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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WORLD. AND EARLIER EDITIONS

Junior, to whose kindness much of this information is due. It is described as follows (cf. Book Prices Current Oct.

1t      1929-Aug. 193o, p. 669): Polo (Marco) Itinerarium et Descriptio Regionum Orientalium, manuscript on paper, 38
leaves, two columns, 41 lines to a page, initials in red and blue, defective at end, boards, German, 15th century, folio, 30o X 220 mm.. Marco Polo occupies fol. 1-35 and is complete; Flos hystoriarum (tractatus de statu et condicionc quatuordecim regnorum asic), beginning at the foot of fol. 35d, occupies the last three leaves and is defective. The text

~i.      of Marco Polo begins without any title: NObilis et discretus vir dominus marcus paulo de veneciis cum xxvi. annis continuis
... and ends: Hii tarnen reges proximi parentes Brant et ambo ex cinchin imperialis progenie descendentes The text of the first and last pages differs very slightly from that of L and L'; but near the top of fol. 1 b is a confused and corrected sentence which shows an attempt to make sense of an early corruption. It reads: Sic ergo cum eorum mercirnoniis disposuerunt uersus iter uersus oriens que iure sperantes apra esse rcuerti posse The first uersus is decidedly cancelled and a thin line is drawn through que iure and renerti posse. cf. p. 75 above.

135. This occupies fol. 26o0-2650 (fol. 261-265 being also numbered 1-5) of the volume in which it is bound. The actual text begins on fol. 261r°: Quegli the desiderano de intendere ... and ends at the foot of 265r0:

ano molte Zitade et Casteli Soto si.   Nel fine del libro   Explicit Liber Millionis Fiuis Venetiarum. explectoque fuit sub

anno D. N. millm0 quadringm° quinquagesimo quinto mensis Nouembris Die uigesima septima (in margin: 1455.)   On
fol. 26or° is the note: Alcuni primi Capi del libro di sr Marco Polo copiati dall' esemplare manuscritto di Paolo Rannusio The text comprises the Introduction and the single chapter on the Lesser Armenia, corresponding to the first twenty chapters of F, followed by the colophon from the end of the book. It is impossible to say why so much and no more of the original was copied, but it is not unnatural to guess that the original had been damaged or destroyed leaving only these first few pages legible (one word near the end is marked as partly illegible) ; and that the original was the copy of VB which was used by G.-B. RAMUSIO is made likely by the fact that it belonged to Paolo RANNUSIO who may have been the father or the son of G.-B. R.. The writing is attributed to the 17th century, but may well have been written in the later sixteenth.

142. The treatment of Quinsai in this fourteenth-century text, known to me only through the KNUST-STUEBE edition of 1902, is specially remarkable. Into our c. 139 (the Conquest of Mangi) the editor has transferred the story of the letter sent by the queen of Mangi to Baian (p. 326), followed by a great part of our c. 152 as the contents of that letter (Tal fue el scripto gut la reyna envio al grant chan), adding that the great Kaan was much moved by the letter and sent orders that the place and people should not be hurt and should be ruled according to their own customs. This again is followed explicitly (dite fray Odorich) by a part of Odoric's account of the place (cf. Wy pp. 463-467), and a few more details from c. 152, including çiudat del cielo. The following readings in the text itself may be noted: The king Facfur fled "by night" (de noche . . quando vino la manyana la reynafuen de mucho yrada) ; of the bridges, XII puentes de piedra (as in G, p. 327 n.) ; of the lake, et en medio ya un grant plano en que ya un bell palaçio del rey, en que sta la mas noble gent de aquella çiudat; of the funerals, et han monges que siguen el cuerpo quasi å nuestra husança. Empero todos son ydolatres; of the census, Et todos los meses fawn çerca por todas las puertas, assi que el senyor sabe todos meses qui es partido . . ; of the foundlings, et segunt lur natividat les faZie mostrar officio sotil ó grossero; of Polo's stay there, car yo hi stuve un mes por fechos del grant chan; and at the proper place for c. 152, trobamos la çiudat de Quinssay, de que vos avemos ya parlado, que es la mayor del mundo et la mas segura et habundada de todos bienes. Et partiendo dc Quinssay . . . Mangi appears to be consistently called daumangui, perhaps, as STUEBE suggests, for the French dou Mangi.

143. These short extracts are written by Meo Ceffoni on the blank pages at the end of a MS. of Dante. B. considers that they are taken directly from a Franco-Italian text, and they are prefaced by the curious remark that the book of Marco Polo is kept "at Venice on the Rialto fixed with chains so that everyone can read it, as some say", and concluded with: "as is said in this fine book in many places, which is a great book of more than twenty quires, as he knows who has seen and read it all completely." The text of these notes is as follows :— Il marcho polo e un libro the tratta di portti del mare ettera del chose crandi e miracholose chessi trouano nel mo[n]d[o] fece qesto libro u[n] gentile uomo da uinega chessenpre ando nauichando tlli e qatro suoi filliuoli discendentti luno dopo laltro seqitando caschuno il sopradetto libro di marcho

polo e qesto libro ista a uinega in sul rialto apichato cholle chatene chonnun el puo legere da dire dalchun   and at the end,
merchatantie the uenchono diqa a uinega a pisa delle parai dindia chome e detto in qesto bello libro in piu luchi the e u[nl crande

libro di piu di uentti qaderni chome sa chilla veduto elletto tutto intero   Meo Ceffoni is on fol. 195 (io son chiamato meo
ceffoni), and the date 1430/I is deduced from notes on fol. 179r°, 204v° (note by Dr LoTZ and Dr G. BING).

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