GUILLON Marie-Nicolas-Silvestre Nouveaux contes Arabes, ou Supplément aux Mille et une Nuits, suivies de mélanges de littérature orientale et de lettres.

Barbier, III, 527.

First edition of these new Arabian tales or supplement to the Arabian Nights printed in French and Arabic. It is Guillon’s (1759-1847) first publication. After having been educated at the Collège du Plessis and the Collège Louis le Grand, Guillon devoted himself to the study of eloquence, medicine, and science. In 1789 he was awarded the agrégation de rhétorique by the University and entered the orders the same year. He was chaplain to the Princess of Lamballe until her imprisonment in 1792, when he moved to Sceaux where he practised as a medical doctor. In 1801 he was appointed honorary canon and librarian of the archbishopric of Paris. He was appointed professor of sacred eloquence at the Faculty of Theology of the Sorbonne in 1822.

This work contains, besides Arabic tales, oriental anecdotes (Le Marché conclu; Belle réponse de Schirin; Mot qui ne plaira point à tous les rois, etc.), various essays (Baharam, Kosroès, Mohammed, nicknamed Péhelvan-Zaman), erotic fragments, spurious fragments, religious thoughts, war songs, victory songs, adages, and letters on a point of criticism relating to Arabic literature. A fine copy of this rare edition.