LAFONTAINE, Auguste. ~ Histoire de la Famille Bloum; traduit de lallemend... par le traducteur des Trois Nouvelles. Paris: Béchet, 1813.
4 vols, 12mo (175 × 100 mm), pp. [iv], 236; [iv], 232; [iv], 285, [1]; [4], 191, [1]. Slightly creased, minor fraying. Uncut in original wrappers with printed labels. A very good unsophisticated copy.
First edition in French. A European success, Lafontaine was as popular in France as in his native Germany and the book was evidently read in French in England (copies were imported by De Boffe). The Monthly Review of December 1813 contained the following notice: ‘This novel betrays many incongruities; among which may be reckoned the description of the Dutch naval captain who talks metaphysics, and that of a prudent mother who forbids her daughter’s marriage because the lovers had not sufficient courage to elope. Some of the female characters exhibit an infantine simplicity, which the author seems to have mistaken and substituted for the innocence of youth...’ Worldcat: Yale and Iowa only outside Europe. No UK copies in JISC/COPAC.