Traite de l'education corporelle des enfans en bas age: ou reflexions-pratiques fur les moyens de procurer une meilleure constitution aux citoyens. by DESESSARTZ, Jean-Charles (1729-1811) [DES-ESSARTZ] - 1760

Paris:: Chez Jean-Thomas Herissant, 1760., 1760. 12mo. 18 cm xxxvi, 429, [1] pp. Index. Original mottled calf, raised bands, gilt-stamped spine, leather title label, edges red, marbled endleaves; corners showing, a couple of cover ink stains and worm-trailing, but a very good copy. Rare. First edition of the author's 'Treatise on the physical education of young children, or practical thoughts on how to provide a better constitution for citizens." The text was the inspiration for Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile, ou De l'education, 1762, which he considered to be among the best of his writings. Emile was banned in Paris and Geneva and was publicly burned in 1762, the year of its first publication. During the French Revolution, Emile served as the inspiration for what became a new national system of education. / Jean-Charles Desessartz was a French doctor, teaching in the Faculty of Paris, member of the Institute. He received his doctorate at Reim, then moving to Villers-Cotterets, then Noyon, taking a medical position under the Duke of Orleans. In 1776 Desessartz became dean of the faculty of Paris. He was a member of the National Institute of France. REFERENCES: William, II, p. 455; Blake, p. 117. See: E. Montin, "Introduction to J. Rousseau's Emile: or, Treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau", William Harold Payne, transl. (D. Appleton & Co., 1908), p. 316.