"A Literary History of the Arabs, published by T. Fisher Unwin in 1907 and twice re-issuedwithout alteration, now appears under new auspices, and I wish to thank the Syndics of theCambridge University Press for the opportunity they have given me of making it in somerespects more accurate and useful than it has hitherto been. Since the present edition isprinted from the original plates, there could be no question of revising the book throughoutand recasting it where necessary; but while only a few pages have been rewritten, theBibliography has been brought up to date and I have removed several mistakes from the textand corrected others in an appendix which includes a certain amount of supplementary matter. As stated in the preface to the first edition, I hoped "to compile a work which should serve asa general introduction to the subject, and which should be neither too popular for students nortoo scientific for ordinary readers. It has been my chief aim to sketch in broad outlines whatthe Arabs thought, and to indicate as far as possible the influences which moulded theirthought...."
