128 pp. Translated from the original French into English by Herbert B. Grimsditch, illustrated with color lithographs by Edward Bawden. Vathek, by the eccentric British millionaire William Beckford, is generally considered to be the high point of the Oriental tale in English literature. Certainly no one has ever written (in any European tongue) a story which better unifies the stirrings of Gothic romanticism with the color, poetry, and vivacity of the original Arabian Nights.
