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The Travels of Marco Polo Paperback – September 30, 1958

by Marco Polo (Author), Ronald Latham (Translator)

4.3 823 ratings

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Marco Polo was the most famous traveller of his time. His voyages began in 1271 with a visit to China, after which he served the Kubilai Khan on numerous diplomatic missions. On his return to the West he was made a prisoner of war and met Rustichello of Pisa, with whom he collaborated on this book. The accounts of his travels provide a fascinating glimpse of the different societies he encountered: their religions, customs, ceremonies and way of life; on the spices and silks of the East; on precious gems, exotic vegetation and wild beasts. He tells the story of the holy shoemaker, the wicked caliph and the three kings, among a great many others, evoking a remote and long-vanished world with colour and immediacy.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

About the Author

Marco Polo travelled to China in 1271 and spent the next twenty years in the service of Kublai Khan. He wrote his famous Travels after returning home, whilst a prisoner in Genoa.

Print length

384 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Classics
Publication date

September 30, 1958
Dimensions

5.1 x 0.9 x 7.8 inches
ISBN-10

0140440577
ISBN-13

978-0140440577
Lexile measure

790L
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Classics; Reissue edition (September 30, 1958)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0140440577
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140440577
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 790L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.1 x 0.9 x 7.8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #39,308 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6 in Cruise Travel Reference
- #53 in Expeditions & Discoveries World History (Books)
- #71 in Travelogues & Travel Essays

Customer Reviews:
4.3 823 ratings

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Marco Polo
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Marco Polo was the original, trailblazing tourist. He was born into a wealthy Venetian merchant family in 1254 and at the age of 17 he embarked on an epic journey to Asia, as one of the first westerners to ever visit China. When he returned 24 years later he recorded his extensive travels in a book – publishing possibly the first travel guide ever – and introducing Europeans to Central Asia and China.
Marco Polo’s travels have since inspired countless adventurers to set off and see the world. Allegedly, Christopher Columbus set off across the Atlantic with a copy of Marco Polo’s original book!
It is this pioneering spirit that drives us at Marco Polo Travel Publishing to provide you with the best guides, maps and atlases possible – to inspire you to set off on your own adventures and help you travel the world. We offer a wide range of high quality travel publications to over 200 destinations, all written by local and trusted authors.
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4.3 out of 5

823 global ratings

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Seachranaiche

The Size of the World

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2007

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It has been a pleasure to revisit the travels of Marco Polo. I was transfixed by these stories of travel and adventure when I was a child, and never questioned the veracity of the narrative. I know today that the narrative has been corrupted over the centuries, that "The Travels" can scarcely be used as an historical reference, and that a more tantalizing and complete manuscript has probably been lost to the ages. Still, there are glimpses and insights within the narrative that could only have come from first-hand experience, and these describe an enormous, exotic world that titillates even today, while readers in the 13th and 14th centuries must have been enthralled.

I was most keen this time around to Polo's descriptions of the cultures and wildlife he encountered, of the whales and lions and leopards and bears--he even describes a white bear, and the people who hunted it were surely of the group often called Eskimos. He describes dog-sledding in the far north and the cannibalistic practices of the people of Java far to the south, both of which are extant in our current era. There are also the fascinating observations of the Mongol Empire, of that group of nomadic people who somehow rose up, like an event in an Isaac Asimov novel, to conquer much of the known world.

Somewhat depressingly, though, are Polo's observations of the tensions that existed between the Islamic and Christian worlds, tensions rooted in the competition for hegemony over trade in the Far East. Seven hundred years later, these tensions are still acting themselves out.

This translation by Ronald Latham from 1958 includes an introduction that puts Marco Polo's life in context with events and includes footnotes to help the reader make sense of the myriad manuscripts that make up the travels of Marco Polo. This is a somewhat dry read; even Latham comments on the paucity of skill employed by Polo's chronicler. Once I put my mind in context with the narrative, however, I was able to roll with the repetition and sycophancy and enjoy the text.

17 people found this helpful

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Alexis Icoraksus

Exactly what it promises.

Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2023

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The book itself is a no-frills, straightforward paperback. It is sturdy enough and the font size is normal.

The content is, of course, unparalleled. How can you review Marco Polo for goodness sake? Don't buy this if you're looking for a textbook on the places described but do buy it for insight into how a foreigner of the time might have perceived the places of the time. It's a personal account and the book has all that entails. If you go into it dismissing things out of hand or with the impression that Polo lied about things, you're going to miss out on a lot; just as much as you would if you go into it thinking he's a completely objective, peer-reviewed anthropologist. It's a work of important literature.

6 people found this helpful

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Timothy

Great book

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2023

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Everything you need to know about Marco polo and more!

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Reza

The Best Marco Polo so far

Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2019

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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.

80 people found this helpful

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Anne B

Not enough maps and too much commentary

Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2022

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I am very disappointed in the structure of this book. It makes it very difficult to read and figure out which parts are the original book. I am at page 260, and just barely starting the actual content of the book. The first section of the book is a prolonged discussion about the historical significance of the events and details about Marco Polo and his family. There are frequent commentaries in Latin and French.
There is only one map so far! This map was probably part of the original book but is very hard to read. Since all the commentary talks about places that no longer exist and how far they are from each other, many detailed and clear maps would really help with the historical discussion.
I am enjoying the historical discussion but would have loved to have the actual content of the original book written as a seamless section for clarity and just plan enjoyability.

5 people found this helpful

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Parveen Bhasin

A classic tale

Reviewed in India on March 25, 2023

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

AC

Excellent read and a good way to rethink the connecting ...

Reviewed in Canada on January 29, 2018

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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).

2 people found this helpful

Adrian J. Smith

An adventure for all times and all ages

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 24, 2016

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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.

4 people found this helpful

MCM

Un travail d'entomologiste...

Reviewed in France on July 1, 2013

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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

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Rupak Medhi

Marco Polo abridged...

Reviewed in India on January 20, 2017

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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.

4 people found this helpful

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