Editing Kubla Khan (section)

===Purchas and Marco Polo===
[[File:Xanadu on Map of Asia.JPG|thumb|[[Xanadu, China|Xanadu]] (here called Ciandu, as [[Marco Polo]] called it) on the French map of Asia made by [[Sanson d'Abbeville]], geographer of King [[Louis XIV]], dated 1650. It was northeast of [[Cambalu]], or modern-day Beijing.]]

The book Coleridge was reading before he fell asleep was ''Purchas, his Pilgrimes, or Relations of the World and Religions Observed in All Ages and Places Discovered, from the Creation to the Present'', by the English clergyman and geographer Samuel Purchas, published in 1613. The book contained a brief description of Xanadu, the summer capital of the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan. Coleridge's preface says that he was reading the following sentence, or words of the same substance, in Purchas's ''Pilgrimage'':

<blockquote> Here the Khan Kubla commanded a palace to be built, and a stately garden thereunto. And thus ten miles of fertile ground were inclosed with a wall.</blockquote>

Coleridge names the wrong book by Purchas (Purchas wrote three books, his ''Pilgrimage'', his ''Pilgrim'', and his ''Pilgrimes''; the last was his collection of travel stories), and misquotes the line. The text about Xanadu in ''Purchas, His Pilgrimes'', which Coleridge admitted he did not remember exactly, was:

<blockquote>In Xandu did Cublai Can build a stately Pallace, encompassing sixteen miles of plaine ground with a wall, wherein are fertile Meddowes, pleasant Springs, delightfull streames, and all sorts of beasts of chase and game, and in the middest thereof a sumptuous house of pleasure, which may be moved from place to place.<ref>[[iarchive:purchashispilgri00purc|Samuel Purchas, ''Purchas his Pilgrimes'', the Fourth Book, chapter 13, page 415. digital version from the copy owned by John Adams in the Boston Public Library.]]</ref></blockquote>

This quotation was based upon the writings of the Venetian explorer [[Marco Polo]] who is widely believed to have visited Xanadu in about 1275.{{NoteTag|In about 1298–1299, Marco Polo dictated a description of Xanadu which includes these lines: <br /> And when you have ridden three days from the city last mentioned ([[Cambalu]], or modern Beijing), between north-east and north, you come to a city called Chandu, which was built by the Khan now reigning. There is at this place a very fine marble Palace, the rooms of which are all gilt and painted with figures of men and beasts and birds, and with a variety of trees and flowers, all executed with such exquisite art that you regard them with delight and astonishment.
<br />Round this Palace a wall is built, inclosing a compass of 16 miles, and inside the Park there are fountains and rivers and brooks, and beautiful meadows, with all kinds of wild animals (excluding such as are of ferocious nature), which the Emperor has procured and placed there to supply food for his gerfalcons and hawks, which he keeps there in mew.<ref>[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Travels_of_Marco_Polo/Book_1/Chapter_61 ''The Travels of Marco Polo'', Book 1/Chapter 61], "Of the City of Chandu, and the Kaan's Palace There". from Wikisource, translated by Henry Yule.</ref>}} Marco Polo also described a large portable palace made of gilded and lacquered cane or bamboo which could be taken apart quickly and moved from place to place.{{NoteTag|Marco Polo described it this way: <br /> "Moreover at a spot in the Park where there is a charming wood he has another Palace built of cane, of which I must give you a description. It is gilt all over, and most elaborately finished inside. It is stayed on gilt and lackered columns, on each of which is a dragon all gilt, the tail of which is attached to the column whilst the head supports the architrave, and the claws likewise are stretched out right and left to support the architrave. The roof, like the rest, is formed of canes, covered with a varnish so strong and excellent that no amount of rain will rot them. These canes are a good 3 palms in girth, and from 10 to 15 paces in length. They are cut across at each knot, and then the pieces are split so as to form from each two hollow tiles, and with these the house is roofed; only every such tile of cane has to be nailed down to prevent the wind from lifting it. In short, the whole Palace is built of these canes, which (I may mention) serve also for a great variety of other useful purposes. The construction of the Palace is so devised that it can be taken down and put up again with great celerity; and it can all be taken to pieces and removed whithersoever the Emperor may command. When erected, it is braced against mishaps from the wind by more than 200 cords of silk. <br /> The Lord abides at this Park of his, dwelling sometimes in the Marble Palace and sometimes in the Cane Palace for three months of the year, to wit, June, July, and August; preferring this residence because it is by no means hot; in fact it is a very cool place. When the 28th day of the Moon of August arrives he takes his departure, and the Cane Palace is taken to pieces."<ref>''The Travels of Marco Polo'', Book 1/Chapter 61, "Of the City of Chandu, and the Kaan's Palace There". from Wikisource, translated by Henry Yule.</ref>}} This was the "sumptuous house of pleasure" mentioned by Purchas, which Coleridge transformed into a "stately pleasure dome".

In terms of spelling, Coleridge's printed version differs from Purchas's spelling, which refers to the Tartar ruler as "Cublai Can", and from the spelling used by Milton, "Cathaian Can".<ref>Beer 1962 pp. 211, 227.</ref> His original manuscript spells the name "Cubla Khan" and the place "Xannadu".