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During this time, Ilyas concentrated on the compilation of his Arabic-French dictionary and collected a stipend of 2,000 francs to encourage completion of that work. He finished it in 1821. In September of the same year, he died, at the age of forty-seven, before his work was published. The Marquis Amde de Clermont-Tonnerre, who took an interest in Oriental studies, decided that such an important work as Ilyas' dictionary must be published. He commissioned a professor of colloquial Arabic at the Ecole Royale, A. Caussin de Perceval, who had learned Arabic in Syria, to undertake the editing of the dictionary. De Perceval's edition (with some additions it was more than 800 pages) was reproduced several times. It must be remembered, however, that the dictionary specialized mainly in colloquial rather than literary Arabic. It is still in use. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bochtor, E. Discours prononc l'ouverture du cours d'arabe vulgaire l'Ecole royale et speciale des langues orientales vivantes prs de la Bibliothque du roi, le 8 decembre 1819. Paris, 1820. ______. Dictionnaire franais-arabe, 3rd ed., rev. and enl. by A. Caussin de Perceval. Paris, 1864. ______. Dictionnaire franais-arabe, rev. and enl. by E. Gallab, 3 vols. in 2. Cairo, 1887. Vol. 3 contains the supplement of E. Gallab. Brockelmann, C. Geschichte der arabischen Literatur, Vol. 2, p. 479. Weimar, 1902. Jomard, E. F. "Ouverture du cours d'arabe vulgaire." Revue encyclopdique 5 (January 1820):33-45. ______. "Notice sur Ellious Bocthor." Revue encyclopdique 5 (October 1821). Louca, A. "Ellious Bocthor, sa vie et son oeuvre." Cahiers d'histoire gyptienne, 5th ser., fascs. 5-6 (December 1953):309-320. Louca, A., and P. Santoni. "Histoire de l'enseignement de la langue arabe Marseille." In L'orient des provenaux dans l'histoire, pp. 113-23. Marseilles, 1982. Ramzi Tadrus. Al Aqbat fi al-Qarn al-Ishrin, 3 vols. Cairo, 1911.
Riyad Suryal. Al-Mujtama al-Qibti fi al-Qarn al-Tasi Ashar. Cairo, 1984. ANWAR LOUCA