The Travels

Marco Polo's remarkable account of his travels from Venice to the Beijing court of the emperor Khubilai Khan and around Asia captured the imaginations of thirteenth-century Europeans, revealing the East to them for the first time. From the spice forests of Sumatra to the Sea of Japan, this elusive, astonishing work describes palaces the size of cities, bejewelled kings, 'paper money', pearl fishers, yogi and naked warriors in vivid, immediate detail. Now in a fresh, authoritative translation, it remains one of the most influential travel books of all time.