Antoine Galland - LES MILLE ET UNE NUITS - 1865-1866

French eighteenth-nineteenth century edition of One Thousand and One Nights in the celebrated translation by Antoine Galland, published by Hachette in two volumes between 1865 and 1866.
The work features a rich illustrative apparatus with vignettes and large engravings in the text, some full-page and double-page. The two volumes expressly bear on the frontispiece a total of 421 illustrations and the indication of publication by Ch. Lahure, printer in Paris.

The bindings are contemporaneous editorial/decorative in dull brown-violet cloth, with large figured plaque and gold titles on the boards and golden decoration to the spines. The overall appearance retains a strong decorative presence and a notable bibliographic and collectible interest, especially for the quality of the iconographic apparatus.

Provenance and history of the copy
Old card from the Librairie Allemandi Detken, Largo di Palazzo sotto la Foresteria, Naples.
Label and stamp from the Antica Libreria Cascianelli, Rome, historic antiquarian bookseller.

The two volumes were personally purchased by the current owner at the Gucci Garden boutique in Florence on 11 February 2021, on the same day as the purchase of the Gucci Garden music box kept in the same collection. The purchase is remembered directly and with certainty by the owner.

The provenance is also consistent with a documented relationship between Gucci and the Antica Libreria Cascianelli: Gucci published official content dedicated to the Roman bookstore specifying that at the Gucci Garden boutique in Florence both niche contemporary titles and ancient volumes coming from Cascianelli were available. The presence on the two volumes of the Cascianelli label and stamp thus constitutes a particularly significant material corroboration. This element adds historical and collecting allure to the pair without altering its primary nature as an eighteenth-nineteenth-century bibliographic edition.

Condition report
Internals overall good for age, with naturally yellowed paper and sporadic foxing or oxidation. The engravings appear sharp and well preserved on the pages examined. The bindings, however, show marked wear, especially at the headcaps and the upper part of the spines, with fraying, abrasions and partial detachment of the cover material.