Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Reprint of the second (1939) edition of the work that is still the standard source-book of the Anglo-Indian language.

Reprint of the second (1939) edition of the work that is still the standard source-book of the Anglo-Indian language.

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 The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. Three volumes, published in 1887, are devoted to the diary of William Hedges (1632 1701) who in 1681 became the first Agent of the East India Company at its new base in Bengal. The first volume contains a transcription of the diary itself; Volume 2 contains a collection of documents relevant to Hedges' time in India; and Volume 3 is a documentary history of Thomas Pitt, grandfather of Pitt the Elder and Governor of Fort St George, who appears frequently in Hedges' diary.

The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian is a nineteenth-century edition of the famous travelogue written by Rustichello da Pisa and Marco Polo, describing the travels of the latter through Asia, Persia, China and Indonesia between 1271 and 1291. The book secured lasting fame for its editor, the prominent geographer and literary scholar Henry Yule, who was awarded the founder's medal of the Royal Geographical Society for his efforts. The two-volume work, the result of Yule's research in Palermo, Venice, Florence, Paris and London and of extensive correspondence with scholars around the world, has long been considered an authoritative source on Polo's travels. Volume I contains Books One and Two of the travelogue and contains descriptions of the lands of the Middle East and Central Asia that Polo encountered en route to China. Book II covers Polo's time in China and the court of Kublai Khan.

The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian is a nineteenth-century edition of the famous travelogue written by Rustichello da Pisa and Marco Polo, describing the travels of the latter through Asia, Persia, China and Indonesia between 1271 and 1291. The book secured lasting fame for its editor, the prominent geographer and literary scholar Henry Yule, who was awarded the founder's medal of the Royal Geographical Society for his efforts. The two-volume work, the result of Yule's research in Palermo, Venice, Florence, Paris and London and of extensive correspondence with scholars around the world, has long been considered an authoritative source on Polo's travels. Volume II comprises Books Three and Four of the travelogue and contains descriptions of the coastal regions of Japan and India and the east coast of Africa. Book Four describes the wars among the Mongols and the regions of the far north, including Russia.

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.