Les Talents. La Lecture - L'Ecriture - Le Dessin - Le Chant - La Danse - La Broderie - L'Economie Domestique - La Gymnastique

Eight volumes, complete. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION of this excessively rare set of children's books, dedicated to various skills cultivated by well-to-do children in early 19th-century France. 39-40 pp per volume. EACH VOLUME HAS A STUNNING STIPPLE-ENGRAVED COLOR-PRINTED FRONTISPIECE, with additional hand coloring. Finely printed throughout (by Didot) on fine wove paper. 12mo. IN THE ORIGINAL WRAPS, WITH A CHARMING HAND-COLORED LITHOGRAPH ON THE COVER OF EACH VOLUME (a different lithograph for each volume). Occasional discoloration of paper used for text, with the engraved frontispieces FINE AND BRIGHT, with the colors very fresh. Bres' "Simples Histoires trouvées dans un pot au lait", has far less interesting engravings and is far more common. Gumuchian, for example, had no fewer than 14 volumes from the Simples Histoires (one complete set, one half set, and two loose volumes--see 916-920). From "Les Talents", the set I offer, he had only one loose volume (921). Exceedingly rare, especially in this pristine state.