"Arabian Nights", a short form of "The Books of a Thousand Nights and a Night" is a collection of 1,001 Arabian stories that have been heard for many generations before they were recorded on paper. These stories have been compiled for over a 1,000 years by various authors, translators and scholars, though an original script has never been found. Its several versions date between 800-900 AD.
The only common text among them its beginning - the Persian Sultaan Shahariyaar and the queen Shaharzaad. This tale was first found in "Hazaar Afasaaney" (1,000 stories). But surprisingly there is no physical evidence of existence of this book. Some record only a few hundred tales some all 1,000 tales, and some more tales.
Well known stories from this book are "Allaadeen", "Alee Baabaa and Forty Thieves" and "Sindbaad the Sailor".
These stories have sometime been told and heard as folk stories during the reign of Khaleefaa Haaroon al-Rasheed who lived in Bagadaad between 786-808 AD. His Vazeer was killed by the Khaleefaa in a very cruel way, nobody ever knew why.
Its first existing Arabic printed version, published by the East India Company in 1814, is available in Calcuttaa. A second volume was released in 1818. Both volumes have 100 stories each. There are two more versions of its translations by Edward William Lane (1838-1840) and Sir Richard Burton (1885-1888). Lane's version excludes the vulgarity, while the Burton's version includes it.