Fables de La Fontaine, Tome Cinquieme

Abstract

This is Volume 5 of 6 volumes, comprising Books 9 through 11. Bodemann lists this edition as derivative from Vivier's limited edition of 1787 by Pierre Didot l'aîné. The eBay seller mentions that there are fifty illustrations here. I find them well done. I enjoy particularly the two illustrations for The Husband, the Wife, and the Thief (9.15) and The Treasure and the Two Men (9.16), numbered 202 through 204 between 34 and 37. Each illustration is added with a slipsheet and without printing on its obverse to the numbered pages. Another strong illustration is 11.8, The Old Man and the Three Youths (#234, facing 107). Most illustrators picture the young men with the man planting trees. Here the artist has the old man writing their marble memorial underneath the grown trees. 3¾ x 5¾. Separated front cover. Leather binding. Marbled endpieces. A lovely little volume. Now to find the other five!