This work investigates the veracity and historical significance of Marco Polo's accounts of his travels across Asia and his service in the court of Kublai Khan. The editors, Aldo Ricci, E. Denison Ross, and L. F. Benedetto, synthesize various manuscript traditions to provide a scholarly examination of the text. By comparing disparate versions of the narrative, they aim to clarify the geographical and cultural observations recorded by Polo during his thirteenth-century expedition. The book serves as a critical apparatus for understanding the transmission of medieval travel literature and the accuracy of Polo's descriptions of the Mongol Empire.

Scholars and historians regard this edition as a foundational text for the study of medieval travelogues due to its rigorous editorial approach. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which prioritizes historical accuracy and textual comparison over narrative flow.