MOREL, Adrien "Album des Enfants" [Martial Ardant Frères, 1849]

MOREL, Adrien. Album des Enfants; ou Beautés et Merveilles de la Nature en France.

Paris: Chez Martial Ardant Frères, 1849. 5.75" x 3.5", 168pp with illustrated frontispiece. Cartonnage romantique with extensive gilt designs. Book prize inscription on rear of FFEP and remnants of a removed bookplate inside front cover, presumably indicating the same. Binding somewhat rubbed, as pictured. Text moderately foxed. Binding secure. Very Good-.

“Cartonnage romantique” refers to a French binding style popular from the 1820s through the mid-19th century. These were publisher’s cloth- or paper-covered boards, often brightly colored and decorated with elaborate gilt or blind-stamped designs, sometimes incorporating floral or ornamental motifs typical of the Romantic era. Unlike plain temporary bindings, cartonnage romantique was intended to be both affordable and visually striking, making books attractive to a wider middle-class audience. Today, they are prized for their vivid decorative appeal and as examples of early publisher’s bindings in France.