I use R with the maps / mapproject / maptools packages to build some maps and notice a behavior that seems intuitive to me and actually limits what I can do.
Drawing a map of Europe (with limits taken from ETRS89 / ETRS-LCC , therefore without Iceland, as well as cropped in the East) without indicating the projection:
library(maps)
map("world",xlim=c(-10.67,34.5),ylim=c(31.55,71.05), interior = T)

The result will be as expected, the limits are used, and the final map follows them.
The projection used by default by maps is determined using the help:
The default is to use a rectangular projection with the aspect ratio
chosen so that longitude and latitude scales are equivalent at the
center of the picture.
This is not a good projection for my needs, I will use the LCC projection with parallels, as indicated in the link above links to spatial reference:
library(maps)
map("world",xlim=c(-10.67,34.5),ylim=c(31.55,71.05), interior = T, projection="lambert", parameters = c(45,65))
box()

, ( ), .
, :
library(maps)
library(mapproj)
map("world",xlim=c(-10.67,34.5),ylim=c(31.55,71.05), interior = T, projection="lambert", parameters = c(45,65))
map.grid(cex=0.1 , col="grey30")
box()

, ( , , ), , ( - , , , ). , , , map().
: map/mapproj/maptools? xlim/ylim , (.. , ).