The work was an important introduction for europeans to the history and geography of central asia and china. Marco polos travels was one of the worlds first best. Book of the marvels of the world on art and aesthetics. Marco polo also revealed the wonders of xanadu, the summer capital of mongol emperor kublai khan. In 15th century france, an artistic manuscript emerged, which was contributed to by the most famous and influential illuminator of that time. The document recounts the story of the commercial traveler marco polo in 192 pages and 84 magnificent, large scale illustrations with gold inlay.
Marco polo and the wonders of the east explorers of the new world library binding january 1, 2000. In the 14th century, the moroccan wanderer ibn battuta spent nearly 30 years traveling some 75,000 miles across africa, the middle east, india and southeast asia. Marco polo soon was caught up in the war between venice and. The illuminated manuscript on marco polos fascinating and adventurous travels ranks among the most famous manuscripts of the middle ages and is. Later it was part of the library of the french book collector alexandre petau. The worldfamous explorer marco polo is credited with many things, but perhaps the greatest is compiling one of the worlds first bestselling travelogues. In italian, the book of marco polos travels is titled il milione. Hal marcovitz a biography of the italian traveler who became the first european to cross asia completely and document his experiences. Marco polo and the wonders of the east explorers of the.
Truth to tell, many of marco polos tales of treasure were just thattales. The description of his stay in central asia in the. Marco polo s account was not just a simple record of the journey, but a description of the worlda mixture of a travel report, legend, hearsay, and practical information. Book of the marvels of the world in english commonly called the travels of marco polo, is a thcentury travelogue written down by rustichello da pisa from.
Book of marco polo or the wonders of the world fine. The illuminated manuscript on marco polo s fascinating and adventurous travels ranks among the most famous manuscripts of the middle ages and is considered a highlight of french book decoration. Marco polos book, the wonders of the world became the most common book of the middle ages after the bible. The travels of marco polo volume 1 by marco polo and. Wonders and whoppers following in marco polos footsteps through asia leads our intrepid author to some surprising conclusions. Polos book has ornamented libraries the world over for. The million, deriving from polos nickname emilione, or oriente poliano, lit. It describes the journey of the pioneer in the remote regions of asia, from his return journey through india to venice, and regions that marco polo probably never visited. Marco polos account of his journey became a best seller partly because of its new insights into a faraway part of the world. Marco polo by laurence bergreen books the guardian. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg.
Man s boundless enthusiasm for his subject is infectious, and he effectively conveys the sense of novelty and wonder that polo experienced. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Japans golden pavilion, the goldleafcovered kinkakuji, was built in 97, a century after polo published. Rarely have secular topics had such an intensive echo. Ever since he related the exploits of his journey to the empire. His famous book, the travels of marco polo, indicates that he was a man of.
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