Composed in a prison cell in 1298 by Venetian merchant Marco Polo and Arthurian romance writer Rustichello of Pisa, The Description of the World relates Polo's experiences in Asia and at the court of Qubilai, the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. In addition to a new translation based on the Franco-Italian "F" manuscript of Polo's text, this edition includes genealogies of the Mongol rulers and nine maps of Polo's journey, as well as thorough annotation and an extensive bibliography.

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. After first publishing the Latin original, A. C. Moule went to work translating the Latin into English. Here he gives credit to his predecessors, Giovanni Battista Ramusio (1485-1557) and Sir Henry Yule (1820-1899). Yule's work was published by his daughter in 1903. A. C. Moule was gratified when his translations often came out the same as theirs. 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.

The first modern translation of one of the world's earliest ethnographies

First systematic study of the book which for centuries remained the western world's chief source of information about many parts of Asia.

An encyclopedia designed especially to meet the needs of elementary, junior high, and senior high school students.

"It sounds like a simple thing, to say what you see," Mark Doty begins. "But try to find words for the shades of a mottled sassafras leaf, or the reflectivity of a bay on an August morning, or the very beginnings of desire stirring in the gaze of someone looking right into your eyes . . ." Doty finds refuge in the sensory experience found in poems by Blake, Whitman, Bishop, and others. The Art of Description is an invaluable book by one of America's most revered writers and teachers.

Rise of the Mongols offers readers a selection of five important works that detail the rise of the Mongol Empire through Chinese eyes. Three of these works were written by officials of South China's Southern Song dynasty and two are from officials from North China writing in the service of the Mongol rulers. Together, these accounts offer a view of the early Mongol Empire very different not just from those of Muslim and Christian travelers and chroniclers, but also from the Mongol tradition embodied in The Secret History of Mongols. The five Chinese source texts (in English translation, each with their own preface): Selections from Random Notes from Court and Country since the Jianyan Years, vol.2, by Li Xinchuan"A Memorandum on the Mong-Tatars," by Zhao Gong"A Sketch of the Black Tatars," by Peng Daya and Xu Ting"Spirit-Path Stele for His Honor Yelü, Director of the Secretariat," by Song Zizhen"Notes on a Journey," by Zhang Dehui Also included are an introduction, index, bibliography, and appendices covering notes on the texts, tables and charts, and a glossary of Chinese and transcribed terms.