corundum, history.1, geology.11, gems

Burton’s The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, his translation of the Arabian Nights, contains numerous references to precious stones, jewelry, and fabulous treasures reflecting the luxury and gem lore of the medieval Islamic world. The cited passages in Vols. 5 and 6 include descriptions of gems and jeweled objects embedded in tales of merchants, rulers, magical adventures, and extraordinary wealth. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls, and other precious materials appear both as commodities of immense value and as components of magnificent ornaments and treasures, while some passages preserve traditional beliefs concerning the sources and properties of stones. Burton’s extensive notes supplement the tales with linguistic, historical, geographical, and ethnographic commentary, often explaining Arabic and Persian names for gems and contemporary practices connected with their trade and valuation. For gemological research, these passages are valuable primarily as literary and cultural evidence for the terminology, symbolism, commerce, and popular conceptions surrounding precious stones in the Arabic and Persian traditions transmitted through the Thousand Nights and a Night.