“A brilliant history, told in a wonderful way” - Peter Frankopan

“A marvelous book” - Sunday Telegraph, 5*

“Triumphant” - Literary Review

During the Age of Discovery, in the fall of 1550, a anonymous volume was published in Venice containing a wealth of geographical information unknown until then to Europeans, with the title Navigationi et Viaggi (Voyages and Navigational Courses). Two additional volumes followed, which together constituted the largest publication of geographical data in history, which can be considered the birth of modern geography.

The editor of these volumes was the little-known public official of the Venetian government, Giovambattista Ramusio. He gathered an extensive variety of both popular and well-guarded narratives, from the journals of Marco Polo to the detailed reports of the Muslim scholar and diplomat Leo Africanus.

With consistent narrative, Andrea di Robilant brings to life the man who used all his political skill, with the help of diplomats and spies, to democratize knowledge and show how much bigger the world was than anyone had imagined before.

Pages: 272, Dimensions: 15.5x15.5cm