Fables of La Fontaine, Part IV
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Authors
Jr., Elizur Wright,
Issue Date
1841
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Type
Book, Whole
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Abstract
This book presents the second half of Volume II by covering Books X through XII of La Fontaine's fables. It thus becomes Part IV of four parts. This set of four volumes constitutes a wonderful surprise. I had thought it would be a worthy second copy of the original Tappan and Dennet publication of Wright's translation of La Fontaine. I remembered the printing of Grandville's illustrations as being especially good. I was surprised by the description that it spreads into four parts the two volumes which Tappan and Dennet published then. The surprise when I received the four books is that this edition intercalates La Fontaine's French texts with the Wright translations. The binder apparently did not have an easy time with this procedure, partly perhaps because, as in that edition, the full-page illustrations are never printed on the obverse. The strange result, described in my comments on Part I, is that French and English texts do not match up perfectly and page numbers are repeated. This fourth part begins with an endpaper and a blank page before we see the title-page for Book X. This last part ends rather unceremoniously by repeating twice the small illustration that had housed in French "Fin des Fables" on a theater stage's archway and "II G" on an open book among the footlights. The former of these two has been removed, though Grandville's initials remain. Those searching for exceptional illustrations may want to look at the last of the full page illustrations: "The Arbiter, the Almoner, and the Hermit" (XII 27). Who cannot love the illustration for "The Two Goats" (XII 4)? As in the earlier parts, the printer's devices are fascinating on their own. This book features the same two gold embossed urns on its covers as the two volume English edition and as the earlier parts here. The front cover here is breaking away from the block. The inside front cover features a small seal "Bound by P. Row, 21 Devonshire St., Boston."
Description
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Publisher
Tappan and Dennet
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DOI
Identifier
10757 (Access ID)