Prior to today, I had never heard of Richard F. Burton. Apparently, after my grandmother passed, there was a box of books that belonged to my great grandfather that she had wanted me to have. My dad was tasked with packing up grandma's things and this box ended up in storage until yesterday. Tucked in amongst the 23 Volume Set of Mark Twain's writings (Harpers; Circa~1910), I found a Fourth Printing, September, 1927 Kasidah. It is a small black soft-bound (leather?) book with FB's profile embossed on the front. I opened it, not knowing what it was and could not put it down. Amazing stuff! Anyone else like this one?

Andrew

Yep

"...tinkling of a camel's bell..." Or close to that.

Alex

I have an original 1924 first edition: sewn bindings with woodcuts

Well..... the true first edition was published in 1880. By 1924 there had been numerous subsequent editions. I think it would be more accurate to describe your copy as "first edition thus" -- as the bookdealers say -- to make it clear that it is the first printing of what may actually be the 10th or 15th edition.

I just read your post. Yes, the Kasidah is an exceptional read. Have you tried reading it aloud? Best wishes.

My all-time favorite poem, next to Arthur Rimbaud "Drunken Boat"...!! I too have that 1924 woodcut edition, with the additional intriguing endnote that only 2,000 copies were printed, and my book is #880.

The tinkling of the baal-beits (mule bells)...

It's an astonishingly incisive and beautiful poem, and has been described as a summary of philosophy. For anyone who hasn't seen them, the woodcuts from the 1924 edition are at the above link.

My copy of the "Kasidah" is no-one's idea of a collector's piece--copyright Octagon Press 1974, printed in 1991; and although it has no collector's value, the content is what's important--It's a small leather-bound volume that has been in my baggage through two continents and five countries in ten years!
I always knew that the Gideons would have something in my hotel room's bedside drawer, but Haji Abdu El-Yezdi has been a good travelling companion to me for a while; the lovely quatrains are the kind of thing where one can open the book at random and get something somewhat better than a fortune cookie.
How much of this might be the result of RFB's insatiable curiosity?

Alan Q

Many thanks to Glenn for his suggestion that the Kasidah be read aloud--I intuitively liked Shakespeare in high school, but seeing the plays performed instead of just reading them was wonderful--the Kasidah is similar; even if there's no-one else around, RFB was able to recreate the idea of a storyteller beside the campfire--the rhythm and sonority are lovely. Why not? He spent a lot of time around campfires where rhythm and sonority were what kept your audience! A decent plot never hurt, but Scherezade knew that and worked it for oh, how long? 1001 nights?
--Alan Q