Travels of Marco Polo

All of us have read history as part of our curriculum, rarely, if ever, have we thought of the sources out of which historical narratives emerge. So, it was thrilling novelty reading Marco Polo's travelogue is an invaluable source, perennially referenced. That was an added incentive to read it. Marco Polo's narratuon of encounters, at times bizarre and previously unheard of , with varied peoples and ethnic groups all along the ancient silk route ,his acute observations of their social traditions in the thirteenth century is fascinating and immersive. As it is rendered in modern English reading is facile, fluid , and the cornucopia of anecdotes touching a very broad sweep of diverse cultures keeps readers hooked. Copious footnotes immensely help understanding. An authentic slice of medieval history that readers with a historical bent of mind must read.

it is a general book and very classic title with interesting genre while starting the book for read gradually..

I brought the book as I love to read travelogue. The chapters are very short, hence it fails to satisfy the thirst.. the contents has left me high and dry. Going by the quantum of the travel Marco Polo undertook the book should have been more descriptive. Too much information is squeezed in with very short chapters.The book has failed to quench my thirst.

To have travelled so far during a time when little was known abt lands beyond and in face of so many perils on the journey, Marco Polo's courage is so inspirational.....

Awesome packaging loved the the book in good condition.

Good one

worst quality

thanks

Une relation archi détaillée des périgrinations de l'immense Marco Polo.. Agrémentée de centaines de "footnotes" ( notes de bas de page.)..Difficile de garder son attention, totalement en éveil .. D'autant que si l'on en croit une autre des notes de l'auteur, cette relation de ses voyages exploratoires n'a pas été écrite par Marco Polo lui même, mais il l'aurait dictée- pendant qu'il était en prison- à un compagnon de cellule , parait il porté à l'exagération.. L'homme qu'a vu l'homme qu'a vu l'ours ? Ah bon... Il n'empêche, certaines pages sont bien intéressantes

I have compared this edition with Cliff (Penguin), Latham (Penguin), Marsden and Yule translations and am able to say this edition is the best one (by now) for it is the most complete print and translation is scholarly accurate. The introduction is concise but very informative. As an Iranian and a native Persian speaker. When it comes to the Iranian (Persian) names and geography, both in today Iran and in places that used to be part of ancient Iran, I found Latham's translation seriously inaccurate. It is very much like a man's loose take of history; for example: Latham's frequently names Turkey, while the Republic of Turkey was born in 1923 for the first time!! In Marco Polo's era, this part of the world was ruled by local Seljuk warlords, Mongols, etc before it was called Ottoman empire almost 200 years later. There are numerous other impermissible inaccuracies throughout the Latham's translation. Yule's introduction has many sections, is very boring and, at some points, becomes very unrelated. The text is also not complete. Unfortunately, an ultimate edition that has a detailed but related as well as interesting biography of Marco Polo, great citations/footnotes, plentiful maps, analysis of accuracy (including estimation of the influence of Rusticello's style & words) is still missing; however, this edition is a reliable and I think most useful edition.

Excellent read and a good way to rethink the connecting routes between Europe and Asia. Marco Polo narrates the story of his travels through a mediator, Rustichello da Pisa, complicating further notions of authorship and textual authenticity (the original manuscript has gone lost). But does it really matter? What I enjoyed the most is the mapping of mercantile interests of the late Middle Ages, the inventories of commodities as well as local customs and artifacts. But also recognizing the names of cities that in the course of history, and particularly our recent history, have had such a tragic fate (e.g., Iraq's Mosul).

The Travels of Marco Polo may be perhaps the most challenging travelogue ever put together. While Marco Polo was not the first to write about lands distant and alien to one’s own, he wrote of a journey of immense challenge and difficulty. Difficulty that is difficult to appreciate in our modern world. First of all, the most notable controversy; was Maro Polo a fraud? This reader disagrees. While some regard it as suspect that he traveled to Yuan Dynasty China and did not mention the largely Han practice of foot binding, one needs to remember that he was employed in the court of Kubilai Khan, a Mongol Emperor who headed a very multicultural court. While this reader is not a first class scholar of medieval China, the narrative through which Marco Polo describes the China of then corresponds somewhat to the cultural mosaic of today. While in the Southwest of China, he describes people of rather relaxed sexual practices, which have an eery similarity to the Naxi of Yunnan Province, he describes a religious mosaic that regularly alternates between either Christian, Muslim or, as he terms it, idolatory, he describes funerary practices, the choice of clothing, and dietary practices. Therefore, this reader rules favorably in the authenticity of Marco Polo’s account. The book in itself is mainly a travelogue, and describes everywhere from Armenia and the Caspian Sea region, China, India, the Middle East, and in the final chapter, Russia. Toward the end, the book becomes something of a commentary of the then current affairs, describing a conflict in what was then an area close to Russia’s frontier, and earlier parts of the book describe the conflict and intrigue in the court of the Great Khan. However, the book, for the most part, is a travelogue. The book is an immensely entertaining and readable account. With just simple relaxation and the right approach, one feels themselves there with Marco Polo, exploring unknown lands, and traveling a greater distance traveled by no man since the creation, in the words of the introduction. Marco Polo’s Travels, or to give it it’s actual title, Il Milione, is a timeless classic. A timeless work of inquiry and observation that is both intriguing and fascinating, and a pleasure for the soul.

I think that many of us, at one time or another, have wondered about what marvelously interesting lives some of the greats of history have experienced, and felt somewhat diminished by the every day everyday of our own lives. A read of Marco Polo's travels will provide all of the, 'escape into the great unknown', that anyone could ever desire, amid page after page of why we should be careful what we wish for...... We may get it! It is a fascinating read, and well worth the lector's voyage, however, don't be surprised if, among the strange strangeness, the reader (and Marco Polo) seem to become somewhat bored with the trip and just want to tap one's ruby slippers together and go home. This too is part of Marco Polo's tale. He left Italy as a pie-eyed adolescent, and grew to manhood amid Persian caravansari, Tamerlane's glory that was Samarquand, the endless bleakness of the Taklamakand Desert, the fantasies of the Mongol court of China, and the palace life of the south seas. How does one return from a trip like that, especially when it has literally made one into what one has become. Such is the nature of Marco Polo's post voyage travel log. It opens panaramas in time and space before the reader and allows one to see them with the eyes of a child awakening to adulthood. Curiousity becomes a way of life, and every thing learned is one more chance to survive on the road to the next adventure. The weakness in this work is the shoddy quality of the historical plates of nonsense interpretations of what Marco Polo saw, as seen through the eyes of an Italian engraver who never traveled further than the next Italian town. High quality plates of well researched historical images of what Marco Polo saw would have been far more interesting. Baring that, no images would have improved it.