1948; Doubleday and Company publishers, New York; "Translated and edited by William Marsden, re-edited by Thomas Wright; color illustrated by Jon Corbino; hardbound with red and tan asian decorative boards; gilt lettering (a little faded) on spine; a little bit of foxing on front cover edge; no dust jacket; a wonderful rendention of our famous Venetian adventurer.
 
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Travels of Marco Polo, is a 13th-century travelogue written down by Rustichello da Pisa from stories told by Marco Polo, describing Polo's travels through Asia between 1271 and 1295, and his experiences at the court of Kublai Khan.
 
The book was written in Old French by romance writer Rustichello da Pisa, who worked from accounts which he had heard from Marco Polo when they were imprisoned together in Genoa. From the beginning, there has been incredulity over Polo's sometimes fabulous stories, as well as a scholarly debate in recent times. Some have questioned whether Marco had actually travelled to China or was just repeating stories that he had heard from other travellers.
 
Economic historian Mark Elvin concludes that recent work "demonstrates by specific example the ultimately overwhelming probability of the broad authenticity" of Polo's account, and that the book is, "in essence, authentic, and, when used with care, in broad terms to be trusted as a serious though obviously not always final, witness.