The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 13 | Page 5

de Tabari. Happily for me, he had lately purchased for the
National Library, from a vendor who was utterly ignorant of its history,
a MS. copy of The Nights, containing the Arabic originals of Zayn
al-Asnam and Alaeddin. The two volumes folio are numbered and
docketed SupplÚment Arabe, Nos. 2522-23;" they measure 31 cent. by
20; Vol. i. contains 411 folios (822 pages) and Vol. ii. 402 (pp. 804);
each page numbers fifteen lines, and each folio has its catchword. The
paper is French, English and Dutch, with four to five different marks,
such as G. Gautier; D. and C. Blaew; Pro PatrÔ and others. The highly
characteristic writing, which is the same throughout the two folios, is
easily recognised as that of Michel (MikhaÝl) Sabbßgh, the Syrian,
author of the Colombe MessagÞre, published in Paris A.D. 1805, and
accompanied by a translation by the celebrated Silvestre de Sacy
(Chrestomathie iii. 365). This scribe also copied, about 1810, for the
same Orientalist, the Ikhwßn al-Safß.
I need say nothing more concerning this MS., which M. Zotenberg
purposes to describe bibliographically in volume xxviii. of Notices et
extraits des Manuscrits de la BibliothÞque rationale publiÚs par
l'Academie des inscriptions et belles lettres. And there will be a tirage
Ó part of 200-300 copies entitled Histoire d' 'Alß al-D¯n ou La Lampe
Merveilleuse, Texte Arabe, publiÚ par H. Zotenberg, Paris, Imprimerie
Nationale, 1888; including a most important contribution:--Sur
quelques Manuscrits des Mille et une Nuits et la traduction de
Galland.[FN#1]
The learned and genial author has favoured me with proof sheets of his
labours: it would be unfair to disclose the discoveries, such as the
Manuscript Journals in the BibliothÞque Nationale (Nos. 15277 to
15280), which the illustrious Garland kept regularly till the end of his
life, and his conversations with "M. Hanna, Maronite d'Halep," alias
Jean Dipi (Dippy, a corruption of Diab): suffice it to say that they cast a
clear and wholly original light upon the provenance of eight of the
Gallandian histories. I can, however, promise to all "Aladdinists" a rich
harvest of facts which wholly displace those hitherto assumed to be
factual. But for the satisfaction of my readers I am compelled to quote

the colophon of M. Zotenberg's great "find" (vol. ii.), as it bears upon a
highly important question.
"And the finishing thereof was during the first decade of Jamßdi the
Second, of the one thousand and one hundred and fifteenth year of the
Hegirah (= A.D. 1703) by the transcription of the neediest of His slaves
unto Almighty Allah, Ahmad bin Mohammed al-TarßdÝ, in Baghdad
City: he was a Shßfi'Ý of school, and a Mosuli by birth, and a Baghdadi
by residence, and he wrote it for his own use, and upon it he imprinted
his signet. So Allah save our lord Mohammed and His Kin and
Companions and assain them! KabÝkaj."[FN#2]
Now as this date corresponds with A.D. 1703, whereas Galland did
begin publishing until 1705-1705 the original MS. of Ahmad al-
TarßdÝ could not have been translated or adapted from the French; and
although the transcription by Mikhail Sabbagh, writing in 1805-10,
may have introduced modification borrowed from Galland, yet the
scrupulous fidelity of his copy, shown by sundry marginal and other
notes, lays the suspicion that changes of importance have been
introduced by him. Remains now only to find the original codex of
Al-TarßdÝ.
I have noticed in my translation sundry passages which appear to betray
the Christian hand; but these are mostly of scanty consequence in no
wise affecting the genuineness of the text.
The history of Zayn al Asnam was copied from the Sabbßgh MS. and
sent to me by M. Houdas, Professeur d'Arabe vulgaire a l'Ecole des
langues orientales vivantes; an Arabist, whose name is favourably
quoted in the French Colonies of Northern Africa M. Zotenberg kindly
lent me his own transcription of Alaeddin before sending it to print; and
I can only regret that the dilatory proceedings of the Imprimerie
Nationale, an establishment supported by the State, and therefore
ignoring the trammels of private industry, have prevented my revising
the version now submitted to the public. This volume then begins with
the two Gallandian Tales, "Zeyn Alasnam" and "Aladdin," whose
Arabic original was discovered by M. Zotenberg during the last year:
although separated in the French version, I have brought them together

for the sake of uniformity. The other eight (or nine, including the
Princess of Daryabar), entitled History of Khudadad and his Brothers,
and the Princess of Daryabar;
History of Khudadad and his Brothers, and the Princess of Daryabar;
History of the Blind Man, Baba Abdullah; History of Sidi Nu'uman;
History of Khwajah Hasan al-Habbal; History of Ali Baba and the
Forty Thieves; History of Ali Khwajah and the Merchant of Baghdad;
History of Prince Ahmad and the Fairy