Les petits émigrés, ou correspondance de quelques enfants

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 Genlis was a famous pedagogue and was charged with the education of the children of Orléans, notably that of the future King of the French; she was forced into exile during the Terror.