132 leaves; 185 270 millimeters, XVth Century. Adorned initials, alternately blue and red. Headings of chapters underlined in red. Leather binding XVIth century, with small flowers de luce; copper clasps and ten nails. On the last leaf, in a running hand: _Este liber partinet Nicholao le buqueteur_; the name of _Abraham Vander Veken_ (Abra Vander Veque), and the date 1600, 3/22, on the first and on the last but one leaves.
Fol. 2 _recto. Extracta de libro dni Pauli de Venecijs de diver sis provincijs et regnis maior[um] et de diversis moribus habitantiu[m] et de multis mirabilibus in hijs locis et Asije_. Eleven lines further: _Quomodo iverunt at Berchaman_. Fol. 95 _r: De Sancto Thoma apto ubi jacet et qno mortu(us) est_. Fol. 106 _r: Epilogatio de maiori Yndia_. F. 117 v, last chapter: _De dissentione orta inter Alandum Tartaror[um] et Bcha regem_.
Ends, f. 118 r: _Hii tamen reges proximi parentis erant et ambo ex Chinchini imperialis progenie descendentes. Explicit_.
The end of the MS. (f. 118-132) has for object the origin of Belgian villages.
I owe this information to M.J. DENUCe.
II., p. 542.
FLORENCE, Riccardian Library, Catalan.
This ma.n.u.script has been discovered by Prof. Giovanni Vacca who has kindly sent me the following information regarding this curious doc.u.ment not mentioned by Yule, Amat di S. Filippo, or Uzielli: MS., 2048 cartac. sec.
XV. (?), bearing the following faulty t.i.tle: Storia del Catay in lingua _spagnuola_; 66 leaves, the last of which with a note by Piero Vaglienti.
Writing is pretty clear, much like that of the Catalan Map of 1375.
The text begins with the description of the city of Lop, and ends with Georgia,
Fol. 65 _v_: "anaquesta provencia sisfa molta de seda evy ciutatz e viles e castels a.s.saiz e ay moltz bons azcos. Calre no se queus pusca dir er perque fas vos si anaquest libre veus na sra benefit."
Somewhat similar to the end of MS. 2207, Ottob., sec. XIV., membr. of the Vatican Library (reproduced by Amat di S. Filippo):
"En ycelle province fait on moult de soyt. Et si y a moult de villes, cites et chasteaux, moult bons et beau. Autre chose ne vous en scay dire par quoi je vous fais fins en ce livre."
Generally the text is correct; one does not find the great errors contained in the Italian text given by Bartoli; it seems to follow very closely the French text of the Societe de Geographie edited in 1824.
Here is a description of the city of Gambalech (fol. 20 _r_-20 _v_) reproducing very closely a legend of the Catalan Map of 1375.
"Les ver _que costa la ciutat de Camalech avia una grant Ciutat antichament qui avi a nom garimbalu_ qui vol dir la Ciut del seyor _e lo gran cham troba per los strologians que aquesta ciutat se devia revelar contra el axi que feila desabitar a feu fer la ciutat de Sambaleth_ e axi .|. flum al miq evay fer venir poblar tota la jent que y staba, _e ha entorn a questa ciutat de Gambalech. XXIIIJ. legues e es ben murada e es acayre sique ha de cascun cayre. VI. legues e a dalt lo mur XX. paces_ e es de terre _e ha. X. paces de gros_ e son totz los murs tant blanchs con a neu e a en cascun cayre. IIJ. portes & en cascuna porta ha .|. palau dela semblansa de les XII. que ditz vos aven e en cascun palau ha de beles cambres e sales plenes darmatures ops da quells qui garden la ciutat los carres son amples e lonchs e ayi que anant de la .|. porta alantre troba hom de bells alberchs e de bels palaus qui son de gran seyors ayi que ela es abitada de bells alberchs E en miss loch de la ciutat a 1. gran palau en que _ha 1"n. gran torra enquesta .|. gran seny | sona ho abans axique pus que ha sonat no gosa anar ne gun per la vila_ si dons gran ops non ha e ab lum e _a cascuna porta garden. M. homes no per temensa_ que nayen _mes per honor del seyor_ e per latres e malfeitos.
"Per gardar la granea del seyor alo poder ell se fa gardar a XIJ"m homes a Caval e ape-lense casitans, qui vol dir leyals cavalers a son seyor a quests. XIJ"m. homes an. IIIJ. capitans ..."
The words _underlined_ are included almost verbatim in the Catalan Map.
Cf. H. CORDIER, _L"Extreme Orient dans l"Atlas Catalan_, p. 14.
The ma.n.u.script begins, fol. I _recto_: "Aci comensa lo libre de les provincies et de les encontrades que sont sotz la seyoria del gran Emperador del Catay | lo qual ha la seyoria del Gamballech et seyor de los Tartres ayi com ho reconta o messer March Pollo ciutada n.o.ble de Venecia.
Et primerament diun ay de la provincia de Tangut hon el stech XXVI. anys per saber la veritat de les coses daval scrites."
Cf. _Un manoscritto inedito del viaggi di_ Marco Polo. Di Giovanni Vacca (_Riv. Geog. Ital._, XIV., 1907, pp. 107-108).
II., p. 546.
ESCURIAL, Latin, Pipino"s (?). See No. 60. This is probably the MS.
mentioned by the second Viscount of Santarem, p. 574, in his volume, _Ineditos (Miscellanea)_ Lisboa, 1914, large 8vo: "Un Ms. de Marc Polo du XV"e. siecle qui est mal indique par le t.i.tre suivant: _Consuetudines et condiciones orientalium regionum descripto per mestrum Paulum de Venetiis scripto chartis vix saeculo XV. incipiente_, Q-ij--13."
My late friend, Prof. H. Derenbourg, gives me a few notes regarding this Latin MS., paper, small 4to, ff. 1-95 _v_; contains 187 chapters with a special t.i.tle in red ink. Begins: _Librum prudentis honorabilis ac fidelissimi viri Domini Marci Pauli De Venetiis de conditionibus orientalium ab me vulgari edictum et scriptum_.
II., p. 548.
NUREMBERG. Latin MS. containing _Marco Polo, St. Brandan, Mandeville, Odoric, Schildtberger_; bad handwriting. See French edition of Odoric, p.
Lx.x.xII.
[1] See _The Book of Ser Marco Polo_, Vol. II., pp. 530 seq.
[2] Pages 89, 90 of _A Catalogue of the Ma.n.u.scripts in the Library of the Hunterian Museum in the University of Glasgow planned and begun by the late John Young ... continued and completed under the direction of the Young Memorial Committee by_ P. Henderson Aitken.... Glasgow, James Maclehose and Sons, 1908, gr. in -4.
[3] Cf. Young"s _Catalogue_, p. 378.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MARCO POLO"S BOOK.[1]
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PRINTED EDITIONS.
1.--Die Reisen des Venezianers Marco Polo im 13. Jahrhundert Bearbeitet und herausgegeben von Dr. Hans Lemke Mit einem Bilde Marco Polos. Hamburg, Ernst Schultze, 1908, 8vo, pp. 573.
_Bibliothek wertvoller Memoiren_.
Lebensdok.u.mente hervorragender Menschen aller Zeiten und Volker Herausgegeben von Dr. Ernst Schultze. 1 Band.
Revised edition of Burck"s translation of Ramusio"s Italian text published in 1845.
2.--*Marco Polo: Abenteuerliche Fahrten. Neu herausgegeben von Dr. Otto St. Brandt. Mit 3 Spezialkarten. Druck und Verlag von August Scherl in Berlin, small 8vo, pp. 319.
Notices: _Mitt. K.K. Geogr. Ges. Wien_, Bd. LVI., 1913, pp. 258-259.
Von E.G.--_Geog. Zeitschft. Leipzig_, XIX., 1913, pp. 531. By K.
Kretschmer.
3.--Marco Polo Il Milione secondo il testo della "Crusca" reintegrato con gli altri codici italiani a cura di Dante Olivieri. Bari, Gius. Laterza & figli, 1912, in--8, 2 ff. n. ch. + pp. 317.
_Scrittori d"Italia_.
4.--Cosmographia breue introductoria en el libro d"Marco Polo. Seville, 1518.--See II., p. 566.
The bookseller Karl W. Hiersemann, of Leipzig, has in his catalogue _America_, no. 336, in 1907, no. 2323, quoted M.11.000 a copy of the _Cosmographia_ with the colophon: Elql se emprimio por Juan varela | d"salamaca en la muy n.o.ble y muy | leal ciudad de Seuilla. Ano de | mill y qnientos y diez y ocho | ano a. XVI. dias de mayo.-Fol., 4 ff. not numbered + ff. 31 numbered on 2 columns.
5.--YULE-CORDIER.--_The Book of Ser Marco Polo_ ... Third Edition....
London, John Murray, 1903, 2 vols., 8vo.
Notices: _Glasgow Herald_, 11 June, 1903.--_Scotsman_, 11 June, 1903.--_Outlook_, 13 June, 1903.--_Morning Post_, 18 June, 1903.--_Bulletin Comite Asie francaise_, Juin, 1903.--_Standard_, 17 June, 1903.--_Daily Chronicle_, 20 June, 1903.--_Manchester Guardian_, 23 June, 1903.--_Pall Mall Gazette_, 15 July, 1903.--_Bombay Gazette_, 11 July, 1903.--_The Spectator_, 15 Aug., 1903.--_The Guardian_ (by C. Raymond Beazley), 2 Sept., 1903.--_Times_ (by H.J. Mackinder), 2 Oct., 1903.--_Blackwood"s Mag._ (by Charles Whibley), Oct., 1903.--_Ill.u.s.trated Evening News_, Chicago, 26 Sept., 1903.--_The Sun_, New York, 4 Oct., 1903 (by M.W.
H.).--_Hongkong Daily Press_, 10 and 11 Sept., 1903.--_The Athenaeum_, 17 Oct., 1903.--_Outlook_, 14 Nov., 1903.--Some new Facts about Marco Polo"s Book, by E.H. Parker (_Imp. & Asiat. Quart. Review_, Jan., 1904, pp.
125-149).--_Sat.u.r.day Review_, 27 Feb., 1904.--_T"oung Pao_, Oct., 1903, pp.
357-366, from _The Athenaeum_.--_Geographical Journal_, March, 1904, pp.
379-380, by C.R.B. [eazley].--_Bul. Ecole franc. Ext. Orient_, IV, Juillet-Sept., 1904, pp. 768-772, by Paul Pelliot.--Marco Polo and his Followers in Central Asia, by Archibald R. Colquhoun (_Quarterly Review_, April, 1904, pp. 553-575).