Essai sur la declamation oratoire

Paris: Hachette, 1837. FIRST EDITION. Original printed blue wrappers. A perfect copy of a fascinating book. First edition of this manual for curing speech disorders. The text addresses stuttering, stammering (apparently different from stuttering), mumbling, inability to roll R’s, and guttural pronunciation. It describes repetitive verbal and physical exercises to combat each of these issues. The final chapter is an alphabetic guide to correctly forming each letter with the mouth and tongue.

In the introduction, the author stresses the necessity of proper speech and declamation to be taken seriously and to command respect in the public arena, and he points out that students in Italy and England are already being trained in the art of elocution (he later mentions the shortcomings of the English language and how poorly its native speakers pronounce French). He goes on to decry regional French accents and encourages his countrymen to adopt the Parisian lilt.

OCLC locates only four physical copies in the U.S. (Berkeley, Kansas, Louisiana State, and Oklahoma).