LANE, EDWARD WILLIAM (TRANS.) — The Arabian Nights' Entertainments

Chicago: W. B. Conkey Company, N.D.. Lane's Edition. Hard Cover. Publisher's full red cloth, gilt lettering on spine, embellishment of a compass on cover, nd (c. 1910-20). The Arabian Nights' Entertainments (commonly titled The Thousand and One Nights) translated by Edward William Lane is historically recognized as the first major English translation of the classic Middle Eastern folk tales sourced directly from the original Arabic text. First published in installments between 1838 and 1840, Lane's version aimed to correct the inaccuracies of earlier English editions, which were loosely translated from a highly altered French. Lane was an elite Arabic scholar who spent years living in Egypt. His edition is famous for its massive, encyclopedic footnotes detailing 19th-century Muslim customs, traditions, clothing, and religion, serving as an ethnographic study as much as literature. The W.B. Conkey Company was a major American printing and publishing house founded in Chicago in 1877 by Walter Blakesley Conkey. Originally a small bindery, it grew to produce massive quantities of juvenile books, novels, and guides before being sold to Rand McNally in 1949.. Spine sunned, previous owner's signature on ffep, else tight, square, unmarked, and clean. VERY GOOD. 8vo 8" - 9" tall. 771 pages. Very Good in No Dust Jacket dust jacket .