| Editions | About these Editions |
|---|---|
Husain Haddawy, The Arabian Nights (Norton, 1990), and The Arabian Nights II: Sindbad and Other Popular Stories (Everyman's Library, 1995).http://www.amazon.com/Arabian-Nights-Norton-Critical-Editions/dp/039392808X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1287011480&sr=1-1http://www.amazon.com/Arabian-Nights-II-Sindbad-Everymans/dp/0375403213/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1288109277&sr=8-1 |
A lively and careful contemporary translation. The first volume is based on the early Syrian version of the Tales, while the second volume gives the best-loved later tales. |
N. J. Dawood, Tales from the Thousand and One Nights (Penguin, 1973)http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Thousand-Nights-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140442898/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1287011556&sr=1-1 |
An excellent translation by an Iraqi scholar from England, including later as well as earlier stories and the full frame tale, not found in Haddawy. |
J. C. Mardrus and Powys Mather, trans., The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night.http://www.amazon.com/Book-Thousand-Nights-One-Night/dp/B000K7NA28/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1287011611&sr=1-4 |
The best English translation, in eight volumes, of a version of the full Egyptian text. |
Sir Richard Burton, A Plain and Literal Translation of The Arabian Nights Entertainment (sixteen volumes, privately printed, 1885-88; the full text is available in e-book form and on several internet sites). |
Anything but plain or literal, Burton's over-the-top version seriously tried to invent a quasi-medieval English suited to his vision of the Oriental splendor of the original. |
