'A dazzling tale brilliantly told' Peter Frankopan 'A wonderful book' Sunday Telegraph 5*
'Triumphant' Literary Review DURING THE AGE OF DISCOVERY in the autumn of 1550 an
anonymously authored volume containing a wealth of geographical information new to Europeans
was published in Venice under the title Navigationi et Viaggi ( Journeys and Navigations ).
This was closely followed by two further volumes that when taken together constituted the
largest release of geographical data in history and could well be considered the birth of
modern geography. The editor of these volumes was a little-known public servant in the
Venetian government Giovambattista Ramusio. He gathered a vast array of both popular and
closely guarded narratives from the journals of Marco Polo to detailed reports from the Muslim
scholar and diplomat Leo Africanus. In an enthralling narrative Andrea di Robilant brings to
life the man who used all his political skill along with the help of conniving diplomats and
spies to democratise knowledge and show how the world was much larger than anyone previously
imagined.
