Antoine Galland's French translation of the Thousand and One Nights appeared in 1704. One year later a pirate edition was printed in The Hague, followed by many others. Galland entertained a lively correspondence on the subject with the Dutch intellectual and statesman Gisbert Cuper (1644-1716). Dutch orientalists privately owned editions of the

Richard van Leeuwen teaches at the University of Amsterdam. He has published extensively on the Thousand and One Nights and his translation of the work directly from the Arabic is widely regarded as the authoritative Dutch translation.|Dr Arnoud Vrolijk is Interpres Legati Warneriani and curator of Oriental manuscripts and rare books at Leiden University Libraries. He has published extensively on the Leiden Oriental collections and the history of Arabic scholarship in the Netherlands.