Rare The Arabian Nights - Richard Burton Illustrated Leather Bound Hardback 1st Print

by Richard Francis Burton

This rare and vintage book is a perfect addition to any bibliophile's collection

Hardcover

Published January 1, 2016

About the author

Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was a British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian, and African languages.

Burton's best-known achievements include travelling in disguise to Mecca, an unexpurgated translation of One Thousand and One Nights (also commonly called The Arabian Nights in English after Andrew Lang's adaptation), bringing the Kama Sutra to publication in English, and journeying with John Hanning Speke as the first Europeans led by Africa's greatest explorer guide, Sidi Mubarak Bombay, utilizing route information by Indian and Omani merchants who traded in the region, to visit the Great Lakes of Africa in search of the source of the Nile. Burton extensively criticized colonial policies (to the detriment of his career) in his works and letters. He was a prolific and erudite author and wrote numerous books and scholarly articles about subjects including human behaviour, travel, falconry, fencing, sexual practices, and ethnography. A unique feature of his books is the copious footnotes and appendices containing remarkable observations and unexpurgated information.

He was a captain in the army of the East India Company serving in India (and later, briefly, in the Crimean War). Following this he was engaged by the Royal Geographical Society to explore the east coast of Africa and led an expedition guided by the locals and was the first European to see Lake Tanganyika. In later life he served as British consul in Fernando Po, Santos, Damascus and, finally, Trieste. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and was awarded a knighthood (KCMG) in 1886.

Reviews

[K. Anna Kraft · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been wanting to read The Arabian Nights since I was a child. Now that I have actually read these stories, I'm glad that I waited until I was an adult, to say the least. There are some spectacular adventures included, but some of the earliest stories were the hardest to get through just because of how women were portrayed,. Which I believe is intentional, since Scheherazade was presumably trying to meet Shahryar where he was at after the betrayal of his first wife and the events right after that left him traumatized, and guide him into a different mindset over time. It's an admirable show of a softer kind of heroism, given the threat Shahryar's actions posed to their entire population if you really think about it - which I don't think that Shahryar ever did, and judge him rather harshly for, considering that he was raised to be a ruler, and really should have been trained to consider the long-term impact of his actions. (Not to mention that they were also horrific.)

This judgement comes through in the haiku I composed from my takeaway thoughts, as I often do:

"One gambles her life
To end a dire scourge, fixing
An unworthy man."

[Mary Eagar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this edition when I was 18 and have kept it ever since. Gorgeous collection of amazing stories from Scheherazade's beginnings, to Sinbad, Aladdin and so many more. The illustrations are WONDERFUL! They're like soft and dreamy paintings which are perfect for a book like this.