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Title: FABLES | DE | M. DE FLORIAN , | de l’académie françoise, de celles de Madrid , | Florence, etc. | — | Je tâche d'y tourner le vice ridicule , | Ne pouvant l'attaquer avec des bras d'Hercule. | La Font. Fables , liv. V , I. — | [publisher's device ] | A PARIS, | DE L'IMPRIMERIE DE P. DIDOT L'AINÉ, | 1792. Pagination: ffl, [2 - h.t. / Imp.] [2 - blank / frontis.] [2 - tp. / blank] [5] 6-224 [2 - advert. / blank], bfl. Collation: numbered 1(5), 2-18(6), 19(3); engarved frontispiece portrait of Florian after François Hüet-Villiers, 5 engraved plates by Longueil, Delignon, and Gaucher after Flouest. Binding: Contemporary full mottled calf, all margins red, gilt floral ornaments to flat spine, red label with gilt lettering. Catalogue raisonné: Cohen, de Ricci 1912: p. 398-9. -
Hardcover volume, 8vo, 24.3 x 16.5 cm, bound in contemporary full marbled calf, spine with raised bands, gilt floral tools in compartments, gilt title lettering, marbled end-papers and all edges, printed on laid paper 23.9 x 5.5 cm with a watermark, entirely engraved (frontispiece, title, nine plates, and text), gatherings not indicated. Title-page (engraved, vignette, tall 's') LE | TEMPLE | DE | GNIDE | Nouvelle Edition, | Avec Figures | Gravées par N. LE MIRE, | des Acad. De Vienne en Autriche et de Rouen, | D’apres les Dessins de Ch. Eisen. | Le Texte Gravé par Droüet. | — | {3 lines quotation from Gallien} | A PARIS | Chez le Mire Graveur | Rue St. Etienne des Gres. | AVEC PRIVELEGE DU ROI. | 1772. || Frontispiece (engraved, vignette): Portrait medallion inscribed "CHARLES SECONDAT DE MONTESQUIEU — N. Le Mire del et sc", signed beneath "N. le Mire sculp 1771"; under the plate: "Dessiné par Ch. Eisen, et Gravé par N. le Mire." Pagination: frontispiece, t.p. / explication, dedication, [i] ii-vii [viii blank] 1-104 [105-6 blanks]; engraved throughout, plus 9 plates by Le Mire after Eisen.Catalogue Raisonné: Cohen-de Ricci 726-27; Ray, French Illustrated Book, №32/p. 61-2.Ref.: MFA (Boston): Accession Number 37.1726.Charles Eisen (French, 1720 – 1778) – artist. Noël Le Mire (French, 1724 – 1801) – engraver, publisher. Droüet (French, 18th century) – text engraver. Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (French, 1689 – 1755) – author. -
Two-volume edition, financed, arranged and managed by Fermiers généraux. Vol. 1. Title : CONTES | ET | NOUVELLES | EN VERS, | Par M. de La Fontaine. | TOME I. | {vignette} | A AMSTERDAM. | — | M. DCC. LXII. || Pagination: [2] – blanks [i, ii] – h.t. / blank, [iii, iv] – t.p. / blank, v-xiv, [1] 2–268 [269-70] – table, [4] – blanks, plus frontispiece by Fiquet after Rigault, t.p. vignette, vignette, headpiece, and 23 tailpieces by Choffard, 39 plates by various engravers after Charles Eisen. Vol. 2. Title: same but TOME II. Pagination: [2] – blanks] [i, ii] – h.t. / blank, [iii] iv-viii [1] 2–306 [307-10] – épitaphe / table, [4] – blanks, plus frontispiece by Fiquet after Vispré, t.p. vignette, vignette, headpiece, and 29 tailpieces by Choffard, and 42 plates after Charles Eisen (Ray only cite 41 plates). Binding: 2 volumes, 19.8 x 12.2 each, uniformly bound in full Spanish mottled calf, boards triple ruled in gilt, flat spine with triple bands, double ruled and tooled in gilt, black title labels lettered in gilt, all margins gilt, marbled end-papers, in cardboard slipcases, openings leathered. In vol. 1 a manuscript plate 4.8 x 8.2 cm pasted to page [1]: "Cette Édition est très rare n’y ayant | eu que 30 Exemplaires de livres, ou la figure principale dans le Cas de Conscience page 143 Tom 2 est nud tandis que dans les autres Éditions cette Figure est voilée par un feuillage".
Contributors:
Jean de La Fontaine (French, 1621–1695) – author.
Fermiers généraux and Jean Baptiste Séroux d'Agincourt (French, 1730 – 1814) – publisher.
Joseph Gérard Barbou (French, 1723–1790) – printer.
Artists:
Charles Eisen (French, 1720 – 1778)
François Xavier Vispré (British-French, c.1730 – 1789 or after)
Hyacinthe Rigaud [Jacint Rigau-Ros i Serra] (Catalan-French, 1659 – 1743)
Engravers:
Joseph de Longueil (French, 1730 – 1792)
Noël Le Mire (French, 1724 – 1801)
Jean-Jacques André Le Veau (French, 1729 – 1786)
Jacques Aliamet (French, 1726 – 1788)
Jean Charles Baquoy (French, 1721 – 1777)
Pierre-Philippe Choffard (French, 1730 – 1809)
Jean Jacques Flipart (French, 1719 – 1782)
Louis Simon Lempereur (French, 1725 – 1796)
Jean Ouvrier (French, 1725 – 1784)
Étienne Ficquet (French 1719 – 1794)
Catalogue raisonné: Ray (French): №26, pp. 54-56; Cohen-DeRicci: 558-571; Lewine: 278-280.
