The most famous of all story collections, The Arabian Nights, also known as The Book of the Thousand and One Nights, is beloved around the world. Composed of Persian, Arabic, Greek, Indian, and other sources that accumulated over hundreds of years, these fabulous stories-within-stories have long fired readers’ imaginations with an enchanted world of flying carpets, magic lamps, genies, demons, magicians and sorceresses, carnivorous giants, and bloodthirsty bandits. 

Translation has played a key role in the formation of The Arabian Nights as we know it, making it far more prominent in the West than it has ever been in the Arab world. Westerners’ first discovery of some of the tales in the early eighteenth century sparked a feverish thirst for more, which led to compilations that freely adapted, reconfigured, and even added to the originals. The resulting love affair with the art, architecture, literature, cuisine, and culture of the East significantly remapped the European literary landscape.

Editor Wen-chin Ouyang has compiled a carefully chosen selection from influential English translations, showcasing the strengths of different translators, including Richard Burton, Edward Lane, Jonathan Scott, and John Payne. Here are Shahrazad, Sinbad the Sailor, Aladdin, Ali Baba, and many more, in the most readable and enjoyable versions available.

Editor Wen-chin Ouyang, an expert on medieval Arabic literature at SOAS, University of London, has compiled a carefully chosen selection from influential English translations, showcasing the strengths of different translators, including Richard Burton, Edward Lane, Jonathan Scott, and John Payne. Here are Shahrazad, Sindbad the Sailor, Aladdin, Ali Baba, and many more, in the most readable and enjoyable versions available.

Introduction
 
THE TALE OF KING SHAHRYAR AND OF HIS BROTHER, KING SHAHZAMAN (Mardrus)
The Fable of the Ass, the Bull, and the Husbandman
 
THE STORY OF THE MERCHANT AND THE JINNEE (Lane)
The Story of the First Sheykh and the Gazelle
The Story of the Second Sheykh and the Two Black Hounds
The Story of the Third Sheykh and the Mule
Note on the Jinn, or Genii
 
THE FISHERMAN AND THE JINNI (Mardrus)
The Tale of the Wazir of King Yunan and Rayyan the Doctor
The Tale of King Sindbad and the Falcon
The Tale of the Prince and the Ogress
The Tale of the Young Man and the Fishes
 
THE TALE OF THE PORTER AND THE YOUNG GIRLS (Mardrus)
The First Calender’s Story (Payne)
The Second Calender’s Story (Payne)
Story of the Envier and the Envied (Payne)
Story of the Third Calender (Payne)
The Tale of Zubaidah, the First of the Girls (Mardrus)
The Tale of the Portress Aminah (Mardrus)
 
THE HUNCHBACK’S TALE (Burton)
The Christian Broker’s Story (Payne)
The Controller’s Story (Payne)
The Jewish Physician’s Story (Payne)
The Tailor’s Story (Payne)
The Barber’s Tale of Himself (Burton)
The Barber’s Tale of his First Brother (Burton)
The Barber’s Tale of His Second Brother (Burton)
The Barber’s Tale of His Third Brother (Burton)
The Barber’s Tale of His Fourth Brother (Burton)
The Barber’s Tale of His Fifth Brother (Burton)
The Barber’s Tale of His Sixth Brother (Burton)
The End of the Tailor’s Tale (Burton)
 
THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES (Lane)
 
THE TALE OF KAMAR AL-ZAMAN AND THE PRINCESS BUDUR, MOON OF MOONS
(Mardrus)
 
THE SEVEN VOYAGES OF SINDBAD THE SAILOR
Sindbad the Sailor and Sindbad the Porter (Dawood)
The First Voyage of Es-Sindibad of the Sea (Lane)
The Second Voyage of Es-Sindibad of the Sea (Lane)
The Third Voyage of Es-Sindibad of the Sea (Lane)
The Fourth Voyage of Es-Sindibad of the Sea (Lane)
The Fifth Voyage of Es-Sindibad of the Sea (Lane)
The Sixth Voyage of Es-Sindibad of the Sea (Lane)
The Seventh Voyage of Es-Sindibad of the Sea (Lane)
Conclusion (Dawood)
 
THE STORY OF THE CITY OF BRASS (Lane)
 
THE CITY OF LABTAYT (Burton)
 
THE STRANGE KHALIFAH (Mardrus)
 
THE SLEEPER AND THE WAKER (Burton)
The Story of the Larrikin and the Cook (Payne)
 
THE ROGUERIES OF DELILEH THE CRAFTY AND HER DAUGHTER ZEYNEB
THE TRICKSTRESS (Payne)
 
THE TALE OF ZUMURRUD THE BEAUTIFUL, AND OF ALI SHAR, SON OF GLORY (Mardrus)
 
THE RUINED MAN WHO BECAME RICH AGAIN THROUGH A DREAM (Payne)
 
ABU NOWAS WITH THE THREE BOYS AND THE CALIPH HARUN AL-RASHID (Burton)
 
THE STORY OF JULLANAR OF THE SEA (Lane)
 
THE STORY OF ’ABD ALLAH OF THE LAND AND ’ABD ALLAH OF THE SEA (Lane)
 
MA’ARUF THE COBBLER AND HIS WIFE (Burton and Page)
 
CONCLUSION AND EPILOGUE
Conclusion (1) (Grub Street Edition)
Conclusion (2) (Scott)
Epilogue (Dawood)
 
ORPHAN TALES
THE STORY OF ALADDIN, OR THE MAGIC LAMP (Lyons)
THE TALE OF ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES (Mardrus)
PRINCE AHMAD AND THE FAIRY PERI-BANU (Burton)
THE MAGIC TALE OF THE EBONY HORSE (Mardrus)
GLOSSARY