THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WORLD, THE CODEX OF TOLEDO
In the second volume of the Navigationi et Viaggi, Venice, 1559 (printed 1558), Marco Polo will be found as follows : DI M. GIO. BATTISTA RAMVSIO PREFATIONE SOPRA IL PRINCIPIO DEL LIBRO DEL MAGCO M. MARCO POLO ALL 'ECCELLENTE M. HIERONIMO FRACASTORO. (dated Di Venetia, å sette de LVGLIO M D LIII.) fol. 2r0-8v° ; ESPOSITIONE DI M. GIO. BATTISTA RAMVSIO Sopra queste parole di Messer Marco Polo Nel tempo di Balduino &c. fol. 9r°-17v° ; Longitudes and Latitudes fol. 18r0 ; INDICE DEL SECONDO VOLVME fol. 19r°-28v° ; Text (beginning PROHEMIO PRIMO &c.) fol. Ir°-6or°, 52 leaves (the numbers 18, 19, 23, 24, 37, 38, 43, 44 being omitted), each leaf divided into six sections, A, B, c, D, E, F, for convenience of reference.
(3) Z. After several other inquiries had proved ineffectual, Sir Percival DAVID succeeded in finding this valuable manuscript in the Chapter Library of the Cathedral at Toledo on 7 December 1932, through the very kind help of Senor Pedro LONGS, Chaplain, of the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, Don Agustin Garcia GUISASOLA, Notario Mayor del Arzobispado, Toledo, and other friends ; and photographs of it were obtained in January 1933 through the kindness of Senor Ramón Gil MIQUEL of the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid.
It is a great advantage to be able to add here a general description and estimate of the value of this text from the pen of so well known and competent a scholar as Sir Denison Ross, formerly Director of the School of Oriental Studies, and himself an editor of Marco Polo. He writes :-
` ` The manuscript is a Latin translation of a Romance text superior to any that has come down to us. Unfortunately it is much abridged at the beginning, although the manuscript itself is obviously complete. Marco's long preface is reduced to a few lines ; the sections on Cherman and Samarcan are curtailed ; there are notable suppressions in the chapters on Ciugiu, Pingiu, Yangiu, and Saianfu ; while these chapters-64 (It was true), 71, half of 75, 76-100, 102-104, 108-no (worth little more), 120 (But I tell you), 124, and 139—are altogether omitted. From the beginning of the chapter on the city of Singiu (147), however, down
instance, of ERASMUS, who is known to have lived and worked in his publisher's house both at Venice and at Basel. cf. d. 96 p. 59o. It might be possible also that the omissions were simply due to want of space. In 1559 the Preface ended comfortably and ornamentally on the 16th page. In 1574 the first sheet was reduced from eight to six leaves, and the Preface even with the rather closer italic type and longer lines could not be squeezed into it unless something was left out. But it is really more probable that, after the omissions had been made, the printer perceived that the Preface could now be squeezed into less space, and resolved to reduce the bulk of the sheet. cf. also p. 519 note 13 5.
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