Tan leather binding with green and red title plates, gilt decoration and title on the spine. Speckled boards. Dimensions are for one volume.

Reworked 1848 French Edition well bound

Collection of children’s stories initially published in Paris in twenty-four monthly instalments in 1782-83. This copy includes volumes 10, 11 and 12, from October to December 1782. Although part of a series they can stand alone.

Arnaud Berquin was a French children’s author. His most famous work was L’Ami des Enfans which we have here and was first translated into English, albeit bowdlerised, by Mary Stockdale and first published in London in 1783-4 by Mary’s father John Stockdale. The work remained popular until the middle of the nineteenth century.

The edition here is from 1848 and is reworked and enlarged – it remains in French and though of a smaller print run many consider this edition as superior to the original.

Arnaud Berquin (September 1747 in Bordeaux – 21 December 1791) was a French children’s author.

His most famous work was L ‘Ami des Enfans (1782-3) which was first translated into English, albeit bowdlerised, by Mary Stockdale and published in London The Looking-glass for the Mind, Or, Intellectual Mirror: Being an Elegant Collection of the Most Delightful Little Stories and Interesting Tales in 1783-4 by Mary’s father John Stockdale.

The work remained popular until the middle of the nineteenth century. Berquin’s stories consisted of events that might happen to children in their everyday lives—they did not contain fairy tales or other imaginative literature. His books envision childhood reading as a familial exercise; for example, some of his “stories” are actually plays with parts for every member of the family. Berquin’s books helped solidify the creation of the nuclear family, for “if Berquin’s work has a theme, it is that parents and children live in a perfect symbiosis, the parents looking after their children’s interests and the children, if behaving properly, filling their parents with joy.”