March 2021 Catalogue

7 I m a g i n e d W o r l d s E a r l y M a r c h 2 0 2 1 “The First And By Far The Best Reprint Of The Original Unexpurgated Edition” Of Burton’s Arabian Nights , With 100 Plates 5. BURTON, Richard F. A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, Now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night. Denver, 1900-1901. Sixteen volumes bound in seventeen. Royal octavo, contemporary three-quarter red morocco gilt. $6800. Click for more info Beautifully bound and illustrated limited edition, one of 1000 copies “for private circulation,” of Sir Richard Francis Burton’s lively (and often daring) translation of The Arabian Nights, with 100 plates specially designed for this edition by Stanley Llewellyn Wood. “The first and by far the best reprint of the original unexpurgated edition of the ‘Nights’ was issued by the Press of the Carson-Harper Company in Denver, Colorado, in 1900-1. It is similar to the original in every way, except for [the copyright page]… Nota Bene—There were no illustrations in the Benares edition. Those contained in this volume were originally designed by Stanley L. Wood to supplement the work” (Penzer, 125-6). One of the great cross-cultural works in theEnglish language, Burton’s translation “is unsurpassed” (Rice, 578). Bindings have the 1885 through 1888 dates of the true first editions at the base of the spines. Interiors fine, spines uniformly sunned to a rich reddish-brown, a few joints with expert repairs. A lovely production of this important limited-edition illustrated set.