Asia.- Mandeville (Sir John) Tractato bellissimo delle piu maravigliose cose & piu motabile che sitrovino nelle parte delmondo, collation: a-k⁸, 80ff., double column, 39 lines, Gothic type, woodcut to title depicting a group of horsemen meeting Mandeville (holding a book) at the edge of a wood, 3 woodcut printer's devices at foot of final verso, lightly washed, traces of dust-soiling to title, one minute wormhole, a few marginal repaired tears, later red morocco, gilt, by Bedford, g.e., 8vo (199 x 129mm.), Florence, Appetitione di P. de Pescia, 1505 [possibly Lorenzo Morgiani, c.1496-99].

⁂ A superb, clean and complete copy of this key Renaissance travel book in the Italian vernacular. The work influenced much of the travel and exploration undertaken in the late middle ages and beyond, and was one of the most popular books of its kind at the time. It takes in the Holy Land, Levant, Persia, India and Far East. In 1625 Samuel Purchas stated that Mandeville 'was the greatest Asian Traveller that ever the World had', next, 'if next', to Marco Polo (Pilgrimes III/i p. 65).

Little is known of Sir John Mandeville himself. He tells us that he was an English knight, that he travelled from 1322 to 1356, and that he had served with the Sultan of Egypt and the Great Khan.

A report undertaken by Dr. Martin Davies (former curator of incunabula at the British Library), in which he closely examines the type and compares with other works by the two printers in question concludes that 'it seems most likely that the book was printed by Lorenzo Morgiani, c. 1496-99'. The full report is available upon request.

Literature: BM STC Italian p.408, G6701; GW M20444; ISTC im00176500; Howgego M39; IGI, 6109; Lach Asia in the Making of Europe, I, pp. 77-80; Lowendahl China Illustrata Nova, 2 (1480 edition).