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[North Star]

General Introduction
[asin]0230200958[/asin]

[Wakefield]

Purchased yesterday on Amazon.es:

One Hundred and One Nights



3,424 pages (3 vols.) directly translated from Arabic, with a great introductory study and profusion of erudite footnotes.

http://www.atalantaweb.com/libro.php?id=104

[Florestan]

Purchased yesterday on Amazon.es:

One Ten Hundred and One Nights

Fixed. 

[Wakefield]

Fixed. 

What was I thinking of? It will remain a mystery, I guess. 

P.S.: That's not totally true, I was thinking if was better to write "One Thousand Nights and One Night", or "One Thousand and One Nights", and then... 

[Florestan]

"One Thousand Nights and One Night More",

Fixed again. 

In Romanian it reads O mie și una de nopți, word for word One thousand and one of nights.

[kishnevi]

The literal meaning of the Arabic title is The Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night.

My copy is another used book store find, the 1962 reprint
1934 Limited Editions Club edition: The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night: The Complete Burton Translation with the Complete Burton Notes, the Terminal Index, and 1001 Decorations by Valenti Angelo, 3 Volumes in slipcase (reprinted by The Heritage Press, 1962)

[North Star]

I read (and was read to) some translation of The Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night as a child at my grandparents'. I see the only translation of the whole book directly from the original into Finnish was done in 2010. Will have to investigate

[Wakefield]

I read (and was read to) some translation of The Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night as a child at my grandparents'. I see the only translation of the whole book directly from the original into Finnish was done in 2010. Will have to investigate

As far as I know, in Spanish there are, at least, three translations from the Arabic, and several translations from French editions, principally the classical translations by Galland and Mardrus.

I started with Mardrus translated into Spanish by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, some time a famous novelist and screenwriter.

[North Star]

As far as I know, in Spanish there are, at least, three translations from the Arabic, and several translations from French editions, principally the classical translations by Galland and Mardrus.

I started with Mardrus translated into Spanish by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, some time a famous novelist and screenwriter.

There are 11 other translations into Finnish from various other translations - e.g. a Norwegian on - or incomplete translations of the original.

[Ken B]

The literal meaning of the Arabic title is The Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night.

My copy is another used book store find, the 1962 reprint
1934 Limited Editions Club edition: The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night: The Complete Burton Translation with the Complete Burton Notes, the Terminal Index, and 1001 Decorations by Valenti Angelo, 3 Volumes in slipcase (reprinted by The Heritage Press, 1962)

Burton is notoriously inaccurate alas. And did you know Ali Baba and Aladdin's Lamp are not supposed to be in the 1001?
Most translations are from faulty texts too, unless it's relatively modern.
I have and recommend the Haddawy translation, based on the oldest extant manuscript.

[Wakefield]

There are 11 other translations into Finnish from various other translations - e.g. a Norwegian on - or incomplete translations of the original.

An outstanding number considering Finland's population.

[Ken B]

An outstanding number considering Finland's population.

Not really. It's a very dirty book.

[Wakefield]

Burton is notoriously inaccurate alas. And did you know Ali Baba and Aladdin's Lamp are not supposed to be in the 1001?
Most translations are from faulty texts too, unless it's relatively modern.
I have and recommend the Haddawy translation, based on the oldest extant manuscript.

All of this is technically true, but - as usually happens with classics - I think there is not inaccuracy powerful enough to destroy them.

That being said, the reasons that you point out were, precisely, what I considered to pay EUR 120 for a new version.

BTW, this Borges essay is a jewel:

http://www.oocities.org/tidbits4you/ArabianNights.Borges.html

[Ken B]

All of this is technically true, but - as usually happens with classics - I think there is not inaccuracy powerful enough to destroy them.

That being said, the reasons that you point out were, precisely, what I considered to pay EUR 120 for a new version.

BTW, this Borges essay is a jewel:

http://www.oocities.org/tidbits4you/ArabianNights.Borges.html

Damn you all! Now I want to read the frigging thing again and I do not have the time!
Instead of books it would help if you guys justed posted free time I could use to read them. 

[kishnevi]

Not really. It's a very dirty book.

Which is why Burton's version is so valuable.

[Wakefield]

Damn you all! Now I want to read the frigging thing again and I do not have the time!
Instead of books it would help if you guys justed posted free time I could use to read them. 

It's the awful truth.

Anyway, as a sad single 45 y.o. man  , the last five years I have read things like The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, The Essays of Montaigne, Boswell's Life of Johnson and some other monumental classic (all of them in good Spanish translations).

I also tried Chateaubriand's Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb and Mommsen's History of Rome. but I quit.

[Florestan]

Mommsen's History of Rome

That one was a page turner for me. 

[North Star]

An outstanding number considering Finland's population.

Not really. It's a very dirty book.

Most of the translated editions are cleaned up. 

[Karl Henning]

Bowdlerized!

[Wakefield]

That one was a page turner for me. 

I was interested in Mommsen from my childhood, when I read some volumes devoted to Rome by Carl Grimberg. I started full of expectations, but maybe it wasn't the right moment to me.

I recently enjoyed very much the "History of Rome" by the journalist Indro Montanelli. A collection of essays more than a conventional "history", it's an extremely interesting¡g and fresh book.