LA FONTAINE (Jean de). Fables choisies. Paris, Desaint & Saillant, Durand, 1755-…

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LA FONTAINE (Jean de).

Fables choisies. Paris, Desaint & Saillant, Durand, 1755-1759. 4 volumes in-folio, red morocco, triple gilt fillet, fleurons at the corners, spine decorated, inner lace, gilt edges (pastiche binding). First edition of the magnificent and very famous illustration by the painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry, including a frontispiece and 275 figures out of text drawn by him, retouched for the engraving by Cochin and engraved on copper by the best artists of the time. The text is embellished with vignettes and floral or allegorical culs-de-lampe engraved on wood by Le Sueur and Papillon after the compositions of the flower painter Jean-Jacques Bachelier. The typographical part was entrusted to Charles-Antoine Jombert. "One of the most ambitious and successful of all illustrated books" (Ray). The engraving of The Monkey and the Leopard is before the words The Leopard on the Banner, a sign of the first printing of the proofs. Leaves and plates slightly yellowed, a few scattered spots and freckles; in volume III, repaired break in title, ink stain on edge. Cohen, 548 - Ray, n°5 - Rochambeau, Fables, n°86 - Des livres rares, n°207.

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LA FONTAINE (Jean de).

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LA FONTAINE (Jean de). Fables choisies. Paris: Desaint & Saillant, Durand, 1755-1759. - 4 volumes in-folio, 470 x 314: frontispiece, (2 ff.), xxx, xviij, 124 pp., 70 plates; (2 ff.), ij, 135 pp., 68 plates; (2 ff.), iv, 146 pp., 68 plates; (2 ff.), ij, 188 pp., 69 plates. Granite calf, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, ornate ribbed spine, red edges (period binding). Rochambeau, 86. - Cohen, I, 548-550. Magnificent illustrated edition by Oudry, probably the most famous and beautiful of the early illustrated editions of La Fontaine's Fables. It was undertaken by the lawyer and journalist Charles-Philippe Montenault (1696-1749), who had acquired the drawings of the painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755) around 1751. He entrusted Charles-Nicolas Cochin with the task of enlarging these drawings and adapting them for engraving. In the Mémoires de Trévoux, Father Berthier spoke highly of this edition: "La Fontaine and Oudry have shared, as it were, the empire of the animals. The poet gave them a voice; the painter captured their manners, their games, their attitudes. The former knew how to guess what they would say, if they had formed a society among themselves; the latter had the talent to render them as they are. La Fontaine, in his fables, let himself be led by genius; Oudry, in his drawings, was guided by observation: both have produced two masterpieces which can be found together in 4 vol. in-fol." The illustrations include a frontispiece with a bust of La Fontaine and 275 plates based on Oudry's drawings, engraved under Cochin's direction by him and a team of over 40 engravers, including Aliamet, Aubert, Aveline, Baquoy, Chedel, Chenu, Choffard, Fessart, Galimard, Lebas, Lemire, Moitte, etc. Copy in contemporary binding, including the illustration for Le Singe et le Léopard (tome III, fable CLXXII) in its original state, without the mention "Au Léopard" on the banner. From the library of Aymar Jean de Nicolaï, Marquis de Goussainville (1709-1785), First President of the Paris Chamber of Accounts. Binding skilfully restored, some wear and tear. Non-missing tear at bottom of leaf R2 in first volume. Scattered brown spots, more pronounced on the edges of some leaves, notably in the third volume.

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