The Travels of Marco Polo - 1926 Modern Library edition

At the height of the Venetian Empire, young Marco Polo embarked on an epic journey that would transform our understanding of the world. For twenty-four years, he traversed the vast expanse of Asia, serving at the court of Kublai Khan and witnessing wonders that would seem impossible to his European contemporaries. His subsequent account—dictated in a Genoese prison—would become one of the most influential travel narratives ever written. This Modern Library edition, expertly edited by Manuel Komroff and based on William Marsden's classic translation, presents Polo's remarkable chronicle in all its richness, from his descriptions of paper money and postal systems to his encounters with creatures both real and mythical. Through Polo's eyes, readers experience the splendors of Xanadu, the perils of the Gobi Desert, and the wealth of medieval China's great cities. Though initially dismissed as "Il Milione" (The Million Lies), his account would prove remarkably accurate, opening the East to European imagination and commerce for centuries to come. More than just a travelogue, The Travels of Marco Polo remains a vital window into a pivotal moment in world history, when Eastern and Western civilizations first began to truly understand one another. - The Travels of Marco Polo. Revised from Marsden's translation and edited with an introduction by Manuel Komroff. Published 1926, Modern Library / Random House Inc., New York Hardcover. Approx. 5x7in. 351pp. Spine is sun-faded.