GENLIS, Stéphanie Félicité, comtesse de (1746--1830)
Adele et Théodore, ou lettres sur l'éducation. Contenant tous les principes relatifs aux trois différents plans d'éducation, des princes, des jeunes personnes, & des hommes. Tome premier (-- troisieme).
A Maestricht (Place), chez J.E. Dufour & Ph. Roux, imprimeurs-libraires associés,, 1783.
3 vols ; 16.4 cm. (12º)
I: [4], 380 p.
II: [4], 359, [1] p.
III: [4], 185 [i.e. 385], [3] p.

Anonymous. By Madame de Genlis. First published in 1782. Genlis's educational theories are illuminated by Jane Austen's Emma: "[Mrs. Weston] has had the advantage, you know, of practising on me, [Emma] continued - 'like La Baronne d'Almane on La Comtesse d'Ostalis, in Madame de Genlis' 'Adelaide and Theodore', and we shall now see her own little Adelaide educated on a more perfect plan." [Chapter 53]. Her theories achieved enormous popularity in England, combining the methods of Rousseau's Émile (q.v.) with more orthodox principles. See Magdi Wahba, 'Madame de Genlis in England', Comparative Literature 13:3 (1961), pp. 221--238. The final page of tome III in this edition is misnumbered '185'.

Copy Notes Inscription in pencil on inside cover over the Soane bookplate in the second volume A Romance of the forest [by Ann Radcliffe, 1791]. There are numerous parallels between Genlis's pedagogical novel and Radcliffe's gothic novel first published in 1791; no copy of the latter, however, is in Soane's library. See Judith Clark Schaneman, 'Rewriting "Adèle et Théodore": intertextual connections between Madame de Genlis and Ann Radcliffe', Comparative Literature Studies 38:1 (2001), pp. 31--45.

Binding Late C18th/early C19th calf, gilt-tooled spines, red and green morocco spine-labels.

Reference Number 1035