In imitation of Alf layla wa-layla: the "Thousand and One Quarter-Hours" in Spanish

[Gueullette, Thomas-Simon]. Los mil y un quartos de hora, cuentos tartaros. Traducido del idioma frances al espanol por el P. Fr. Miguel De Sequeiros.

€ 2,500.00

Extremely rare second Spanish edition of Guellette's "Les Mille et un Quarts-d’heure, contes tartares" (1715), or "The Thousand and One Quarter-Hours": a series of orientalist tales, of supposedly Tartarian origin, in imitation of Galland's newly-published and wildly popular "Les Mille et Un Nuits", even including additional Sindbad material. The work is sometimes confused with the "Nights" proper: as recently as 2016, Axel Gasquet writes in his study "El llamado de oriente", published by the University of Buenos Aires: "En 1789 un fraile espanol, Miguel de Sequeiros, entrega a la imprenta madrilena un volumen titulado 'Los Mil y un Quartos de Hora: Cuentos Tártaros', que fue la primera traducción expurgada castellana" (i.e., of Galland's "Thousand and One Nights"). In fact, Sequeiros's translation of Gueullette's quite original effort had first appeared in 1742. The two volumes are rarely encountered together; OCLC lists a single complete copy (in the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú).

Light browning and staining. Handwritten ownerships of Louisa Lee (dated Malaga, 1820), another "Miss Lee" (Florence, 1823), and Adriana Malzac.