The Three Princes of Serendip

Serendip is the Classical Persian name of Sri Lanka, or Ceylon. An adaptation of Peregrinaggio di tre giovani figliuoli del re di Serendippo (1557, Italian). Library of Congress {{LCCN|64-11887}} attributes the 1557 Italian to Cristoforo Armeno, who may be fictitious ({{LCCN|2018-657577}}). See also Wikipedia. According to WorldCat record {{OCLC|18733992}}, this version is based on the English-language retelling-in-translation by {{a|Horace Walpole}} (who coined the English word "serendipity"). Unknown here: Walpole's publication; whether he worked from an intermediary French translation (LCCN 2018-657577).

The stories within the frame story are very old, probably from Asia before Islam. English Wikipedia features the modern composition in general, no specific translation or adaptation.

1st ed. (unstated?) Library of Congress (LCCN, below) reports "[1st ed.]" and notes (quoting LC), "An adaptation of Peregrinaggio di tre giovani".
• "First Printing January 1964" --from copyright page of stated 2nd printing (above "Second Printing March 1966"); viewed with front/spine and back images in dustjacket at ThriftBooks.com.
• Contemporary review by Kirkus --as later posted online, which confuses the writer and illustrator surnames-- reports publication date 1964-03-20 (see the novel record).
• Price from "Atheneum Books for Children Spring 1964", School Library Journal 10.7 (Mar 1964) p12; this one as ages "8-12; $3.95".
• Cover image from Amazon.com 2022-12-06 as "Atheneum; 1st edition (January 1, 1964)". Multiple dealers at ABEbooks.com provide images of the book in its dustjacket, with primarily white illustration of elephant and howdah on dark blue background.