Since the 18th Century, stories from the One Thousand and one Nights, most commonly known in English as the Arabian nights, have been very popular in the west. The origins of this collection of amazing tales are complex and not fully known. From around the 10th to the 12th centuries, hundreds of tales many of Arab origin were added to the frame narrative of Sheherazade and Shahriy, and earlier tales deleted. Arising from an oral tradition, these tales are likely to have travelled along trade routes to reach the west. A printed version first appeared in Europe when Antoine Galland, A Linguist and traveller, began publishing his French translation in 1704. English translation of Galland’s edition soon followed after which translations from the Arabic were published by scholars such as Edward William Lane and Sir Richard Francis Burton, Meanwhile, French and English Continuations, versions, or Editions of Galland had added stories from Oral and manuscript sources, collected, with others, in the Breslau edition, 5 Vol. (1825-43) by Maximilian Habict. The tales have inspired hundreds of stories within the ‘Oriental Tale’ Genre, As well as the work of writes.

 

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Arabian Nights – One Thousand and One Nights