Aladdin and the Arabian Nights

by Rene Bull (Illustrator)

An illustrated collection of twenty-six stories from the "Arabian Nights."

First collected nearly a millennium ago, these folktales are presented as stories that the beautiful Scheherazade tells her husband, King Shahryar, over 1001 consecutive nights. They include some of the best-known legends of eastern storytelling: "The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor," "The Story of Aladdin; or, The Wonderful Lamp," and "The Story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves." This beautiful collection features more than 20 tales plus illustrations in full color and black and white by René Bull.

Genres: Classics, Fantasy, Mythology, Fairy Tales, Fiction, Adventure, Short Stories

352 pages, Leather Bound

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Meltha · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a troublesome book in many respects. While the adventures of Ali Baba, Sinbad the Sailor, Aladdin, and many other character from the original stories are here, so are some of the more disturbing aspects of the tales, such as antisemitism, racism, and rather a lot of frankly horrifying illustrations that almost look like they could have come out of a KKK brochure with their ultra-stereotyped features. Times have changed, and while this was published in 1986, it's obvious whoever did copy this out (no author or translator is credited) did it decades earlier than that, if not more. While some of the stories are still obviously good adventures and the literacy level is quite high, this is one that would need heavy parental discussion in order for it to work for the intended audience, which would probably be about fourth grade.

[Ciccio · Rating 5 out of 5]

*****++ for the stories and consider it a capital book.
The B&N printing quality is excellent. The many illustrations and color plates by Rene Bull are of high quality and detail.
I expected this particular edition by B&N to have only a few stories of the (nearly thousand and one now), but it is also highly abridged. It may work as a summary if one wants to have an overview and taste of a few the stories, but it lacks of the beauty of the originals. I first moved to the version of Wiggin that is based on the Scott's and Lane's translations. It shows how much the B&N is abridged, at times just a summary. I then decided to go the the original Galland's in french (1704) and read and highly enjoy fully the Simbad's, Ali Baba, and Aladdin stories!

There is plenty of reviews on the numerous translations of the "Arabian Nights" or the more proper "One thousand and one nights", but I can recommend perhaps the most intelligent essay of Borges, that compares Burton's (in english), Mardrus (in french), and Littmann (German) with introduction of Galland's and Lane's.
(See "The Translators of The One Thousand and One Nights" (in History of Eternity by Jorge Luis Borges) .
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/sho...

Borges also has a popular conference(Seven Nights) on the One Thousand and One Nights in 1980 where it elaborates on the particular perspective of Orient and Occident through the stories and the translations. It also mentions one story that later Coelho took (probably from Borges conference) to write his best seller The Alchemist.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Brooke Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A loss that can be repaired by money is not of such very great importance.”

‘Aladdin and the Arabian Nights’ is a story of a woman named Scheherazade who tells her King husband many different tales over the course of 1001 nights.

It was so easy to blaze through this book! What a wonderful collection of magical tales and fables of the orient. Growing up on the brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson, I am very familiar with nearly every fairytale; such magic it was to read of fantastical tales I had never heard. Even Aladdin was completely different than the Disney story, so reading of the original was a delight.

If you have even the slightest interest in myths and legends, I highly recommend reading these folktales.

[jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true timeless classic.

[Emily Perales · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely a product of its time. Most of the stories aren’t very engaging but the ones I like I really liked.

[Isabella Lively · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jarringly and sporadically racist.

[hal]

i picked up a lovely little copy of this book on a recent visit to a used bookstore (btw i highly recommend buying from second hand bookstores, they’re more affordable and it’s sustainable/good for the environment! ) and i’m quite excited about :)))

[Christi · Rating 3 out of 5]

We love these stories-genius storytelling!

[Dave Sterin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic fantasy stories that are reallly timeless.

[Christine (KizzieReads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved finally getting to this and reading about all the different stories that I have heard about all my life, but never knew the full story. Alladin is still my favourite. I loved this!

[Andrew Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. It took a while to get going. I wasn't expecting the chapters in the first third to be so short. This is as a result of the Inception-style storytelling device where one person is telling a story about another person who is telling a story (who then sometimes tells a story to someone else). The first third took a bit of getting used to, but I feel that the anthology really picked up once it moved onto longer form storytelling, such as in the stories of Aladdin, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, the Voyages of Sinbad, and Prince Ahmed and his fairy wife, Perie Banou.

All of the stories are interesting and diverting and the artwork that is featured in the book is beautiful. In fact, the book as a whole is simply gorgeous. It was a thing of beauty to read and cherish. The colour plate artwork wonderfully complements the story, spread out as they are throughout the book. Some are of exquisite palace scenes, others are of terrible, forbidding genies, with their arms prostrate in the air screaming into the wind. Amidst these colour plates, there are some beautiful line drawings. On average, every three or four pages are illustrated. This book is simply a joy to read.

Onto the problematic side of the book then. I was not impressed with the punctuation and layout choices, mainly in terms of character dialogue. New characters speaking were not introduced on a new line nor was direct speech placed inside speech marks/inverted commas. This took a lot of getting used to at first. I don't know why this is. I can only imagine that it has got something to do with being a translation.

There's quite a lot of misogyny in here. Women are regularly seen as property, slaves or tools to be bartered with. Marriage is done purely on a whim or on a transactional basis. There are really only two female characters who stand out as being characters of interest and of agency. These are the fairy Perie Banou and Ali Baba's slave. I appreciate that these stories were written in another time period in a different culture, but the misogyny on show would preclude me from sharing these stories with my daughters. From a 2023 Western perspective, I did audibly gasp on quite a few occasions.

I would have liked to have seen the overall arc of Scheherazade be closely follow. I would have liked to her introduce and end each story as she does in the first third.

In all, one of the most physically gorgeous and delightful books I have ever read, lots of great stories, beautiful artwork, but it is slightly marred by strange punctuation and layout choices and an undercurrent of misogyny.

[Sylvie · Rating 3 out of 5]

"the blindness of your mind was the cause of the loss of your eyes."
~the story of Bara Abdalla

In contrary to what seems obvious, the reason for my mediocre rating isn't necessarily the racism. I realise that this book was written in a time when it was normal to see black people as servants of the white people ( I don't really know how to say this in a way that's respectful. So I'm sorry if it sounds racist. That's not my intention). It did suprise me and it did make me shiver, but I can't expect this book to be written in a way that would be respectful in this day and age. It did make the book more representable for the era it was written in.
Besides that, the stories were really good. I loved the morals, because those can't be missed in fairy tales (are those fairy tales?). My favorite story was the last one: The Story of Abou Hassan; or, The Sleeper Awakened. It was clever and funny. Of course there were stories I didn't like that much, but overall the book was interesting and enjoyable.
Now the reason for my mediocre rating. It wasn't the stories. It was the way it was written. My edition, the one you see on the picture, contained around ten spelling mistakes. Maybe this doesn't sound as a lot for an entire book, but it ruined my reading flow. Published books shouldn't have spelling (or grammatical) mistakes. Period.
Besides that, I hated, absolutely hated, the lack of punctuation. Come on. When someone is talking you use quotation marks to make sentences readable and understandable. It annoyed me so much that I lacked motivation to keep reading. That was a real shame, because some of the stories were so good. I'm even at the point of crying about how sad it is that you have to miss great stories, just because there are no quotations in the entire book. Sentences didn't flow and I hate it that I couldn't fully enjoy the beauty of the stories . It's such a shame, ughh.
Maybe I'm asking to much and maybe I'm being dramatic, but this is my review.
If someone has read a version of "one thousand and one nights" that is better checked for errors and does contain quotations, please let me know. I really want to give these and other 1001 nights stories a second chance.

[Leanne McElroy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm. These tales are minimalistic, and the use of repetition clearly echoes their oral storytelling roots. A lot of them have a lesson, moral, or feature a character who uses clever ways to outsmart their dire situation. The characters exist to drive the plot forward and this means they are the container in which we see the events unfold, but their perspective is solely reliant on their occupation, status, wealth, or gender.

I got this special edition at Barnes and Noble. What lovely cover art. I like the story structure of short, simple tales that drive their point or theme forward, but exist as an overall collection, where each one is a piece of a greater narrative. This was a case of a story inside a story, inside a story, inside a story, like the russian nesting dolls.

I'm not sure if it was the translation, edition, or preferences on my part, but 100 pages in, I couldn't help but want to put it down, so it's a DNF for me. I just felt bored, as not much was happening. However, I suppose this is because these are a written down account of oral tales, so I imagine facial expressions, and the social-political and cultural context probably made these stories more enjoyable at the time of their conception.

Also, I want to note that there is some racism in this classic. The words black, negro, and white are used to describe people from the Arab perspective. The whites are described as kind and generous to the Arabs, while the blacks are painted as evil savages that practice cannibalism, and or, engage in morally questionable behavior. It would be different if it was one or more group examples of good and bad, where it's part of the actual story, but it's the continuous pattern of each time a darker skin color is mentioned, it's in a negative light. This does indeed push the prejudice of certain ethnicities being superior over others. This is something to be mindful of while reading.

I've been wanting to read non-western literature for a while now, so this was on the list to get around to eventually. I'd say it's worth one read-through, or to familiarize yourself with some of the general tales to have that basic knowledge, as there is a surprising amount of media inspired by these stories and rich cultural heritage, which is useful to know.

[Joel Pae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading Aladdin and the Arabian Nights as something quite distant from motion pictures, both in narration and style. First of all, the tales that Scherezade told the Sultan to prevent her execution for 1001 Nights was a clever trick to coerce the Sultan into abiding against his rules of slaying a woman everyday. 1001 Nights is the equivalent of nearly 3 years, which can be deduced by the fact that these stories were full of richness, eloquency, and deliberate straightforwardness. Two stories that left a large impression while I was reading was the tale of Perie Banou and Aladdin. Perie Banou, a fairy that assists a prince from escaping his father's greed, revolves around the common theme of family and distrust. Even among the same blood and heritage, the prince's father was willing to sacrifice his son and send viziers in disguise in order to elicit Perie Banou and her rich marriage. Aladdin was also quite different from the movie that I previously watched, as it had subtle details that played a crucial role of pivotal movement throughout the plot, such as the fact that Aladdin was only a boy that was living with his mother, and that the magician claimed to be Aladdin's uncle, another instance of family relationships. I deduced that in this reading, Arabic culture heavily values its relations between families, but also interestingly classifies gender roles and wrongly depicts males as superior than their female counterparts, which is why they had the power to engage in polygamy. Overall, except the lack of dialogue and dull narration, I would rate this book as 4 out of 5 stars for its engaging raconteur and stylistic portrait of characters in folk.

[LandenG8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book contains many stories, each of which holding their own plot and moral, I’ve decided to hone in on the focus of the collection: "Aladdin or The Wonderful Lamp". Unlike the dashing but childish Disney version of this classic tale, this original telling follows Aladdin, a fifteen year old boy, who’s recklessness caused his father’s demise, and his journey with a mother and without a three-wishes-and-multiple-rules stipulation around the genie of the lamp. A man pretending to be Aladdin’s uncle manipulated the young boy into retrieving the iconic genie filled lamp, but seeing as Aladdin would not give it up, he traps the lamp and boy but to no avail. One day, Aladdin spots the princess and, after much hardship from him and his mother, wins her hand in marriage. The pretend uncle from before temporarily ruins the life the newlyweds had made together, dies, and his brother comes to avenge him. The vengeful brother fails and the princess and Aladdin live happily ever after. The story is very detailed and uses incredible vocabulary! It was an enjoyable and eventful read.

[Janet Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The original Arabuan Nights were taken from Middle Eastern and South Asian folklore. After compiling and translating them into English, explorer Sir Richard Burton had them published in 1885.
These stories have been compiled a number of times. This version has been liberally illustrated by Rene Bull.
The idea for putting the tales together under one cover is done in a clever way:
Framing the stories to make them manageable, we first read about a sultan who learns that his wife has conspired against him. After killing her, he vows forever after to keep future wives for just one night
This worked for him until he married a clever woman, Scheherazade. She told him a different tale each night for 1001 nights. He was so enthralled that he decided to keep her.
While some of the stories are quite interesting, they tend to be rambling in nature. And perhaps the text lost something in translation.

[Selina · Rating 2 out of 5]

⌀ 2,5
• The tale of Scheherazade: 3
• The ass, the ox & the labourer: 1
(beats wife with sticks so she will obey him, only talks about how hard that was for him)
• The merchant & the genie: 2.5
• The story of the first old man & the hind: 1.5
(married his wife when she was 12 (and in some versions bought a slave to have a son with))
• The story of the second old man and the two black dogs: 2.5
• The story of the fisherman: 3
• The story of the Grecian king & the physician douban: 2.5
• The story of the husband & the parrot: 1.5
(killed parrot by throwing him on the ground in rage)
• The story of the vizier that was punished: 2.5
• The further adventures of the fisherman: 2.5
• The history of the young king of the black isles: 3.5
(In the Black Isles Mahommedans, Christians, Persians and Jews lived together)
• The seven voyages of Sinbad the sailor: 3
(7th voyage Sinbad was chosen by god and helped by the elephants while all the slaves before were not and got killed by them)
• The story of prince Ahmed & the fairy Perie Banou: 2.5
(strange ending; sultan gets killed for no reason and everyone seems fine with it. Brother in law kills him and the son and his wife reign)
• The story of Ali Baba & the forty thieves: 3.5
• The story of Aladdin; or, the wonderful lamp: 2
(no magic carpet and a boring genie) (antisemitic (lying greedy Jew), misogynistic (is all about wanting to own the princess, sultana forced protesting daughter to sleep in same bed as betrothed and striped her down while she opposed), racist & has slaves)
• The adventure of the caliph Harpune al Raschid: 2.5
• The story of baba Abdalla: 2.5
(quite forgettable)
• The story of syed Nouman: 2
(arranged marriage, wife eats with ghoul, beats husband with stick when confronted, later wife is turned into mare which husband beats & whips till covered in blood)
• The story of Cogia Hassan Alhabbal: 3
(money not always the means of becoming rich)
• The story of Ali Cogia, a merchant of Bagdad: 3
(Ali leaves money hidden at friend’s, friend steals it, later denies, lie gets proven and „friend“ gets impaled)
• The story of abou Hassan; or, the sleeper awakened: 2.5 (beats his mother with a stick until the neighbours come)

[Annabell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better known as '1001 Nights', it contains a lovely collection of tales surrounding the middle east.
They are written in a quite simple style, but are by no means boring.
It basically is about magic and incredible journeys.
There are often stories within stories within stories, all of them resulting in the outcome of the actual tale.
This might sound confusing now, but is actually very easy to follow.

I think this book is a great way to learn about the orient and its people. Even though one has to keep in mind that it originated many many years ago and therefore offers the readers a rather antique inside of middle eastern culture.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I consider this collection of stories to be be the Grimm’s Fairy Tales of the Middle East. Particularly of Islamic culture. Most of the stories are interesting. Others are a bit odd and violent. The best stories are the Forty Thieves, Sinbad, and Aladdin. I will point out that the book version of Aladdin is significantly different than the Disney movies.

I wouldn’t consider these stories very kid-friendly. There’s killing, alcohol use and slavery in these stories. Islam is also heavily entwined in these stories too.

[Blue Leprechaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's obviously not ment for children anymore. These are stories from a time before people treated people as people. It is going to be offensive, feel uncomfortable at times( three boys fighting to marry their cousin raised closely as a sister), and be a bit odd in its format.

I enjoyed reading the stories from a time long gone, it feels like a window into a distant past.
I enjoyed as well a folklore book have an overall structure usually it's just a bunch of unrelated tales but not this one they connect well with eachothertime before

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating is actually 3.8. Overall they were entertaining stories, a lot like the grimm fairy tales. All the tales were very different from the movie tellings especially Aladdins story. However, they were still enjoyable to the point where I retained the information and I will keep to read at a later date or read one story at a time. Favorites were the Tales of Sinbad and the Story of Prince Ahmed and the fairy Perie Banou.

[Mahonri Rivera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the short stories on here could be worthy of a 4 star rating, but most are 3 stars with plot lines that are not the most interesting. Their is obvious prejudice and racism that I did not care for and even though this was common in the authors time I can not excuse him for his words.

[Shari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Misleading title considering it has nothing to do with Aladdin (besides one chapter), but rather a series of smaller tales. Even though I was a little disappointed it was not Aladdin, I did actually quite enjoy the tales.

[Codi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This version had a lot of spelling and grammatical errors (where the 3 stars come from) but it also ended very abruptly in what seemed the middle of another story.
My childhood vision of Aladdin is very thrown off 😆

[MG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty decent retellings of some of the stories from the Nights, and René Bull's illustrations (both b&w and colored) look amazing. I don't like how the characters' dialogue have no quotation marks whatsoever.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

An impulse buy that took us a little over a year to read. Completely worth it! We (especially my son) enjoyed the stories. The formatting is a little confusing, so I would love to find a better edited version at some point, but this version looks pretty on the shelf.

[Becki · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2.5 stars

[Alexis Humphreys · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the stories but hated this translation!

[Irma Servatius]

absolutely excellent

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun read