48 at the Collège de France in Paris in 1539, and devoted his time and effort to the writing and publishing of Arabic-language textbooks, including grammar and lexicography. Also noteworthy is Savary de Brèves, the French Ambassador to Istanbul from 1591 to 1606, then to Rome from 1608 to 1614. De Brèves established the first Arabic printing press in Rome in 1613 and another in Paris three years later. In 1616 he saw the publication by the King’s printing press of his book on Arabic grammar. After Savary de Brèves’ death in 1628, his books continued to be published thanks to the efforts exerted by Antoine Vitré who was a specialist in Oriental languages and was also in charge of the King’s printing press. In the seventeenth century, Barthélemy d’Herbelot de Molainville (1625–95) edited his Bibliothèque orientale which was published in 1697 after de Molainville’s death by Antoine Galland and is considered the kernel out of which the Encyclopaedia of Islamgrew. With the publication of theMille et une nuits in 1704–17, Galland became well known for strongly promoting interest in the East and for developing a taste among the public for Eastern literature. Alongside this pre-Romanticism trend we see how the concrete, objective, realist trend was also on the rise, best repre- sented by the Comte de Volney (1757–1820). His book A Journey to Syria and to Egypt is commendable for its detailed analysis of the social and political situation at the time. Volney played an important role in the French campaign in
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