2 Old books in Arabic. Greek mythology & Tales of H. Ch. Andersen, 1940, Cairo

2 Old books in Arabic. Greek mythology & Tales of H. Ch. Andersen, 1940, Cairo
2 Old books in Arabic.
1. Children’s book “Greek mythology” ed. Kamel Keilani
with lithographed cover, illustrated
Size: 22 x 16 cm., tears to edges, yellow fragile paper, some foxing stains.
2. Tales of Hans Christians Andersen, 1940, Cairo, size: 26 x 17 x 2.3 cm., cover damaged, binding detached to several blocks, internally good condition.
Kamel Keilani was born on the 20th of October, 1897 in Al-Qal’ah, a popular quarter of Cairo, near Muqat’tum Mountain He grew up in an era that was famous for legendary stories and songs. He was used to spend most of his time alone and that early solitude gave him the opportunity to read, assimilate and memorize more than 20 thousand verses of Arabic poetry. Keilani also memorized the Holy Qur’an at the Kut’tab (pre-school religious classes).
Later on, Keilani joined the primary and then secondary education to finally obtain the high school certificate. He immersed himself in studying English literature and memorizing English poetry. He studied French as well. Then, he joined the old Egyptian University where he distinguished himself as an excellent student. He planned to study Arabic, English and French literatures and decided at the same time to join the school of Dante Alighieri to study Italian literature. He was the schoolmate of prominent Egyptian men of letters such as Zaki Mubarak, Abdel-Wahab Azzam , Hassan Ibrahim and others.
Keilani worked as teacher of English and translation at a preparatory school. Then, he worked at the Ministry of Awqaf (Islamic endowments) to finally assume the post of “Secretary of the Higher Awqaf Council in 1954. Meanwhile, he worked in journalism and art. He assumed the post of Chairman of Modern Actors’ Club in 1918, then Editor-in-chief of El-Ragaa newspaper that was founded in 1922. He became Secretary of the Arabic Literature Society from 1922 to 1932.
Keilani was influenced by his uncle who fostered him while he was young and was a rich source of tales and a good narrator. Keilani wrote his first story of the kind; “Sindbad, the Sailor in 1927. It was followed by more books. With the outbreak of the Egyptian Revolution in 1952, Keilani composed new enthusiastic poetry, giving proof of his sincere patriotism.
In 1929, Keilani gave much of his time and effort to child literature and started to establish what he dreamt for for children; The Child Library . He wrote so many child stories and most of which were originated from classical legends, international and national literature. Thanks to his great efforts, many stories by famous Arab writers were published and widely known. He used Modern Standard Arabic (Fus’ha) for all his child stories and was much keen on the ethical side He wrote more than 250 child stories like: “Shahr’zad, “Ju’ha “, “One Thousand Nights” and “The carpenter King His stories were translated into Chinese, Russian, Spanish, English and French. Keilani also was the first to talk to children across the radio.
Keilani faced all sorts of obstacles but he paved the way for the establishment of child literature. He was honored by the State and appreciated by writers and prominent figures of letters from Arab and Oriental countries. Kamel Keilani died on October, 10th 1959 leaving behind a valuable heritage of publications on Arabic literature in general and children’s literature in particular.