Marco Polo The Description of the World A.C. Moule & Paul Pelliot Volume 1 - Softcover

Polo, Marco

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9784871873086: Marco Polo The Description of the World A.C. Moule & Paul Pelliot Volume 1

Softcover

ISBN 10: 4871873080 ISBN 13: 9784871873086

Publisher: Ishi Press, 2010

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This is by far the most complete and most authoritative translation of the work of Marco Polo (1254-1324). It is based on a manuscript found by Sir Percival David (1892-1964) in the Catedral de Toledo in Spain where it had lain forgotten for 130 years. That manuscript was a copy written in 1795 and was in turn based on a manuscript written in about 1400. The manuscript in Cathedral de Toledo is in Latin. Arthur Christopher Moule (1873-1957) painstakingly transcribed it into type written text. He was so careful to be faithful to the original that he even transcribed meaningless punctuation marks. The Latin text was published as Volume 2 in 1935, even though it was published first. Volume One followed three years later and was published in 1938. A. C. Moule took 17 different versions of the Marco Polo manuscripts. He then combined them into one document by putting into italics those words that are not found in the other versions. Then, on the outside margins and sometimes in the footnotes, he uses a code to show where and in which version the words in italics can be found. He was careful to note the differences. Every word that is different from the words of Ramusio or Yule is put in italics. In addition, there is a chart showing where the page numbers to this work are different from the page numbers of the other translations. Thus, a reader looking at a page of this book can quickly find the equivalent page in the Yule work.

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About the Author:

Marco Polo (c. 1254 – January 8, 1324) was a merchant from the Venetian Republic who wrote Il Milione or "The Description of the World", which introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccol� and Maffeo, traveled through Asia and met Kublai Khan. In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet Marco for the first time. The three of them embarked on an epic journey to Asia, returning after 24 years to find Venice at war with Genoa; Marco was imprisoned, and dictated his stories to a cellmate. He was released in 1299, became a wealthy merchant, married and had 3 children. He died in 1324, and was buried in San Lorenzo. Il Milione was translated, embellished, copied by hand and adapted. This led to Marco's quest, through Acre, into China and to the Mongol court. Marco wrote of his extensive travels throughout Asia on behalf of the Khan, and their eventual return after 15,000 miles (24,140 km) and 24 years of adventures. Their pioneering journey inspired Columbus and others.

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