1838. Eight volumes bound in four, 12mo; I. pp. [iv], 182, [2], with additional engraved title-page lettered in red, engraved frontispiece, and one further engraved plate; II. pp. [iv], 202, [2], with additional engraved title-page lettered in red, engraved frontispiece, and one further engraved plate, (neat marginal tear touching a couple of letters on p. 191 but with no loss; III. pp. [iv], 218, [2], with additional engraved title-page lettered in red, engraved frontispiece, and one further engraved plate; IV. pp. [iv], 220, [2], with additional engraved title-page lettered in red, engraved frontispiece, and one further engraved plate; V. pp. [iv], 217, [3], with additional engraved title-page lettered in red, engraved frontispiece, and one further engraved plate; VI. pp. [iv], 217, [3], with additional engraved title-page lettered in red, engraved frontispiece, and one further engraved plate, pp. 97-100 misbound, p. 197 and 204 transposed, upper corners of pp. 81-84 torn; VII. pp. [iv], 212, [4], with additional engraved title-page lettered in red, engraved frontispiece, and one further engraved plate; VIII. pp. [iv], 215, [3], with additional engraved title-page lettered in red, engraved frontispiece, and one further engraved plate; plates all retaining the original tissue guards; volumes 2 and 4 retaining the original light blue silk bookmarkers; all eight volumes a little foxed and browned, but still crisp; most attractively bound in contemporary green calf over marbled boards, by Just-Bernard of Bourges, with their label and blind-stamp in first volume, spines attractively lettered and tooled in gilt, with speckled edges, some slight staining to upper edges, very minor wear to head and tail of spines and extremities; a lovely copy. A beautifully bound set of these early works by the noted educationalist and popular scientific writer Sophia Ulliac-Trémadeure (1794-1862). Published as part of the forty volume series for young children, ‘Bibliothèque des Enfants’, the present works, all available for individual purchase, formed an eight part sub-series under the sub-heading of ‘petit Cours d’Histoire naturelle’. We have so far traced only one complete set at the BnF, and all the separate volumes appear to be very scarce. In total, Ulliac Trémadeure contributed 21 volumes to the ‘Bibliothèque des Enfants’ series. A full list of the titles in the series on found on the verso of the half title, with a note saying of the series: ‘Ces jolie volumes sont imprimés avec soin sur beau papier, ornès de jolies vignettes gravés sur acier, d’un titre orné imprimé en couleur, et d’une jolie couverture ornée et gravée sur bois par Porret’.
These pretty volumes introduce the young reader to the basic principles of the subject in the form of a conversation between M. and Madame Derville and their daughters Cécile and Amédée, each accompanied by two attractive engraved plates.
In a clever marketing play, the works were published again in the same year, but under the title ‘Les Jeunes Naturalistes’ as part of the ‘Bibliotheque Universelle d’Education’ (though referred to as the Bibliothéque Universelle d’Éducation’ on the half-titles). The text and plates were identical, but were reset in a slightly larger format, and bound together as a two volume set.
Sophia Ulliac-Trémadeure wrote a large number of works and was later a moving force in the ‘Bibliothèque de la jeune Fille’, for which she produced during the 1850s a number of beautiful and striking works on natural history, adorned with colour plates, and often in striking bindings.