Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-87) was one of the most accomplished and many sided men of the nineteenth century. As well as being a man of action (explorer, swordsman, etc.) he possessed immense intellectual ability - as ethnologist, linguist, poet, amateur botanist, zoologist, and geologist.

He published forty-three volumes describing his travels, two volumes of poetry, and more than one hundred articles. In particular he translated sixteen volumes of the "Arabian Nights", six volumes of Portuguese literature, two volumes of Latin poetry, four volumes of folklore (Neapolitan, African and Hindu), etc. In the words of his (perhaps) most skilful biographer (F. M. Brodie, "The Devil Drives") ".

Burton was no ordinary translator; the inflexible integrity, brilliance, and vigour of his translations are an index to the man himself. One stands in awe of the ease with which he moved from Hindustani for his "Pilpay's Fables" and "Vikram and Vampire" - to Portuguese for his "Camoens" and "Lacerda" - to Arabic for the "Arabian Nights" and the "Perfumed Garden" - to Neapolitan Italian for his "II Pentamerone" - to Sanscrit for his "Kama Sutra" and "Ananga Ranga", and to Latin for his "Priapeia" and "Catullus"."