The 1665 edition added to the work two previously published novellas: L'Avanture d'hostellerie, ou les Deux rivales (English:Adventure at the Inn, or The Two Rivals) and Le Mariage de Belfegore, nouvelle facétieuse (English: The marriage of Belphegor, a Mischievous Novella). The work continued to receive new editions to the 1670s, both in France and abroad. Allison Stedman summarizes the plot of The Noble Apothecary, which focuses on noble protagonists Timante (male) and Araminte (female). Timante regularly visits the residence of his friend Araminte, and a servant escorts him to her bedroom. There the two discuss various topics, with Araminte lounging in bed and the visitor seated nearby. The presence of servants and other visitors ensures that they are never alone. One day, Timante enters to find the house seemingly deserted but still heads towards Araminte's bedroom. He finds Araminte kneeling on the bed, with her behind uncovered. She is waiting for someone to administer an enema, and the syringe has already been prepared. Timante impulsively takes on the role of an apothecary and delivers the treatment. Then he slips away unseen. Araminte and her staff cannot explain who entered the bedroom. Rumors of a ghost apothecary soon circulate in Paris. When the identity of the ghost is discovered, Araminte is humiliated and bans Timante from entry into her house. In a series of epistles, Timante tries to convince her to reconsider. He rationally argues that his treatment of her was an act of gallantry (chivalry), assisting her in her hour of need. With Cartesian-like arguments, Timante wins her over and proceeds to marry her. The society around them is puzzled by a properly-delivered enema as grounds for marriage. Stedman finds the circumstances surrounding this work to be indicative of the publishing trends of the 17th-century. Novelistic works of various lengths and genres were typically published as part of books comprising works of more than one genre, including ghost stories, fairy tales, allegories, poetry, etc. Virtually any type of work could end up published together with a novel. But these novels and novellas are rarely studied in the context in which they originally appeared, and they are often overlooked altogether. What she terms "hybrid literary production" chronologically follows the lengthy, action-oriented novels of the previous era. And they both precede and differ from the new dominant literary form of the reign of Louis XIV: the short, psychologically-realistic novellas epitomized by La