Stories from the Thousand and One Nights

Originally published between 1909 and 1917 under the name "Harvard Classics," this stupendous 51-volume set-a collection of the greatest writings from literature, philosophy, history, and mythology-was assembled by American academic CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT (1834-1926), Harvard University's longest-serving president. Also known as "Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf," it represented Eliot's belief that a basic liberal education could be gleaned by reading from an anthology of works that could fit on five feet of bookshelf.

Volume XVI features a selection of 42 folktales from the collection of Persian, Indian, and Arabic stories-some dating as far back as the ninth century AD-sometimes known as The Arabian Nights. It represents one of the earliest examples of a framing story, as young Shahrazad, under threat of execution by the King, postpones her death by regaling him with these wildly diverting stories over the course of 1,001 nights. The stories themselves have profoundly influenced our notions of popular entertainment with their early examples of fantasy, adventure, mystery, and even science fiction.