First Published in 1995. Published a few years after the author’s death this text offers explanatory notes for his translation of The Thousand and One Nights. The editor Lane had utilized as the main basis for this the Arabic text printed at the press of Biilaq in the suburbs of Cairo established by the Pasha Muhammad 'Ali, but had enriched it by a copious commentary. Since the stories making up the Nights illustrate almost the whole gamut of public and settled domestic life in the Arab Middle Ages, from the opulent surroundings of Caliphs and Sultans to the humblest dwellings of petty...

There are several translations of the kur-án in several languages; but there are very few people who have the strength of mind to read any of them through. The chaotic arrangement and frequent repetitions, and the obscurity of the language, are sufficient to deter the most persistent reader, whilst the nature of a part of its contents renders the ?ur-án unfit for a woman's eye.Yet there always has been a wish to know something about the sacred book of the Mohammadans, and it was with the design of satisfying this wish, whilst avoiding the weariness and the disgust which a complete perusal...