Cathay and the Way Thither, Volume 1 : Being a Collection of Medieval Notices of China

The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. This volume, first published in 1866, is the first of two compilations edited by Colonel Henry Yule on contacts with China before the discovery of sea routes to the east. Yule's detailed introductory essay surveys the history of European contacts with the east, beginning with the Greek geographers and going up to the thirteenth century. He then presents the narratives of the Franciscan Odoric of Pordenone and other missionary friars in the fourteenth century. Cover......Page 1 Frontmatter......Page 6 DEDICATION AND PREFACE TO SIR RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON, BART., K.C.B., ETC, ETC, ETC. PRESIDENT OF THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY......Page 12 ERRATA......Page 18 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS......Page 19 Contents......Page 20 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. NOTES ON THE INTERCOURSE OF CHINA AND THE WESTERN NATIONS PREVIOUS TO THE DISCOVERT OF THE SEA-ROUTE BY THE CAPE......Page 42 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES TO PRELIMINARY ESSAY NOTE I. EXTRACT FROM THE PERIPLUS OF THE ERYTHRÆAN SEA. (Circa A.D. 80 89.)......Page 153 ODORIC OF PORDENONE BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL NOTICES......Page 264 LETTERS AND REPORTS OF MISSIONARY FRIARS FROM CATHAY AND INDIA INTRODUCTORY NOTICES......Page 428 ADDITIONAL NOTES AND CORRECTIONS TO THE TRANSLATION OF THE MIRABILIA OF FRIAR JORDANUS. (HAK. SOC. 1863)......Page 457 LETTERS AND REPORTS OF MISSIONARY FRIARS......Page 462 The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. This 1866 compilation, the first of two on contacts with China before the discovery of sea routes, contains a substantial introductory essay and narratives by several fourteenth-century missionary friars.