9. Léon Becker.
Alphabet des insectes.
Fortuné Louis Méaulle, illustrator.
Paris: Bibliothèque d'Éducation et de Récréation
J. Hetzel, 1883.
Insects stand in for people in this highly fanciful French alphabet. In addition to weight-lifting or parading down the boulevard, they file into church, ice skate, duel, dance, sail, paint, serenade a lover or invite her to dance, and, of course, improve their minds reading.
Hetzel was one of the most important publishers of children's books in late nineteenth-century France, whose publications were distinguished by their handsome gold-stamped cloth bindings and excellent illustrations.
