Buy this book on-line

MENZIES,GAVIN: : 1421: THE YEAR CHINA DISCOVERED THE WORLD

LONDON.BANTAM PRESS,2002.

ISBN 0593050789.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright, crisp,clean,wrap-around colour pictorial illustrated dw/dj; with negligible shelf-wear and creases to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top+fore-edges very lightly aged/tanned but clean; contents bright,tight and pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners - an unread copy? Bright,clean, sharp-cornered,publisher's original red cloth bds with bright,crisp,stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip,red+black headband and immaculate plain brown+white illustrated eps.UK,thick 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,vii-xixpp+3-520pp [paginated] includes contents list/table,list of maps+diagrams, list of plates,Chinese nomenclature, acknowledgements,intro,7 sections comprising 18 chapters,32pp b/w+colour plates etc.,in 4 blocks of 8pp apiece between pp104/5,pp200/1,pp296/7 and pp360/1 respectively,b/w illus/diagrams/maps throughout the text and the book,an epilogue,appendices(5),notes,select biblio and an index.Plus [unpaginated],half-title+ title pages,dedication,double-page b/w treasure fleets (1421-3) world voyages map, intro separator page,sections+chapter separator pages. On 8 March 1421 the largest fleet the world had ever seen sailed from its base in China.The ships,huge junks nearly five hundred feet long and built from the finest teak,were under the command of Emperor Zhu Di's loyal eunuch admirals. Their mission was 'to proceed all the way to the end of the earth to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas' and unite the world in Confucian harmony.Their journey would last over two years and circle the globe. When they returned Zhu Di lost control and China was beginning its long,self-imposed isolation from the world it had so recently embraced. The great ships rotted at their moorings and the records of their journeys were destroyed.Lost was the knowledge that Chinese ships had reached America seventy years before Columbus and circumnavigated the globe a century before Magellan.They had also discovered Antarctica,reached Australia three hundred and fifty years before Cook and solved the problem of longtitude three hundred years before the Europeans. Gavin Menzies ha spent fifteen years tracing the astonishing voyages of the Chinese fleet.Now,in a fascinating historical detective story,he shares the remarkable account of his discoveries and the incontrovertible evidence to support them.His compelling narrative pulls together ancient maps,precise navigational knowledge,astronomy and the surviving accounts of Chinese explorers and the later European navigators.It brings to light the artefacts and inscribed stones left behind by the Emperor's fleet,the evidence of sunken junks along its route and the ornate votive offerings left by the Chinese sailors wherever they landed,in thanks to Shao Lin,goddess of the sea. '1421: The Year China Discovered the World' is the story of a remarkable journey of discovery that rewrites our understanding of history.Our knowledge of world exploration as it has been commonly accepted for centuries must now be revised. '1421' is destined to become a classic work of historical detection. Since April 2013,and in 2016 too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering its weight allowances,dimensions and lowered its compensation rates too! So, please contact seller,because of the weight/value of this item,for correct, insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!

K,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.

Bibliophile Bookbase for antiquarian books, maps and prints.