The Book of The Thousand Nights and a Night A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments with Introduction and Explanatory Notes on the Manners and Customs of Moslem Men and a Terminal Essay upon the History of The Nights (Bassorah Edition, 16 Volumes only, of 17)

London: The Burton Club. Very Good with No dust jacket as issued. Limited Edition. First Printing. Hard Cover. Bassorah Edition, limited to 1,000 copies, of which this is No. 942. Publisher's full beige cloth, paper labels on spines, t.e.g., fore-edge deckle. nd (c. 1903). Illustrated with numerous tissue-protected half-tone plates, including color frontispiece in each volume. Includes the seven volume supplement and Index. Lacking only Volume One. "A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights' Entertaainments, now entitled 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." The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night (1888), is the only complete English language translation of One Thousand and One Nights to date – a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age (8th-13th centuries) – by the British explorer and Arabist Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890). It stood as the only complete translation of the Macnaghten or Calcutta II edition (Egyptian recension) of the "Arabian Nights." Burton's translation was one of two unabridged and unexpurgated English translations done in the 1880s; the first was by John Payne, under the title The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night (1882–1884, nine volumes). Burton's ten volume version was published almost immediately afterward with a slightly different title. This, along with the fact that Burton closely advised Payne and partially based his books on Payne's, led later to charges of plagiarism. Owing to the sexual imagery in the source texts (which Burton made a special study of, adding extensive footnotes and appendices on "Oriental" sexual mores) and to the strict Victorian laws on obscene material, both translations were printed as private editions for subscribers only, rather than being published in the usual manner. Burton's original ten volumes were followed by a further seven entitled The Supplemental Nights to the Thousand Nights and a Night (1886–1888). Burton's 17 volumes, while boasting many prominent admirers, have been criticised for their "archaic language and extravagant idiom" and "obsessive focus on sexuality"; they have even been called an "eccentric ego-trip" and a "highly personal reworking of the text." His voluminous and obscurely detailed notes and appendices have been characterised as “obtrusive, kinky and highly personal”. . Spines moderately worn with some soiling on a few, labels mildly worn and soiled; all 16 volumes unmarked, tight, square, and clean. An extremely large and heavy set (approximately 40 pounds) - additional shipping charges may apply. VERY GOOD.. Color and B&W Illustrations. Large 8vo 9" - 10" tall .