Regency Era dialogues for the language learner. No U.S. examples.

Aug. Noel [Auguste Noël]. Nouveaux dialogues anglois et françois. Paris & Boulogne: C. C. Le Tellier and LeRoy-Berger, 1819. 12mo in 6s [18.2 x 10.8 cm], [iv] pp., 5-155 pp, [1] p. blank verso. Bound in contemporary blue wrappers lined with printed waste papers, untrimmed. Some edge wear and wrinkling to wrappers, paper just starting to separate at spine, remnants of shelf-mark labels on spine, labels on inside of front and back covers. A few pencil annotations. A clean and very genuine example of this rare work.
 
 
Very rare French-English phrasebook (no U.S. copies), preserved in its contemporary wrappers, and notable for its dozens of detailed dialogues rehearsing quotidian Regency/Bourbon Era social/commercial scenarios of all sorts, a sample of which (“At the Bookseller’s”) I transcribe below. The usefulness of this method in learning a language is a matter of debate, but the book represents an intriguing record of typical conversations from a time when journalistic, theatrical, and even novelistic treatments of dialogue only rarely, and then but briefly, reflected the exchanges that one might encounter in ordinary situations over the full course of a day.
 
Auguste Noël opens his Nouveaux dialogues anglois et françois with a brief discussion (in English) of method, noting that most language guides are written only for men, only for women, or only children, but that his is for everyone (debatable). The first part provides a refresher on common verbs and examples of their use (e.g., from “Your sisters paint very well,” to “He would have betrayed you”) in basic scenarios (of compliments, of health, to consent and grant, to offer, to return thanks, to decline or refuse, to affirm, to deny or call in doubt, to express admiration, to express horror and fright, to express displeasure and grief, of sympathy an friendship, of antipathy and aversion, to inquire after news, of epochs, of the parts of the day, and of the hour, of the weather, of the seasons and their influence).  
 
The longer dialogues of part two (in parallel English and French columns) are fascinating to read. They are: to salute and enquire after the health; salutations; Visit: invitation to dinner; at dinner; the dessert; taking coffee; walking; at tea; of cards and of piquet; supper; retiring to rest; going to bed; getting up in the morning; the breakfast; at the perfumer’s [with talk of cosmetics]; at the hosier’s; at the linen draper’s; at the jeweller’s, at the watchmaker’s, at the bookseller’s; to purchase or take a house upon lease; to engage an apartment; at the upholsterer’s; at church; of birth and baptism; of a marriage; of a funeral; of spring; of summer; of autumn; of winter; of residence in town; of assemblies; at the theatre; at the opera; of a concert; at Vauxhall; of a popular tumult; of a fire; of a country residence; of hunting; of fishing; of education; on the study of the dead languages; of the study of the living languages; of the French language; of the French pronunciation; of the varieties of the pronunciation; of music; of dancing; and of drawing. The work closes with and alphabetized (by French) glossary of idiomatic French phrases.   
 
The title page calls the books “revus, corrigés et augmentés,” which typically suggests a prior edition, but I locate no such work (OCLC, KVK, etc.). Perhaps there was a prior edition that was used to extinction, or perhaps, as is sometimes the case, the book was advertised as being up to date to attract buyers who expected an error-free guide (the antiquarian bookseller favors the first edition, the typical reader favors the best edition).
 
 
OCLC and KVK locate examples of the Nouveaux dialogues anglois et françois at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Landesbibliothekszentrum Rheinland-Pfalz, Landesbibliothek Speyer, and National Library of Poland.
 
*A. Dulau & Co., Catalogue of Books in Foreign Languages, for 1828, p. 932, no. 19393 (price, 2 shillings).