310377 GAMES Educational games
Claude-Louis Berthaud (Abbot Berthaud, died before 1783): Le Quadrille des Enfants, ou Système Nouveau de Lecture. Arthus Bertrand: Paris, n.d. (circa 1845). 15th edition, enlarged by fairytales and storiettes of Mmes De Genlis, Dufresnoy, De Beaufort d’Hautpoul, de Montolieu and Hannah More. 1 white leaf, half-title, frontispiece, title, 180 pp., 1 white leaf and 5 plates, of which 4 are hand-colored etchings showing together 84 figures (otherwise steel engravings by Wilmann). Leather-backed boards with title and flourishes in gilt on spine, cloth boards with embossed frames. TOGETHER with the rare box containing 79 (out of 84) elongated bone tiles with pictures glued on one side, which resemble the figures on the 4 plates, and on the other with the matching sound in lower and upper case letters. The bone tiles of the first lesson are colored green, of the second red, of the third uncolored (white) and of the fourth yellow. The first edition of this new method to learn to read was in 1744, and the fact that ours is the 15th testifies to its success: even the King of Rome, the son of Napoleon, owned one (edition of 1783, exhibition at the BnF, Babar, Harry Potter et Compagnie, Livres d’enfants d’hier et d’aujourd’hui, 2008-2009, copy from the Musée National du château de Fontainebleau). Book: 244x161 mm, box: 95x150x35 mm, bone tiles: 59x18 mm.  Circa 1845.
Lit.: Comp. Gumuchian 95 (p. 7).
Binding slightly rubbed, foxing inside. The short side parts of the lid of the box missing, otherwise good condition.

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