King Shahryar and Shahrazad

Inside this edition

Every LitLab edition is illustrated from the text itself — the world of the book mapped, its people drawn, its scenes staged. 30 plates are open to everyone in this book; here are 8 of them.

• The Story-World — An Atlas of the FrameThe two kingdoms, palace, road, shore, estate, and first-night chamber arranged as the nested geography of the opening tale.
• Shahryar’S PalaceArchitectural cutaway of throne court, audience hall, private apartments, service passages, and the gate used by messengers.
• Connections — The Frame and the ExemplumFamily, service, captivity, counsel, and storytelling join the royal frame to the animal tale.
• The Characters — The Frame and the Animal TaleThirteen canonical figures define the faces, dress, animals, and supernatural scale used throughout this edition.
• Shahryar — Profileelder royal brother; king whose grief hardens into lethal rule
• Shah Zaman — Profileyounger royal brother and witness
• Two Thrones, One LetterTwo distinct royal courts linked by a sealed dispatch: Shahryar entrusts the letter to the Wazir while Shah Zaman's distant court appears beyond an inset arch. Calm public ceremony, no later event.
• The Silent LatticeShah Zaman alone at a palace lattice after a painful discovery that remains off-frame: empty garden paths, disturbed cushions, and abandoned garlands communicate aftermath. No bodies, sex, voyeuristic framing, or racial caricature.

This edition

Title

King Shahryar and Shahrazad

Author

Anonymous

First published

1885

Illustrated plates

64 original artworks · 30 open to everyone

Chapters

7 · about 9,515 words

Reading time

38 min

Language

EN

Formats

Read online · EPUB and PDF download with a subscription

Publisher

LitLab — The Illustrated Classics

On LitLab since

September 2026

Rights

Text in the public domain. Illustrations and edition © LitLab.

Source text

Project Gutenberg #51252