The Ocean of Story, Being C H Tawney‘s Translation of Somadeva‘s Katha Sarit Sagara (or The Ocean of Streams of Story)

Norman Mosley Penzer, The Ocean of Story, Being C H Tawney's Translation of Somadeva's Katha Sarit Sagara (or The Ocean of Streams of Story), London: Chas J Sawyer Ltd., 1924-28

Volume 1 to 10
Approximately 350 pages in each volume; deckled edge paper, top edges gilt, original decorated black buckram cloth boards, with Nataraja on upper cover and Greek border in gilt, gold ribbon marker, silk-textured endpapers (each)
10.4 x 7.2 in (26 x 18 cm) (each)

252 from a limited edition of 1500. Private print for subscribers only.

The Katha Sarita Sagara ("Ocean of Streams of Stories") is a famous 11th-century collection of Indian legends, fairy tales, and folk tales as retold in Sanskrit by Somadeva Bhatta.

According to the introductory text, it is considered the "earliest collection of stories extant in the world." Tawney's translation, first published in 1880-84, was the first complete translation in English. Penzer's edition is greatly expanded with detailed notes and commentary.

Tawney's is the only complete translation into English from the Sanskrit. The translation was originally published by the Asiatic Society of Bengal in their series "Bibliotheca Indica" in two volumes, 1880-1884 (with an index published in 1887). This 1924-1928 edition edited by Penzer includes many additional notes. Somadeva's Ocean of Story includes extended tales-within-tales, making it difficult to keep track of the original story (c.f. the Hitopadesa). Somadeva assembled the collection in the 11th century from earlier sources. No earlier collection of stories as large as Somadeva's Ocean of Story has survived to the present day.

The Ocean of Story, in ten magnificent volumes, is Norman Mosley Penzer’s monumental edition of C H Tawney’s celebrated English translation of Somadeva’s The Katha Sarita Sagara ("Ocean of Streams of Stories")—an 11th-century Sanskrit masterpiece of storytelling. Published between 1924 and 1928 by Chas J Sawyer Ltd. in London, this edition represents a triumph of scholarship and literary dedication.

Rich in folklore, fables, and courtly tales, The Ocean of Story draws upon a vast reservoir of Indian narrative tradition. Penzer, a noted Orientalist and bibliophile, not only revises and annotates Tawney’s original work but also supplements it with an extraordinary range of cross-cultural references, comparative notes, and scholarly insights. His extensive footnotes and introductions provide Western readers with a deeper understanding of Indian mythology, history, and literary form, making this edition an indispensable resource for scholars of Indology and comparative literature.

This luxurious limited edition, often hailed as one of the great publishing achievements of early 20th-century Orientalist scholarship, remains a timeless portal to India’s classical past—an oceanic confluence of myth, morality, wit, and wonder.

(Set of ten)

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