Travels in Asia and Africa, 1325-54

Ibn Battuta, the greatest of all the medieval travellers, was in Tangier in 1304. At the age of nineteen he set out on his travels that were eventually to take him over 75,000 miles through all of the Muslim world. His book, in which he describes the cultural life and beauty of those times, remains one of the most famous of all travel narratives. The value of the work to historians and students is beyond question, but perhaps its true worth lies in the freshness of its narrative style. Throughout, we are aware of the author's own human and compassionate insights and, even after six centuries, it remains a delight and pleasure to read. This fine facsimile edition, originally published in 1929, is enhanced by the inclusion of several exquisite prints, with maps of the journeys undertaken during Ibn Battuta's remarkable life.