Antoine Léger Sartelon (1770-1825); René-Nicolas Dufriche Desgenettes (1762-1837).

Recueil des pieces relatives a la procédure et au jugement de Soleyman el-Hhaleby, assassin du général en chef Kleber.

Au Kaire [Gizah], de l'Imprimerie nationale. An VIII [after June 17, 1800].

4°. 47, [1 blank] pp. Collates: A-F4.

Sewn.

On June 14, 1800, General Jean-Baptiste Kléber, the leader of the French occupation forces in Egypt, was assassinated in his Cairo garden by Sulaymān al-Ḥalabī, a student from Ottoman Syria who was studying in Cairo during the French invasion. The French presence in Egypt had always faced resistance from the local population, especially in Cairo, where two major revolts had erupted. Prior to the assassination, General Kléber had just succeeded Napoleon Bonaparte as commander-in-chief. After committing the murder, al-Ḥalabī attempted to flee but was quickly apprehended, leading to a sensational murder trial that garnered intense public interest in Egypt and throughout Europe, particularly in France.

The trial documents, compiled immediately after al-Ḥalabī’s particularly gruesome execution in June 17, provide a detailed account of the proceedings. These records, including the minutes of the interrogations of al-Ḥalabī and his accomplices by Antoine Léger Sartelon, as well as the court's judgment, were promptly published and spread in Egypt by the French in two editions: one in the original French, and another in a trilingual edition with translations into Turkish and Arabic, the two primary languages spoken in Cairo. We offer here the separate French edition, one of only 500 copies produced. This collection includes the supporting documents from the trial, focusing on Sulaymān al-Ḥalabī, who was condemned to death by the French military tribunal and endured a slow and agonizing execution, in contrast to some of his collaborators, who were simply beheaded. Also included is a medical account of the victims by the head physician Desgenettes.
Over time, the figure of Sulaymān al-Ḥalabī has become legendary, depicted in various ways—as a fanatic, victim, hero, and villain—reflecting the complex legacy of his actions.

Copies: only in the BnF: 4-LH5-1086. Trilingual edition in Leiden, Madrid, Oxford.

Condition: stained on the title-page and the last 8 pages.

Literature:

Geiss, A. “Histoire de l’Imprimerie en Égypte.” Bulletin de l’institut d’Égypte, vol. 1, 1907, pp. 133-157.

Potenza, D. "Literary Trajectories of Sulaymān al-Ḥalabī, a Hero Who Was Born a Criminal." Annali di Ca’ Foscari: Rivista della Facoltà di Lingue e Letterature Straniere dell’Università di Venezia, vol. 56, 2020.