So he asked, “What is the use of this horse of wood, and what is its virtue and what is the secret of its movement?”; and the Persian answered, “Oh my lord, the virtue of this horse is that, if one mount him, it will carry him whither he will and fare with his rider through the air and cover the space of a year in a single day.”

from One Thousand and One Arabian Nights

Long-time visitors know I photograph portraits of strange beings who visit me at the Mercuriosity Shop. Well, now I’ve taken up shooting portraits of books. And since I had mentioned Chagall recently, I thought I’d share something I keep on the shelves in the Librarium here at the Shop. It’s a book called Marc Chagall Arabian Nights, although it’s since been retitled to Arabian Nights: Four Tales from a Thousand and One Nights, which is probably more accurate. Of course the text is excerpted from the translation by Sir Richard F. Burton, but Chagall had created a set of beautiful, dreamlike lithographs based on the stories. These were later collected, along with Chagall’s sketches on the subject matter, and compiled into the book that you see open before you now.

To see the detail of the portrait I photographed above, one may view it here.