Adele et Theodore, ou Lettres sur l'Education; contenant tous les principes relatifs aux trios differens plans d'education des Princes, des jeunes personnes, & des hommes.
[ Genlis, Stephanie Felicitie ].
Paris: M. Lambert & F. J. Baudouin, 1782. First edition of this treatise on education, inspired by the ideas of Rousseau, cloaked in the guise of an epistolary novel. Though it has been often reprinted, the first edition is uncommon. Some joints neatly repaired. A very good copy, complete with half-titles in Volumes I and II. Contemporary tree calf, gilt flat spines with red and brown morocco labels, edges sprinkled red. Three volumes, twelemo. [2], 412; [2], 390; 423 (Item ID: 14884)
$950.00
Madame de Genlis (1746-1830) was born of a noble but impoverished Burgundian family. At the age of six she was received as a canoness into the noble chapter of Alix near Lyons, with the title of Madame la Comtesse de Lancy, taken from the town of Bourbon-Lancy. She was educated entirely at home. After she grew up, she married Charles Brillart de Genlis, marquis de Sillery, and she became determined to remedy her incomplete education and to satisfy her thirst for knowledge. Through the influence of her aunt, Madame de Montesson, who had been clandestinely married to the Duke of Orleans, she entered the Palais Royal as lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of Chartres (1770). She became governess to the daughters of the family, a role she took with great seriousness. She developed a number of ingenious educational theories, which she explained in several works, including Théatre d’education, Annales de la vertu, and the present work. She anticipated many modern methods of teaching. History was taught with the help of magic lantern slides, and botany was taught by a practical botanist during their walks. She was influenced by the educational theories of Rousseau, and she in turn influenced the Edgeworths.
Cioranescu 30608. Plagnot-Dieval, Bibliographie des Ecrivains Francaise, 1975.
