145 - LA FONTAINE, Jean de, and COSTE, Pierre. Selected Fables.

LA FONTAINE, Jean de, and COSTE, Pierre. Selected Fables. Paris: Published by Brocas, 1757. In-12 (14.5 x 8 cm), binding signed Petrus Ruban in full red morocco, ribbed spine decorated with floral panels. Floral lace border on the covers. Rolled edges on the endpapers, bookbinder’s name at the bottom of the upper endpaper. Gilded edges. XLIV-159-(5)-275 pp. (two volumes in one) New edition of the Fables, with Coste’s commentary and a frontispiece engraving by Bernard Picart, engraved by Legrand. This edition can also be found under the names Babou, Durand, Guillaume, Prault, etc. A beautifully executed copy in a splendid binding signed by Pétrus Ruban, a master bookbinder of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Villefranche-sur-Saône in 1851, he practiced in Paris from 1879 to 1910 and passed away in Neuilly on April 21, 1929, at the age of 79. He had set up his first workshop at 16 Rue Dauphine before moving it to 9 Rue de Savoie in 1896.