A review by woodlandbooklover
The Travels of Marco Polo the Venetian by William Marsden, John Masefield, Marco Polo

3.0

It is a systematic cataloging of villages, cities, and kingdoms throughout Persia, Asia, and India. Many of the entries would be of interest to historians but no one else because they are repetitive and just log the people's religion, what money they use, what they eat. It's not something you sit down and read for hours on end. But occasionally, the book zooms in and discusses a custom, a particular monarch, a marriage or death tradition, and it's interesting. Not surprisingly, the book shows how brutal the world was, especially toward women and girls. It's interesting to see how he describes things we find common knowledge, like what coal was, or figuring out that an "Indian nut" is a coconut, or a "camelopard" is a giraffe. The illustrations are a nice respite in the cataloging.