12.3 Ali and Nino Covers

Albanian 2009	Arabic 1970	Arabic 2002	Arabic 2003	Arabic 2010	Azeri 1972	Azeri 1990	Azeri 1993
Azeri 2004	Azeri 2004	Azeri 2006	Azeri 2007	Azeri 2008	Azeri 2010	Azeri 2012	Bengali 1995
Bengali 2003	Bengali 2004	Bengali 2008	Bulgarian 2010	Catalan 2001	Chinese (PRC) 2007	Chinese (Taiwan) 2010	Czech 1939
Czech 2006	Danish 2008	Dutch 1938	Dutch 1974	Dutch 1981	Dutch 1991	Dutch 2002	Dutch 2004
Dutch 2009	English (US) 1970	English (UK) 1970	English (UK) 1971	English (Canada) 1972	English (US) 1990	English (UK) 1990	English (US) 1996 (proof)
English (US) 1996	English (US) 1996 (proof)	English (US) 1996	English 2000 (large print)	English (US) 2000 (proof)	English (US) 2000	English (UK) 2000	English (US) 2013 (coming)
Finnish 1972	Finnish 2000	French 1973	French 1973	French 2002	French 2006	Georgian 2002	Georgian 2004
German 1937 ORIGINAL	German 1973	German 1973	German 1973	German 1973	German 1981	German 1989	German 1992
German 1994	German 2000	German 2001	German 2002	German 2003	German 2009	Greek 2002	Hebrew 2001
Hungarian 2002	Indonesian 2004	Italian 1944	Italian 2000	Italian 2003	Japanese 1974	Japanese 2001	Korean 2005
Lithuanian 2012	Norwegian 1972	Norwegian 2005	Persian 1983	Persian 1992	Polish 1938	Polish 1938	Polish 1938
Portuguese 2000 (Brazil)	Portuguese 2004 (Continental)	Romanian 2013	Russian 1994	Russian 2002	Russian 2003	Russian 2004	Russian 2004
Russian 2004	Russian 2007	Russian 2008	Russian 2010	Serbian 2003	Slovenian 2008	Spanish 1973	Spanish 2000
Spanish 2001	Spanish 2012	Swedish 1938	Swedish 1938	Swedish 1973	Turkish 1971	Turkish 2004	Turkish 2005
Urdu 1993

"Ali and Nino" is the story of an Azerbaijani youth who falls in love with a Georgian princess. Essentially, the book is a quest for truth and reconciliation in a world of contradictory beliefs and practices - Islam and Christianity, East and West, age and youth. Much of the novel is set in Baku's Old City (Ichari Shahar) on the eve of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1918. The novel was first published in 1937, in a foreign country (Austria), in a foreign language (German), by someone using the pen name of Kurban Said (Gurban Said, in Azeri).

Unfortunately, the cover artwork for the various editions of "Ali and Nino" too often perpetrates stereotypes about the Caucasus. For example, the narrative makes only slight mention of camels, yet they often appear on the cover. Istanbul does not figure into the action, but Hagia Sophia is used to represent Islam. Ali describes his princess as "the most beautiful girl in the world with the most beautiful nose and slim - far too slim for the taste of the Orient." Perhaps the artists didn't read that part.

Often a young girl is featured on the cover, though the strongest character development comes through the eyes and voice of Ali, a very sensitive, searching lad, not Nino. And though Ali loses his life in battle against the oncoming Bolsheviks, it's still hard to imagine him with a turban on his head as warrior. Turban?!

For guidelines for collecting this book, see "How to Collect Kurban Said's Novel".
"Ali & Nino Walking Tour," Summer 2004 issue (AI 12.2)