I. Galland's MS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Nos. 1506-1508.
II. MS. in the Vatican, No. 782.
III. Dr. Russell's MS. from Aleppo.
IV. MS. in the Bibl. Nat. (Suppl. 1715, I and II.).
V. MS. in the Library of Christ Church College, Oxford (No. ccvii.).
VI. MS. in the Library of the India Office, London (No. 2699).
VII. Sir W. Jones' MS., used by Richardson.
VIII. Rich's MS. in the Library of the British Museum (Addit. 7404).
IX. MS. in Bibl. Nat. (Suppl. 2522 and 2523) X. MS. in Bibl. Nat. (Suppl.
1716).
The following MSS. are enumerated as belonging to the second group:—
I. Salt's MS. (printed in Calcutta in 4 vols.).
II-IV. Three complete MSS. in Bibliothèque Nationale (Suppl. Arabe, Nos.
1717,1718, 1719).
V. Incomplete MS. of Vol. II. in Bibl. Nat. (Suppl. Arabe, Nos 2198 to
2200).
VI. Incomplete MS. of Vol. 4 (Suppl. Arabe, Nos. 2519 to 2521).
VII. Odd vol. containing Nights 656 to 1001 (Suppl. Arabe, No. 1721, III.).
XII. MS. containing Nights 284 to 327 (Suppl. Arabe, No. 1720).
XIII. MS. in British Museum (Oriental MSS., Nos. 1593 to 1598).
XIV. Ditto (Oriental MSS., Nos. 2916 to 2919).
XV. Burckhardt's MS. in the University Library at Cambridge (B. MSS. 106 to
109).
XVI. MS. in the Vatican (Nos. 778 to 781).
XVII. MS. in the Ducal Library at Gotha.
XVIII. Odd vol. in ditto.
XIX. MS. in the Royal Library at Munich.
XX. Ditto, incomplete (De Sacy's).
XXI. Fragment in the Library of the Royal and Imperial Library at Vienna (No.
CL.).
XXII. MS. in the Imperial Public Library at St. Petersburg (Von
Hammer's).
XXIII.MS. in the Library of the Institute for the Study of Oriental languages
at St. Petersburg (Italinski's).
XXIV. Mr. Clarke's MS. (cf. Nights, x., App. pp. 444- 448).
XXV. Caussin de Perceval's MS.
XXVI. Sir W. Ouseley's MSS.
The above list does not include copies or fragments in various libraries of which M. Zotenberg has no sufficient information, nor miscellaneous collection in which tales from the Nights are mixed with others.
Portions of Habicht's MS. appear to belong to the Egyptian recension, and others to have come from further East.
There is a MS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale (Suppl. Arabe, No. 1721, IV.) from Egypt, containing the first 210 Nights, which somewhat resembles Habicht's MS. both in style and in the arrangement of the tales. The Third Shaykh's Story (No. 1 c.) is entirely different from those in the ordinary MSS., nor is it the same as that in the Turkish version of the Nights, which is again quite different from either. In this MS. (No. 1721, IV.) No. 6 is followed by Nos. 7, 174, and 133.
Then follow notices of Anderson's MS., used by Scott, but which cannot now be traced the Calcutta edition of the first 200 Nights; and of the Wortley Montague MS. These form M. Zotenberg's third group of MSS.
M. Zotenberg does not enter into the question of the original form, date and constituents of the primitive work, but concludes that the complete work as we now have it only assumed its present form at a comparatively recent period. But it must not be forgotten that the details, description, manners, and style of the tales composing this vast collection, are undergoing daily alteration both from narrators and copyists.
Then follows an Appendix, in which M. Zotenberg has copied two tales from Galland's journals, which he took down as related by the Maronite Hanna. One of these is new to me, it is the story of the Three Princes, and the Genius Morhagian and his Daughters (added at the end of this section); and the other is the well-known story of the Envious Sisters.
The remainder of M. Zotenberg's volume contains the Arabic text of the story of 'Ala Al-Din, or the Wonderful Lamp, with numerous critical notes, most of which refer to Galland's version. A few pages of Chavis' text are added for comparison.
The story itself, M. Zotenberg remarks, is modern, giving a faithful picture of Egyptian manners under the reign of the last Mamlouk Sultans. Some expressions which occur in the French Arabic Dictionary of Ellions Bocthor and of A. Caussin de Perceval, are apparently derived from the story of 'Ala Al-Din.