Skip to content

 
 
 
 

Record Number: 30833

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Do you know, these wet afternoons I have been reading the story of Aladdin to myself for pleasure, without a dictionary! It's not very difficult, I must confess, still it's ordinary good Arabic, not for beginners, and I find it too charming for words. Moreover, I see that I really have learnt a good deal since I came for I couldn't read just for fun to save my life. It is satisfactory, isn't it. I look forward to a time when I shall just read Arabic — like that!'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 7 Feb 1900 and 18 Feb 1900

Country:

Palestine

Time

afternoon

Place:

city: Jerusalem
specific address: Hotel Palestine or German Consulate

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

---

Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Gertrude Bell

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

16 Jul 1868

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry

Occupation:

Oxford graduate, language and (by now) archaeology student, yet to take up formal occupation as archaeologist and political advisor

Religion:

originally Christian (Anglican) by now declared atheist

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

Palestine

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

Anon

Title:

One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights)

Genre:

Fiction, fairytales

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

see additional information

Provenance

unknown

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

30833

Source - Manuscript:

Other

Information:

Gertrude Bell Archive, Newcastle University Library http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk

Additional Information:

Letter from Gertrude Bell to Florence Bell 18 February 1900 http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/letter_details.php?letter_id=1128

Citation:

Gertrude Bell Archive, Newcastle University Library http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=30833, accessed: 19 February 2026

---

Additional Comments:

The story of 'Aladdin' was apparently first incorporated into "The Thousand and One Nights", in a French translation after 1709, when Antoine Galland discovered in the Biblioth�que Nationale, Paris two Arabic manuscripts containing "Aladdin" and two more of the 'interpolated' tales. It seems from the evidence that Gertrude Bell may have been reading a re-translation into Arabic, perhaps even a child's edition.