translation of Marco Polo (Nuremberg), 1477,[50] reprinted repeatedly,
e.g. at Augsburg, 1481, in the _Novus Orbis_, 1534 (Latin version), at
Basle, 1534 (German translation of the preceding), while Mandeville's
memoirs were so popular as to become finally a _Volksbuch_.[51]

The account of Olearius is of special interest to us. It gives an
excellent description of Persia, and above all it gives us valuable
information on the literature and language. Olearius is struck by the
similarity of many Persian words to corresponding words in German and
Latin, and hints at the kinship of these idioms, though, looking only at
the vocabulary and not at the structure, he supposes Persian to be
related to Arabic.[52] He tells us of the high esteem in which poetry
was held by the Persians, and notices that rhyme is an indispensable
requisite of their poetic art. He also mentions some of their leading
poets, among them Saʻdī, H̱āfiḍ, Firdausī and Niḍāmī.[53]

* * * * *

But what interests us most is the translation which he made of the
_Gulistān_, published in 1654, under the title of _Persianischer
Rosenthal_. True, it was not the first in point of time. As early as
1634 du Ryer had published at Paris an incomplete French version, and
shortly afterwards this version was translated into German by Johann
Friedrich Ochsenbach of Tübingen, but apparently without attracting much
notice.[54] In 1644, Levin Warner of Leyden had given the Persian text
and Latin version of a number of Saʻdī's maxims,[55] while Gentius had
published the whole text with a Latin translation at Amsterdam in 1651.
But it was the version of Olearius that really introduced the _Gulistān_
to Europe.