Home / Browse / Decorative Bindings / A plain and literal translation of the Arabian Nights' entertainments,
(ARABIAN NIGHTS) BURTON, Richard F.
A plain and literal translation of the Arabian Nights' entertainments,
now entitled the book of the Thousand Nights and a Night with introduction explanatory notes on the manners and customs of Moslem men and a terminal essay upon the history of The Nights.
Publisher: Benares: by the Kamashastra Society for private subscribers, 1885–88
Stock code: 67649
Price: £8,750 Currency Conversion
First edition, the authentic Benares edition, issued in a limited subscription of 1,000 copies. Richard Burton's celebrated translation "has become the pre-eminent English translation of the Middle Eastern classic. It is the keystone of Burton's literary reputation" (ODNB). The original edition comprises 10 volumes of Arabian Nights and 6 Supplemental Nights. The book was not of course published in Benares, and the Kamashashtra Society was a grand-sounding cover for Burton and his friend Foster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot.
16 volumes, octavo (237 × 145 mm). 20th-century brown half morocco for Henry Sotheran. Titles to spines and raised bands gilt, light brown cloth sides, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt. An excellent set.
