Aventures de Telemaque suivies de Recueil des Fables composées pour l'education de Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne.
Paris: Librairie de Firmin Didot Freres, Imprimeurs de l'Institute, 1847/[1699], black quarter leather over green marbled boards, multicoloured marbled endpapers, speckled page edges, frontis portrait of Fenelon, 12mo; 536 pp. (In French). French language 19thc hardback juvenile.
In 1689 Fenelon, Archbishop of Cambrai, became the tutor of the 7 year old Duc de Bourgogne, second in line to the throne. "The Adventures of Telemachus" recounts the educational travels of the son of Ulysses, accompanied by his tutor Mentor (Minerva as it turns out) . The book focusses on Mentor's advice to the young Duc on ethical and peaceful rule, a veiled attack on divine right monarchy.. The fables are generally accepted to have been written at different times for instructional needs, the animal fables earlier, when the prince was a young boy. An early copy of this edition.
CONDITION: Very Good; quite rubbed along all creases, bands, and edges, 1895 name and gift stamp on title page, pages somewhat stiff and darkening with a few dog ears but not foxed, wrinkled, or soiled, all in all worn on the outside, nice on the inside. Item #18852
Price: $32.00