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Marco Polo, Rustichello of Pisa - The Travels of Marco Polo, 1
[7] Introduction p. 24, and passim in the notes.
[8] Ibid., p. 112.
[9] See Introduction, pp. 51, 57.
[10] See Title of present volumes.
[11] Which quite agrees with the story of the document quoted at p. 77 of
Introduction.
[12] Vol. i. p. 64, and p. 67.
[13] I.e. 1306; see Introduction, pp. 68-69.
[14] The form which Marco gives to this word was probably a reminiscence
of the Oriental corruption failsuf. It recalls to my mind a Hindu
who was very fond of the word, and especially of applying it to
certain of his fellow-servants. But as he used it, bara failsuf, -
"great philosopher" - meant exactly the same as the modern slang
"Artful Dodger"!
[15] See for the explanation of Karma, "the power that controls the
universe," in the doctrine of atheistic Buddhism, Hardy's Eastern
Monachism, p. 5.
[16] Vol. ii. p. 316 (see also i. 348).
[17] Vol. ii. pp. 318-319.
ORIGINAL PREFACE.
The amount of appropriate material, and of acquaintance with the mediaeval geography of some parts of
Asia, which was acquired during the compilation of a work of kindred character for the Hakluyt
Society,[1] could hardly fail to suggest as a fresh labour in the same field the preparation of a new
English edition of Marco Polo. Indeed one kindly critic (in the Examiner) laid it upon the writer
as a duty to undertake that task.
Though at least one respectable English edition has appeared since Marsden's,[2] the latter has continued
to be the standard edition, and maintains not only its reputation but its market value. It is indeed the work
of a sagacious, learned, and right-minded man, which can never be spoken of otherwise than with
respect. But since Marsden published his quarto (1818) vast stores of new knowledge have become
available in elucidation both of the contents of Marco Polo's book and of its literary history. The works
of writers such as Klaproth, Abel Remusat, D'Avezac, Reinaud, Quatremere, Julien, I. J. Schmidt,
Gildemeister, Ritter, Hammer-Purgstall, Erdmann, D'Ohsson, Defremery, Elliot, Erskine, and many
more, which throw light directly or incidentally on Marco Polo, have, for the most part, appeared since
then. Nor, as regards the literary history of the book, were any just views possible at a time when what
may be called the Fontal MSS. (in French) were unpublished and unexamined.
Besides the works which have thus occasionally or incidentally thrown light upon the Traveller's book,
various editions of the book itself have since Marsden's time been published in foreign countries,
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