[Illustration] [Illustration] "TO THE PURE ALL THINGS ARE PURE." (Puris omnia para) —_Arab Proverb._ "Niuna corrotta mente intese mai sanamente parole." —"_Decameron_"—_conclusion_. "Erubuit, posuitque meum Lucretia librum Sed coram Bruto. Brute! recede, leget." —_Martial._ "Mieulx est de ris que de larmes escripre, Pour ce que rire est le propre des hommes." —RABELAIS. "The pleasure we derive from perusing the Thousand-and-One Stories makes us regret that we possess only a comparatively small part of these truly enchanting fictions." —CRICHTON'S "_History of Arabia_." [Illustration] _A PLAIN AND LITERAL TRANSLATION OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS. NOW ENTITULED_ _THE BOOK OF THE_ =Thousand Nights and a Night= _WITH INTRODUCTION EXPLANATORY NOTES ON THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF MOSLEM MEN AND A TERMINAL ESSAY UPON THE HISTORY OF THE NIGHTS_ VOLUME I. BY RICHARD F. BURTON [Illustration] PRINTED BY THE BURTON CLUB FOR PRIVATE SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Shammar Edition Limited to one thousand numbered sets, of which this is Number _547_ PRINTED IN U. S. A. =Inscribed to the Memory= OF MY LAMENTED FRIEND =John Frederick Steinhaeuser,= (CIVIL SURGEON, ADEN) WHO A QUARTER OF A CENTURY AGO ASSISTED ME IN THIS TRANSLATION. THE TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD.