Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 6 (of 6)
General
Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 6 (of 6)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
One of the most important translations to which a great English scholar has
ever devoted himself is now in the press. For three decades Captain Burton has
been more or less engaged on his translation of the Arabian Nights, the latest
of the many versions of that extraordinary story which has been made into
English, the only one at all worthy of a great original.
Whitehall Review, September 17th, 1885.
The publication of the first volume of Captain Burton's translation of the
Alif Laïla enriches the world of Oriental investigation with a monument of
labour and scholarship and of research. * * * * * In the name of the
whole world of Oriental scholarship, we offer our heartfelt thanks and
congratulations to Captain Burton upon the appearance of this first volume;
and we look forward with the keenest interest for its successors.
Home News, September 18th, 1885.
Captain Burton has begun to issue the volumes of his subscription translation
of the Arabian Nights, and its fortunate possessors will now be able to
realize the full flavour of Oriental feeling. They will now have the great
storehouse of Eastern folk-lore opened to them, and Captain Burton's minute
acquaintance with Eastern life makes his comments invaluable. In this respect,
as well as in the freeness of the translation, the version will be
distinguished from its many predecessors. Captain Burton's preface, it may be
observed, bears traces of soreness at official neglect. Indeed it seems
curious that his services could not have been utilised in the Soudan, when the
want of competent Arabic scholars was so severely felt.
Nottingham Journal, September 19th, 1885.
But to scholars and men who have sufficient love of the soul of these sweet
stories to discern the form in its true proportions, the new edition will be
welcome. From an Oriental point of view the work is masterly to a degree. The
quatrains and couplets, reading like verses from Elizabethan mantels, and
forming a perfect rosary of Eastern lore, the constant succession of brilliant
pictures, and the pleasure of meeting again our dear old friend Shahrázád, all
these combine to give a unique charm and interest to this "perfect expositor
of the mediæval Moslem mind."
The Bat, September 29th, 1885.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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