Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville (14 December 16258 December 1695) was a French Orientalist.

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Born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, he was educated at the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

, and devoted himself to the study of oriental languages, going to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

to perfect himself in them by converse with the orientals who frequented its seaports. There he also made the acquaintance of Holstenius, the Dutch humanist (1596–1661), and

Leo Allatius Leo Allatius (Greek: Λέων Αλλάτιος, ''Leon Allatios'', Λιωνής Αλάτζης, ''Lionis Allatzis''; Italian: ''Leone Allacci, Allacio''; Latin: ''Leo Allatius, Allacius''; c. 1586 – January 19, 1669) was a Greek scholar, theolog ...

, the Greek scholar (1586–1669). On his return to France after a year and a half, he was received into the house of Fouquet, superintendent of finance, who gave him a pension of 1500 livres. Losing this on the disgrace of Fouquet in 1661, he was appointed secretary and interpreter of Eastern languages to the king. A few years later he again visited Italy, when the grand-duke

Ferdinand II of Tuscany Ferdinando II de' Medici (14 July 1610 – 23 May 1670) was grand duke of Tuscany from 1621 to 1670. He was the eldest son of Cosimo II de' Medici and Maria Maddalena of Austria. He was remembered by his contemporaries as a man of culture and ...

presented him with a large number of valuable Oriental manuscripts, and tried to attach him to his court. Herbelot, however, was recalled to France by Colbert, and received from the king a pension equal to the one he had lost. In 1692 he succeeded Jacques d'Auvergne in the chair of Syriac, at the Collège Royal. He died in Paris on 8 December 1695. His great work is the '' Bibliothèque orientale, ou dictionnaire universel contenant tout ce qui regarde la connoissance des peuples de l'Orient'', which occupied him nearly all his life, and was completed in 1697 by

Antoine Galland Antoine Galland (; 4 April 1646 – 17 February 1715) was a French orientalist and archaeologist, most famous as the first European translator of ''One Thousand and One Nights'', which he called ''Les mille et une nuits''. His version of the tal ...

. It is based on the immense Arabic bibliography (the ''Kashf al-Zunun'') of

Hadji Khalfa Hadji (also spelled ''Hajji'', ''Haji'' or ''Hatzi'') is a title and prefix that is awarded to a person who has successfully completed the Hajj ("pilgrimage") to Mecca. It may refer to: People * El Hadji Diouf (born 1981), Senegalese footballer * ...

( Katip Çelebi), of which indeed it is largely an abridged translation, but it also contains the substance of a vast number of other

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

and Turkish compilations and manuscripts. The ''Bibliothèque'' was reprinted at

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

(fol. 1776), and at

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

(4 vols

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

, 1777–1799). A popularising version was also issued in 6 vols octavo (Paris, 1781–83). Of the four editions, the "best" edition is the 4 vol quarto edition of The Hague. That edition is enriched with the contributions of the Dutch orientalist Schultens,

Johann Jakob Reiske Johann Jakob Reiske ( Neo-Latin: Johannes Jacobus Reiskius; December 25, 1716 – August 14, 1774) was a German scholar and physician. He was a pioneer in the fields of Arabic and Byzantine philology as well as Islamic numismatics. Biography Rei ...

(1716–1774), and by a supplement provided by Visdelou and Antoine Galland. Herbelot's other works, none of which have been published, comprise an ''Oriental Anthology'', and an ''Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Latin Dictionary''.

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See also

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Further reading