Hide this

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

The Travels of Marco Polo by Marco Polo
Loading...

The Travels of Marco Polo

by Marco Polo

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations
1,419122,595 (3.61)25
Loading...
won't like will probably not like will probably like will like will love

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
Name of the traslator does not appear ( )
  GlenRalph | Jul 16, 2009 |
A book that is a bit of a mystery, but it seems to have been the record of a real journey to the East. ( )
  GlenRalph | Jul 16, 2009 |
Polo's Travels are a good look at the exploration boom in 14th Century Europe. His forays into the Asian continent and his descriptions of the geography, peoples, and customs culminate in Columbus's Great Adventure in 1492. These stories are told in the third person, as Polo himself dictated them to Rustichello to collect for a book. While his descriptions sometime border on the quick and simplistic, the sheer amount of locales as well as the many fantastical stories is indeed marvelous. ( )
  NielsenGW | Mar 7, 2009 |
Marco Polo did not, really, write this book - it was put together by a hack romantic writer by the name of Rustichello; however, we should be wary of diminishing Polo's contribution to this classical volume, since he, with his father and uncle, travelled further and more comprehensively than any other man of his times. The modern equivalent would probably require a trip to Saturn or something.

However, just because it is a classic doesn't mean that 'The Travels' was well-written. There are many mistakes and repetitions in the work, and at times it becomes a slog working through accounts of peoples described as being 'idolators, subject to the great Khan's rule, who use paper money.' Really, there are pages of that stuff - every paragraph begins the same way.

That said, it is surprising, considering the nearly eight hundred years that have passed since the book was written, that it is as readable as it is. ( )
  soylentgreen23 | Sep 15, 2008 |
This was quite a fascinating read, even if the end notes slowed me down a bit, as well as the fact that there seems to be a bit of confusion about place names and customs, etc.. I'm not sure if the confusion is due to Marco Polo not having notes available when he told the story to Rustichello while he was in prison, to the difficulties of translation or to fact that much of what he related was second-hand. Probably it was a combination of these factors, although more of the last.

I do regret the fact that my edition has no map, as it would have been fun to follow the route visually. My edition does contain an itinerary, though, so that made up for the lack somewhat.

I do wish that Marco Polo had dwelt more on his (and his father and uncle's) personal experiences while traveling, though. I can only imagine some of the hardships they faced.

On then other hand, I loved the descriptions of cities, palaces, customs, etc..

It certainly is an incredible read - so rich in Eastern history, culture, and lore. ( )
  bookseller525 | Jan 4, 2008 |
Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Series (with order)
Canonical Title
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Book description

Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 0140440577, Paperback)

Chosen as one of the ten best adventure books of all time by National Geographic Adventure. Liveright is proud to reissue a facsimile of its classic 1926 edition of The Travels of Marco Polo. Beginning from the traditional lyrical Marsden translation, editor Manuel Komroff corrected it against Henry Yule's magisterial two-volume work, including a chapter missing from the Marsden. The artist Witold Gordon created thirty-two two-color woodcut illustrations for the original edition, published again here for the first time in over fifty years. The Travels of Marco Polo remains a wondrous adventure narrative. Chronicling the thirteenth-century world from Venice, his birthplace, to the far reaches of Asia, Marco Polo tells of the foreign peoples he meets as he travels by foot, horse, and boat through places including Persia, the land of the Tartars, Tibet, India, and, most important, China. There he stays at the court of Kublai Khan, venturing to the capital of Beijing and to Shangtu, made immortal in Coleridge's poem "Xanadu." This is a gripping look at a legendary place and time. Two-color illustrations.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:00 -0400)

(see all 5 descriptions)

The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details.

Quick Links

Ebooks Audio Swap
10 free
5 pay
0/92

Popular covers

 

Help/FAQs | About | Privacy/Terms | Blog | Contact | LibraryThing.com | APIs | WikiThing | Common Knowledge | 46,825,108 books!