Stéphanie-Félicité Du Crest GENLIS

Second revised and first illustrated edition, the original having appeared several months earlier. Preface by the author who confesses to having spent 15 years of reflection on this work.
This edition is illustrated with 12 magnificent aquatint engravings, in mezzotint, within ornamental frames by Borel. This suite is extremely rare, it is not announced on the title page and is unknown to bibliographers. These engravings are captioned and were indeed made for this second edition, but no other copy of this second edition that we have encountered contains them. Absent from Cohen, Livres illustrés du XVIIIe siècle.
Full glazed porphyry calf binding...

First edition in small format following the original published in Berlin and Paris on the same date.
Contemporary full marbled calf binding. Smooth spine decorated with urn tools and roulettes. Black morocco title and volume labels. Roulette on edges. Lacking at head of volume I; a tear with loss at tail. Rubbing. 3 corners slightly bumped.
The novel is an exchange of letters about the atrocities committed in France during the revolutionary period, by a noble family who fled France in 1792 due to persecution. Although this novel remains a bildungsroman with pedagogical and moral purpose, Madame de Genlis warns in the preface that it is not intended for children. The Countess de...

First edition.
Contemporary half calf bindings. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label and brown sheep volume label. Lacks to headcaps of volume IV. A small lack to tail of volume III. Rubbing. Quite good copies, very fresh.
The complete set comprises 24 plays. Many of these plays were originally intended for the children of Orléans under the care of the Comtesse de Genlis. The roles are performed by children. Madame de Genlis thus inaugurated a new genre in theatre, a theatre made by and for children. In the final volume, the preface specifies that this volume is intended solely for the children of artisans and merchants. It goes without saying that none of the...