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The Travels of Marco Polo (Wordsworth…
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The Travels of Marco Polo (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature) (original 1928; edition 1997)

by Marco Polo

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5,039572,158 (3.59)97
First published in 1931. None of the manuscripts which have come down to us represent the original form of Marco Polo's narrative, but it is clear that certain texts are closer to the lost original than others. Entrusted with the task of preparing a new Italian edition of Marco Polo, Benedetto discovered many unknown manuscripts. He carefully edited the most famous of the manuscripts (the Geographic text) and collated it with the other best known ones. · An invaluable index has been added to Aldo Ricci's of Benedetto's text, which includes all the identifications made in the Geographic tex… (more)
Member:cybik
Title:The Travels of Marco Polo (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature)
Authors:Marco Polo
Info:Wordsworth Editions Ltd (1997), Paperback, 320 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:*****
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Work Information

The Travels of Marco Polo by Marco Polo (Author) (1928)

  1. 50
    The Travels of Ibn Battutah by Ibn Battuta (bookwoman247)
    bookwoman247: Both men traveled extensively in Medeival times. It's interesting to compare the two; one from a Western perspective, and one from a Middle Eastern /North African perspective.
  2. 10
    El libro de Marco Polo by Marco Polo (caflores)
  3. 10
    Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (Jannes, Jannes)
  4. 00
    Contemporaries of Marco Polo by Manuel Komroff (jsoos)
    jsoos: travel narratives of four others who visited the East. Marco Polo has the best publicity - but these are worth reading
  5. 00
    Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu by Laurence Bergreen (JGolomb)
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» See also 97 mentions

English (42)  Dutch (4)  Italian (3)  Spanish (3)  Catalan (2)  French (1)  Swedish (1)  Hungarian (1)  All languages (57)
Showing 1-5 of 42 (next | show all)
I guess the biggest surprise of this book is that it's not really a narrative. It's more a description of the world as seen by Marco Polo. This makes it dull in places, and I almost feel I can repeat verbatim the opening to many chapters. "The people here are idolaters. They are subject to the Grand Khan, whose paper money is current between them."

Marco rarely gets into his personal experiences. He doesn't talk about his feelings on seeing these fantastic places, or his difficulties, or even really of the people he meets. Sometimes he gets into some interesting cultural observations, mostly to do with marriage or sexual habits, but otherwise it's pretty dry.

Apparently he was charged with escorting a Mongol princess for part of his journey, and at one point he lost his fortune! At another he governed a town. But he mentions nothing of the first two points and only briefly references the third. I want to hear about the princess! Not 8 different cities, all populated by idolators who use paper money. Of course, if you were a medieval traveller, this information would be much more useful than any story about a princess, and I think therein lies the problem of this book for modern audiences. It's not written for us. It's not written for curiosity or entertainment or historic value, it's a description of the world as it was at the time, written for a medieval audience. ( )
  weemanda | Nov 2, 2023 |
Have attempted to listen to this audio (downloaded from audible.co.uk) several but so far have had difficulty getting very far into it.[return][return]The narrator is distant and badly recorded - it sounds like he's recorded it down a phone line. The most animation in his voice comes when he stumbles over words he seems not to know but should have practised before recording. Italian in particular seems to be his sticking point - definately an issue when recording a narration of an Italian travelling to the far east! Otherwise his voice is flat and uninteresting - there is narely a breath or change in tone when announcing the chapter changes that happen on a regular basis and that could, nay should, be pulling the listener back to the recording. Instead, it becomes a background noise that is easily tuned out, and therefore missing the possibly fantastical story ( )
  nordie | Oct 14, 2023 |
Interesting book! ( )
  kslade | Dec 8, 2022 |
MARCO?

...

...

...

POLO!

If I never watched the Netflix show, I'd probably have little interest in this book. While this book is interesting, it's boring.

With that said I found the background history more entertaining. I suggest you find a biography or a history book on this topic first. I made that mistake. Or read the introduction. It's important to know that while Marco Polo get's full credit for this, it's pretty obvious he didn't fully write this all.

The best part of this and maybe the reason to read this book is when he starts talking about the Khans. It's interesting they didn't seem to mind Polo and Polo seemed to admire them and respect them. Unlike other explorers, all he was doing was observing and trading. He wasn't looking to convert, kill, or conquer people. However, I need to read more about Polo, because this is my impression after reading only this book.

Basically, yes this is a classic and yes this inspired others, but in my option it's not worth reading unless you are interested. Now to find other books about Marco Polo and the Khans. ( )
  Ghost_Boy | Aug 25, 2022 |
Mui interessante olhar para o mundo desde a perspectiva daquela época. Ler um material em primeira mão fornece uma percepção mais acurada da realidade à época. ( )
  danielzonn | Mar 25, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 42 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (444 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Polo, MarcoAuthorprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Rusticiano da PisaAuthormain authorall editionsconfirmed
Andreose, AlviseEditorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Barbieri, AlvaroEditorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Mauro, MarinaContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Renzi, LorenzoForewordsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Armiño, MauroEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Øye, AgneteTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Badel, Pierre-YvesEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bellonci, MariaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bertolucci Pizzorusso, Valeriasecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Blay, Frédéric LeEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bringsværd, Tor ÅgePrefacesecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Camesasca, EttoreEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Cardona, Giorgio RaimondoContributorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Carrera Díaz, ManuelEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Cliff, NigelTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Corbino, JonIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Della Valle, ValeriaAfterwordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Dwiggins, W. A.Illustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Friston, Adrian deIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Göransson, G.Cover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gemme, Francis R.Introductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gordon, WitoldIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Guignard, EliseTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Haakman, AntonTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Harris, PeterEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Joki, Aulis J.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jonckheere, KarelTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Komroff, ManuelEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lapshin, Nikolai FodorovitchIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Latham, RonaldEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Malvano, Maria VittoriaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Marsden, Edward W.Editorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Marsden, WilliamTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Masefield, JohnIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Moule, Arthur ChristopherEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Painter, Douglas M.Introductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pisa, Rustichello daAuthorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ricci, AldoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ronchi, GabriellaEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rossabi, MorrisEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rugoff, MiltonEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Segre, CesareForewordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Strizzi, SergioPhotographersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
t'Serstevens, AlbertTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Tusseau, Jean-PierreTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Waugh, TeresaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wright, ThomasEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Yerasimos, StéphaneEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Yule, HenryTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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The Venetian Marco Polo is not only the most renowned traveler in world history, but he and his book have generated more speculation then almost any other person or volume in world literature.
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First published in 1931. None of the manuscripts which have come down to us represent the original form of Marco Polo's narrative, but it is clear that certain texts are closer to the lost original than others. Entrusted with the task of preparing a new Italian edition of Marco Polo, Benedetto discovered many unknown manuscripts. He carefully edited the most famous of the manuscripts (the Geographic text) and collated it with the other best known ones. · An invaluable index has been added to Aldo Ricci's of Benedetto's text, which includes all the identifications made in the Geographic tex

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