Two 8vo volumes bound in one, 19 x 12.5 cm, in full mottled sheepskin with gilt-bordered boards, gilt decorated flat spine with gilt-lettered red and black calf labels, rebacked, marbled endpapers and edges, printed on wove paper, plates on thicker laid paper.
Title-page: FABLES | MISES EN VERS | PAR J. DE LA FONTAINE. | TOME PREMIER (SECOND). | {medallion portrait} (printer’s device “PC”) | A PARIS, | CHEZ ANT. AUG. RENOUARD. | M. DCC. XCV. ||
Collation:
Vol. 1: π2 (h.t./imprint, t.p. medallion portrait/blank), [1]-38 (Notice sur la vie…), 1-58 64 (Vie de la Fontaine, Épitre, Préface, Vie d’Ésope), [7]-148 156 χ3 (table); pagination [4] [i] ii-xlviii, [1] 2-234. Total 143 leaves (286 pages) plus 6 plates after Moreau le Jeune by Devilliers fratres (p. 112), E. De Ghendt (pp. 122 and 181), Jean Louis Delignon (p. 140), Delvaux (p. 197), and Ph. Trière (p. 219). Title medallion portrait of La Fontaine (G Rigault pinx. – C S Gaucher inc.) by Gaucher after Rigaud.
Vol. 2: π2 1-158 164; pagination [4] [1] 2-247 [248 blank]. Total 126 leaves (252 pages) plus 6 plates after Moreau le Jeune by Devilliers fratres (p. 19), Villerey (pp. 37, 80, and 146), Bosq (p. 121), and Ph. Trière (p. 199).
The book published in 1795 (An 3) supplemented with plates produced in 1811 and 1812 for Œuvres complèttes (sic) de Jean de la Fontaine published by Lefèvre in 1814. The reason for choosing this particular edition for someone’s library shortly after 1814 was probably the absence of censorship in 1795.
Catalogue raisonné: (1) Lewine [LIB-2538.2020] on p. 276 (Paris, chez Renouard, 1795, 2 vols., 8vo., medal portrait on first title, and 12 plates after Moreau by Delvaux, Bosq, Ghendt, Trière, and Villerey). (2) M.-J.-F. Mahérault. L’ oeuvre de Moreau le Jeune : catalogue raisonné et descriptif avec notes iconographiques et bibliographiques. — Paris: A. Labitte, 1880.
Contributors:
Jean de La Fontaine (French, 1621–1695) – author.
Jean-Michel Moreau le Jeune (French, 1741–1814) – artist.
Hyacinthe Rigaud (French, 1659 – 1743) – artist.
Antoine-Augustin Renouard (French, 1765 – 1853) – publisher.
Pierre Causse (French, 1761 – 1834) – printer.
Engravers:
Charles Étienne Gaucher (French, 1741 – 1804)
Etienne De Villiers [Devilliers, Devilliers fratres] (French, 1784 – after 1844)
Emmanuel Jean Nepomucène de Ghendt (Flemish, worked in France, 1738 – 1815)
Jean-Louis Delignon (French, 1755 – 1820)
Rémi Henri Joseph Delvaux (French, 1748 – 1823)
Philippe Trière (French, 1756 – c. 1815)
Auguste Villerey (French, 1801 – 1846)
Jean Bosq (French, fl. c. 1801 – 1844)
