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One Thousand and One Nights: Complete Arabian Nights Collection
The exotic tales of the Arabian Nights have charmed and delighted readers across the world for almost a millennia. The collection features hundreds of magical Middle Eastern and Indian stories, including the famous first appearances of Aladdin, Ali Baba and Sindbad the Sailor. This eBook presents a comprehensive collection of translations of ‘One Thousand and One Nights’, with numerous illustrations, rare texts, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1)
* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to ‘One Thousand and One Nights’
* Concise introductions to the translations
* 5 different translations, with individual contents tables
* Features Burton’s seminal 16 volume translation
* Excellent formatting of the texts
* Some tales are illustrated with their original artwork
* Features Edward William Lane’s guide to ARABIAN SOCIETY IN THE MIDDLE AGES – the perfect accompaniment to reading ‘One Thousand and One Nights’
CONTENTS:
The Translations
ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS
JONATHAN SCOTT 1811 TRANSLATION
JOHN PAYNE 1884 TRANSLATION
RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON 1885 TRANSLATION
ANDREW LANG 1885 TRANSLATION
JULIA PARDOE 1857 ADAPTATION
The Guide
ARABIAN SOCIETY IN THE MIDDLE AGES by Edward William Lane
* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to ‘One Thousand and One Nights’
* Concise introductions to the translations
* 5 different translations, with individual contents tables
* Features Burton’s seminal 16 volume translation
* Excellent formatting of the texts
* Some tales are illustrated with their original artwork
* Features Edward William Lane’s guide to ARABIAN SOCIETY IN THE MIDDLE AGES – the perfect accompaniment to reading ‘One Thousand and One Nights’
CONTENTS:
The Translations
ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS
JONATHAN SCOTT 1811 TRANSLATION
JOHN PAYNE 1884 TRANSLATION
RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON 1885 TRANSLATION
ANDREW LANG 1885 TRANSLATION
JULIA PARDOE 1857 ADAPTATION
The Guide
ARABIAN SOCIETY IN THE MIDDLE AGES by Edward William Lane
8974 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 30, 2014
460 people are currently reading
520 people want to read
About the author
Anonymous
791k books3,351 followersBooks can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:
* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author
Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.
See also: Anonymous
* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author
Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.
See also: Anonymous
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 26, 2021
Crikey what a bunch of misogynistic and racist stories! It was hard to read and I skipped over so much. I much prefer the modern retellings.
December 21, 2021
I don't know what happened!
I used to devour books like this one when I was in Junior high.
I only read a hundred pages but I just couldn't subject myself to another
1200+ pages of this garbage. The stories are a bit dry. What I hated most about this book
(what I read of it anyway) is the nesting doll style each story is linked to the next. Let me explain.
Did you hear A's story with B?
so and so happened and they meet C who does this and that.
Are you coming back to the story of A and B?
Only after I have droned on long enough that you have forgotten about them.
will you at least wrap up the story of A and B properly?
Hellz to the Nah.
I used to devour books like this one when I was in Junior high.
I only read a hundred pages but I just couldn't subject myself to another
1200+ pages of this garbage. The stories are a bit dry. What I hated most about this book
(what I read of it anyway) is the nesting doll style each story is linked to the next. Let me explain.
Did you hear A's story with B?
so and so happened and they meet C who does this and that.
Are you coming back to the story of A and B?
Only after I have droned on long enough that you have forgotten about them.
will you at least wrap up the story of A and B properly?
Hellz to the Nah.
August 10, 2021
Research.
October 16, 2022
What a long epic journey this has been. I never thought in a million years I would read the Arabian Nights, and when I started it, I was a little intimidated. For those who want to know; the word count of the Jonathan Scott translation is just over five-hundred thousand words.
The Arabian Nights is not a typical story. It's more a collection of shorter stories joined together with a framing device—the one of Scheherazade. I love this structure, and I’m kind of sad that I’ve finally finished reading this tome.
It’s quite the romance, and I find it a little pathetic that a lot of readers can’t read this book, or rate it poorly because they can’t get their heads out of their political you-know-what—and just read the story for what it is; "historical fiction." If a reader needs a tree to bark up for reasons of complaint, then he needs to read the Quran and the Sahih Hadith narratives—because clearly there’s a lot of people reading this book who don’t know anything about the world, of of history, or of Islam.
As a quick note; yes, there are black slaves, and there is some rather racist remarks by some characters, but on another facet, the Caliph Haroon Al Rasheed, the greatest ruler in these stories, who makes regular appearances and is referenced through out the text, has a vizier who is in fact, black. It’s a high position to hold in the empire. Very high. Also white slaves are mentioned on more than one occasion in the narrative.
In fact, I would say, for a book that was collected by Muslims in the Islamic world, the ideas in the Arabian Nights are rather quite liberal, with plenty of drinking, carousing, and a few stories of women getting the better of men in the later stories, some of which are quite funny.
Some of the stories are rather slow or boring, but what musical score keeps at the pitch of its crescendo? None, because that would be exhausting. I don’t think the Arabian Nights is the kind of book you pick up and read for eight hours at a time. It’s best in small doses, one story at a time.
Because the stories were originally oral tradition narratives, they're actually quite suited for reading aloud, which is what I’ve been doing for most of the pages of this book. The Jonathan Scott translation is somewhat archaic, but not overly so. I soon became used to and accustomed to the old vocabulary, and the translation is quite formal, which lends a nice air to the whole book.
Take note that I did not read the Francis Burton translation, the one that’s super spicy, but upon scanning the writing style, I would say Jonathan Scott’s’ is much more readable for reasons of personal aesthetics. That being said, the Jonathan Scott translation is heavily bowdlerized. If you don’t know what that word means, I’ll tell you. It means the content was translated in a method that suited an audience of his time and generation. In this case, the text is quite conservative, with spicy details taken out, yet still hinted at. If you’re not paying attention, you may miss those hints completely.
If you want a spicy reading of this book, the Scott translation isn’t it, and I would suggest you read the Francis Burton translation, which you might say is the opposite of bowdlerized? I’ve read excerpts, and… wow! No wonder he was accused of writing porn back in his day.
My favorite stories include:
The Story of the Princes Amgiad and Assad
The Story of Abou Hassan, or The Sleeper Awakened
The Story of Alla ad Deen, or The Wonderful Lamp (Aladdin)
The Story of Syed Naomaun
The Story Ali Baba and the Forty Robbers Destroyed by by a Slave
The Adventures of Mazine of Khorassaun
Adventures of the Three Princes, Sons of the Sultan of China
Story of the Good Vizier Unjustly Imprisoned
Story of the Lady of Cairo and Her Four Gallants
The Cauzee’s Story
And I think there were a few more in the earlier sections, but I wasn’t taking notes back then. I suppose that means I’ll have to read the Francis Burton translation!
One final note, and this is just my opinion, but if a person wants to read modern stories, he should read "modern" stories, because translations that "update" the language and remove elements that are perceived as "undesirable," well, that's destroying the text and the stories. These stories are historical and lend a very nice context and look at the historical periods from which they were read and written. One might argue that the translations damage this aspect, and that may be so, however the translations in and of themselves lend another layer of historical complexity to the reading.
The Arabian Nights is not an easy read, it's long, it's slow, it's boring, it's fascination and violent, it's romantic, and it's epic, with layered narratives (stories within stories within stories) and on top of that you have the translations, which I've already mentioned, lend an added aspect of historical complexity to the reading. The Nights is a wonderful and multi-layered reading experience, not for for the faint of heart, an certainly not for certain "modern" readers who can't get their heads out of their [end fragment.]
The Arabian Nights is not a typical story. It's more a collection of shorter stories joined together with a framing device—the one of Scheherazade. I love this structure, and I’m kind of sad that I’ve finally finished reading this tome.
It’s quite the romance, and I find it a little pathetic that a lot of readers can’t read this book, or rate it poorly because they can’t get their heads out of their political you-know-what—and just read the story for what it is; "historical fiction." If a reader needs a tree to bark up for reasons of complaint, then he needs to read the Quran and the Sahih Hadith narratives—because clearly there’s a lot of people reading this book who don’t know anything about the world, of of history, or of Islam.
As a quick note; yes, there are black slaves, and there is some rather racist remarks by some characters, but on another facet, the Caliph Haroon Al Rasheed, the greatest ruler in these stories, who makes regular appearances and is referenced through out the text, has a vizier who is in fact, black. It’s a high position to hold in the empire. Very high. Also white slaves are mentioned on more than one occasion in the narrative.
In fact, I would say, for a book that was collected by Muslims in the Islamic world, the ideas in the Arabian Nights are rather quite liberal, with plenty of drinking, carousing, and a few stories of women getting the better of men in the later stories, some of which are quite funny.
Some of the stories are rather slow or boring, but what musical score keeps at the pitch of its crescendo? None, because that would be exhausting. I don’t think the Arabian Nights is the kind of book you pick up and read for eight hours at a time. It’s best in small doses, one story at a time.
Because the stories were originally oral tradition narratives, they're actually quite suited for reading aloud, which is what I’ve been doing for most of the pages of this book. The Jonathan Scott translation is somewhat archaic, but not overly so. I soon became used to and accustomed to the old vocabulary, and the translation is quite formal, which lends a nice air to the whole book.
Take note that I did not read the Francis Burton translation, the one that’s super spicy, but upon scanning the writing style, I would say Jonathan Scott’s’ is much more readable for reasons of personal aesthetics. That being said, the Jonathan Scott translation is heavily bowdlerized. If you don’t know what that word means, I’ll tell you. It means the content was translated in a method that suited an audience of his time and generation. In this case, the text is quite conservative, with spicy details taken out, yet still hinted at. If you’re not paying attention, you may miss those hints completely.
If you want a spicy reading of this book, the Scott translation isn’t it, and I would suggest you read the Francis Burton translation, which you might say is the opposite of bowdlerized? I’ve read excerpts, and… wow! No wonder he was accused of writing porn back in his day.
My favorite stories include:
The Story of the Princes Amgiad and Assad
The Story of Abou Hassan, or The Sleeper Awakened
The Story of Alla ad Deen, or The Wonderful Lamp (Aladdin)
The Story of Syed Naomaun
The Story Ali Baba and the Forty Robbers Destroyed by by a Slave
The Adventures of Mazine of Khorassaun
Adventures of the Three Princes, Sons of the Sultan of China
Story of the Good Vizier Unjustly Imprisoned
Story of the Lady of Cairo and Her Four Gallants
The Cauzee’s Story
And I think there were a few more in the earlier sections, but I wasn’t taking notes back then. I suppose that means I’ll have to read the Francis Burton translation!
One final note, and this is just my opinion, but if a person wants to read modern stories, he should read "modern" stories, because translations that "update" the language and remove elements that are perceived as "undesirable," well, that's destroying the text and the stories. These stories are historical and lend a very nice context and look at the historical periods from which they were read and written. One might argue that the translations damage this aspect, and that may be so, however the translations in and of themselves lend another layer of historical complexity to the reading.
The Arabian Nights is not an easy read, it's long, it's slow, it's boring, it's fascination and violent, it's romantic, and it's epic, with layered narratives (stories within stories within stories) and on top of that you have the translations, which I've already mentioned, lend an added aspect of historical complexity to the reading. The Nights is a wonderful and multi-layered reading experience, not for for the faint of heart, an certainly not for certain "modern" readers who can't get their heads out of their [end fragment.]
October 25, 2024
"My soul to patience I exhort forever, day and night, whilst still my body is consumed with fires of love in vain
I'M FREE!!!!!!!!!! 🥳
The complete reading of this book was made possible by my inability to leave a book unfinished once I started. This was a torture, as my 1-star rating implies, and there´s so much one can say but I think I'll just resume it in 3 points:
1.It's so very sad how about 95% of these stories are violently based on misogyny and racism.
2.Reading this should count as maybe 50 books in one.
3.Someone should've taught Richard Burton about paragraphs before writing this.
adapted films:
aladdin (1992) dir. John Musker and Ron Clements.
the return of jaffar (1994) dir. Toby Shelton, Tad Stones and Alan Zaslove.
aladdin and the king of thieves (1996) dir. Tad Stones.
aladdin (2019) dir. Guy Ritchie.
adapted tv-shows:
aladdin (1994-1995)
I'M FREE!!!!!!!!!! 🥳
The complete reading of this book was made possible by my inability to leave a book unfinished once I started. This was a torture, as my 1-star rating implies, and there´s so much one can say but I think I'll just resume it in 3 points:
1.It's so very sad how about 95% of these stories are violently based on misogyny and racism.
2.Reading this should count as maybe 50 books in one.
3.Someone should've taught Richard Burton about paragraphs before writing this.
adapted films:
aladdin (1992) dir. John Musker and Ron Clements.
the return of jaffar (1994) dir. Toby Shelton, Tad Stones and Alan Zaslove.
aladdin and the king of thieves (1996) dir. Tad Stones.
aladdin (2019) dir. Guy Ritchie.
adapted tv-shows:
aladdin (1994-1995)
January 12, 2018
The Arabian Nights by Mushon Mahdi is one of the books that I really liked to read. This book is about a king named Shahryar. He kills a new wife every night because he is afraid she would stop loving him. But he marries a woman named Shahrazad she finds a way to prevent getting killed. She tells the king stories that are so interesting that he keeps pushing back her execution date to hear more stories until she ran out.I really like this book because she tells stories like Aladdin and others. I like this book because when she is telling the story you feel like she is reading to you but you’re the one reading. This story reminds me of the beauty and the beast.
July 11, 2022
This was the first entry in my gorgeous book of 1001 books to read before I die. I had extremely high expectations of this, despite guessing it would be pretty wordy. However it more than disappointed me, ultimately it's bored me to the point where I've decided dnf and deleted it.
The style of the nesting doll kind of story is fascinating but only too a point, how many times can it be done before it gets repetitive?
The stories themselves are ridiculous and repetitive also. The repeated falling in love in an instant, the repeated ghastly deaths against a proportion of a certain population, all the fainting and dramatics over nothing.
Absolutely ridiculous book and glad I've given up!
The style of the nesting doll kind of story is fascinating but only too a point, how many times can it be done before it gets repetitive?
The stories themselves are ridiculous and repetitive also. The repeated falling in love in an instant, the repeated ghastly deaths against a proportion of a certain population, all the fainting and dramatics over nothing.
Absolutely ridiculous book and glad I've given up!
January 3, 2023
This is a Librevox recording which I chose to listen to as well as read the translation by Sit Richard Burton. I have enjoyed other recordings from Librevox and this is good too. It is really very good considering that, I assume, the readers are not professionals. The story is not quite what Sir Burton has done. In his preface he apologizes for some of the stories being risque, here they are left out. They also include stories, like Ali Baba, that were not written or told in Arabia, but France.
The stories are interesting and fun to hear.
November 28, 2021
This is gonna mess up the page count of my 2021's books, because I definitely didn't read the 8,000 pages.
Funny and interesting stories, though they get repetitive and old after a while. I must have read 100 pages or so.
Funny and interesting stories, though they get repetitive and old after a while. I must have read 100 pages or so.
December 27, 2022
Book hasn't aged well over time. The stories are interesting and show a window into ancient Islam (which is interesting), but the gbv, racism, and other cultural insensitivities make it a frustrating read.
April 29, 2022
The prose is bit harder going than my other edition, this one is John Payne but has some of the later volume stories in too test I wanted
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews