Arabian Nights, free to a good home
Dec. 4th, 2010 03:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexxkayOnce upon a time, I was a frequent storyteller, and one of my lesser specialties was Arabian Mythology. Through luck, and the financial assistance of a dear friend, I acquired a 17-volume edition of Sir Richard Burton's fabled translation of The Thousand Nights and a Night. I began reading it with great gusto. A volume or two in, I discovered, with some amazement, that the pages had not all been cut -- this book had never been read all the way through! I thought scornfully of the previous owner(s).
Well, time went on. Arabian material was never my *primary* focus as a storyteller, and eventually my storytelling days faded largely into the past. To my embarrassment, I never finished reading it either (though I got several volumes further than previous owner(s) had). And I now realize that I am unlikely ever to pick it up and continue reading, and it's taking up over 2 feet of valuable shelf space. It's time to let go.
If you can convince me that you will actually read the whole thing, I will give it to you for free. Otherwise, I'm asking $200, which I suspect is about what a bookseller would give me. (Similar sets from booksellers are asking $350.) If you will make *some* use of it, other than "looking impressive" on a shelf, I'll settle for less. Picture below.
Well, time went on. Arabian material was never my *primary* focus as a storyteller, and eventually my storytelling days faded largely into the past. To my embarrassment, I never finished reading it either (though I got several volumes further than previous owner(s) had). And I now realize that I am unlikely ever to pick it up and continue reading, and it's taking up over 2 feet of valuable shelf space. It's time to let go.
If you can convince me that you will actually read the whole thing, I will give it to you for free. Otherwise, I'm asking $200, which I suspect is about what a bookseller would give me. (Similar sets from booksellers are asking $350.) If you will make *some* use of it, other than "looking impressive" on a shelf, I'll settle for less. Picture below.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-04 09:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-14 03:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-14 03:27 pm (UTC)Klingon, but my Arabic's a long way from being up to that so Burton is probably the next best bet. I've read any number of exerpts, bests of, and so on -- as well as chunks of Burton. But I have yet to read the whole thing.We had a full set of Burton in my school library -- not sure if it's the same edition as yours -- and I read several volumes more or less at random there.
Let's talk about it at New Years at the Buttery.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-03 07:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-03 09:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-03 11:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-04 12:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-04 04:09 pm (UTC)