Émile, ou de l'Éducation.

A HANDSOME COPY

Eight plates by Moreau le Jeune, engraved by Delvaux. 

8vo (180 x 127mm). [1]f, xi [1], 386pp. with 3 plates; [1]f, 370pp. with 2 plates; [1]f, 434pp. with 2 plates; [1]f, 388, [4]pp with 1 plate. Large paper copy, with several quires of volume IV printed on blue paper. Contemporary tree calf, spine gilt in compartments with contrasting labels in second and fourth. 

A Londres, n.p. [Paris, Cazin]

Handsome copy of this illustrated edition of Rousseau's famous treatise on education, first published in Paris by Duchesne in 1762, promptly banned and publicly burned. Following closely from his Social Contract, Rousseau here advocated a 'natural' model of education for children in which they are kept apart from the corrupting influence of society and excessive structure, and instead encouraged to learn by doing, and by being given free range to arrive at knowledge through observation and practical experience. The final book addresses girls' education which, in contrast, is notably conservative; Mary Wollestonecraft addressed this chapter in her Vindication.  

These four volumes contain eight plates by Moreau le Jeune, engraved by Ferdinand Marie Delvaux, dated 1780. In the final volume is an additional 4-page advertisement not called for by Cohen of further works, including, 'sous Presse', the collected works of Rousseau to which this edition is intended as a companion - 'cette edition est faite pour être jointe à la Collection' - and as here, the collection has 'gravures faites par les meilleurs Artistes de Paris', and 'la belle marge'. 

Provenance: Ownership inscription of Mary Midgley, dated 1791, on t.p. of each volume. Bookplate with unidentified coat of arms. 

Dufour, 202 (without additional frontispiece and engravings). Cohen-De Ricci, 903-4. Fontaine, Cazin, p.202. McEachern II, 38B.

Stock Code: 228830