The Thousand and One Nights, Commonly Called, In England, The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments.

LANE, Edward William.

Item Number: 132099

London: Charles Knight and Co., 1839-1841.

First edition of Lane’s translation of The Arabian Nights. Large octavo, three volumes, bound in three quarter morocco over marbled boards by Bayntun, gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, illustrated with many hundred engravings on wood from original designs by William Harvey. In fine condition. An exceptional presentation.

One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the Arabian Nights, from the first English-language edition (c. 1706–1721), which rendered the title as The Arabian Nights' Entertainment. The work was collected over many centuries by various authors, translators, and scholars across West, Central and South Asia, and North Africa. Some tales trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Egyptian, Indian, Persian, and Mesopotamian folklore and literature.