Lady Burton's Edition of her husband's Arabian Nights, translated literally from the Arabic, prepared for household reading by Justin Huntly McCarthy, M.P., London, Waterlow and Sons, Roy. 8vo. 6 vols.
In preparing this edition for the press, as much as possible has been retained, both of the translation and notes; and it has not been found necessary to omit altogether more than a very few of the least important tales. The contents of the 6 volumes are as follows:--
Vol. I. (1886), Front's piece (Portrait of Lady Burton), Preface, Translator's Foreword Introduction 1-9 (pp. xxiii. 476).
Vol. II. (1886), Front's piece (Portrait of Sir Richard F. Burton), 9 (continued), 9a-29 (pp. ii. 526).
Vol. III. (1887), 29 (continued)-133e (pp. viii. 511).
Vol. IV. (1887), 133e (continued)-154a (pp. iv. 514).
Vol. V. (1887), 154a (continued)-163 (pp. iv. 516).
Vol. VI. (1886) [? 1888], 163 (continued)-169 (pp. ii. 486).
Also includes Terminal Essay, Index to Tales and Proper Names, Contributions to Bibliography, as far as it relates to Galland's MS. and Translations; Comparative Table of Tales; Opinions of the Press; and Letters from Scholars.
Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, with notes anthropological and explanatory, by Richard F. Burton. Benares, printed by the Kamashastra Society for private subscribers only. Roy. 8vo.
The contents of the 6 volumes are as follows:
Vol. I. (1886) Translator's Foreword, 170-181bb.
Vol. II. (1886) 182-189. Appendix: Variants and analogues of some of the tales in vols. i. and ii., by Mr. W. A. Clouston.
These two volumes contain the tales peculiar to the Breslau Text, and cover the same ground as Mr. Payne's 3 vols. of "Tales from the Arabic."
Vol. III. (1887) Foreword, 191-198. Appendix: Variants and Analogues of the Tales in the Supplemental Nights, vol. iii., by Mr. W. A. Clouston.
This volume, the bulkiest of the whole series, contains such of Galland's tales as are not to be found in the ordinary texts of the Nights.
Vol. IV. (1887) The Translator's Foreword, 203-209; App. A. Ineptiae Bodleianae; App. B., The three untranslated tales in Mr. E. J. W. Gibb's "Forty Vezirs."
Vol. V. (1888) 210-241a, Translator's Foreword; App. i. Catalogue of Wortley Montague Manuscript, Contents, App. ii. Notes on the Stories contained in vols. iv. and v. of Supplemental Nights, by Mr. W. F. Kirby.
These two volumes contain tales translated from the Wortley Montague MS., used by Jonathan Scott, and now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. The following tales, not in our table, are added:--
Vol. IV. Story of the Limping Schoolmaster (between 204i and 204j).
How Drummer Abu Kasim became a Kazi, and Story of the Kazi and his Slipper.
(These two tales come between 206a and 206b.)
Adventure of the Fruit-seller and the Concubine (between 207c and 207d).
Tale of the third Larrikin concerning himself (between 208 and 209).
On the other hand, a few tales in the MS. are omitted as repetitions, or as too unimportant to be worth translating:--
Vol. VI. (1888) Translator's Foreword: 248; 246; The Linguist-Dame, the Duenna, and the King's Son; 247; The Pleasant History of the Cock and the Fox; History of what befel the Fowl-let with the Fowler; 249; 250.
App. i. Index to the Tales and Proper Names; ii. Alphabetical Table of the Notes (Anthropological, &c.); iii. Notes on the Stories contained in vol. vi.
of Supplementary Nights, by W. F. Kirby; iv. Additional Notes on the Bibliography of the Thousand and One Nights, by W. F. Kirby; v. The Biography of the Book and the Reviewers Reviewed, Opinions of the Press.
This volume contains the originals of Chavis and Cazotte's Tales, omitting the four doubtful ones (cf. Nights, x. App., pp. 418, 419).
Collections of Selected Tales (P. 439).
"We have also 'Aladdin or the Wonderful Lamp,' 'Sindbad the Sailor, or the Old Man of the Sea' and 'Ali Baba, or the Forty Thieves,' revised by M. E.
Braddon, author of 'Lady Audley's Secret,' etc. Illustrated by Gustav Dore and other artists. London: J. & R. Maxwell.
"Miss Braddon has contented herself with 'Englishing' the vulgar version, whose Gallicisms are so offensive to the national ear." (Sir R. F. Burton, in litt.)
Imitations and Miscellaneous Works Having More or less Connection with the Nights (Pp. 448-453). B. English (Pp. 452-453).
13. History of Rhedi, the Hermit of Mount Ararat, an Oriental Tale.
By--Mackenzie, 16mo., Dublin, 1781.
I have not seen this little book.
14. Miscellanies, consisting of classical extracts, and Oriental Epilogues. By William Beloe, F.S.A. Translator of Herodotus, &c. London, 1795.
Includes some genuine Oriental tales, such as a version of that of Basim the Smith.
15. The Orientalist, or Letters of a Rabbi, with Notes by James Noble, Oriental Master in the Scottish Nasal and Military Academy. Edinburgh, 1831.
Noticed by Mr. W. A. Clouston, Suppl. Nights, iii., p. 377.
16. The Adventures of the Caliph Haroun Al-raschid. Recounted by the Author of "Mary Powell" [Miss Manning]. 8vo., London, 1855; Arthur Hall, Virtue & Co.
17. The 1001 Days, a Companion to the Arabian Nights, with introduction by Miss J.] Pardoe. 8vo., London 1857, woodcuts.
A miscellaneous collection partly derived from "Les Mille et un Jours" (cf.
Nights x., pp. 499, 500). I have also seen a similar miscellaneous collection in French under the latter title. The tales in the English work are as follows:
I. Hassan Abdallah, or the Enchanted Keys Story of Hassan.
Hassan Abdallah the Basket Maker.
Hassan Abdallah the Dervise Abounader
II. Soliman Bey and the Story Tellers The First Story Teller.