Isollario del Mediteraneo et Colpho di Venetia

A fine example of a Venetian isolario transcribed by a professional scribe, which follows the isolario typology in all respects, except for some deviation in the islands chosen for representation. The major islands of the Mediterranean are all depicted, beginning with Ibiza and ending with Sicily, which is normal for most isolarii, including the printed isolario of Bordone (1528). The work then turns to the Gulf of Venice and depicts the islands from Istria to Cerigo. At this point the typology changes, since the Cyclades and the Northern Aegean are completely ignored. The author leapt to Crete and its neighbours, Carpathos and Rhodes, and ended with Cyprus; see list below. This is unusual for the ordinary isolario, which usually depicts most of the Aegean Islands. Another curious feature of the Ioannou isolario involves problems of chronology. The binding and the paper date from the late 16th century. The watermark of the arbalette is found on several leaves, in particular ff. 11 and 22; it resembles Briquet 770, with the addition of the initials ‘G.’ and ‘S.’

According to Briquet, this paper was manufactured in Ferrara and is found on documents dating from 1585 to 1610. The binding is clearly an example of 16th-century work, in particular the double rules, both horizontal and vertical, which divide the surface into four compartments. The removal and replacement of the lower portion was due probably to accident, since the remaining portion of the original binding indicates that it was torn. Under ordinary circumstances this manuscript would be dated to about 1600. This view is strengthened by stylistic considerations, which indicate that the artist who produced the maps was strongly influenced by the work of the Greek pilot Antonio Millo, who was active from ca 1567 to about 1590. This is particularly clear not only from the fact that the maps follow the same order from Ibiza to Cerigo, but also from the fact that the construction of the maps of Crete, Cyprus, Cerigo and Santa Maura derive from similar maps found in manuscripts by Millo (see also Tolias, Τα Νησολόγια, pp. 116-118, and Navigare e descrivere, p. 63). However, a dating to about 1600-1610 is contraindicated by the fact that the scribe has decorated the windroses on the maps of the islands under Venetian domination with the Lion of Venice. These windroses occur on the maps of Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante and Cerigo, but not on the maps of Crete or Cyprus. This would be normal for a map of Cyprus dating from the late 16th century, since the island fell to the Ottomans in 1571. However, Crete did not fall to them until the mid-17th century, and the windrose on the map of Crete should contain the Lion of Venice if it was drawn before 1648. It is possible that the scribe had a stock of early paper. The binding, however, is an anachronism. Although technically complementary to the manuscript, it is much earlier in construction. Normally, a manuscript composed in the mid-17th century would be bound in a contemporary binding, that is, one constructed at the time of its composition. The binding on the Ioannou manuscript is at least 40 years earlier than the composition of the text. However, a close examination of the text indicates that it has been fitted into an already existing ‘tetradio’.