LENEVEUX, Louise "Les Fleurs Parlantes" [Mme Vve Louis Janet, n.d./c1849]

LENEVEUX, Mme Louise. Les Fleurs Parlantes.

Paris: Mme Vve Louis Janet, n.d./c1849. Undated but with prize bookplate dated 1849. 7" x 4.5", 252pp with 12 hand colored plates illustrated by Louis Lassalle. Navy blue cloth with ornate gilt decorations on both boards and spine. All edges gilt. Moderately foxed, lightly rubbed, and with the aforementioned bookplate. One of the illustrations is lacking its tissue. Binding secure and externally quite clean. Very Good.

Les Fleurs Parlantes is a collection of moral and sentimental tales that use flowers as speaking characters to convey lessons and reflections. Each story personifies a different flower, giving voice to themes of beauty, virtue, and transience. Together, the fables offer a Romantic-era meditation on nature as a guide to human conduct and feeling.

Louis Lassalle was a 19th-century French illustrator and painter, known for his detailed vignettes and engravings. He often worked on children’s books and moral tales, where his clear linework and careful compositions added to the appeal of the stories. In addition to book illustration, he created genre paintings, lithographs, and drawings, exhibiting regularly at the Paris Salons and taking on commissions for both public and private collections.