Il Milione

The most famous travelogue of all time in a magnificent deluxe edition for the 700th anniversary. Anniversary edition for the Marco Polo year 2024, marking the 700th anniversary of the author's death.

"A stroke of luck in more than two hundred thirty mostly short chapters, a treasure trove from the late Middle Ages." - Tilman Spengler.

This extraordinarily vibrant book comes from an era when the world was still full of wonders. Marco Polo recounts these wonders, which he encountered on his journey through Asia along the Silk Road, to his contemporaries in Europe with enthusiastic abundance and attention to detail. Thus, a cultural and social portrait of the cities and realms he visited emerges, bearing such resonant names as Catai, Sapurgan, Balc, Sindufu, Quardandan, Mien, or Bangala.

Whether it be fabulously powerful rulers, dignified temple dancers, magnificent palaces, precious jewelry and artifacts, lavishly decorated bows, quivers, saddles, and harnesses, never-before-seen exotic animals, or pagan customs, Marco Polo's legendary world book is brimming with fantastic travel impressions, anecdotes, and curiosities. As a merchant traveler, he also has an eye for postal services, monetary transactions, and the organization of public life among Tatars, Mongols, and Chinese.

Tilman Spengler refers to Marco Polo's travelogue in his afterword as a "stroke of luck in more than two hundred thirty mostly short chapters, featuring occasionally adventurous and sometimes merely merchant-related incidents and occurrences, a literary cabinet, a treasure chamber from the late Middle Ages."

The present German version, expertly translated from the oldest surviving sources, from Old French and Latin (the Genoese original is lost), accompanied by an exclusive commentary and many useful explanations, is particularly lavishly set and equipped as an anniversary edition – a must-have not only for all long-distance travelers.