117 - GALLAND, Antoine, and CAUSSIN DE PERCEVAL, Jean-Jacques. The Thousand and One Nights.

GALLAND, Antoine, and CAUSSIN DE PERCEVAL, Jean-Jacques. The Thousand and One Nights. Paris: Chez le Normant, Printer and Bookseller, 1806. In-16 (12.5 x 8 cm), mottled tan sheepskin, smooth spine decorated with gilded panels and red morocco leather patches indicating the title and volume number. Gilded edges. Contemporary binding. 9 vols. (of 9), uncollated. Slight rubbing; worm damage on the front cover of vol. IV and on three joints. Handwritten bookplate on the inside covers (Quillien). First edition of Caussin de Perceval’s revised translation, the best and most complete. While Antoine Galland was the first to introduce *The Thousand and One Nights* to Europe in 1704, his translation was primarily literary: he adapted the tales to the tastes of the court of Versailles, omitting overly explicit passages or poetic repetitions to turn them into a form of gallant entertainment. Jean-Jacques Caussin de Perceval, a professor of Arabic at the Collège de France, emerged a century later with a different ambition. He did not merely republish Galland; he completed the series. At the time, it was known that Galland’s version was incomplete compared to the original manuscripts. Caussin de Perceval therefore drew on manuscripts from the Imperial Library to translate previously unpublished tales and give the work a new scope, one more faithful to the rich structure of the Eastern collection.