La petite entremetteuse;* ou, une faute conduit a plusieurs...*the little meddler

Londres [i.e. London]: Chez William Darton, 1829. 36pp. With a folding, partially hand-coloured, engraved frontispiece and two further plain engraved plates. Original publisher's printed light blue stiff paper wrappers. Rubbed and marked, faint pen-trials, ticket of bookseller T. Connolly of Dublin to upper wrapper. Early inked ownership inscription to FEP, ink-stamp of W. T. Matier of Belfast to title, very short tear to margin of final leaf, occasional spotting. The first edition in French of prolific Darton author Mary Elliott's [née Belson] (c.1794-1870) The Little Meddler, the tale of a young girl unable to refrain from interfering in other peoples affairs. In the course of the narrative, she spoils her brother's paintings, causes her sister's party dress to be made a misfit, and allows the family rabbit to escape and be killed by a dog. Only when she maliciously frees a parrot, which subsequently bites her, does she resolve to break her meddling habits. The moral is vague, but the conclusion true to life. OCLC records copies at five locations (Harvard, Indiana, Oxford, Princeton, and Toronto); COPAC adds no further. Darton H485. Moon/E 445.. First edition in French. 12mo.