The Travels [of Marco Polo, the Venetian] (Penguin Clothbound Classics)

li, 417 pp. Maps precede text. Translated into English from the original French, with an introduction and notes, by Nigel Cliff. "The Travels of Marco Polo is the usual English title of Marco Polo's travel book, nicknamed Il Milione (The Million, see below) or Le Livre des Merveilles (The Book of Wonders). This description of his travels and stays in the Orient, including Asia, Persia, China and Indonesia, between 1271 and 1298 is also known as Oriente Poliano or Description of the World. It was a very famous and popular book in the 13th century. The text claims that Marco Polo became an important figure at the court of the Mongol leader Kublai Khan. However, modern scholars debate how much of the account is accurate and whether or not Marco Polo ever actually traveled to the court or was just repeating stories that he had heard from other travellers. The book was actually written in French by a romance author of the time, Rustichello da Pisa, who was reportedly working from accounts which he had heard from Marco Polo when they were in prison in Genoa having been captured while on a ship."