As stated In the Prefatory Note to my "Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night," four
printed Editions (of which three are more or less complete) exist of the Arabic text of the original
work, namely those of Calcutta (1839-42), Boulac (Cairo), Breslau (Tunis) and Calcutta
(1814-18). The first two are, for purposes of tabulation, practically identical, one whole story
only,[FN#222] of those that occur in the Calcutta (1839-42) Edition, (which is the most complete
of all,) being omitted from that of Boulac; and I have, therefore, given but one Table of Contents
for these two Editions. The Breslau Edition, though differing widely from those of Calcutta
(1839-42) and Boulac in contents, resembles them in containing the full number (a thousand and
one) of Nights, whilst that of Calcutta (1814-18) is but a fragment, comprising only the first two
hundred Nights and the Voyages of Sindbad, as a separate Tale.
The subscribers to my "Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night" and the present "Tales from
the Arabic" have now before them a complete English rendering (the first ever made) of all the
tales contained in the four printed (Arabic) Texts of the original work and I have, therefore,
thought it well to add to this, the last Volume of my Translation, full Tables of Contents of these
latter, a comparison of which will show the exact composition of the different Editions and the
particulars in which they differ from one another, together with the manner in which the various
stories that make up the respective collections are distributed over the Nights. In each Table, the
titles of the stories occurring only in the Edition of which it gives the contents are printed in
Italics and each Tale is referred to the number of the Night on which it is begun.
The Breslau Edition, which was printed from a Manuscript of the Book of the Thousand Nights
and One Night alleged to have been furnished to the Editor by a learned Arab of Tunis, whom he
styles "Herr M. Annaggar" (Quære En Nejjar, the Carpenter), the lacunes found in which were
supplemented from various other MS. sources indicated by Silvestre de Sacy and other eminent
Orientalists, is edited with a perfection of badness to which only German scholars (at once the
best and worst editors in the world) can attain. The original Editor, Dr. Maximilian Habicht, was
during the period (1825- 1839) of publication of the first eight Volumes, engaged in continual and
somewhat acrimonious[FN#223] controversy concerning the details of his editorship with Prof.
H. L. Fleischer, who, after his death, undertook the completion of his task and approved himself a
worthy successor of his whilom adversary, his laches and shortcomings in the matter of revision
and collation of the text being at least equal in extent and gravity to those of his predecessor,
whilst he omitted the one valuable feature of the latter's work, namely, the glossary of Arabic
words, not occurring in the dictionaries, appended to the earlier volumes.
As an instance of the extreme looseness with which the book was edited, I may observe that the
first four Vols. were published without tables of contents, which were afterwards appended en
bloc to the fifth Volume. The state of corruption and incoherence in which the printed Text was
placed before the public by the two learned Editors, who were responsible for its production, is
such as might well drive a translator to despair: the uncorrected errors of the press would alone
fill a volume and the verse especially is so corrupt that one of the most laborious of English
Arabic scholars pronounced its translation a hopeless task. I have not, however, in any single
instance, allowed myself to be discouraged by the difficulties presented by the condition of the
text, but have, to the best of my ability, rendered into English, without abridgment or
retrenchment, the whole of the tales, prose and verse, contained in the Breslau Edition, which are
not found in those of Calcutta (1839-42) and Boulac. In this somewhat ungrateful task, I have
again had the cordial assistance of Captain Burton, who has (as in the case of my "Book of the
Thousand Nights and One Night") been kind enough to look over the proofs of my translation and
to whom I beg once more to tender my warmest thanks.
Some misconception seems to exist as to the story of Seif dhoul Yezen, a fragment of which was
translated by Dr. Habicht and included, with a number of tales from the Breslau Text, in the
fourteenth Vol. of the extraordinary gallimaufry published by him in 1824-5 as a complete
translation of the 1001 Nights[FN#224] and it has, under the mistaken impression that this long
but interesting Romance forms part of the Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, been
suggested that a complete translation of it should be included in the present publication. The
Romance in question does not, however, in any way, belong to my original and forms no part of
the Breslau Text, as will be at once apparent from an examination of the Table of Contents of the
latter (see post, p. 261), by which all the Nights are accounted for. Dr. Habicht himself tells us, in
his preface to the first Vol. of the Arabic Text, that he found the fragment (undivided into Nights)
at the end of the fifth Volume of his MS., into which other detached tales, having no connection
with the Nights, appear to have also found their way. This being the case, it is evident that the
Romance of Seif dhoul Yezen in no way comes within the scope of the present work and would
(apart from the fact that its length would far overpass my limits) be a manifestly improper addition
to it. It is, however, possible that, should I come across a suitable text of the work, I may make it
the subject of a separate publication; but this is, of course, a matter for future consideration.
TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THE CALCUTTA (1839-42)
AND BOULAC EDITIONS OF THE ARABIC TEXT OF
THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE
NIGHT.