GALLAND, Antoine (1646-1715), Orientalist and archaeologist, the first European translator of the Arabian Nights, was born in 1646 at Rollot, in the department of Somme. The completion of his school education at Noyon wa3 followed by a brief apprenticeship to a trade, from which, however, he soon escaped, to pursue his linguistic studies at Paris. After having been employed for some time in making a catalogue of the Oriental manuscripts at the Sorbonne, he was, in 1670, attached to the French embassy at Constantinople; and in 1673 he also accompanied his chief (De Nointel) to Syria and the Levant, where he availed himself of the opportunity to copy a great number of inscriptions, and also to sketch, in some cases even to remove, historical monuments. After a brief visit to France, where his collection of antiquities attracted some attention, Galland returned to the Levant in 1676; and in 1679 he undertook a third voyage, being commissioned by the French East India Company to collect for the cabinet of Colbert; on the expiry of this commission he was instructed by the Government to continue his researches, and had the title of “antiquary to the king” conferred upon him. During his prolonged residences abroad he acquired a thorough knowledge of the Arabic, Turkish, and Persian languages and literatures, which, on his final return to France, enabled him to render valuable assistance to Thevenot, the keeper of the royal library, and to D’Herbelot. After their deaths he lived for some time at Caen under the roof of Foucault the intendant, himself no mean archaeologist; and there he began the publication (1704-17) of Les Mille et Une Nuits, a translation which excited immense interest during the time of its appearance, and which is still the standard French translation ...