Talk:Stories from the Arabian nights (Housman, Dulac)

Information about this edition
Edition:
Source:	https://archive.org/details/storiesarabian00housmiss
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Djvu file exists at IA

Ideally this should be migrated over to a transcribed version based on the scans. Must be uploaded locally as it's not out of copyright in EU, and thus can't be on Commons. ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 00:01, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Mis-identified source

The source text is mis-identified here, following Internet Archive.

The book digitized at Internet Archive (ID: storiesarabian00housmiss) is "Published by Hodder and Southton, Limited, for Boots Pure Drug Co., Ltd., Nottingham", no date. It contains 9 Contains, 20 Illustrations, and runs to page 319.

The 1907 collection, retold by Laurence Housman and illustrated by Edmund Dulac, contains 6 stories --the first 6 of 9 here, less than half of the text-- and 50 illustrations (US ed. at HathiTrust Digital Library, with Preface by Housman presumably, pp. v-x).

The 7th of 9 stories, here "The History of Badoura", pp. 141-200, may be the text of Princess Badoura: A Tale from the Arabian Nights (Hodder & Stoughton, 1913), credited as retold by Laurence Housman (at HathiTrust Digital Library, with an introduction by Housman presumably, pp. 1-4).

The 8th and 9th of 9 stories, Sindbad and Aladdin, which span pp. 203-319 here, match the first two of 4 stories in Sindbad the Sailor & Other Stories from the Arabian Nights (Hodder & Stoughton, 1914), credited only to Edmund Dulac (at Internet Archive, with no text but the 4 stories).

--P64 (talk) 22:15, 25 September 2017 (UTC)

Are there any textual issues that demonstrate it to be a different edition from the one in the Internet Archive link? Near as I can tell they're the same--the old edits even have the page numbers which match. Prosody (talk) 23:15, 25 September 2017 (UTC)

The Wikisource text may be an incomplete transcript, accurate as far as it goes, of the mis-catalogued Internet Archive collection. Is that what you mean?

I mean that the work is mis-identified here, "Stories from the Arabian nights (1907)", in the same way it is mis-identified at Internet Archive.

I am looking for more information about the various Arabian Nights books by Laurence Housman in the Library of Congress (Browse). --P64 (talk) 17:48, 26 September 2017 (UTC)

The 319-page 9-story collection is not in LC Online Catalog but I viewed dozens of WorldCat library records and found two that fit:

• as [1922] http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/317815491] "319 pages : color illustrations ; 24 cm"; "Date of publication from the English catalogue."
• as [1924?] http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/739344701 "319 pages, [34] leaves of plates : color illustrations ; 24 cm"

The Boots Pure Drug edition with e-copy at Internet Archive contains only 20 plates. I found "Boots" mentioned only in one very incomplete record, http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9718312 as 319-page and "[1907?]"

Another WorldCat search ("boots pure" hodder stoughton) suggests that no H&S books published for Boots have explicit dates (search results). The library inferences and guesses are all in the first third of the 20th century.

Some notes on the text will follow. --P64 (talk) 20:05, 26 September 2017 (UTC)

Notes on the text

For the last three, long stories only, I compared opening and closing text only: in the 1920s(?) collection at Internet Archive on the one hand; on the other hand, in the 1913 and 1914 gift books whose e-copies are linked in the previous section.

7. "The History of Princess Badoura", 141-200 : identical to the 1913, in both its opening (p. 141, first two paragraphs) and closing (pp. 199-200, final paragraph of the story at hand, and two-page Epilogue that brings the 1001 nights to a conclusion)

8. "Sindbad the Sailor", 203-251 : identical to the 1914, in both its opening (p. 203, one paragraph--except typographically, "Harun-Er-Rashid" for "Harun-er-Rashid") and closing (p. 251, row of 5 stars and final paragraph)

9. "Aladdin", 255-319 : opening p. 255 "Once upon a time ..." lacks the first four words of 1914 p61, "Know, O King, that,"; closing p. 319 "joy and happiness. THE END." lacks the last 15 lines, almost two paragraphs, of 1914 p151, in which Aladdin and his Queen reign and finally "rest"

I don't plan to compare more text myself.

I see at a glance that Wikisource "The Story of the Wicked Half-Brothers" is truncated. It concludes, "My dignity of rank is far higher than that to which I recently laid claim; in me you behold a King's", where the 1920s(?) source at Internet Archive concludes, p. 54, "daughter, and if it will interest you to hear the story of my misfortunes, I shall be happy to recount it." Assured of the lively sympathy of her auditors she began as follows:" [The Story of the Princess of Deryabar, which does follow in both publication sequences] --P64 (talk) 20:30, 26 September 2017 (UTC)

Follow-up after examining the last four stories with some care, comparing our 1920s(?) text with the 1907, 1913, and 1914.

6. The Story of the King of the Ebony Isles, identical to Laurence Housman 1907

7. The History of Badoura, identical to Laurence Housman 1913

8. Sindbad, estimate cut from 18,000 to 15,000 words, from the 1914 not credited to any writer

9. Aladdin, estimate cut from 30,000 to 20,000 words, from the 1914 not credited to any writer

English-language Sindbad and Aladdin stories illustrated by Edmund Dulac have been credited to Laurence Housman in some later publications, perhaps always published together with some of the 1907 and 1913 known writings by LH. Probably those versions match one or the other from our 1914 and 1920s(?) publications.

Sindbad may be cut entirely by removing complete sentences and longer passages. Not always carefully. Here the cut is jarring, from "The First Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor", p207 in the 1920s(?) text (bold) and p10 in the 1914 text (the entire quotation):

Staggering forward, I flung myself high on the beach like one dead, and so I remained until the dawn of the next day[.], when the sun, rising upon me, woke me to a sense of such a condition as I hade never known before. Long--long it was before I could rise to a sitting position, and longer still before I could crawl on my hands and knees to a space of grass that was shielded from the sun. Thence, in time, I staggered till I came to a brook, of which I drank; and strength returned to me. I found luscious fruits and ate of them, and drank again of the clear waters of the brook. And so I continued many days roaming the island and wondering at its beauties until I was strong agains as before.

And it chanced, as I took my way to and fro in the island, revelling in the sight of things that God had set there, ...

--P64 (talk) 23:12, 2 October 2017 (UTC)