Von Hammer made a French translation of the unpublished tales, which he lent to Caussin de Perceval, who extracted from it four tales only (Nos. 21a, 22, 32 and 37), and only acknowledged his obligations in a general way to a distinguished Orientalist, whose name he pointedly suppressed. Von Hammer, naturally indignant, reclaimed his MS., and had it translated into German by Zinserling. He then sent the French MS. to De Sacy, in whose hands it remained for some time, although he does not appear to have made any use of it, when it was despatched to England for publication; but the courier lost it on the journey, and it was never recovered.
Zinserling’s translation was published under the title, “Der Tausend und einen Nacht noch nicht übersetzte Mährchen, Erzählungen und Anekdoten, zum erstenmale aus dem Arabischen in’s Französische übersetzt von Joseph von Hammer, und aus dem Französischen in’s Deutsche von Aug. E. Zinserling, Professor.” (3 vols., Stuttgart and Tübingen, 1823.) The introductory matter is of considerable importance, and includes notices of 12 different MSS., and a list of contents of Von Hammer’s MS. The tales begin with No. 23, Nos. 9–19 being omitted, because Von Hammer was informed that they were about to be published in France. (This possibly refers to Asselan Riche’s “Scharkan,” published in 1829.) The tales and anecdotes in this edition follow the order of The Nights. No. 163 is incomplete, Zinserling giving only the commencement; and two other tales (Nos. 132b and 168) are related in such a confused manner as to be unintelligible, the former from transposition (perhaps in the sheets of the original MS.) and the latter from errors and omissions. On the other hand, some of the tales (No. 137 for instance) are comparatively full and accurate.
A selection from the longer tales was published in English in 3 vols. in 1826, under the title of “New Arabian Nights Entertainments, selected from the original Oriental MS. by Jos. von Hammer, and now first translated into English by the Rev. George Lamb.” I have only to remark that No. 132b is here detached from its connection with No. 132, and is given an independent existence.
A complete French re-translation of Zinserling’s work, also in 3 vols., by G. S. Trébutien (Contes inédits des Mille et une Nuits) was published in Paris in 1828; but in this edition the long tales are placed first, and all the anecdotes are placed together last.
The various MSS. mentioned by Von Hammer are as follows:—
I. Galland’s MS. in Paris. II. Another Paris MS., containing 870 Nights. (No. 9 is specially noticed as occurring in it.) This seems to be the same as a MS. subsequently mentioned by Von Hammer as consulted by Habicht. III. Scott’s MS. (Wortley Montague). IV. Scott’s MS. (Anderson). V. Dr. Russell’s MS. from Aleppo (224 Nights). VI. Sir W. Jones’ MS., from which Richardson extracted No. 6ee for his grammar. VII. A MS. at Vienna (200 Nights). VIII. MS. in Italinski’s collection. IX. Clarke’s MS. X. An Egyptian MS. at Marseilles. XI. Von Hammer’s MS. XII. Habicht’s MS. (= Bres. text). XIII. Caussin’s MS. XIV. De Sacy’s MS. XV. One or more MSS. in the Vatican.
TRANSLATIONS OF THE PRINTED TEXTS.
These are noticed by Sir R. F. Burton in his “Foreword” (vol. 1, pp. xi.-xiii.) and consequently can be passed over with a brief mention here.
Torrens’ edition (vol. 1) extends to the end of Night 50 (Burton, in p. [118]).
Lane’s translation originally appeared in monthly half-crown parts, from 1839 to 1841. It is obvious that he felt himself terribly restricted in space; for the third volume, although much thicker than the others, is not only almost destitute of notes towards the end, but the author is compelled to grasp at every excuse to omit tales, even excluding No. 168, which he himself considered “one of the most entertaining tales in the work,” (chap. xxix., note 12) on account of its resemblance to Nos. 1b and 3d. Part of the matter in Lane’s own earlier notes is apparently derived from No. 132a, which he probably did not at first intend to omit. Sir R. F. Burton has taken 5 vols. to cover the same ground which Lane has squeezed into his vol. 3. But it is only fair to Lane to remark that in such cases the publisher is usually far more to blame than the author.