Full of mischief, valor, ribaldry, and romance, The Arabian Nights
has enthralled readers for centuries. These are the tales that saved the
life of Shahrazad, whose husband, the king, executed each of his wives
after a single night of marriage. Beginning an enchanting story each
evening, Shahrazad always withheld the ending: A thousand and one nights
later, her life was spared forever.
This volume reproduces the 1932 Modern Library edition, for which
Bennett A. Cerf chose the most famous and representative stories from
Sir Richard F. Burton's multivolume translation, and includes Burton's
extensive and acclaimed explanatory notes. These tales, including
Alaeddin; or, the Wonderful Lamp, Sinbad the Seaman and Sinbad the
Landsman, and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, have entered into the
popular imagination, demonstrating that Shahrazad's spell remains
unbroken.