Pacha of Many Tales.

Blue calf spine with gilt banding and title. Blue and white marbled boards. A well-kept edition spoilt a little by foxing hence the greatly reduced price

This is Captain Marryat's version of The Arabian Nights, as Mustapha the Pacha's Greek barber introduces story tellers for his master's entertainment. Along the way we hear the tale of the camel driver, the monk, the scarred lover, the water-carrier and the story of the old woman. Captain Frederick Marryat was an English novelist, a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story. He is now known particularly for the semi-autobiographical novel Mr Midshipman Easy and his children's novel The Children of the New Forest. After trying to run away to sea several times, he was permitted to enter the Royal Navy in 1806, as a midshipman on board HMS Imperieuse. In 1829 he was commanding the frigate HMS Ariadne on a mission to search for shoals around the Madeira and Canary Islands. This was an uninspiring exercise, and between that and the recent publication of his first novel, The Naval Officer he decided to resign his commission and take up writing full time. Other works include The King's Own, Newton Forster; or, The Merchant Service, Peter Simple, and The Three Cutters, Jacob Faithful, The Pacha of Many Tales, Japhet, in Search of a Father, The Pirate, The Phantom Ship, Poor Jack, Masterman Ready, Percival Keene, The Privateersman and The Mission; or, Scenes in Africa.