Ser Marco Polo: Notes and Addenda to Sir Henry Yule's Edition

What it is

This is a 1920 book by Henri Cordier, a French professor, containing notes and addenda to Sir Henry Yule's edition of the travels of Marco Polo. The title page describes Yule's translation as revised throughout in the light of recent discoveries. The book was published in London by John Murray, and a scanned copy is available as a PDF from the Internet Archive. Its subject listing is Asia, description and travel.

Why it matters

Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant who travelled through Asia in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, is known mainly through the book written about his journeys. Yule's edition was later revised by Cordier, who added the results of research and discovery made after Yule's time. This work shows how scholars of the early twentieth century read and explained Polo's account. It reveals the expert knowledge of its editor more than Polo's own voice.

Look closer

• How does Cordier separate his own notes from the text he is commenting on?
• Which places or claims does the editor describe as newly confirmed, and which remain uncertain?
• What does a book of notes by a modern scholar leave out about the people Polo met?