A scarce run of a classic work, printed in Scotland.

The first Western translation of the Arabian Nights first appeared in 1704 by Antoine Galland in French and these were the basis for the first English editions of the text which began to appear from 1706 as 'Grub Street' imprints in the form of chapbooks. Galland continued to translate and publish sections of the Nights until 1717 and the English editions followed suit with a standardised English edition of the combined translations emerging by the mid-eighteenth-century, known as The Arabian Nights Entertainments and issued as a 4 vol. set.

This 8 volume set includes the standardised 4 volume 'Arabian Nights Entertainments' of Galland translations along with the first English translations of the new French editions of the Nights translated by Chavis and Cazzotte. 4 volumes entitled Arabian Tales mark the first appearance of many additional stories from Nights that would have been new to English readers, making this the earliest most complete English translation of the text (from French).

The first authentic English translation from the Arabic didn't appear in the UK until 1840 with the publication of Edward Lane's edition entitled One Thousand and One Nights, almost 50 years after the present publication.

First edition, 4 volumes, presented as a set with 'The Arabian Nights Entertainments' (4 volumes, eighteenth edition of the Galland translation, Montrose, 1793), together 8 volumes; small 8vo (175 x 105 mm); complete, half-titles and engraved plates present in the Heron volumes, uniform ownership inscriptions to front free endpapers of each volume, internally clean and crisp condition; uniformly bound in full calf, spines with labels lettered in gilt, red morocco roundels numbering the volumes from 1-8 (volumes 1-4 being the Arabian Nights Entertainment and volumes 5-8 being the Arabian Tales), hinges strengthened, spine ends and edges skilfully repaired, a very handsome set. 175 x 105mm (7 x 4¼ inches).