Fables Original and Selected
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Authors
Bussey, George Moir
Issue Date
1842 , 1842?
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Type
Book, Whole
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Abstract
This undated book has a place between the two editions I already have of this fine work. Its page size is smaller than the hand-painted copy with a date of 1842 on its title-page. It does not have the frames around the printed portion of a page that are found in that 1842 copy. On the other hand, it has larger page size than the copy found by Jerry McKevitt in a bookbarn in Pennsylvania, for which I have guessed a date of 1842. One of the mysteries about this present book is that its eBay seller gave a date of 1842, but I can find it nowhere in the book. This book once belonged to the James V. Brown Library. This copy agrees with the address in the hand-painted copy; the address here is different from the address in the McKevitt copy, and two of the publishers mentioned there (W. Tegg and Company and R. Griffin and Company) are omitted here. The typesetting of the title-page is different in all three copies. This copy has in its first line of title tall thin letters followed by a semi-colon. The two smaller copies, including this one, mention Orrin Smith and Breviere on the title-page, while the hand-painted copy does not. All three have the same 497 fables from some thirty-two fabulists, named with their respective fables in the AI on xxix. This book has partial marble patterns on both covers, with leather corners and a canvas spine with hand-lettering in white. Let me mention some of my comments from the copies found earlier: LaFontaine is taken chiefly from Matthews (1820), Yriarte from Belfour; all other translations are original. New to me and good: The Schoolboy, the Pedant, and the Gardener (169). The very best plates depict the miser and the treasure (145), the dog with cropped ears (201), the acorn and the gourd (217), the viper and the file (225), the frogs demanding a king (273), and the mountain in labor (297, Aesop). My favorite private collector lists an edition of this book from Charles Tilt in London in 1839. Notice the adaptation of Grandville's frontispiece to include Aesop, etc. The arrangement in four books seems haphazard. A real treasure for its versions and especially for its plates.
Description
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Publisher
Willoughby & Co.
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Identifier
6245 (Access ID)