T his site is dedicated to the books of the Arabian Nights, also known as the One Thousand Nights and a Night, or Alf Layla wa-Layla in Arabic. The full collection is comprised of literally hundreds of stories, many contained within other stories, all dating back more than a thousand years. It is one of the most valuable treasures of all literature.

Over the centuries, hundreds of editions have appeared, based on many different translations and illustrated by some of the most famous illustrators in history. This website is a guide and tribute to these many, many books of the Arabian Nights.

The first section contains some background on the Nights: where the stories came from, how they arrived in their current form, their literary style and their current place in world literature. The illustrators section contains detailed information about the artists who have chosen to illustrate the Nights over the last 300 years. This section is illustrated with dozens of scans of their work. The translators section contains information on the various persons who have translated the Nights from their original Arabic to French, English and other languages. The editions section contains descriptions of many of the more notable editions that survive today. Few works have been published in as many different editions over as long of a period as the Nights. The resources section is a list of web sites and books with more information about the Nights.

This site is under continuous construction as new material is discovered and added. If you have comments, questions or answers, please see the feedback section of the resources page.