TRAVELS OF SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE, THE

None the less, from their first apperance in about 1356, these Travels have been popular. Part of their success undoubtedly stems from Mandeville's engaging role as a friendly, somewhat sceptical reporter ('Of Paradise I cannot speak properly, for I have not been there; and that I regret'). If he had not, in fact, travelled as far as China, then his imaginative artistry was of a very high order indeed. What is certain is that this is only travel book that Leonardo da Vinci is know to have possessed; Columbus consulted it; and there was a copy on the board Frobisher's ship as she lay off Baffin Bay. The huge number of people who relied on Mandeville's 'Travels' for hard geographical information demands that, as well as enjoying it, we take it seriously as an aid to understanding of the world picture of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance.