Fables Choisies, Mises en Vers par J. De La Fontaine
Bouillon: La Société Typographique, 1776. Later edition. Hardcover. 4 vol. 8vo. For pagination, please inquire. Contemporary full sheep, spines in six compartments with an orange and a green leather label lettered and bordered in gold on each spine; all edges red. Marbled blue and white endpapers and pastedowns. A green silk ribbon bookmark bound in each volume. With the small paper label of Graf Alfred Althan on each volume's title page, a German count and nobleman. Volume one illustrated with a frontispiece and with 61 plates, volume two with 64 plates, volume three with 63 plates, volume four with 59 plates. All volumes with woodcut head and tailpieces. Cohen 551. Rochambeau 109. Rochambeau calls for 247 plates, Cohen calls for 249 plates, our set contains 248 plates total, and is missing a plate that should be numbered 153 (CLIII). A collection of over 200 fables, many adapted from Aesop, others adapted from Persian and Indian sources. A lovely set of this foundational work of French literature, first published toward the end of the seventeenth century. Very Good. Item #000016134
Rubbing to the leather's edges, volumes one and two with a few tiny wormholes to their spines; many of the plates with a small dampspot to their corners (this happened before they were bound in the books), volume three with a general dampstain that affects the lower quarter of its pageblock.
Price: $850.00