[RENNEVILLE, Sophie de (?).]
Contes a Aglaé, ou la jeune moraliste.
Paris, Caillou, c.1820.
12mo in 6s, pp. [4], 213, [1 (blank)]; with hand-coloured frontispiece, coloured title-page, and two further hand-coloured plates; some foxing in places; in contemporary sheep, covers with gilt borders, spine gilt with morocco lettering-piece; binding somewhat shaken and worn, but still an attractive copy.
Very uncommon edition, possibly the first, of this collection of educational contes moraux, sometimes attributed to the prolific children’s author and journalist Sophie de Renneville (1772–1822). Aimed at children of both sexes, the book contains sixteen short contes on subjects ranging from first communion and eternal regrets to bank notes and true happiness. Some of these themes are illustrated in the attractive hand-coloured plates.
Not in OCLC; the only copies we have traced of the work have 178 pages, and only fourteen of the contes, at the BnF, Bodleian, and the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.
