The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, Concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East.

YULE, Colonel Henry.

$1,850.00

Item Number: 90447

London: John Murray, 1871.

First edition of Yule’s important work which correlated Polo’s travels with their present-day locations. Octavo, two volumes. Bound in three quarters morocco with gilt tooling featuring naval vignettes and red morocco spine labels lettered in gilt to the spines, top edges gilt, marbled endpapers, with maps and engraved illustrations many folding and in color. In near fine condition. First editions are uncommon.

Venetian merchant and explorer Marco Polo's travels were first recorded in his Livre des merveilles du monde (Book of the Marvels of the World, also known as The Travels of Marco Polo, c. 1300), a book that described to Europeans the wealth and great size of China, its capital Peking, and other Asian cities and countries. Centuries later, Scottish Orientalist Henry Yule's most important contribution was in clarifying Polo's routes by identifying and matching the medieval geographic place names used by Polo and his transcribers with their actual present-day locations and names.