I have read about the Medina (sp?) edition of the 1895 Burton Club (which has 17 volumes), but I have the Mecca edition of the same year (light colored cloth boards with paper lables on binding). What other editions were published by the Burton Club and does it matter to value, desirability etc.? What was the order of the editions?

Unfortunately my copy of Penzer's bibliography is packed up but it would allow you to identify the year published. There isn't any difference in value beyond overall condition. They were of an inferior printing and are so noted under Penzer's evaluation (not to mention the questionable circumstance surrounding the acquisition of the printer's plates). Still, it is possible to pick up a set in virtually unused condition between 200-300 USD. From what I've seen, the gutters are the first to go. The buckram boards are also susceptible to spotting. Personally, I enjoy the plates and after finally finding a set in mint condition, I'm pleased.

-Cf

Penzer lists 9 different editions of the Burton Club volumes (Benaris, Mecca, Medinah, Aden, Baghdad, Samara, Bassorah, Shammar and Luristan). I know of at least 15 different versions. There is no definitive list of all of the different versions or their sequence. According to Penzer, the Illustrated Benares edition was the first one.

They were published in a variety of bindings, with buckram and paper lables on the spine being the most common. Some are leather bound. Ridiculous amounts have been asked for some of the Burton club editions but they can be had for 200-300 USD if you are patient.

Penzer, Casada and many others don't think much of the Burton club editions. Personally I like them. Without the Burton club editions I suspect that Burton's translation may have ended up in obscurity, much like John Payne's translation did. The Burton club editions made Burton's translation available to the "masses", and parts of his translation are still in print.

JC

A point that is often missed is that the Burton Club editions used Burton's old 1885 plates and repaginated, adding illustrations and new title pages. They did deteriorate towards the end of their long run but, as JC says, those printings brought tens of thousands of unexpurgated copies into the hands of people who otherwise could not afford them. The disapproval probably started because the plates came into the possession of the "Burton Club" by means which were a little dubious.

I have heard people dispute what I've said above, claiming that the type was reset for the "Burton Club" editions - as I have the original edition and a nice Burton Club "reading" set I can refute this - they are identical.

Prior to the Burton club reprints there was the Burton Society reprint. Penzer states that it is these plates that the Burton club reprints were taken from. No mention of where the Burton society got the plates from, or if they reset the type. I'd be interested to hear of any additional information anyone may have about the Burton Society reprint.

It shoud be noted that there are actually two different Burton club editions, the older 17 volume one and a more comtempory 16 volume one. Casada doesn't mention the newer edition. In fact he goes so far to state that Burton club editions "all consisted of seventeen volumes". There are at least three versions of the later 16 vol edition. The first was called the Baroda edition. In the case of the 16 vol. reprint the text was reset and some information, primarly in the footnotes, has been left out. Volume 13 (Vol 3 of the Supplemental Nights) suffers especally, with about half of the material left out.

It's good to know there was such an organisation as the Burton society. I was Burton so it is good to know there are people getting organised to make a society about one of my previous incarnations. I am God and therefore so was Burton. This is one of the reasons why people should get interested in everything I wrote in that life. People shouldn't be too hard on Isobell. I told her to burn what she did. I didn't have a very good time on the astral plane after I died.