The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 2

by Marco Polo; da Pisa Rusticiano

Andreae Mülleri, ‖ Greiffenhagii, ‖ Disquisitio ‖ Geographica & Historica, ‖ De ‖ Chataja, ‖ In Quâ ‖ I. Praecipuè Geographorum nobilis ‖ illa Controversia: Quaenam Chataja sit, & an ‖ sit idem ille terrarum tractus, quem Sinas, & vul-‖ gó Chinam vocant, aut pars ejus aliqua? ‖ latissimè tractatur; ‖ 2. Eâdem verò operâ pleraque rerum, quae unquam ‖ de Chataja, deq́ue Sinis memorabilia ‖ fuerunt, atque etiam nunc sunt, compendiosè ‖ enarrantur. ‖—Ecclesiastae I. v. 15. ‖: לתסטת תסות לא יוכל ‖ Senec. de Beneficiis VI. I. ‖ Etiam quod discere supervacuum est prodest ‖ cognoscere. ‖ —Berolini, Typis Rungianis. ‖ Anno M. DC. LXX, 2 ff. not numbered + pp. 115 on 2 col.

C.—Italian Editions.

14.—1. Marco Polo da Venie ‖ sia de le merauegliose ‖ cose del Mondo.

Below this title the mark of the printer Sessa: a cat holding a mouse in its mouth with the initials I and B on the right and on the left of the coat of arms (with a ducal crown above) which exhibits this group, and S at foot. Verso of f. 83:

Finisse lo libro de Marco Polo da Venie ‖ sia dele merauegliose cose del mōdo Im ‖ presso in Venetia per zoanne Baptista ‖ da Sessa Milanese del M. ccccxcvi. ‖ adi. xiii. del mese de Iunio regnā ‖ do lo Illustrissimo Principe Au ‖ gustino Barbadico inclyto ‖ Duce di Venetia.

Recto of folio 84: “Registro. a b c d e f g h i k l Tutti questi sono quaderni excepto l chie duerno”; audessous le monogramme de l’imprimeur en blanc sur fond noir.—Verso of folio 84 is blank.

The copy which I have examined is in the Grenville Library, No. 6666. It is in fine condition and complete, notwithstanding what the Sobolewski Sale Catalogue says to the contrary (No. 1730): it is a small 8vo ff. 84; each quire containing, as is indicated by the register, eight sheets, except quire l, which has but four.

Grenville added to his copy the following note: “This appears to be the first edition printed in the original Italian.—The Abbé Morelli who sent me this book from Venice had found great difficulty in procuring a copy for the Library of St. Marc.—Panzer III. 396, refers only to the mention made of it by Denis. Supp. I, p^e 415. I know of no other copy in England....”

Lazari, p. 460, says: “Prima e rarissima edizione del compendio veneziano. Un capitolo che parla di Trebisonda, tratto dal viaggio di Fr. Odorico, precede il testo del Polo mutilo e scorrettissimo: quel capitolo non forma però parte d’esso, come nelle molte ristampe di questo compendio.”

See Odoric de Pordenone, par Henri Cordier, p. 9.