27 MARCH 1959, Page 24

The Travels of Marco Polo. (Andre Deutsch, 30s.) The scholarly

will deplore the absence of notes, index, map, and any indication of whether the text is all here, who translated it, and when, but others will enjoy Marco Polo's range as a reporter, from his matter-of-fact memoranda on the price, in Venetian groats, of Chinese rhubarb to his wide-eyed wonder at the splendour of Kublai Khan's harem and his useful observa- tions on how its inmates were selected. It is all very handsomely presented, with twenty-five coloured illustrations from an MS of either the fourteenth or the fifteenth century (blurb and title-page disagree).