The Household Edition of the Arabian Nights.
lest any subscriber charge me, after contracting not to issue or to allow the
issue of a cheaper form, with the sharp practice which may be styled
To keep the word of promise to our ear
And break it to our hope.
Hardly had my third volume of "The Nights" (proper) been issued to my patrons
when a benevolent subscriber, whose name I am bound to conceal, apprised me
that he had personal and precise information concerning a project to pirate
the production. England and Anglo-America, be it observed, are the only
self-styled civilised countries in the world where an author's brain-work is
not held to be his private property: his book is simply no book unless
published and entered, after a cost of seven presentation copies, at
"Stationers' Hall"--its only ægis. France, Italy and Austria treat such
volumes as private MSS.: here any dishonest house may reproduce them in
replica without the slightest regard to the writer's rightful rights. In my
case this act of robbery was proposed by a German publisher domiciled in
London, supported by a Frenchman equally industrious, who practises in Paris,
and of whose sharp doings in money-matters not a few Englishmen have had ample
reason bitterly to complain. This par nobile agreed to print in partnership an
issue of handier form and easier price than my edition, and their plan if
carried out would have seriously damaged the property of my subscribers: the
series which cost them 10 pounds 10s. would have fallen probably to one-half
value. The two pirates met by agreement in Paris where the design was duly
discussed and determined; but, fortunately for me, an unexpected obstacle
barred the way. The London solicitor, professionally consulted by the
dishonest firm, gave his opinion that such a work publicly issued would be a
boon to the Society for the Suppression of Vice, and would not escape the
unsavoury attentions of old Father Antic--the Law.
But, although these two men were deterred by probable consequences, a bolder
spirit might make light of them. I had never intended to go beyond my original
project, that is of printing one thousand copies and no more, nor did I
believe that any cunning of disguise could make "The Nights" presentable in
conventionally decent society. It was, however, represented to me by many
whose opinions I valued that thus and thus only the author and his subscribers
could be protected from impudent fraud, and finally an unwilling consent was
the result.
Mr. Justin Huntley McCarthy, a name well known in the annals of contemporary
literature, undertook the task of converting the grand old barbarian into a
family man to be received by the "best circles." His proofs, after due
expurgation, were passed on to my wife, who I may say has never read the
original, and she struck out all that appeared to her over-free, under the
promise that no mother should hesitate in allowing the book to her daughters.
It would, perhaps, surprise certain "modest gentlemen" and blatantly virtuous
reviewers that the amount of raw material excised from the text and the notes
chiefly addressed to anthropologists and Orientalists, amounts to only 215
pages out of a grand total numbering 3156.
Between 1886 and 1888 appeared the revision in six pretty volumes, bearing
emblematic colours, virgin-white adorned with the golden lilies of St. Joseph
and the "chaste crescent of the young moon." The price also was reduced to the
lowest (£3 3s.) under the idea that the work would be welcome if not to
families at any rate to libraries and reading-rooms, for whose benefit the
older translations are still being reproduced. But the flattering tale of Hope
again proved to be a snare and a delusion; I had once more dispensed with the
services of Mr. Middleman, the publisher, and he naturally refused to aid and
abet the dangerous innovation. The hint went abroad that the book belonged to
the category which has borrowed a name from the ingenious Mr. Bowdler, and
vainly half a century of reviewers spoke bravely in its praise. The public
would have none of it: even innocent girlhood tossed aside the chaste volumes
in utter contempt, and would not condescend to aught save the thing, the whole
thing, and nothing but the thing, unexpurgated and uncastrated. The result was
an unexpected and unpleasant study of modern taste in highly respectable
England. And the fact remains that of an edition which began with a thousand
copies only 457 were sold in the course of two years. Next time I shall see my
way more clearly to suit the peculiar tastes and prepossessions of the reading
world at home.
Before dismissing the subject of the Household Edition, I would offer a few
words of explanation on the part of the Editress. While touching-up and
trimming the somewhat hurried work of our friend, Mr. McCarthy, she was
compelled to accompany me abroad, and to nurse me through a dangerous illness,
which left but little time for the heavy claims of business. Unable to
superintend, with the care required, the issue of her six volumes she
entrusted the task to two agents in whose good will and experience she had and
still has the fullest confidence; but the results were sundry letters of
appeal and indignation from subscribers touching matters wholly unknown and
unintelligible to her. If any mistakes have been made in matters of detail she
begs to express her sincerest regret, and to assure those aggrieved that
nothing was further from her intention than to show discourtesy where she felt
cordial gratitude was due.
* * * * *
Nothing now remains for me but the pleasant task of naming the many friends
and assistants to whom this sixteenth and last volume has been inscribed. The
late Reverend G. Percy Badger strongly objected to the literal translation of
"The Nights" (The Academy, December 8, '81); not the less, however, he
assisted me in its philology with all readiness. Dr. F. Grenfell Baker lent me
ready and valuable aid in the mechanical part of my hard labour. Mr. James F.
Blumhardt, a practical Orientalist and reacher of the Prakrit dialects at
Cambridge, englished for me the eight Gallandian tales (Foreword, Supp. vol.
iii.) from the various Hindostan versions. To Mr. William H. Chandler, of
Pembroke College, Oxford, I have expressed (Supp. vol. iii.) the obligations
due to a kind and generous friend: his experiments with photography will serve
to reconcile the churlishness and retrograde legislation of the great Oxford
Library with the manners and customs of more civilised peoples. Mr. W. A.
Clouston, whose degree is high in "Storiology," supplied my second and third
Supplemental volumes with valuable analogues and variants. Mr. Alexander J.
Cotheal, Consul-General for Nicaragua at New York, sent a valuable MS. to me
across the water, and was persuaded to translate, for my sixth Supplemental
volume, a novel version of the "Tale of Attáf." Mr. A. G. Ellis, of the
British Museum, amongst other favours, kindly revised the Foreword of my sixth
volume. Mr. E. J. W. Gibb, an Orientalist of the modern and realistic school,
who is not deterred by literal translation, permitted me to print his version
of the Turkish Zayn al-Asnám (Supp. vol. iii.) and translations of three tales
which he judged inexpedient to publish (Supp. vol. iv.). M. O. Houdas,
Professeur d' Arabe Vulgaire à l'école des langues Orientales vicantes, Paris,
copied for me the Arabic text of Zayn al-Asnám and the whole MS. used by MM.
Chavis and Cazotte: he also obligingly assisted me in overcoming the various
difficulties of a crabbed and imperfect text. My friend Mr. W. F. Kirby
appended to volume x. of "The Nights" (proper) his most valuable contributions
to the bibliology of the work with its various imitations and a table showing
the contents of the principal editions and translations of "The Nights": he
also enriched my Supplemental volumes v. and vi. with his excellent
annotations. Mr. Kingsbury (and Notcutt) photographed for my use 400 and odd
pages of the Wortley-Montague MS., and proved how easy it was to produce a
perfect fac-simile of the whole. Mr. George Lewis gave me the soundest advice
touching legal matters and Mr. Philip M. Justice was induced to take an active
interest in the "Household Edition." The eminent Orientalist, Dr. Pertsch,
Librarian of the Grand-Ducal Collection, Saxe-Gotha, in lively contrast to my
countrymen of the Bodleian, offered to send me the two volumes of a valuable
MS. containing the most detailed texts of Judar and his brethren (vol. vi.
213) and of Zahir and his son Ali. Dr. Reinhold Rost, Librarian of the Indian
Office, took much trouble about the W. M. MS. but all in vain. Mr. Alexander
W. Thayer, of Trieste, who has studied for years the subject of the so-called
Jewish "Exodus," obliged me with a valuable note detailing his original views.
His Excellency Yacoub Artin Pasha, Minister of Public Instruction, Cairo, a
friend of many years standing, procured for me the decorations in the Cufic,
Naskhí and other characters, which add to much of novelty and ornament to the
outer semblance of my sixteen volumes. Mr. Hermann Zotenberg, Keeper of
Oriental MS. at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, lent me his own
transcription of the "Alaeddin," and generously supplied me with exact
bibliographical notes and measurements of sundry tomes in that admirable
collection.
I am also deeply indebted to Mrs. Victoria L. Maylor, of Trieste, who, during
the past three years (1885-1888) had the energy and perseverance to copy for
me sixteen bulky volumes written in a "running-hand," concerning which the
less said the better. And lastly, I must acknowledge peculiar obligations to
my Shaykh, Dr. Steingass, Ph.D. This well-known Arabist not only assisted me
in passing the whole work through the press he also added a valuable treatise
on Arabic Prosody (x. 233-258) with indexes of various kinds, and finally he
supervised the MSS. of the Supplemental volumes and enriched the last three,
which were translated under peculiar difficulties in analphabetic lands, with
the results of his wide reading and lexicographical experience.
And now, Alhamdolillah, the play is ended, and while the curtain drops, I take
the final liberty of addressing my kindly and appreciative audience in the
following words, borrowed from a Persian brother of the pen:--
Now hear my hope from men of liberal mind,
Faults, that indulgence crave, shall seek and find;
For whose blames and of despite decries,
Is wight right witless, clean reverse of wise.