Attractively bound set of the Arabian nights in the first accurate English translation
The Thousand and One Nights, commonly called, in England, the Arabian Nights' Entertainments.
3 volumes. 8vo in 4s. XXXII, 618; XII, 643, (1); XII, 763, (1) pp. With a different lithographed title-page to each volume and hundreds of wood engraved illustrations in text. 19th-century red morocco (signed on flyleaf: Jefferies & Sons, Bristol), richly gold-tooled spines, boards, board edges and turn-ins, gilt edges.
$3,882.00
Attractively bound set of the first accurate English translation of the of Alf Laylah wa Laylah, commonly known in English as the "Arabian Nights". The British orientalist Edward William Lane (1801-76) lived in Egypt for several years and had integrated well with the Arabic population.
It looks like by the time of publication of the third volume, the run of the first was sold out and the publisher had turned to a new printer for the third and a second edition of the first volume to complete the set. The second edition of the first volume is a line for line reprint, but omits the final printer's imprint and the occasionally included translator's advertisement.
With the bookplate of the American collector Henry T. Cox, whose library was auctioned in 1899, and the library stamps of the American businessman Henry T. Sloane (1845-1937). A very good set.
Scheherazade's Web: The 1001 Nights & Comparative Literature, J. Ross 24 (1839-1841).