Aesop in Rhyme, with Some Originals With an engraving to each fable

Abstract

Bodemann #241.1 lists the first edition of this work in 1820. The frontispiece in both my 1823 and 1828 editions gives a date of 1821. Whereas the second edition in 1823 lists itself as The Second Edition, Corrected, this edition says merely The Third Edition. Notice that Joy has dropped from the name of the publishing house. Mention of C. Baldwin as printer has been dropped from the last page, 127. Twelve years ago, I commented on the 1823 edition that the best illustration and fable may be Aesop's Trial (frontispiece and last fable), at which Aesop explains to the hostile beasts that the fables aim at people. The Monkey and the Grapes (20) remains a favorite of mine; it shows, I believe, a fabulist not paying attention! Now, twelve years after finding this book for the first time, I am taken more than ever by the simple illustrations here, which are grouped two-to-a-page on separate pages. They have a cartoon-like simplicity. I enjoy particularly The Two Frogs (35), The Travellers and the Purse (38), The Mouth and the Limbs (41), and The Lark & her Young Ones (57). Two illustrations seem to be missing: The Cock and the Jewel facing 32 and TMCM facing 83. Here, as elsewhere, June Clinton has been very good to me!