La Fontaine, Fables choisies, Paris, 1755-1759, 4 volumes in red morocco

LA FONTAINE, JEAN DE

Fables choisies, mises en vers. Tome premier (-quatrieme). Paris: Charles-Antoine Jombert for Desaint & Saillant, and Durand, 1755-1759

4 volumes, folio (501 x 330mm.), one of 100 copies on papier impérial d'Auvergne, half-titles, engraved frontispiece portrait of Oudry, additional engraved frontispiece portrait of Oudry by Tardieu after Largilliere bound after half-title, woodcut head- and tailpieces by Bachelier, 275 plates by Oudry engraved by Aubert, Aveline and others, plate for "Le singe et le léopard" in its first (unlettered) state, CONTEMPORARY RED MOROCCO GILT BY DEROME, WITH HIS TICKET, triple gilt fillet border, spines gilt in compartments, gilt edges, 2 buckram slipcases, some deckle edges, frontispiece slightly creased, occasional light foxing, corners and spines slightly rubbed, spines slightly faded, a few covers slightly spotted

A MAGNIFICENT LARGE PAPER COPY IN A SPLENDID DEROME BINDING.

Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755) prepared the artwork for this edition of La Fontaine between 1729 and 1734. He was renowned for his paintings of animals, many of which were based on the menagerie at Versailles. The illustrations were then revised by Cochin, who improved the artwork of the human characters at the expense of the animals.

LITERATURE:

Cohen-De Ricci 548; Rochambeau, Fables 86; Michel, Cochin 198; Ray 5

PROVENANCE:

Lord Carrington, armorial bookplate (presumably Robert John, second Baron Carrington, 1796-1868), and Wycombe Abbey, Library, armorial bookplate; Lucius Wilmerding, bookplate, sale, Parke-Bernet, 6 March 1951, lot 358; Saul Cohn, sale, Parke-Bernet, 26 April 1955, lot 503, extract from sale catalogue loosely inserted