who conveniently happened to be a popular writer of romantic fiction. Even map makers, whom we might expect to be scientific as much as artistic, incorporated imaginary figures into their work, as seen in several maps here reproduced. These maps often exhibit truly vivid imaginations together with genuine data from scientific exploration. A serious study of them requires a specialized glossary and a knowledge of the history of their time. The first expression of Polo’s journey in map form came after his death (1324) in the Catalan Atlas (1375). Many of the places named of the legend in that atlas appear previously only in Polo’s descriptions.

World Map (detail) Abraham Cresques, 1375 in Atlas Catalan, folio V, RC-B-18153 Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris