MANDEVILLE, Jean de.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Nel quale si contengono di molte cose maravigliose. Rare early Italian edition of one of the first printed travel narratives, taking its reader to the Holy Land, Egypt, Turkey, Persia, Tartary, India, and China. Extremely popular during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Mandeville's adventures set the stage for all European accounts of encounters with the east's great civilizations.All early editions, especially those in vernacular languages, are rare both institutionally and in commerce. This edition was the last Italian edition printed in the 16th century; subsequently, the Italian text did not appear again separately in print until Zambrini's 1870 edition. We traced only two copies in auction records, the most recent one being 60 years ago. An online institutional search returns 21 locations.The Voyages de Jehan de Mandeville chevalier, which appeared in manuscript in France c.1357, purports to be the personal account of Sir John Mandeville, born in St Albans, who left England in 1322 and travelled the world, serving the sultan of Cairo and visiting the Great Khan, and finally in 1357, while ill, setting down his discoveries. It covers his travels to the Middle East and Palestine, before he continues to India, Tibet, China, Java, and Sumatra, then returns westward via Arabia, Egypt, and North Africa.Most, if not all, was assembled from other manuscript sources, plausibly by Jean le Long (d. 1388), the librarian of the Benedictine abbey church of St Bertin at St Omer, then w

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