Bromer Booksellers

(Children's Book)

[Panorama of military life].

(Paris: Chez Guérin-Muller et Ce. c. 1860). Oblong 24mo. Six panels presented accordionfold, with a seventh used as cover artwork. Each panel shows a different facet of soldierhood, all of it very debonair and civilized, from "Avant le Revue [Before Reveille]" to "La Cuisine [The Kitchen]" to "Le Carousel," in which soldiers compete in militaristic sports. Each scene at its head displays a title, and at its foot a descriptive caption. The only suggestion of disturbance is in the cover panel—"La Rosse, Le Rossard et le Factionnaire"—in which a lone upstart on a mule has to be threatened by an infantryman's bayonet.

Some the panels flow together in a contiguous scene, and some do not. This, paired with the varying points where panels were glued together, the separation of a single panel as cover art, and the use of an alphabet as front paste-down, complicate speculation of the publication's true format. Whatever alterations appear contemporary, however, with cover panel bordered in gilt strips, and bookseller's tag to upper board. Boards themselves covered in embossed paper. Cellotape repair to spine, generic edgewear, else near fine. Unrecorded in OCLC. Item #31838

Price: $1,750.00