The HISTORY Of ALI BABA And The FORTY THIEVES. Embellished with a Colorured Frontispiece.
Hexton: Published by S. Carvalho, 8, Craven Street, Charles Square. Jacques, Printer, Lower Sloane Street. (n. d.). 1st printing thus, ca 1830s. 32, [4] pp. Last 4 pages adverts for titles published by R. Miller, 37, Harleyford Place, Kennington. Folding color frontispiece. 16mo. 5-3/8" x 3-1/2". Original publisher's printed blue paper wrappers. Now housed in an archival mylar sleeve. General wear, with front wrapper beginning to detach at top. Sympathetic blue paper reinforcement to spine; corners restored. POI, dated 1886. With a nod to the detaching cover, an otherwise VG copy. Item #52249
"Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" is a folk tale in Arabic added to the One Thousand and One Nights in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who heard it from Syrian storyteller Hanna Diyab. As one of the most popular Arabian Nights tales, it has been widely retold and performed in many media across the world, especially for children (for whom the more violent aspects of the story are often removed).
In the original version, Ali Baba is a poor woodcutter and an honest person who discovers the secret treasure of a thieves' den, and enters with the magic phrase "open sesame". The thieves try to kill Ali Baba while his rich and greedy brother Cassim tries to steal the treasure for himself, but Ali Baba’s faithful slave-girl Morgiana foils their plots. His son marries her, and Ali Baba keeps the secret of the treasure." [Wiki]
This an uncommon, apparently unrecorded, edition by Carvalho. Others editions recorded by him are in but a single copy.
Price: $375.00