compiled a
better bibliography, to which may be added my own lists in the
_Bibliotheca Sinica_[9] and in the _T'oung-Pao_.[10]

Campbell, _Ann. de la Typog. neerlandaise_, 1874, p. 338, mentions a Dutch
edition: _Reysen int heilighe lant_, s.l.n.d., folio, of which but two
copies are known, and which must be dated as far back as 1470 [see p.
600], I believed hitherto (I am not yet sure that Campbell is right as to
his date) that the first printed edition was German, s.l.n.d., very likely
printed at Basel, about 1475, discovered by Tross, the Paris
Bookseller.[11] The next editions are the French of the 4th April,
1480,[12] and 8th February of the same year,[13] Easter being the 2nd of
April, then the Latin,[14] Dutch,[15] and Italian[16] editions, and
after the English editions of Pynson and Wynkin de Worde.

In what tongue was Mandeville's Book written?

The fact that the first edition of it was printed either in German or in
Dutch, only shows that the scientific progress was greater and printing
more active in such towns as Basel, Nuremberg and Augsburg than in others.
At first, one might believe that there were three original texts, probably
in French, English, and vulgar Latin; the Dean of Tongres, Radulphus of
Rivo, a native of Breda, writes indeed in his _Gesta Pontificum
Leodiensium_, 1616, p. 17: "Hoc anno Ioannes Mandeuilius natione Anglus
vir ingenio, & arte medendi eminens, qui toto fere terrarum orbe
peragrato, _tribus linguis_ peregrinationem suam doctissime _conscripsit_,
in alium orbe nullis finibus clausum, loegeque hoc quietiorem, & beatiorem
migrauit 17. Nouembris. Sepultus in Ecclesia Wilhelmitarum non procul a
moenibus Ciuitatis Leodiensis." The Dean of Tongres died in 1483;[17] Mr.
Warner, on the authority of the _Bulletin de l'Inst. Archeol. Liegeois_,
xvi. 1882, p. 358, gives 1403 as the date of the death of Radulphus.
However, Mandeville himself says (_Warner, Harley_, 4383) at the end of
his introduction, p. 3:--"Et sachez qe ieusse cest escript mis en latyn
pur pluis briefment deuiser; mes, pur ceo qe plusours entendent mieltz
romantz qe latin, ieo lay mys en romance, pur ceo qe chescun lentende et
luy chiualers et les seignurs et lez autres nobles homes qi ne sciuent
point de latin ou poy, et qount estee outre meer, sachent et entendent, si
ieo dye voir ou noun, et si ieo erre en deuisant par noun souenance ou
autrement, qils le puissent adresser et amender, qar choses de long temps
passez p