Fables Choisies Mises en Vers par M. de La Fontaine
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1930
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This is quite an acquisition. It brings into one volume three volumes already exemplified in the collection. The special characteristics of this single volume include that it is one single volume, 6" x 8½" x 3" thick! There is also an inserted page. The Ebay seller admitted, rather inaccurately, that "there is some writing on the inside of the front cover." The writing is really further into the volume, and it is a bookdealer's note that this volume includes an original aquarelle of Malassis, one of the prominent artists in this work, and the certification of that aquarelle signed by the artist, "Edm. Mallassis," on April 29, 1934. What a find! And it cost about the sum of the three separate copies found previously. I will try to organize here comments made separately on the three volumes. Bodemann #425. Each fable has a lovely colored woodcut about a third of a page in size. An early note indicates the woodcut plates were destroyed in the presence of witnesses after the printing of the book. There are three sets of art-work here. Each fable gets a small illustration above its title, done by either Malassis or Money. They are demanding work, as is clear from the start in GA. These illustrations often give the particular scene a large background, as in "Les Deux Mulets" (9). Some of these have a lovely design quality, e.g. "Le Dragon à plusieurs Têtes, et le Dragon à plusieurs Queues" (29). Among my favorites in this group is one of the few human depictions I have seen of TMCM (23). Also good are 2W (41); "L'Enfant et le Maitre d'École" (45); "L'Oiseau blessé d'une Flêche" (69); SS (81); "L'Ivrogne et sa Femme" (133); and "Le Lion amoureux" (163). The cat-woman chasing the rat is completely naked here (99). SM (117) has for its illustration a simple portrait of a French king surrounded with a sunburst. Perhaps the most curious of the illustrations is for "Le Loup, la Mère et l'Enfant" (207). Among the best in the central volume are "La Vieille et les deux Servantes" (19), "La jeune Veuve" (111), and "Le Mal Marié" (129). The bear here seems to be looking at the companion in the tree in "L'Ours et les deux Compagnons" (53). Is "Le Coche et la Mouche" (151) monocolor in the midst of all these polychrome illustrations? I have seldom seen "L'Horoscope" (241) illustrated. Among the best in the third volume are "Le Mari, la Femme et le Voleur" (49); "Le Trésor et les deux Hommes" (54); "Les Deux Aventuriers et le Talisman" (119); and "Le Singe" (243). The visual paradigms behind these illustrations are quite traditional. As Bodemann notes, many of the illustrations move out slightly beyond their rectangular margins. A third group of illustrations comprises the "decorative compositions" of Laprade placed at the beginning of each book. These are light and airy. This volume has at the end an AI of the whole work besides the usual T of C for the individual volume. The spine and the box are both wounded.
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Louis Conard