Promenades sur les Bords du Rhin: Mémoires d'Ecoliers en Vacances

Limoges: Barbou Frères, 1858. First edition of this popular volume of nineteenth-century travel literature, in a publisher's binding featuring arsenical green pigment. Part of publisher Barbou Frères' juvenile series Bibliothèque Chrétienne et Morale, the narrative follows schoolchildren on an educational tour of the Rhine valley. The lithographed frontispiece depicts a view of Pfalz, with a second plate featuring Koblenz (spelled Coblentz.) While different issues of this title have different plate counts, there is no sign of loss or removal in this copy. Provenance: Morris-Levin Collection of Publishers' Bookbindings. Not listed in the Arsenical Books Database compiled by The Poison Book Project, the interdisciplinary research initiative at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library and the University of Delaware. An unusually bright copy in a decorative binding containing toxic green pigment. Single volume, measuring 10.5 x 7.25 inches: [7], 8-154. Original deep plum pictorial cloth gilt, Rhine landscape vignette stamped in gilt to upper board; arabesque frames containing decorative elements overstamped in colors, including arsenic green; spine repeating gilt title, decoration, and stamping; lower board with central gilt arabesque frame overstamped in red; yellow coated endpapers; all edges trimmed and gilt. Lithographic frontispiece with tissue guard, one full-page lithographic plate. Spine lightly sunned, lightest edgewear; occasional spot of foxing.