7 DECEMBER 1907, Page 40

Stories from the Arabian Nights. Retold be Laurence Housman. With

Drawings by Edmund Dulac. (Hodder and Stoughton. 15s. net.)—It is one of Mr. Housman's occupations to be a critic, and ho has -emended the " Arabian Nights." Scheherazade herself disappears, except, indeed, in a very pretty picture which Mr. Dulac has given us of her ; and we must own that the disappearance leaves us untroubled. It is not easy to fit in the part which she plays with modern manners ; and the stories which in a way we owe to her are just as good when they come without this embarrassing introduction. Six of these old friends appear before us in the tasteful and well-fitting form which Mr. Housman has given them. Those are " The Fisher- man and the Genie," "The King of the Ebony Isles," "Ali Baba," "The Magic Horse," "The Wicked Half-Brother," and " The Princess of Deryabar." The illustrations, which are put together at the end, are of a very original and striking kind. Mr. Dulac has given them an Eastern look with a quite uncommon success.-1 more extensive selection, made more upon the old lines, is to be found in Paley Tales from the Arabian Nights, Edited and Arranged by E. Dixon, with Illustrations by John D. Batten (J. M. Dent and Co., 5s.)