The largely unstudied anonymous manuscript world map of c.1530 that is Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana MS Urb. Lat. 274, folios 73v-74r, has a hypothetical southern continent. This unusual feature forms an extravagant ring of land around the South Pole and is full of toponyms despite its designation as Terra Incognita. This paper includes a discussion of the map's toponyms in the known world and provides a comprehensive transcription and analysis of those of the southern continent. Many of the latter names seem to have been pure invention on the part of the mapmaker, but some are identical with those given by Columbus to features in Central America during his Fourth Voyage to the New World. The reasons for the placement of New World toponyms on the land to the south of Asia are discussed.

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This paper examines the history and development of books about islands in Western culture. Islands are prominent in Homer’s Odyssey, and Plato’s island of Atlantis is perhaps the most famous mythical island of all time. The Greeks were the first to develop the island-book as such, but Roman writers showed much less interest in insular themes. The article traces the history of the immrama (medieval Irish accounts of mythical Atlantic island voyages), notes the importance of islands in Marco Polo and John of Mandeville, describes the rise of the isolario, or island-book illustrated with maps, and concludes with the emergence of the Robinsonade.