The Arabian Nights

Philadelphia, Chicago: The John C. Winston Company, 1920. Good +. First Thus. Not be confused with the 1924 edition. Stated copyright 1920 underneath the list of only 8 Titles (not 14 as in the 1924 issue) in the Winston Clear Type Popular Classic Series. The title page reads: "Edited by Orton Lowe" as opposed to the 1924 - "With Introduction by Orton Lowe". This edition has 4 colored plates by Adelaide H. Bolton. 1924 edition has 6. The book has solid hinges with no loose pages. It has moderate wear/rubbing to boards/paste-on, bumped corners, and wear to the spine ends. Winston is printed on the spine. The textblock has a tiny bookstore label on the front paste-down and the previous owner's name on the front endpaper. There are light smudges to many age-toned pages. No writing, bookplate, or markings and not BCE, ex-library, or remaindered. 60 block illustrations.

Shahriar is a sultan who has discovered his wife has committed adultery. Embittered and shocked, he decides that all women are evil and therefore, every day, he will marry a girl and have her executed by his vizier the next morning. But the vizier's clever daughter, Scheherazade, has a plan that may save the kingdom's women: she volunteers herself as the sultan's next bride. On their wedding night, Scheherazade tells an entertaining story and as soon as she finishes, she begins a new story. It is late into the night, but the new story is not finished. Wanting to hear the conclusion, the sultan postpones his wife's execution until the next day. The following night, Scheherazade finishes the previous story but again starts a new one, forcing the sultan to postpone her death for another night. This pattern continues for one thousand and one nights. The sultan eventually changes his opinions and marries Scheherazade.

The tales are sophisticated and charming — fantastic stories full of magic, wonder, and morals.