Madame de Genlis - Les Petits Émigrés - 1798

Stéphanie-Félicité du Crest de Saint-Aubin, Countess of Genlis, The Little Emigrants or Correspondence of a Few Children. A work made to serve the education of youth, in Hamburg, 1798, 2 volumes, 2 tomes per volume, VI-172 pp., 174 pp., 183 pp., 162 pp.

In-18°, full calf binding with roots, flat spine ornamented with gilded borders and friezes, urn tools and gilded roulettes, title and pagination gilded on the crimson title piece and the black pagination piece. Boards framed by a gilded border. Ornamental spines with a gilded roulette. Headbands decorated. Endbands preserved.

Epidermises, losses, nicks and abrasions on the boards, on the back and the hinges. Spines rubbed with losses, corners worn and rubbed. A few wormholes.

Interior with a few foxings, dampstains and stains not hindering reading or understanding of the text.

Beautiful copy, very pleasant

Dimensions (cm): 13.5 x 8.5 x 2
Weight (kg): 0.336

Former governess of the duc d’Orléans’s children, Madame de Genlis is one of the most prolific female authors of the 18th century. Born January 25, 1746 in Champcéry, near Autun, died in Paris on December 31, 1830, she authored a large number of works on education, novels, religious and political discourses, memoirs, comedies (ref. : Quérard, J.-M. 1852. La littérature française contemporaine. XIXe siècle. Tome 4. G-LAZ), one of the best known being “Mademoiselle de Clermont,” which met with considerable success upon its release in 1802 (ref. : François Busnel, La Petite Librairie, France 5, December 8, 2023).

The novel is a correspondence of letters about the atrocities committed in France during the revolutionary period, of a noble family that fled France in 1792 due to persecutions. Although this novel remains an educational novel, with pedagogical and moral aims, Madame de Genlis warns in the preface that it is not intended for children. (ref. : edition-originale.com)