascar. Printed in Venice between 1528 and 1565.

East Africa - Bordone, Benedetto - [Maidegascar, Zanzibar, Scorsia, Inebila,...