Following the dawn prayer, with clouds of darkness defying the vigorous thrust of the light, the vizier Dandon was called to a meeting with the sultan Shahriyer. Dandon's composure vanished. The heart of a father quaked within him . . .

          He went by the road that led up to the mountain on an old jade, followed by a troop of guards: preceding them was a man bearing a torch, in weather that radiated dew and a gentle chilliness. Three years he had spent between fear and hope, between death and expectation.

–Naguib Mahfouz

So it begins, Naguib Mahfouz' brilliant, intrigue-woven, timeless and witty satire,  Arabian Nights and Days. We are honored that this Nobel Prize winning author chose to have us to publish his 1979 masterpiece.

This, from our Afterword by Mohamed Salmawy, an Al-Ahram editor:

          What a strange world Naguib Mahfouz takes us into . . . the fairy tale atmosphere is . . . a reality of our contemporary world.

For the prints, Mahfouz wisely chose his friend, the superb Cairo artist, Nazli Madkour. We were amazed when we saw her images. So intricate and luminous, they dance before the eyes. Almost three dimensional, their portrayals capture the essence of Mahfouz' wicked, biting, horrifying, at times amusing novel. We produced the prints by the serigraph giclee process that produces rich, deep saturated color, the only process that could do them justice.

English translation by Denys Johnson-Davies. Printed letterpress on paper specially milled in Germany. Mohamed Zakariya's gold calligraphy is set into the natural colored linen binding. Hand sewn and hand bound. The same linen covers its hinged and lined case.