You can tell from the cover of this book that it’s a bit of a “worn” copy. But that hasn’t affected the wonderful illustrations by Edmund Dulac. These have been tipped-in (I think that’s the term) and the colours are still very good. Though I often wonder whether the originals were brighter and maybe, via the printing process or just the aging of the originals or the prints themselves, .... if they have darkened compared with the originals.
Really, I bought this book just for the colour plates. But then I read it as bedtime stories to my son (hoping to improve his classical education) and found the stories were really good. Of course I’ve read many versions of Aladdin and his wonderful lamp.... but the version here was as good as any. And it’s a good cross-section of the stories. That incredible mixture of jinns and genies, magic and romance. My favourite character is probably the very smart servant girl Morgana who overhears the thieves talking from within the giant pots. Though one has to admit there is pretty casual murder committed here when she pours boiling oil in on the thieves. (And I found myself thinking that the thieves must have shown enormous self control not to scream with pain and so alert the other thieves).
There is a bit of the “Hero with a thousand faces” with many of these stories and a rather casual re-inforcement of the idea that being a prince or princess is the greatest thing one can be. (And everyone else is of lesser importance).
I wonder how much these stories have contributed to the sustainment of monarchies throughout the world. Not sure how widespread these stories were throughout the world before Richard Burton’s translation into English around 1850. His original version apparently contained a lot of highly sexual content and much of this was purged for later (family) editions such as the current one. I love the illustrations in watercolour. Dulac is a real master of the medium and a lot of modern children’s book illustrators such as Robert Ingpen and Lisbeth Zwerger clearly owe a debt to Dulac. Happy to recommend this book though it’s almost certainly not in print. ( )

stories a tad long but that's their nature--night after night of stories that don't end. ( )

This is the only copy of any stories from the Arabian nights that I have. Though I found the forward pretentious and mocking, I found the stories engaging and interesting. The stories read fast, and I like the pen and ink drawings, though not the color illustrations. It definitely makes me want to get a longer edition. ( )