La fille aux pieds nus. Nouvelle traduite de l’Allemand avec l’autorisation de l’auteur par J.[ules] Gourdault. Illustree . . . par B.[enjamin] Vautier.

Paris: Librairie Hachette et Cie, 79, Boulevard Saint-Germain, 79; Imprimerie de E. Martinent, Rue Mignon, 2, 1875. Folio. 10.5 x 13.75 in. [4], 310 pp. Illustrated title in red & black, woodcut engraving of Amrie on title, 72 woodcut engravings throughout the text, all w/ red woodcut engraved borders. Full dark blue morocco, raised bands, gilt lettering & gilt decorated spine, gilt ruling on covers, gilt inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, a.e.g. (minor bumping & wear to couple corners, front lower hinge just starting, very minor scuffing in couple spots), still a VG copy. First Vautier-illustrated edition of this French version of Auerbach’s popular work Barfussele (Little Barefoot), which was one of his many works depicting with quiet realism peasant life in the 19th century. Auerbach’s stories were remarkable not only for their humor and gentle style reflecting his sympathies with Southern German peasants from the Black Forest and Bavarian Alps, but also his often critical examination of the plight of orphans and their rejection by village local society in the 19th century. Vautier (1829-1898) was a Swiss genre painter and book illustrator who specialized in depicting peasant life and customs, who was one of Auerbach’s favorite artists. Although he typically emphasized the romantic aspects in his paintings, these woodcut engravings evoke the grimness and pettiness of peasant life which the heroine overcomes. Worldcat locates 4 copies; See: Anita Bunyan, Berthold Auerbach’s Schwarzwalder Dorfgeschichten: Political and Religious Contexts of a Nineteenth-Century Bestseller, Woodford & Schofield, German Best Seller in the Late Nineteenth Century (2012); Mary Shinnors, The Image of the Peasant Woman in Selected Works of Berthold Auerbach and Jeremias Gotthelf (1992).