Written in Turkish by SHEYKH-ZADA, and now done into English by E. J.
W. GIBB, M.R.A.S.
“The interest of this compilation is naturally not to be compared to
that aroused by the ever-fresh ‘Thousand and One Nights;’ but it has
had high reputation among particular admirers, and the gentleman to
whom we are indebted for this English version--apparently the most
complete in any language of Western Europe--merits the thanks of the
reading public for the work performed.”--_Athenæum._
“A delightful addition to the wealth of Oriental stories available to
English readers is ‘The History of the Forty Vezirs’ (Redway), done
into English by Mr. E. J. W. Gibb, from the Turkish of Sheykh-Zāda.
The collection comprises 112 stories. To the forty told by the
Lady and those of the forty Vezirs, Mr. Gibb has added four from
Belletête, twenty from a MS. in the India Office, six from Dr.
Behrnauer’s translation, and two from a MS. recently purchased by
Mr. Quaritch. The results of collation are admirably summarized in a
comparative table that analyzes the contents of the various texts.
In the preface Mr. Gibb deals with the bibliography of the French
and German versions, and indicates some of the more interesting
parallels suggested by those old stories in the ‘Gesta Romanorum,’
the ‘Decameron,’ the ‘Thousand and One Nights,’ the ‘Mabinogion,’
and other treasures of old-world fable. In short, Mr. Gibb has
considerately done everything to help the reader to an intelligent
appreciation of this charming book.”--_Saturday Review._
“In my opinion the version is definite and final. The style is light
and pleasant, with the absolutely necessary flavour of quaintness;
and the notes, though short and few, are sufficient and satisfactory.
Mr. Gibb does not write only _ad clerum_; and thus he has been
obliged to ‘leave in the obscurity of an Eastern language’ three
whole tales (pp. 353, 366, and 399), No. 2 being exceedingly witty
and fescennine. He has the good sense, when he supplants a broad
joke by a _banal_ English phrase, to subjoin in a note the original
Turkish (pp. 109, 140, 199, 215, and 382). Yet some of the _novelle_
are highly spiced enough: see the amorous princess in the Eleventh
Wazir’s story (pp. 381-3); and the truly Turkish and unspeakable
version of modest Æsop’s ‘Countryman and his Son.’ Of the less
Milesian I would especially commend the story of the Venus-star and
the magical angels, Harut and Marut (p. 167); the explanation of the
proverb, ‘Take counsel of the cap that is on thy head’ (p. 362),
and the Thirty-seventh Wazir’s tale, showing why ‘men have beaten
their wives since the days of Saint Adam’ (p. 349).”--Sir RICHARD F.
BURTON, in the _Academy_.
_Large post 8vo., cloth, uncut, price 7s. 6d._