The Arabian Nights

kate douglas wiggin nora archibald smith mark helprin maxfield parrish

This elegant edition of 10 classic tales of The Arabian Nights features a powerful introduction by Mark Helprin, offering new insight into the "thousand mercurial forms" and "inexact nature" of these Eastern tales. Helprin probes for fresh understanding of our culture's deep engagement with these fantastical imaginings which, after being passed along orally for thousands of years, evolved into what we have come to know as The Arabian Nights. Accompanied by 12 full-color Maxfield Parrish illustrations from the 1909 edition, the wondrous narrative that began in what is now the Middle East and spread outward to encompass the globe is here reborn in an edition expertly translated by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith. The stories here include Aladdin which tells of an aimless street urchin who is seduced by the wiles of a magician and finds himself trapped in a cave filled with sumptuous jewels, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves in which a poor man discovers the secret lair of a band of looters, and The Talking Bird, the Singing Tree, and the Golden Water the story of two princes and a princess who are stolen from their parents at birth and raised by a kindly gardener.

Genres fantasyclassicsfictionshort storieshistorical fictionaudiobook

339 pages, Paperback

First published August 1,1996

This edition

Format: 339 pages, Paperback
Published: August 1, 1996 by Quality Paperback Bookclub
ISBN: 9780965231237
ASIN: 0965231232
Language: English

About the author

kate douglas wiggin

Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin

Kate Douglas Wiggin, nee Smith (1856-1923) was an American children's author and educator. She was born in Philadelphia, and was of Welsh descent. She started the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878 (the "Silver Street Free Kindergarten"). With her sister in the 1880s she also established a training school for kindergarten teachers. Her best known books are The Story of Pasty (1883), The Birds' Christmas Carol (1886), Polly Oliver's Problem (1893), A Cathedral Courtship (1893), The Village Watchtoer (1896), Marm Lisa (1897) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903).