The riddle and the knight : in search of Sir John Mandeville, the world's greatest traveller / Giles Milton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Milton, Giles.

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mandeville, John, Sir.

Mandeville, John.

Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages--Biography.

Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages.

Knights and knighthood--England--Biography.

Knights and knighthood.

Mandeville, John, Sir. Itinerarium.

Milton, Giles--Travel.

Milton, Giles.

Travel.

Geography, Medieval.

Travel, Medieval.

England.

Genre:

Biographies.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

230 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Edition:

First American edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2001.

Summary:

Giles Milton's First Book, The Riddle and the Knight, is the fascinating account of the legend of Sir John Mandeville, a long-forgotten knight who was once the most celebrated writer in medieval Europe. In 1322, Mandeville left England to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Thirty-four years later he returned, claiming not only to have visited the Holy Land but also to have travelled to India, China, Tibet, Java, and Sumatra. His subsequent book detailing the events of his voyage -- The Travels -- became a beacon that lit the way for the great expeditions of the Renaissance, and his exploits and adventures provided inspiration for writers such as Shakespeare, Coleridge, and Swift.

Yet by the nineteenth century, Mandeville was all but ignored by scholars; his descriptions of fantastic monsters and strange peoples were discredited; and The Travels was dismissed as a work of fevered imagination. Intrigued by the man who was once regarded as the father of English literature, Giles Milton set off in the footsteps of Sir John Mandeville in order to test his amazing claims and to attempt to solve the riddle of the knight.

Available to American readers for the first time, The Riddle and the Knight is "a brilliant and original piece of detective work which reveals, after more than six centuries, the astonishing truth about Sir John Mandeville" (The Mail on Sunday [London]) and restores him to his rightful place in the history of literature and exploration.

Contents:

1 The Inscription 3

2 Constantinople 11

3 The Manuscript 43

4 Cyprus 55

5 A Second Sir John 82

6 Syria 90

7 A Medieval Chronicle 123

8 Jerusalem 131

9 The King's Pardon 164

10 The Sinai Desert 169

11 Onward to China 196.

Notes:

Originally published: [London, England] : Allison & Busby, 1996.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [223]-226) and index.

Local Notes:

Gotham Book Mart Collection copy has dustjacket retained.

ISBN:

0374249970

OCLC:

47018458