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- L'auteur
- 21.5 x 25.5 cm
- 128 pages
- 183 black and white and color illustrations
- ISBN: 978-2-9092-8391-3
- Text in French only
An eminent orientalist and key player in Parisian life, Doctor Joseph-Charles Mardrus (1868-1949) was, after Antoine Galland, one of the first to publish a French translation of The Thousand and One Nights, of which he delivers a delicious unexpurgated version. Born in Egypt, Mardrus studied in Lebanon before settling in Paris. The publication of these tales, encouraged by Mallarmé, was followed by very diverse works illustrated by the most famous artists, such as Antoine Bourdelle, André Derain, Picart le Doux and Van Dongen. A tireless traveler, the doctor traveled the Orient with his first wife, the fiery poet Lucie Delarue-Mardrus, friend of Nathalie Barney and other famous Amazons, before leading a less hectic life with the gentle Cobrette, whom he met in 1914. Friend of personalities as different as Paul Poiret or Abbé Mugnier, his passion for art and literature made him close to José Maria de Heredia, Robert de Montesquiou, André Gide, Auguste Rodin, Élisabeth de Gramont and Catullus Mendès, a society to which he communicated his passion for orientalism.