Includes bibliographical references (p. [xv]-xviii) and index.

This uniquely comprehensive anthology at last brings the astonishing grandeur and variety of classical Arabic literature to the Western audience.

The distinguished Arabist Robert Irwin presents dazzling excerpts from works both renowned (The Qur'an, The Thousand and One Nights) and esoteric (Ibn Wasshiya's "Book of Poisons, " the dashing Byronic poetry of Imru' al-Qays). Selections are accompanied by Irwin's erudite commentaries, which illuminate the reader on the cultural and historical context of these works. Spanning the fifth to sixteenth centuries and societies from Afghanistan to Spain, this is a captivating and invaluable guide to one of the world's great bodies of literature.