Anonyme - Le Quadrille des Enfans - 1787

[Rare example in this state] THE RIDDLE OF THE CHILDREN, OR NEW SYSTEM OF READING... Eighth edition. At Yverdon, M. DCC. LXXXVII [1787]. One volume octavo, in its half-basane binding, smooth blind spine. An extremely rare pedagogical work illustrated with four out-of-text engraved plates presenting the 83 emblematic figures of the method, accompanied by their explanatory and phonetic tables. A true UFO in the history of juvenile publishing in the Age of Enlightenment, this revolutionary treatise proposes teaching reading to children aged 4 to 5 in only “three or four months,” by diverting the principle of card games and visual flashcards. The work rests on an ingenious system: the child associates visual images (everyday objects, animals, allegorical figures) presented on engraved plates with sounds and syllables, bypassing the traditional austere alphabet learning to stimulate idea association through image. The printing of this type of didactic work in Switzerland (in Yverdon, a high place of reformist and pedagogical publishing influenced by Rousseau’s ideas) bears witness to the vitality of reflections on child education on the eve of the French Revolution. An example in its original state of publication, complete with its engraved plates. Graying inherent to this type of intensive educational book handled by children, spine rubbed, but the interior overall very correct and authentic. Since eighteenth-century children’s books have almost all disappeared through wear from their audience, surviving in such a state of freshness is of conspicuous rarity. In the eighteenth century, the emergence of playful pedagogies inspired by Émile or On Education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (published in 1762) triggered a genuine frenzy of “learning games” among the enlightened aristocracy. Wealthy parents adored these interactive methods where one cut up, handled, and played with cards and pictorial flashcards. It is said that some tutors of royal courts coveted these Yverdon editions, hoping to transform the learning of reading into a salon entertainment. For contemporary bibliophiles, Le Quadrille des Enfants constitutes the direct ancestor of flashcards and modern preschool methods, ranking at the top of collections of children’s books and unusual printed works.

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