[Imaginary voyages] (Jean-Paul Bignon and Antoine-René de Voyer). Les aventures d'Abdalla,

ou son voyage a l'isle de Borico. Traduction de l'Arabe. Nouvelle édition, ornée de figures en taille-douce. The Hague/ Paris, J.B.G. Musier, 1773, 2 vols., (4),XXXIX,(1),375; (4),503 pp., both vols. w. diff. engr. title-vignette and w. 3 plates each, contemp. unif. marbled calf, gilt spines w. mor. letterpieces, marbled edges.

Vol. 1 waterst. at the beginning and end and occ. in top blank margin (sl. affecting some plates); free endpapers loosening. Minor defects to spine-ends and outer corners. Abbot Jean-Paul Bignon (1662 – 1743), French churchman, statesman, writer and librarian to Louis XIV of France. He was a patron of Antoine Galland, the first European translator of One Thousand and One Nights. The present work was first published under the title 'Les aventures d'Abdalla, fils d'Hanif' (1712–1714). In this collection of adventurous love-stories, Abdalla searches for the fountain of youth. The second volume with new stories and an ending, was written by Antoine-René de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson (1722-1787).