Arabian Nights Entertainments (1706)/Volume 1
Arabian Nights
Entertainments:
Consisting of
One Thousand and One
Stories
Told by
Containing,
Seventh Edition.
Vol. I.
Dublin:
- Madam,
THE great Kindnesses I receiv’d from M. de Guilleragues, your illustrious Father, during my Abode at Constantinople, some years ago, are too fresh in my Mind, for me to neglect any Opportunity of publishing what I owe to his Memory. Were he still alive for the Welfare of France, and my particular Advantage, I would take the liberty to dedicate this Work to him; not only as my Benefactor, but as a Person most capable of judging what is Fine, and inspiring other with like Sentiments. Every one remembers the wonderful Exactness of his Judgement; the meaness of his Thoughts had something in them that was shining; and his lowest Expressions were always exact and nice, which mad every one admire him: For never had any Man so much Wit and so much Solidity. I have seen him at a time when he was so much taken up with the Affairs of his Master, that no body could expect any thing from him, but what related to his Ministry, and his profound Capacity to manage the most knotty Negotiation; yet all the Weight of his Employment diminish’d nothing of his inimitable Pleasantness, which charm’d his Friends, and was agreeable even to those barbarous Nations with whom that Great Man did treat. After the Loss of him, which to me is irreparable, I could not address my sels to any other Person that your sels, Madam, since you alone can supply the Want of him to me; therefore it is that I take the Boldness to beg of you the same Protection for this Book, that you was pleas’d to grant to the French Translation of the Seven Arabian Stories that I had the Honour to present you.
You may, perhaps, wonder, Madam, that I have not since that Time presented them to you in Print; but the reason of it is, that when I was about putting them to the Press, I was inform’d that those Seven Stories were taken out of a prodigious Collection of Stories of the like sort, entituled One Thousand and One Nights. This Discovery oblig’d me to suspend the Printing of them, and to use my Endeavours to get that Collection; I was forced to send for it from Syria, and I have translated into French this first Volume, being One of the Four that were sent me. These Stories will certainly divert you, Madam, much more than those you already seen. They are new to you, and more in Number: You will also perceive, with Pleasure, the ingenious Design of this anonymous Arabian who has given us these Stories after the manner of his Country, fabulous indeed, but very diverting.
I beg, Madam, your Acceptance of this finall Present, which I have the Honour to make to you; it is a publick Testimony of my Acknowledgment of the profound Respect, with which I am, and shall for ever be,
Galland.
Preface.
THERE’s no Occasion to prepossess the Reader with an Opinion of the Merit and Beauty of the following Work. There needs no more but to read it to satisfy any Man that hitherto nothing so fine, of this Nature, has appear’d in any Language.
What can be more ingenious, than to compose such a prodigious Quantity of pleasant Stories, whole Variety is surprizing, and whose Connexion is so wonderful? We know not the Name of the Author of so great a Work; but probably it is not all done by one Hand, for how can we suppose that one Man alone, could have Invention enough to make so many fine Things,
If Stories of this fort be pleasant and diverting, because of the Wonders they usually contain; these have certainly the Advantage above all that have yet been publish’d, because they are full of surprizing Events, which engage our Attention, and shew how much the Arabians surpass other Nations in Composures of this Sort.
They must also be pleasing, because of the Account they give of the Customs and Manners of the Eastern Nations, and of the Ceremonies of their Religion, as well Pagan as Mahometan, which are better describ’d here, than in any Author that has wrote of ’em, or in the Relations of Travellers. All the Eastern Nations, Persians, Tartars and Indians, are here distinguish’d, and appear such as they are, from the Sovereign to the meanest Subject; so that without the Fatigue of going to see those People in their respective Countries, the Reader has here the Pleasure to see them act, and hear speak. Care has been taken to preserve their Characters, and to keep their Sense; nor have we varied from the Text, but when Modesty obliged us to it. The Translator flatters himself, that those who understand Arabick, and will be at the Pains to compare the Original with the Translation, must agree, that he has shew’d the Arabians to the French, with all the Circumspection that the Niceness of the French Tongue, and of the Time requires; and if those who read these Stories, have but any Inclination to profit by the Examples of Virtue and Vice, which they will here find exhibited, they may reap an Advantage by it, that is not to be reap’d in other Stories, which are more proper to corrupt than to reform our Manners.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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