“The next translation was made by Munshi ’Abd al-Karím, likewise in prose. From the preface and colophon to this work it appears that ’Abd al-Karím obtained a copy of Edward Foster’s English version of the Arabian Nights, and after two years’ labour completed a translation of the whole work in A.H. 1258 (A.D. 1842). It was lithographed at the Mustafai Press at Kánpúi (Cawnpore) in the year A.H. 1263 (A.D. 1847) and published in four vols., in two royal 8vos, lithographed; each containing two Jilds (or parts, pp. 276, 274; 214 and 195).”
“A second edition appeared from the same press in A.H. 1270 (A.D. 1853) also in two vols. 8vo of two Jilds each (pp. 249, 245; 192, 176). Since then several other editions have been published at Cawnpore, at Lakhnau[4] and also at Bombay. This translation is written in an easy fluent style, omitting all coarseness of expression or objectionable passages, in language easily understood, and at the same time in good and elegant Hindustani. It is therefore extremely popular, and selections from the 4th Jild have been taken as text books for the Indian Civil Service examinations. A Romanized Urdu version of the first two Jilds according to Duncan Forbes’ system of transliteration, was made ‘under the superintendence of T. W. H. Tolbort,’ and published under the editorship of F. Pincott in London, by W. H. Allen and Co. in 1882.[5] There has been no attempt to divide this translation into Nights: there are headings to the several tales and nothing more. To supply this want, and also to furnish the public with a translation closer to the original, and one more intelligible to Eastern readers, and in accordance with oriental thought and feeling, a third translation was taken in hand by Totárám Sháyán, at the instance of Nawal Kishore, the well-known bookseller and publisher of Lucknow. The first edition of this translation was lithographed at Lucknow in the year A.H. 1284 (A.D. 1868) and published in a 4to vol. of 1,080 pages under the title of Hazár Dastán.[6] Totárám Sháyán has followed ’Abd al-Karim’s arrangement of the whole work into four Jilds, each of which has a separate pagination (pp. 304, 320, 232, and 224). The third Jild has 251 Nights: the other three 250 each. The translation is virtually in prose, but it abounds in snatches of poetry, songs and couplets taken from the writings of Persian poets, and here and there a verse-rendering of bits of the story. This translation, though substantially agreeing in the main with that of ’Abd al-Karim, yet differs widely from it in the treatment. It is full of flowery metaphors and is written in a rich ornate style, full of Persian and Arabic words and idioms, which renders it far less easy to understand than the simple language of ’Abd al-Karim. Some passages have been considerably enlarged and sometimes contain quite different reading from that of ’Abd al-Karim, with occasional additional matter. In other places descriptions have been much curtailed so that although the thread of the story may be the same in both translations it is hard to believe that the two translators worked from the same version. Unfortunately Totárám Sháyán makes no mention at all of the source whence he made his translation whether English or Arabic. This translation reached its fourth edition in 1883, and has been published with the addition of several badly executed full-page illustrations evidently taken from English prints.”