BURTON TRANSLATION — VALENTI ANGELO ART

Burton, Richard F. [Translator] ; Angelo, Valenti [Illustrator]

The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night [Six Volume Set]

New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1934.
The perfect marriage of Victorian scholarship and modern book design. A crisp, complete survival of a 20th-century masterpiece.

This fine press edition of the Richard Burton's translation, reimagined with the exquisite graphic precision of Valenti Angelo.

This monumental six-volume set provides a plain and literal translation of the Arabian Nights entertainments, supplemented by Burton’s extensive and famously uninhibited scholarly annotations. Angelo, one of the most celebrated book designers of the 20th century, provided over 1,000 individual illustrations for this project.

The design is a triumph of the all-over style, where the intricate borders and delicate line drawings create a visual texture that mirrors the complex, interlocking "frame stories of the text itself.

KEY FEATURES
+++ Illustrations: Decorated with over 1,000 original line drawings and intricate marginalia by Valenti Angelo. 
+++ Translation: The unabridged Richard F. Burton translation, including all original notes and terminal essays. 
+++ Binding: Tooled leather spines over pictorial paper-covered boards. 
+++ The Set: Complete in six volumes as issued by the Limited Editions Club in 1934. +++ Imprint: Printed in the U.S.A. for the members of the Limited Editions Club.

CONDITION: Very Good.
+++ The Books: The bindings are structurally sound with the tooled leather spines showing typical light age-toning and minor rubbing at the extremities. The internal text blocks are exceptionally clean, crisp, and bright.
+++ The Boards: The decorated paper sides remain vibrant with minimal shelf wear. No major scuffing or loss to the delicate printed patterns. Spine tip corners with light shelf wear.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE --
Sir Richard Burton’s translation remains a cornerstone of 19th-century orientalism, prized for its raw energy and linguistic depth.

Describing the Decoration: The boards are decorated in a Persian-miniature style, featuring an intricate, repeating "all-over" pattern of stylized flora, fauna, and human figures in a pastoral landscape. The design utilizes fine-line lithography to create a tapestry-like effect, characteristic of Valenti Angelo's ability to blend Western book design with Eastern motif.

SCHOLARLY FEATURES
+++ Bibliographical Note: This 1934 LEC edition was the first to successfully marry Burton's dense, Victorian prose with a modern, cohesive aesthetic.
+++ Artistic Detail: Angelo’s work here is considered a masterclass in line-and-letter harmony, where the illustrations never overpower the typography.
+++ Completeness: Verify set includes volumes 1 through 6, concluding with the index and terminal essays.

SUBJECTS: Arabian Nights, Richard F. Burton, Valenti Angelo, Limited Editions Club, Fine Press, Middle Eastern Literature, Illustrated Books, Fine Bindings, Collected Works.

Item #21924

Price: $165.00