Tracking Marco Polo

Tim Severin

ISBN 10: 0710021089 / ISBN 13: 9780710021083

Published by Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1964

About this Item

Dust jacket in good condition. First edition. SIGNED and inscribed by the author. Shelf and handling wear to cover and binding, with general signs of previous use. Dust jacket protected in a mylar cover. Secure packaging for safe delivery.

Seller Inventory # 1770475033

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Tracking Marco Polo
• Publisher: Routledge & Kegan Paul
• Publication Date: 1964
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0710021089
• ISBN 13: 9780710021083
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good
• Weight: 0.95 pounds
• Signed: signed and inscribed by author

About this title

Synopsis

Marco Polo was one of the greatest explorers of all time.

Still an undergraduate student of geography in Oxford, Timothy Severin took up the challenge of following in Marco Polo's footsteps during the summer of 1961.

Using the great explorer’s journals as a route guide, Severin (with fellow university student Stanley Johnson and photographer Michael de Larrabeiti) followed Marco Polo all the way from Venice to Afghanistan — on two motorbikes with sidecar.

This is his witty and enthralling account of a latter-day caravan through Armenia and Persia, across deserts and mountains, as Severin and his companions overcome crashes, floods, sandstorms and linguistic muddles with zest and ingenuity.

Ancient and modern jostle for attention in the bustling towns and panoramic landscapes of Turkey and Afghanistan. Seeking out thirteenth-century Asia, they pass through the Valley of the Assassins to find the village of the Magi. And even with his foot in plaster, Severin takes a camel ride high into the Deh Bakri Pass in search of the famed ‘apples of paradise’.

The excitement, the discomfort, and the sheer magic of this epic journey are brought vividly to life.

From School Library Journal

YA Severin, 20, and two companions set out to visit the same countryside that Marco Polo had described 700 years earlier, hoping to verify his observations. This account of their mishaps and sheer fun should fascinate high-school students. On two motorcycles equipped with side cars, they retrace Polo's overland journey from Venice across Turkey, Persia, and Afghanistan, surviving crashes, sandstorms and floods, language problems, jail stays, and exotic foods. With his broken foot in a cast, Tim rides a camel through the Deh Bakri Pass with guides whom he comes to suspect are drug smugglers, and he tastes ``apples of paradise.'' Through this exciting travelogue, readers will come to know the people, the land, and the history as well as the three adventurers, all of whom are now Oxford graduates and professional writers. Lee Kobayashi, St. Francis Day School, Houston
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.