The Travels of Marco Polo (Paperback)

~ (Author) "LET me begin with Armenia..." (more)
Key Phrases: fine sendal, southwards for three days, using paper money, Great Khan, Prester John, Chinghiz Khan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A timeless addition to any travel collection. (Library Journal )

A timeless addition to any travel collection. -- Library Journal --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Description

It was perhaps the first book to achieve best-seller status before the invention of the printing press-it was certainly the most controversial. Did Venetian trader and explorer MARCO POLO (1254-1324) actually reach the court of Kublai Khan, serve the emperor as his emissary, and journey the distant lands of Cathay for 17 years, as he relates in his Travels of Marco Polo? The question still hasn't quite been settled today... but whether Polo experienced firsthand the wonders of ancient China, retold tales he heard from Arab travelers along the Silk Road, or simply invented half his stories, this remains a delightful read for fans of history, adventure, and medieval literature. The new edition features illustrations from a 14th-century French version of Polo's manuscript.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Cosimo Classics (October 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1602068615
• ISBN-13: 978-1602068612
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #352,166 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

103 of 111 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Go to the Source, May 8, 2000

By	Bruce Kendall "BEK" (Southern Pines, NC) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This review is from: The Travels of Marco Polo (Paperback)

This volume will enthrall anyone interested in true adventure. Marco Polo was the original Indiana Jones and then some. Please do not waste time on Gary Jennings' The Journeyer. This is the real deal and needs no dramatic embellishments. The Travels takes you on a trip from 13th century Venice to "Cathay" and back again. You will learn how Europeans found out about fireworks, paper currency, printing and pasta. The harrowing journey across the Gobi desert is particularly well reported. Marco Polo was more than an explorer. He was one of the world's first anthropologists. This is an exciting read, an account of how medieval Europe initially perceived China and the far east, and of how the Mongol rulers and Chinese emperors perceived them. Highly recommended. As to the print quality of the Penguin edition, I have had my copy since the early eighties and it has yellowed only slightly. Viking is now printing on acid-free paper. One must remember that these editions were printed primarily to reach the widest audience for the least amount of expense at the time. For years, Penguins were accessible to students and to the collector who couldn't afford an elaborate, fully illustrated, fully mapped volume of a particular work. I couldn't have read as many of them as I did in my late teens and early twenties if that were not the case. I owe a lifelong debt to the editors for their efforts. I've also never read a bad translation of any Penguin Classic.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and Enduring , November 3, 2004

By	Gianmarco Manzione (Tampa, FL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Travels of Marco Polo (Paperback)

This is a fascinating and timeless narrative for many reasons. On a somewhat superficial level, Polo's book is a must read for lovers of travel or adventure stories, as it reads like a great lost book of the Bible, rife with historic vengeance, heroic warriors, eccentric mystics, penultimate battles and rallying speeches that seem torn out of the best passages of Thucydides. Many of the practices and beliefs Polo witnessed -- specifically, polygamous peoples, perspectives on sexuality, methods of execution and the dazzling ways in which the people Polo came across attempted to please the gods and interpret the cosmos -- offer a memorable glimpse into a unique historical epoch. Particularly engrossing are the stories of violent tensions between Christian and Islamic sects in Polo's day and region. One gets a sense that not much has changed in the past 800 years as Polo details the struggles between the eastern and western world even then, many of which redound to financial issues (sound familiar?). Polo's insistence on portraying Moslems and Buddhists as savage rogues does make for a one-dimensional and distinctly Christian view of the world as it was in Polo's day, and his language is hardly the most attractive aspect of the book, which is written in a particularly conversational and redundant style. But the stories and characters contained within these pages are epic and unforgettable. I encourage lovers of Tolkein, C.S. Lewis and Rowling to read this book. Lovers of ancient history and philosophy are also bound to adore it. Most impressively, though, is the insight Polo offers into the birth of the now-infamous rift between the western and eastern worlds. This enduring relevance guarantees that we will be reading Polo's "Travels" for centuries to come.

57 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This is a difficult review......., May 29, 2001

By	nto62 (Corona, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Travels of Marco Polo (Paperback)

If your desire is purely technical, you can't do any better than this. However, if you plan to read this book strictly for enjoyment, then thumbtack your eyelids up. The translation is quite literal, bringing you the repetitive references, archaic descriptives, and provincial wherewithal of the time. It is brutal and requires every ounce of perserverence to read from cover to cover. I was in pain as I forced myself through countless redundancies in thickly worded prose that left me yearning to drop the book and set off on another. It was a battle to stay engaged. But, I finish the books I start and saw it through to the end. Knowledge was gleaned and that's a positive. However, the book is better employed as a reference. Godspeed, determined reader.