Add MS 43766

SAILING DIRECTIONS, MAINLY FOR THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN, apparently a Genoese compilation, see further below; 17th cent. Italian. Contains itineraries, etc., for the following voyages:-(1) Italian, French, and Spanish coastlines, [Genoa]-San Lucar de Barrameda, beg. imperfectly (see below) 40 miles E. of Monaco. At f. 8b there is a reference to the loss of a Genoese ship, 'La Patrona della serenissima Republica di Genova', off Cape Leucate in 1622. ff. 1-40;-(2) Italian and Greek coastlines, Genoa-Brindisi- Corfu-Coron. At ff. 70b, 72b, 73b, 76b are references to the Battle of Lepanto, 7 Oct. 1571, in which the author of this section of the work appears to have taken part. ff. 41-78;-(3) North African coastline, Cape Spartel- Tripoli. ff. 79-97b;-(4) Islands, proceeding from the Straits of Gibraltar eastwards to Malta. ff. 98-213. The arrangement, and frequently the actual text, of artt. 1, 2 and 4 agrees closely with that of the corresponding sections of the portulan (Rome, 1602, 63 pp.) prefixed to the Nautica Mediterranea of Bartolomeo Crescentio (Rome, 1607), the principal difference being that the

information in the present MS. is often much more detailed. For other Italian sailing directions (mostly Venetian) of the 16th and 17th centt., both MS. and printed, see K. Kretschmer, Die italienischen Portolane des Mittelalters (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Meereskunde, Berlin, Heft 13), 1909, pp. 228-232. Paper;ff.ii+216. 46mm. x 80 mm. XVII cent. Gatherings of eight leaves, the first wanting with the loss of the first eight pages of text. Original pagination (beg. with p. 9). Art. 3 is prefaced by a crude full-page pen-and-ink representation of 'Sidi Barissi' (f. 78b). Marginal drawings of sea monsters, birds, etc., occur on ff. 112b-213 Passim. Added at ff. 213b-215b are some accompts, in Italian, of a ship's captain(?), 13 June-25 Nov. 1724. On f. 100 is a note dated 25 Nov. 1770. On f. iib is a note, in German, by Joseph Gumpert, lighthouse-keeper at Cape Spartel, of the gift by him of the MS., which had previously belonged to his wife's grandfather, Santiago Gambino, a Genoese, to 'Frau Annie Brassey' (presumably [Annie or Anna] Brassey, 1st wife of Thomas, ist Baron Brassey, the traveller and authoress) on 24 Mar. 1881. Presented by the London Library.