1. Archive Research Stories from The Arabian Nights By Nasim Shamloo THE ARABIAN NIGHTS

2. When for the first time I went to the University Archive, I had absolutely no idea about what I am going to do for this project. I started to read a lot of books from the shelves and turn over the pages, and after a while I found some old books about history that had some beautiful pictures of some old artwork from Middle East. They were amazing but I was familiar with them already, which would not be a new challenge for me as it was not something new. And so, I continued to search and I eventually found what I was looking for! An interesting book about the Middle East that has been retold by an English writer and even better, “Edmund Dulac” also illustrated some great pictures for the stories. The name of the book is: Stories from The Arabian Nights

3. “The Arabian Nights” has been retold by Laurence Housman and published in London in 1907. But who is Laurence Housman? And why did he decide to work old stories from the Middle East in the center of Europe more than 100 years ago? He was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire in England on the 18 th of July 1865, and died on the 20 th of February 1950. Housman was a playwright, writer and illustrator. He graduated from the Royal College of Art in London and first worked as a book illustrator with a group of publishers from London. However he was to become best known and remembered as a playwright, but if he was an illustrator why did he not design the pictures for his book by himself? According to my research, I found that when his eyesight began to fail he turned more and more to writing instead of illustrating pictures. When I wanted to find out what inspired Laurence Housman to rewrite this story, I realised I needed to do more research about the “ The Arabian Nights” and it’s history.

4. The other and perhaps more common name for this book is “Shahrzad and a thousand and one nights”, which is also referred to in part within this book. As I am from Iran, I grew up with stories of “Shahrzad” therefor I still remember some of them. However, for more information about the history of the stories I searched and I found new things that show me I was right when I wondered why the name of this book is “ The Arabian Nights”? As “Housman” mentioned in the Preface of his book, “The idea which binds the stories together is greater and more romantic than the stories themselves.” The main story of “Shahrzad and a thousand and one nights” is about a despot king who killed his wife after discovering that she cheated on him with one of the servants. After that, for three years the king slept every night with a virgin girl and the day after killed them all. After three years of slaughter, Shahrzad one of the minister’s daughters, volunteered to go to king’s bedroom but had a plan to save her and the other girls. Every night, Shahrzad started to tell an interesting story to the king and managed to postpone her death for another night and another story. Shahrzad continued to read her stories to the king for one thousand and one nights, just as “ Laurence Housman” had said in his book. When you are listening or reading the tales, at the same time you are thinking about “Shahrzad”, and want to know that what will happen to her, if she can save her neck for the round of another day. This concept keeps you following the text and retains your interest in the book.

5. However, still I did not know how this English writer, 110 years ago and without Internet, found these stories. To find the answer I needed to know more about history of “Shahrzad and one thousand and one nights”. Legendary Tales of “Shahrzad and the Thousand and One Nights” is a collection of old Hindi, Persian and Arabic languages published several times. Then, for the first time “The Thousand and One Nights” was translated into a European language in the sixteenth century, to French by “Antoine Galland” and published in 1704. He translated it form Syrian version in twelve different books.

6. Firstly, the core of the story comes from Iran and the Muslim conquerors conformity with Islam are some of the oldest stories in the book. These stories are more fantasy and fearful, and full of Jinns and fairies. The main characters are named Shahrzad and Shahryar, which are Iranian names rather than Arab. Stories such as “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” belong to this group. The second sets of anecdotes are during the caliphate of Harun al-Rashid in Baghdad and are written in a romantic style. In these stories scenes of charm and magic gradually replace the more scientific style. The third groups of stories tell tails of the sea and the most famous one of these is “Sinbad the Sailor”. These stories are full of truth and exaggeration. The final groups of stories emanate from Cairo and tell stories of the urban bourgeoisie of the time. Of course, there are stories that do not fit in any category and have only folklore history. Sir Richard Burton's English translation of the book was first published in 1885 in ten separate parts. It seems as though “Housman” mentioned the name of “Burton” in his book and what he has done for these stories, as “Sir Richard Burton” inspired him. In addition, I wanted to answer the question about the name of this book, “Stories from The Arabian Nights”, because it was the first time I had heard this name and I therefore searched more deeply into the history. In the 13th and 14th century the original book became a more stable collection of stories, whereas prior to this time there were many different versions containing different stories. It is absolutely the wrong to do to think of the book as coming from a single writer. In fact we are dealing with a group of stories and authors over several centuries separated into 4 distinct eras.

7. I was inspired most by the pictures of the book that has been illustrated by “Edmund Dulac” who was born in Toulouse, France on the 22 of October 1882 and died on the 25 th of May 1953. He spent a very brief period in Paris in 1904 before moving to London and settling in London’s Holland Park, when he was just22 years old. He very soon became famous in London and in 1907 designed the picture for “The Arabian Nights”. This book has six stories: -The Fisherman and the Genie -The story of the King of the Ebony Isles -Ali Baba and the Forty thieves -The story of the Magic Horse -The story of the wicked Half-Brothers -The story of the Princess of Deryabar For the six stories, Dulac illustrated fifty pictures. The first thing that I realised about the pictures was Dulac’s lack of bright colour. The images although mostly dark, were more interesting due to the strong effect of Iranian miniatures on Dulac’s artwork. In some of the pictures of women, we can see the detail of tall and elegant women with small and beautiful faces that are covered by dark hair from Iranian miniatures. However, in some pictures women’s dresses are like Indian cloths and most of men are more similar to Arabs men. For more and better explanation I compare some pictures from “Edmund Dulac” and other old paintings.

8. Iranian Miniature… and so by Edmund Dulac…

9. Iranian Miniature… and so by Edmund Dulac…

10. More Illustrations… by Edmund Dulac…

11. Indian Painting…

12. More Illustrations… by Edmund Dulac…

13. Iranian Miniatures… Like those illustrated by Edmund Dulac…

14. Another Iranian Miniature… At the end, this book with all its stories and pictures is beautiful and you cannot get bored of it. There are so many things to say about this book but I have mentioned only what were the most interesting for me. To add I would say that I think “ The Arabian Nights” is not the most suitable name for this book, as some of the stories or paintings are not from the Arabic group of Stories. Dulac’s paintings are absolutely amazing to me and they make the book more interesting.