Editing One Thousand and One Nights (section)

==== Galland translations (1700s) ====
[[File:CC No 08 Arabian Nights.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Classic Comics]]'' issue #8]]
[[File:First European edition of Arabian Nights, Les Mille et une Nuit, by Antoine Galland, 1730 CE, Paris.jpg|thumb|First European edition of Arabian Nights, "Les Mille et une Nuit", by Antoine Galland, Vol. 11, 1730 CE, Paris]]
[[File:Arabian Nights, Tousend und Eine Nacht Arabische Erzahlungen, translated into German by Gustav Weil, Vol .4, 1866 CE.jpg|thumb|Arabian Nights, "Tausend und eine Nacht. Arabische Erzählungen", translated into German by Gustav Weil, Vol .4, 1866 CE, Stuttgart]]
The modern fame of the ''Nights'' derives from the first known European translation by [[Antoine Galland]], which appeared in 1704. According to [[Robert Irwin (writer)|Robert Irwin]], Galland "played so large a part in discovering the tales, in popularizing them in Europe and in shaping what would come to be regarded as the canonical collection that, at some risk of hyperbole and paradox, he has been called the real author of the ''Nights''".{{sfn|Irwin|2004|p=14}}

The immediate success of Galland's version with the French public may have been because it coincided with the vogue for ''contes de fées'' ('fairy stories'). This fashion began with the publication of [[Madame d'Aulnoy]]'s ''Histoire d'Hypolite'' in 1690. D'Aulnoy's book has a remarkably similar structure to the ''Nights'', with the tales told by a female narrator. The success of the ''Nights'' spread across Europe and by the end of the century there were translations of Galland into English, German, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Russian, Flemish and Yiddish.<ref>Reynolds pp. 279–281</ref>

Galland's version provoked a spate of pseudo-Oriental imitations. At the same time, some French writers began to parody the style and concoct far-fetched stories in superficially Oriental settings. These [[tongue-in-cheek]] pastiches include [[Antoine Hamilton|Anthony Hamilton]]'s ''Les quatre Facardins'' (1730), [[Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon|Crébillon]]'s ''[[The Sofa: A Moral Tale|Le sopha]]'' (1742) and [[Diderot]]'s ''[[Les bijoux indiscrets]]'' (1748). They often contained veiled allusions to contemporary French society. The most famous example is [[Voltaire]]'s ''[[Zadig]]'' (1748), an attack on religious bigotry set against a vague pre-Islamic Middle Eastern background.{{sfn|Irwin|2004|pp=238–241}} The English versions of the "Oriental Tale" generally contained a heavy moralising element,{{sfn|Irwin|2004|p=242}} with the notable exception of [[William Beckford (novelist)|William Beckford]]'s fantasy ''[[Vathek]]'' (1786), which had a decisive influence on the development of the [[Gothic novel]]. The Polish nobleman [[Jan Potocki]]'s novel ''[[Saragossa Manuscript]]'' (begun 1797) owes a deep debt to the ''Nights'' with its Oriental flavour and labyrinthine series of embedded tales.{{sfn|Irwin|2004|pp=245–260}}

The work was included on a price-list of books on theology, history, and cartography, which was sent by the Scottish bookseller [[Andrew Millar]] (then an apprentice) to a [[Presbyterian]] minister. This is illustrative of the title's widespread popularity and availability in the 1720s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.millar-project.ed.ac.uk/manuscripts/html_output/6.html|title=The manuscripts, Letter from Andrew Millar to Robert Wodrow, 5 August, 1725. Andrew Millar Project. University of Edinburgh.|website=www.millar-project.ed.ac.uk|access-date=2016-06-03}}</ref>