Figure 1.--A reader tells us about a beautifully illustrated book, Poupee de Bebe (The Baby's Doll) written by Mme Doudet. This would be a book that presumably girls woulf find interesting. The illustrator is not identified. Perhaps it was Mme. Doudet. We know nothing about Mmme. Doudet at this time. Perhaps our French readers will be more familiar with her work. It was published in France (Presumably Paris) in 1900. The story is the marvelous adventures of a talking doll. The coloured illustrations show many examples of French children's fashions at the turn of the 20th century. It is a valuable addition to HBC because it provides color information that is lacking in the black-and-white photography of the period. There are mosttly girls' clothing. We see several outfits for girls of different ages. The boys are dressed in navy blue sailor suits. In addition to the clothes we see shoes and hair style. Here we see tge arrivée de Mademoiselle Lili--the doll's name.

We have begun to develop some information about individual French authors of children's books. Our information is still limited. French readers are incouraged to send along informastion about their favorite authors.

Paul-Jacques Bonzon

Paul-Jacques Bonzon was born on August 31, 1908 in Sainte-Marie-Du-Mont, Manche, in Normandy. He was a teacher and school director for 25 years. He writes [? d?abord] books like "[? L?éventail] of Seville", "The promise of Primerose", etc. His books have been translated into 16 languages. Some of his books have been adapted for television.

Countess de Ségur (1799-1871)

The Countess de Ségur is viewed by many as the greatest authors of children's stories in the French language. Her father was the Russian Count Rostopchine. He had burned Moscow when it was seized by Napoleon's Grand Army in 1812. He at first wanted to burn Paris, but instead lived there for nearly 10 years. His daughter married the Comte de Ségur. [Mansel] She wrote many books between 1821 to 1871. Her novels had as protagonists young well educated and elegant young girls. She called them " petites filles modèles ". Her books were especially popular with girls. I'm unsure about boy characters in her books.

Serge Dalens

Serge Dalens was one of the Signe de Piste advdture story authors. You can see one of his books here (figure 1). These rock-em, sovk-em stories were popular with French boys in the mid-20th century.

Mmme Doudet

A reader tells us about a beautifully illustrated book, Poupee de Bebe (The Baby's Doll) written by Mme Doudet. This would be a book that presumably girls woulf find interesting. The illustrator is not identified. Perhaps it was Mme. Doudet. We know nothing about Mmme. Doudet at this time. Perhaps our French readers will be more familiar with her work. It was published in France (Presumably Paris) in 1900. The story is the marvelous adventures of a talking doll. The coloured illustrations show many examples of French children's fashions at the turn of the 20th century. It is a valuable addition to HBC because it provides color information that is lacking in the black-and-white photography of the period. There are mosttly girls' clothing. We see several outfits for girls of different ages. The boys are dressed in navy blue sailor suits. In addition to the clothes we see shoes and hair style.

Marcel Marlier

Marcel Marlier is a well known author of children's books especially girls' books during the 1970s-80s.

Signe de Piste authors

Quite a few authors wrote for Sige de Piste, including Paul Berna, Serge Dalens, Jean-Louis Foncine, Guy de Larigaudie, and Serge Dalens.

Sources

Mansel, Philip. Paris Between Empires: Monarchy and Revolution, 1814-1852 (St. Martin's, 2003), 559p.

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Created: 2:34 PM 4/6/2010
Last updated: 2:34 PM 4/6/2010