FIRST EDITION IN VERY GOOD ORDER

 London, J. Applebee, 1736. First Edition. First Impression. Hardbacks. Two volumes. Near fine in recent quarter calf, with six engravings. First English translation, having been published earlier in France. A set of fairy tales in the vein of The Arabian Nights, though commanding a lesser legacy. Leaves a little dry. Ownership inscription. Full title: The Dreams of Men Awake: being stories told to divert the Sultana’s of Guzarat, for the supposed death of the Sultan. Written in French by the celebrated Mr Guelletee, author of the Chinese Tales, etc. Now first translated into English. In two volumes, adorned with proper cuts, neatly engraven on copper plates. With a prefatory discourse on the usefulness of romances.

Thomas-Simon Gueullette (2 June 1683 – 2 December 1766) was a French lawyer, playwright, scholar and man of letters, who also wrote fairy tales and works on the theatre itself.

A lawyer at the Châtelet de Paris, then substitute for the procureur du roi, Gueullette was a bibliophile and collector who collected several placards and journals of his time, His several works on the Théâtre-Italien, which survive in manuscript, formed the basis for the Parfaict brothers in their Histoire de l’ancien Théâtre Italien.

Gueullette was above all known for the publication of several amusing fairy tales : les Soirées bretonnes, nouveaux contes de fées (Paris, 1712, in-12) ; les Mille et un Quarts-d’heure, contes tartares (Ibid., 1715, 2 vol. in-12 ; 1753, 3 vol. in-12) ; les Aventures merveilleuses du mandarin Fum-Hoam, contes chinois (Ibid., 1723, 2 vol. in-12) ; les Sultanes de Guzarate, contes mogols (Ibid., 1732, 3 vol. in-12) ; les Mille et une Heures, contes péruviens (Amsterdam, 1733, 2 vol. in-12).

Gueullette was the author of over 60 plays, many of which he put on at the Théâtre-Italien, where some had great success : La vie est un songe in 1717 (for which he was the translator), Arlequin-Pluton (1719) ; le Trésor supposé, en trois actes (s. d.) ; l’Horoscope accompli (1727), etc.