ABSTRACT
In his Storia letteraria delle scoperte geografiche, and again in Marco Polo's Precursors, Professor Leonardo Olschki demonstrates convincingly that patterns of thought arising from the literary conception of Asia current in Europe determined the character and structure of Marco Polo's Milione. Asia was for Marco Polo a fabulous land of wonders. The broad stream of scientific and pseudo-scientific writing was accompanied by a steady flow of visual material. Bestiaries had always been a visual depository of fabulous animal life. It was precisely at this period that the lore of eastern marvels reached a wide public through the vernacular Alexander Romance and allied literary products. During the 14th century, Alexander manuscripts with large cycles of illustrations became frequent in the West, and it was through these manuscripts that many people made visual contact with the marvels. Many of the Marco Polo manuscripts are part of collectanea concerned with the East.
