1883 The Arabian Nights Entertainment

Description

Fine Binding, Illustrated, Leather Binding, Signed Binding

A beautifully illustrated four volume edition of this classic literary work, present here in fine half morocco signed bindings by Bayntun's.

With four plates to volume I, five to volume II, five to volume III, and five to volume IV. Collated, complete.

These etchings are the work of Adolphe Lalauze, a prolific French illustrator and etcher who contributed his works to many books.

A lovely edition of this collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. Often known in English as 'The Arabian Nights', from the first English language edition of 1706, which rendered the title as 'The Arabian Nights' Entertainment'. The work was collected over many centuries by various authors, translators, and scholars across West, Central, South Asia and North Africa with the tales themselves tracing back to ancient folklore.

Famed tales within include 'The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor', 'Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp' and 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves'.

From the library of Audrey Pleydell-Bouverie, an extravagant socialite and renowned beauty of the Edwardian period. Impeccably connected, Pleydell-Bouverie was also the illegitimate granddaughter of King Edward VII, and rumoured to be a lover of King Edward VIII. A sparkling figure of fashionable society, her friends included Nancy Mitford, Coco Chanel, Winston Churchill, and Fred Astaire.

This work is from the sale of Pleydell-Bouverie’s library at Julians Park, Hertfordshire. She purchased the home in 1940, redesigning the interior and amassing an impressive library, featuring many examples of her own bookbinding.