Jean de LA FONTAINE. - Lot 165

Jean de LA FONTAINE. Contes et Nouvelles en vers par M. de La Fontaine. A Londres, sd (circa 1778), 2 volumes small in-12 bound in full contemporary red morocco, ornate smooth spines, title-pieces, triple gilt fillet framing the boards with floral motif in spandrels, interior roulette, gilt edges, decorated endpapers. 5ff - XII - 212pp. and 4ff - 248pp. the latter unpaginated (Table). For pagination: Rochambeau, pp.567, n°217 "Edition complète des contes, entièrement semblable à celle de 1743". For illustration: the frontispiece portrait of La Fontaine is an imitation of Savart's 1764 portrait, unsigned - two title finials (the first inspired by the "Calendrier des Vieillards" and the second by "Cuvier"), and 83 signed hors-texte engraved figures (38 for vol. 1 and 45 for vol. 2), including 9 announced engraved by Martinet (5 for vol. 1 and 4 for vol. 2), plus, in vol. 1, an engraving of the frontispiece from the 1743 edition (opposite page 153). Of these figures, 75 are after Eisen, and 8 are new compositions. A remarkable copy.