Marco Polo and the persistence of Venice

THE Travels of Marco Polo was a bestseller a century-and-a-half before printing presses changed Western civilisation forever.

The book comes down to us through seven centuries, several titles, a number of languages, innumerable textual variations, and perhaps 150 manuscripts from the 14th century alone. But when it first began circulating, the volume had one biting Italian nickname: Il Milione – the million, as in the number of lies to be found within.

That was also the word some readers hurled at its Venetian originator, who was certainly aware of the incredulity triggered by his description of the riches and wonders of the empire of Kublai Khan and the Mongols.