From the front cover: 'This is the complete book - Not a digest.' No. Sized to fit in the pocket of the American GI during World War II. Issued by the Council on Books in Wartime. Introduction by the editor, Manuel Komroff. No store stamp, owner's name or bookplate. Original pictorial yellow wraps, printed in black and red. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. This title tells the story of the holy shoemaker and the wicked caliph and the three kings. Presents the accounts of the author's travels that provide a glimpse of the different societies he encountered: their religions, customs, ceremonies and way of life on the spices and silks of the East on precious gems, exotic vegetation and wild beasts.

He tells the story of the holy shoemaker, the wicked caliph and the three kings, among a great many others, evoking a remote and long-vanished world with colour and immediacy. The accounts of his travels provide a fascinating glimpse of the different societies he encountered: their religions, customs, ceremonies and way of life on the spices and silks of the East on precious gems, exotic vegetation and wild beasts. On his return to the West he was made a prisoner of war and met Rustichello of Pisa, with whom he collaborated on this book. His voyages began in 1271 with a visit to China, after which he served the Kubilai Khan on numerous diplomatic missions. Marco Polo was the most famous traveller of his time. The text is a complete1y modern version of the famous Marsden - Wright translation. This Signet Classic edition is the most thoroughly annotated popular edition ever published of The Travels of Marco Polo. Today we know that Marco's account is not only an amazing narrative of strange experiences, but the richest and most reliable picture of the Near East, India, and the Orient of the Middle Ages.

When he returned twenty - five years later he told such a tale - of the vast empire and dazzling court of Kublai Khan, of terrible deserts and great mountain ranges, of yogis and pearl divers and cannibals, of men who offered their wives to visitors, of the Old Man of the Mountain with his hashish - drugged 'Assassins,' of stones that burned and streams of jade. FROM THE PUBLISHER - Perhaps the longest and most remarkable journey ever undertaken was that of young Marco Polo, who set out from Venice in 1271 and wandered into the unknown East as far as Cathay. A Modern Version Of The Famous Marsden-Wright Translation From The Italian.Edited & With An Introduction By Milton Rugoff.

The Travels of Marco Polo by Marco Polo