Book Review: The Enchanted Horse: A Tale from the Arabian Nights

The Enchanted Horse: A Tale from the Arabian Nights by Albert Seligman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This beautiful book tells the story of The Enchanted Horse, one of the ancient tales of the Arabian Nights. Every page tells just a little of the story, since it shares the space with an illustration. Some are black and white drawings, others are full-blown color extravaganzas. The story itself is a translation of the ancient tale, completed in 1840 by Edward Lane.

The Golden Age of Illustration (1880s through the 1930s) was aptly named. In this book, the artwork steals the show, and gives the reader a good reason to linger over every page. To my own surprise, I enjoyed the black and white (monochromatic) drawings immensely, and perhaps even more so than the full color illustrations. The monochromatic drawing style gives an artist the perfect opportunity to include countless tiny details. For me, there’s nothing like the bliss of falling into a good illustration to admire the patterns on cloth, facial expressions, items in a room, sweeping landscapes, and so on. These illustrations share the limelight with plenty of full color artwork. Your brain and your eyes will be fully satisfied by the collected artwork.

Editor Albert Seligman curated the art collection to pair up with Edward Lane’s storytelling, and the end result is breathtaking. If you’ve always wanted to have a clearer understanding of the tales of the Arabian Nights, this book, along with all the others in the Arabian Nights series, really needs to live on your coffee table.