The Travels of Marco Polo - The Venetian (Relié)

Marco Polo's extraordinary travelogue — which has fascinated readers for more than seven centuries — is published here in a new and updated edition. The thirteenth-century Venetian embarked on his epic journey into Asia in I271 as a young man of seventeen, and did not return home for twenty-four years. His vivid account of the Silk Road and of the cities and cultures of Iraq, Iran, China and India opened a window for Western readers on to the startling, sophisticated world of the East.
Above all, he offered to them an intimate and unique portrait of Khubilai Khan, Mongol emperor of China, and today his dazzling descriptions of the riches of the Great Khan's court, of his splendid new capital, Dadu, and of the vibrant Chinese metropolis of Hangzhou are timely reminders of the enduring wealth and power of Chinese civilization. While satisfying the medieval appetite for the exotic and the marvellous, Marco Polo's book strikes a modern audience as remarkable for its clarity, realism and tolerance.
The classic Marsden and Wright translation of The Travels has been edited by Peter Harris, with clear, accurate notes on the people and places Marco Polo described, a bibliography, and an introduction by award-winning travel writer Colin Thubron.