THE FABLES OF LA FONTAINE. Translated into English Verse by Walter Thornbury

A very early printing. With 86 magnificent full page illustrations, many smaller illustrations and a portrait frontispiece all by Gustave Doré. Royal 4to (12.25 by 9.5 inches), in a very handsome deluxe binding of three-quarter green morocco over matching pebbled cloth covered boards, the spine with finely gilt stippled raised bands ruled in blind and with multiple rules in gilt, the head and tail additionally gilt decorated, two compartments boldly gilt lettered, with fine marbled endleaves and page edges. lxiv, 839 pp. A very fine and handsome copy, very handsomely bound, solid and fresh and clean with no sign of the typical foxing associated with these printings. Only very light evidence of age to the binding. A very well preserved and quite excellent copy.

Edizione: a beautifully bound and well preserved copy of this masterpiece by gustave doré. an impressive tome of some of the best loved fables, including ‘the grasshopper and the ant’, ‘the hen with the golden eggs’ and well over 150 more. with his full-page engravings gustave doré does his best work with great dramatic flare. the countless smaller illustrations round out the book and make it a truly outstanding publishing endeavor.<br> many of the fables were in the main adapted from the classical fabulists aesop, babrius and phaedrus. in these, la fontaine adhered to the path of his predecessors with some closeness; but in others he allowed himself far more liberty and there is a wider range of sources. the indian bidpai is drawn upon for oriental fables that had come to the french through translations from persian. so, while the subject of each of the fables is often common property of many ages and races, what gives la fontaine's fables their rare distinction is the freshness in narration, the deftness of touch, the unconstrained suppleness of metrical structure, and the unfailing humor. keen insight into the foibles of human nature is also found throughout.