Thomas-Simon Gueullette
Thomas-Simon Gueullette was a French lawyer, playwright, and scholar who also wrote fairy tales and works on the theatre itself.
Life
A lawyer at the Châtelet de Paris, then substitute for the procureur du roi, Gueullette was a bibliophile who collected several placards and journals of his time. His works on the Théâtre-Italien, which survive in manuscript, formed the basis for the Parfaict brothers in their Histoire de l'ancien Théâtre Italien.Gueullette was known for the publication of several fairy tales : les Soirées bretonnes, nouveaux contes de fées ; les Mille et un Quarts-d’heure, contes tartares ; les Aventures merveilleuses du mandarin Fum-Hoam, contes chinois ; les Sultanes de Guzarate, contes mogols ; les Mille et une Heures, contes péruviens.
Gueullette was the author of over 60 plays, many of which he put on at the Théâtre-Italien: La vie est un songe in 1717, Arlequin-Pluton ; le Trésor supposé, en trois actes ; l’Horoscope accompli, etc.
He also worked as an editor : Histoire du petit Jehan de Saintré ; Essays by Montaigne ; Works of Rabelais ; Pathelin.
The Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal has nine volumes of manuscripts by Gueullette.