Thomas-Simon Gueullette

Thomas-Simon Gueullette (June 2, 1683, Paris – December 23, 1766, Paris) was a French playwright, storyteller, jurist, bibliophile, and man of letters.

Biography

A lawyer at the Châtelet and later deputy prosecutor, Gueullette witnessed key judicial events of mid-18th-century Paris, including the exile of parliamentarians (1753–54), the execution of Damiens (1757), and the trials of Calas, Sirven, and La Barre. Fascinated by criminal cases, he collected judicial records, making him a kind of historian of crime and punishment.

He was also a passionate bibliophile and collector. His extensive research on the Théâtre-Italien, preserved in manuscripts, was used by the Parfaict brothers in their Histoire de l’ancien Théâtre Italien.

Gueullette is best remembered for his oriental-and exotic-themed fairy tales, such as Soirées bretonnes (1712), Mille et un Quarts-d’heure, contes tartares (1715), Aventures merveilleuses du mandarin Fum-Hoam (1723), Sultanes de Guzarate (1732), and Mille et une Heures, contes péruviens (1733).

He wrote over sixty plays, many staged at the Théâtre-Italien, including La vie est un songe (1717, translation), Arlequin-Pluton (1719), Le Trésor supposé, and L’Horoscope accompli (1727). He also wrote numerous parades and collected them in a manuscript stolen by theatre impresario, Julien Corby, who edited under the title Théâtre des Boulevards ou Recueil de Parades, Mahon, 1756.

As editor, he published works such as Petit Jehan de Saintré (1724), Montaigne’s Essais (1725), Rabelais’s Œuvres (1732), and Pathelin (1748). His manuscripts are preserved in the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, and his grandson Charles later reissued his parades