The account of the first circumnavigation voyage by Antonio Pigafetta — one of the 18 survivors — is probably the most important written document associated with the famous voyage conceived by Ferdinand Magellan. Through Pigafetta's testimony, not only would the story of this magnificent feat be told differently, but the door of immortality would be opened to the Portuguese navigator.

In homage to the transformative power of the voyage and Pigafetta's peculiar account, the cover of this Portuguese edition emphasises the idea of duality. The before and the after. The departure and the arrival. The robust armada and the depleted survivors. The darkness of ignorance and the light of knowledge. The graphic tension between front and back covers — the imperfect parallelism — thus evokes a voyage as controversial as it was transformative, one that would change not only our perception of the world, but our perception of knowledge itself.

The interior, in turn, is organised on a grid that gives primacy to the content and its particularities. As a connecting element, it is crossed by the horizon line traced on the cover, which guides the chapter openings and vertical alignments of the notes.

Antonio Pigafetta: Relação da Primeira Viagem em Torno do Mundo is a publication by Imprensa Nacional, with translation, editing and notes by Joana Lima.