The Children's Friend (Vol. III of the First American edition)

Newburyport: John McCall for William P. Blake at the Boston Bookstore, 1789. First American edition. Hardcover. Fair. Very scarce. First American edition. No date but either 1787 or 1790. 2 blanks, title (with small woodcut decoration); 274 pp. plus final leaf "Contents of Third Volume" so Volume III only. No illustrations called for in the American edition. Translated from the French of Arnaud Berquin. In the original binding, half leather over paper covered boards; the spine strip is well worn with chipping to the exterior layer of leather at the foor of the spine; the plain paper covering of the front board is partially chipped away. Some staining to the front and rear endpapers with a small portion of the front endpaper torn away at the bottom right corner. The text block, however, is secure in its binding. Some scattered foxing to the text. Arnaud Berquin (1741-1791) wasa French author of children's books. His most famous is this work, originally titled in French "L'ami des Enfants" was published in Paris in 17682-83 and the English translation in London in 1783-84. The original translation into English was by Mary Stockdale, daughter of John Stockdale who printed it. "The Children's Friend" was comprised of stories that were about things that might happen to children in everyday life, rather that being fairy tales or the like. Some were instructional ("Absolute obedience to Parents", "The Good Son Rewarded" for example), some were humorous ("The Monkey"), and most were presented in dialogue format or as plays ("The Christmas-box", "Honesty The Best Policy", etc.). It appears that the four volumes of this, the first American printing, we not issued simultaneously but over a period in 1789 and 1790. We also do not find the full group of four volumes in any institutional holding.