12 illustration(s) from this book
"I have thought it right to omit such tales, anecdotes, &c., as are
comparatively uninteresting or on any account objectionable. In other
words, I insert nothing that I deem greatly inferior in interest to the
tales in the old version. Certain passages which, in the original work,
are of an objectionable nature, I have slightly varied; but in doing
this, I have been particularly careful to render them so as to be
perfectly agreeable with Arab manners and customs. It was originally my
intention to omit almost the whole of the poetry, thinking that the loss
of measure and rhyme, and the impossibility of preserving the examples
of paronomasia and some other figures with which they abound, would
render translations of them generally intolerable to the reader: but
afterwards I reflected that the character of the work would be thus
greatly altered; and its value, as illustrating Arab manners and
feelings, much diminished. I therefore determined to preserve a
considerable number of select pieces, chosen either for their relative
merits or because required by the context. The number of those comprised
in the first volume of my translation is nearly half of the number
contained in the corresponding portion of the original work; but in
several cases I have omitted one or more verses of a piece as
unsuitable, or for some other reason; and in a few instances I have
given only the first verse or the first couplet. These pieces of poetry
are not in general to be regarded as the compositions of the author or
authors of the work: they appear to be mostly borrowed from others, and
many of them are taken from the works of celebrated poets.--To avoid the
tedious interruptions which occur in the original at the close of each
Night, I have divided the translation into chapters, each of which
consists of one tale, or of two or more tales connected one with
another, and have merely mentioned the Night with which each chapter
commences, and that with which it terminates.