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Books by and about Travellers in the Middle Ages

(note that all these guys did their writing well before the invention of the moveable type printing press in Europe in 1450)

The Franciscan Friar John of Plano Carpini was one of the very early official travellers to the Mongol Capital of Karakorum (at the request of Pope Innocent IV), and he of course wrote a report when he returned just like a good corporate traveller!  The map of his travels in 1245 - 1247 is shown below. 

The Flemish Franciscan Friar William of Rubruck went to the Mongol lands in 1253 - 1255 (on behalf of French King Louis IX) - see map below - and also reported back.

Marco Polo  1254 - 1324

Friar Odoric  c1275 - 1331

Jacob d'Ancona late twelve hundreds

Ibn Battuta 1304 - 1368

Sir John Mandeville mid thirteen hundreds

We discovered this fascinating and beautiful book, appropriately, in a book sale in the buildings which occupy the Ponta de Sagres, where the famous Portuguese School of Navigation founded by Prince Henry - Navigator and Knight Templar - used to be before Sir Francis Drake flamed it. 

The book is published as a numbered collectors' edition (including a set of stamps) by the Portuguese Post Office Collectors' Club.    It is a tour de force of the development of navigational instruments, written in parallel Portuguese and English texts and accompanied by (you guessed) beautiful photographs and illustrations.  It is 24.5 cm square and it has 160 pages.  Its ISBN is 972-9127-40-9 if you want to try and track one down !

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