Manuscript Viewer: Non Flash Version

In 1434, Venetian mariner Michael of Rhodes began an ambitious manuscript containing 440 pages on mathematics, astronomy, astrology and navigation, as well as one of the world's earliest surviving treatises on shipbuilding, and a record of his annual voyages. The manuscript was written in the Venetian dialect of Italian, which Michael apparently learned at about the age of 16.

This viewer provides access to selected pages of the manuscript in their original form, as well as their Italian transcription and English translation.

View a page from the manuscript.

Mathematics: A Cargo of Pepper (p. 1b)
Mathematics: A Cargo of Pepper (p. 2a)
Mathematics: The Rule of Three (p. 10a)
Mathematics: The Chapters of Algebra (p. 12a)
Navigation: The Method of the Marteloio (p. 47a)
Navigation: The Method of the Marteloio (p. 47b)
Navigation: The Method of the Marteloio (p. 48a)
Navigation: The Method of the Marteloio (p. 48b)
Life at Sea: Service Record, 1401-1405 (p. 90-2b)
Life at Sea: Service Record, 1406-1411 (p. 91-2a)
Life at Sea: Service Record, 1412-1417 (p. 91-2b)
Life at Sea: Service Record, 1418-1424 (p. 92a)
Life at Sea: Service Record, 1425-1431 (p. 92b)
Life at Sea: Service Record, 1432-1438 (p. 93a)
Life at Sea: Service Record, 1439-1445 (p. 93b)
Time Reckoning: Medical Astrology (p. 103b)
Time Reckoning: The Sign of Libra (p. 107a)
Time Reckoning: The Sign of Capricorn (p. 108b)
Time Reckoning: Dangerous Days of the Year (p. 111a)
Life at Sea: Fleet Orders (p. 112a)
Life at Sea: Fleet Orders (p. 118a)
Navigation: Portolan of Juan Pires (p. 120a)
Navigation: Entering Three Atlantic Ports (p. 125b)
Time Reckoning: Houses of the Sun and Moon (p. 130b)
Time Reckoning: Tables of Solomon (p. 131b)
Shipbuilding: Galley of Flanders Intro (p. 135b)
Shipbuilding: Frame Diagram (p. 138b)
Shipbuilding: Frame Diagram (p. 139a)
Shipbuilding: Bow and Stern Diagrams (p. 139b)
Shipbuilding: Half Section (p. 140b)
Shipbuilding: Ships Boats (p. 143a)
Shipbuilding: Lateen Sails (p. 144b)
Shipbuilding: Galley of Flanders at Sea (p. 145b)
Misc: Michael's Coat of Arms (p. 147b)
Shipbuilding: Masts, Spars, and Boats (p. 162b)
Shipbuilding: Square-Rigged Ship (p. 182b)
Navigation: Portolan for Salonika (p. 192b)
Misc: St. Christopher Carrying the Baby Jesus (p. 202a)
Life at Sea: Testament of Giovanni da Drivasto (p. 236a)
Life at Sea: Testament of Giovanni da Drivasto (p. 236b)