A New History of Blue Beard, Written by Gaffer Blackbeard, for the Amusement of Little Lack Beard and his Pretty Sisters. Adorned with Cuts.

PERRAULT, Charles (1628-1703).

Edité par Philadelphia, John Adamas, 1804.

A propos de cet article

First Adams Edition. in the original plain blue wrappers, final leaf and frontispiece pasted to the wrappers, front wrapper splitting and only just holding, wrappers worn. Small 12mo (115 x 66 mm), woodcut frontispiece and pp. 31, six small woodcuts in text, alphabet printed on p. 4, browned throughout, A scarce Philadelphia printing of this English translation of Perreault?s famous tale, published by the printer John Adams (1765?-1815). The story of Bluebeard is an old folk lore tale which first came to America via England in the translation from Perrault?s famous fairy tale which was first published in 1697 in his Histoires et contes du tems passé. French tradition attributes the origin of the legend to Gilles de Rais, a sixth century Breton chief, magician and murderer of children. In this version the sister?s name is Irene, in place of the traditional Anne. ?The editor of this present version of the story?, writes Rosenbach, ?has seized any opportunity to point a moral. As soon as Fatima knew she would be forced to go with Bluebeard she wrote immediately to Selim. Now only think what a fine thing it is to be a scholar, for if Fatima could not have wrote to her lover, nobody else would have done it for her. so above all things learn to read your book? (Rosenbach, Early American Children?s Books, p. 120). This is a wonderful survival of a very scarce chapbook, illustrated with a striking woodcut frontispiece and six further woodcuts in the text. It was reprinted some twenty years later under the same title by John Carnan, possibly reissuing these sheets. Shaw & Shoemaker 6869; Rosenbach, Children?s Books, 298; Welch, American Children?s Books, 986.4; see, PGumuchian 4454; not in Cotsen XIX. OCLC lists a single copy of the John Carson imprint, Philadelphia 1822, at the American Antiquarian Society.

N° de réf. du vendeur 4130

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: A New History of Blue Beard, Written by Gaffer Blackbeard, for the Amusement of Little Lack Beard and his Pretty Sisters. Adorned with Cuts.
• Éditeur: Philadelphia, John Adamas, 1804.
• Reliure: Couverture souple
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Children and Education