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The Book of Marvels: An Explorer's Miscellany
In centuries past, undertaking a journey meant a voyage into the unknown, traveling for months or years into unexplored areas on the map where cartographers could only speculate "There be dragons." And those fortunate adventurers who made it home again always had fantastical tales to tell—even if sometimes they stretched the truth up to and beyond the breaking point.
This eclectic history of exploration sweeps from antiquity to the 1800s, encompassing ages when new marvels might be waiting over the next hill or a new world just over the horizon. Among others, we meet Marco Polo, the 13th-century Venetian whose extravagant accounts of distant Cathay were mainly true; Sir John Mandeville, less intrepid explorer than shameless exaggerator; and John Wesley Powell, braving Colorado River rapids on the first trip through the Grand Canyon.
We visit dozens of places around the globe captured in the words, images, and maps of their discoverers. Each page unfolds its wonders in gorgeous profusion that delights the eye and dazzles the imagination. The perfect gift for Dads and Grads looking for the next great adventure.
This eclectic history of exploration sweeps from antiquity to the 1800s, encompassing ages when new marvels might be waiting over the next hill or a new world just over the horizon. Among others, we meet Marco Polo, the 13th-century Venetian whose extravagant accounts of distant Cathay were mainly true; Sir John Mandeville, less intrepid explorer than shameless exaggerator; and John Wesley Powell, braving Colorado River rapids on the first trip through the Grand Canyon.
We visit dozens of places around the globe captured in the words, images, and maps of their discoverers. Each page unfolds its wonders in gorgeous profusion that delights the eye and dazzles the imagination. The perfect gift for Dads and Grads looking for the next great adventure.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published April 28, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 17, 2020
This fascinating collection of excerpts from writings by explorers, scientists and travelers could have been subtitled “natural phenomena that terrify and kill, while occasionally astonishing, you”. Great variety of sources, including literary ones like Willa Cather and Mark Twain. One quibble is that the excerpts don’t include the year they were written—you have to check ‘further reading’ list at the end of the book.
January 14, 2026
A compilation of explorer's descriptions of the remarkable places they came across. A bit of a trifle, but pleasant. Beautifully illustrated by Christina Simms, she should have been acknowledged on the cover.
December 4, 2015
The Book of Marvels is truly an aptly chosen title for this work. It conveys the wondrous glory in which the world around us was once viewed by the those who sought to discover its majesty. This book was an absolute treat to read, and the descriptions and compilations of quotes, verses and poems by the explorers and adventurers, the poets and writers and all in between will leave you breathless. The reader can really experience the feelings of awe that the stupendous places of the Earth had on these men and women. Jenkins brings together a variety of works which, after reading the quotes, you will want to hunt down and devour yourself. A wonderful book for the explorer and poet within us all, and truly an adventure to read.
October 23, 2017
I initially borrowed this book from the library (softcover edition) partly because Simon Winchester wrote the foreword. The highest compliment I can give is that I'm buying my own copy, so I can delve into it at my leisure - in my opinion, its a classic travel book.
Beautifully written by both male and female correspondents during the 1900's, many of the places still exist- to an extent-but maps have been redrawn and cultures change. These tales capture a moment in time when travel involved 'real' adventure. This collection has also introduced me to new adventurers - so, more books!
Camel trains, bandits and warm welcomes are all within this anthology, and its easy to imagine the writers at the end of a long day sitting with notebook and pencil, recording their surroundings under a desert sunset. Romantic visions maybe, but their words were written to be read, not filed away in dusty boxes.
Beautifully written by both male and female correspondents during the 1900's, many of the places still exist- to an extent-but maps have been redrawn and cultures change. These tales capture a moment in time when travel involved 'real' adventure. This collection has also introduced me to new adventurers - so, more books!
Camel trains, bandits and warm welcomes are all within this anthology, and its easy to imagine the writers at the end of a long day sitting with notebook and pencil, recording their surroundings under a desert sunset. Romantic visions maybe, but their words were written to be read, not filed away in dusty boxes.
February 29, 2020
This book wasn't my cup of tea. It was a compilation of explorer's impressions of the different areas of the earth, like the oceans, the deserts, the mountains, and the poles, etc. Parts of it were interesting. I enjoyed reading that Columbus thought that manatees were the mermaids, but he was disappointed because he had heard that mermaids were beautiful. When the explorers exclaimed over the vast herds of buffalo and the Passenger Pigeons filling the sky, I felt sad over what has been lost.
August 4, 2016
A note before I begin to discuss the book's contents: the binding on this book is really quite nice! The paper, the cover, the little piece of ribbon they give you as a bookmark, the quality of the full-color prints inside it, are all top-notch. As a physical object, a tactile experience, it's quite nice. But, on to the contents.
Once, there were men (and a very few women) who went to the furthest points away from where they had been raised, to the most inhospitable (to them at least) places they could find, for the very reason that they were far away and inhospitable. In some cases, they found other people there waiting for them who had lived there all their lives, while in others (the tops of mountains, the poles of the earth) they found little in the way of life at all.
In all cases, they saw marvellous things. They wrote down what they saw, and heard, and felt, and in some cases they drew illustrations of them. The 18th and 19th century in particular were filled with an avalanche of marvels. The language is often baroque, and the artwork is astonishingly detailed. These travel journals were the big sellers of their day; Charles Darwin was famous years before his theory of evolution was published, because he had published such a journal about his voyage on board a ship called the Beagle. This was the sort of thing that made you a celebrity in those days, it appears. Nowadays, not even being an astronaut is enough (quick, without consulting a search engine, name an astronaut from the last five years).
There is, apparently, a treasure vault that belongs to the National Geographic Society, which holds many such journals and illustrations. The author of this book, Mark Collins Jenkins, has combed through this vault for a sampling of the best parts, and put them together here. There is no particular plot or thesis here; they are arranged primarily by terrain type (sea, desert, grasslands, forest, etc.).
The subtitle is "An Explorer's Miscellany", but it is not quite a miscellany, I think, because it does have an overarching theme (not that I have anything against reading a good miscellany). The modern life which most of us are living is a curious combination of sedentary hours filled with never-ending wonders (provided by our TV or computer screen, and not requiring us to do so much as stand up). We see marvels enough, without any particular effort required on our part, and with no particular feelings of fear or apprehension. If we see a prairie grassfire, or hear the cracking of icebergs in an eerie polar landscape, it does not really have anything to do with our lives.
These people saw them after going to great lengths to reach the spot, and without any guarantee at all that it was safe to do so. There are a number of passages in here from explorers who did not survive their journey (although their journals did). I think it probably provided a shock of beauty and wonder more visceral, to not only see it live, but to see it with always the thought at the back of your mind that if it was marvellous and previously unknown, perhaps it portended something awful.
Be that as it may, there is not much we can do about it. The days of going where no man (or woman) has gone before, are both behind us (here on Earth) and too far before us (in the case of anywhere else). We are trapped in an era of known boundaries, where any place left on dry (or even just moist) land that has not been seen before, is probably much like somewhere that has.
But, just because we live such a life of safety and comfort, does not mean we have to be entirely unaware of what came before us. Pick up this book, and take a look at what it was like to see the world when there were blank spots on the map.
Once, there were men (and a very few women) who went to the furthest points away from where they had been raised, to the most inhospitable (to them at least) places they could find, for the very reason that they were far away and inhospitable. In some cases, they found other people there waiting for them who had lived there all their lives, while in others (the tops of mountains, the poles of the earth) they found little in the way of life at all.
In all cases, they saw marvellous things. They wrote down what they saw, and heard, and felt, and in some cases they drew illustrations of them. The 18th and 19th century in particular were filled with an avalanche of marvels. The language is often baroque, and the artwork is astonishingly detailed. These travel journals were the big sellers of their day; Charles Darwin was famous years before his theory of evolution was published, because he had published such a journal about his voyage on board a ship called the Beagle. This was the sort of thing that made you a celebrity in those days, it appears. Nowadays, not even being an astronaut is enough (quick, without consulting a search engine, name an astronaut from the last five years).
There is, apparently, a treasure vault that belongs to the National Geographic Society, which holds many such journals and illustrations. The author of this book, Mark Collins Jenkins, has combed through this vault for a sampling of the best parts, and put them together here. There is no particular plot or thesis here; they are arranged primarily by terrain type (sea, desert, grasslands, forest, etc.).
The subtitle is "An Explorer's Miscellany", but it is not quite a miscellany, I think, because it does have an overarching theme (not that I have anything against reading a good miscellany). The modern life which most of us are living is a curious combination of sedentary hours filled with never-ending wonders (provided by our TV or computer screen, and not requiring us to do so much as stand up). We see marvels enough, without any particular effort required on our part, and with no particular feelings of fear or apprehension. If we see a prairie grassfire, or hear the cracking of icebergs in an eerie polar landscape, it does not really have anything to do with our lives.
These people saw them after going to great lengths to reach the spot, and without any guarantee at all that it was safe to do so. There are a number of passages in here from explorers who did not survive their journey (although their journals did). I think it probably provided a shock of beauty and wonder more visceral, to not only see it live, but to see it with always the thought at the back of your mind that if it was marvellous and previously unknown, perhaps it portended something awful.
Be that as it may, there is not much we can do about it. The days of going where no man (or woman) has gone before, are both behind us (here on Earth) and too far before us (in the case of anywhere else). We are trapped in an era of known boundaries, where any place left on dry (or even just moist) land that has not been seen before, is probably much like somewhere that has.
But, just because we live such a life of safety and comfort, does not mean we have to be entirely unaware of what came before us. Pick up this book, and take a look at what it was like to see the world when there were blank spots on the map.
November 2, 2013
I really enjoyed this collection of accounts from explorers and writers who toured the world having adventures in all types of cultures, regions, and lands.
The illustrations were also very enjoyable. I especially enjoyed the narratives describing the sea and it's hellish storms, and the sheer weight of it against the smallness of humanity trying to tame it.
The arctic and the dessert were also engaging and exciting. To tell the truth, the jungle, and mountains and the rest of it was just so wonderful to read about. It gave me a great way to feel as though I traveled the world a little bit, and find things I liked or disliked about different parts of the world that I might want to explore on my own, or at least read more about.
The illustrations were also very enjoyable. I especially enjoyed the narratives describing the sea and it's hellish storms, and the sheer weight of it against the smallness of humanity trying to tame it.
The arctic and the dessert were also engaging and exciting. To tell the truth, the jungle, and mountains and the rest of it was just so wonderful to read about. It gave me a great way to feel as though I traveled the world a little bit, and find things I liked or disliked about different parts of the world that I might want to explore on my own, or at least read more about.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews