Fables d'Ésope, Représentées en Figures avec les explications et les principaux traits de sa vie
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1810
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Twenty years after finding Tardieu Denesle's volume of Aesop from 1810, I found this beautiful Remoissenet, dated by Le Feu Follet to 1810. I took my new prize to comparison with five editions of Aesop that use Barlow between 1800 and 1810, a surprising concentration of our collection. I noted clear differences in the interpretation of Barlow, some borrowing of texts, some similarities in sequence of fables. Then I came to this volume and started noticing identical elements among the 50 fables and their illustrations and among the ten scenes from the life of Aesop. I finally asked myself "Is this the same book that we found twenty years ago?" The answer is "Yes, almost." The "almost" has a couple of facets. First, the publisher has changed from Tardieu Denesle to Henri Remoissenet. The frontispiece has moved from facing the title-page to following its blank obverse. This is in many ways identical with the first of Denesle's two parts. That book goes on to Fable CVII; it starts its "deuxieme partie at XLI." It numbers not just its fables but its fable pages. And it offers ten scenes more from the life of Aesop. Strangely, the new ten come after the murder of Aesop, which is the final scene of the ten in this book. Thus our ten are their first ten. By comparison with those other four imitations of Barlow, I find these more vigorous, even though they are still a full step away from Barlow's excellence. As I mentioned there, my prize among the illustrations goes to Fable VIII, which shows the hanged wolf in a sheepskin. All of Barlow's drama comes along with this illustration! Similarly, the dynamism of Barlow's work is still evident in WC (Fable XXXVII) and DS (Fable XLVIII). It is easy to see and feel the imprint that the printing press made on each of the pages here. Only the right-hand pages are printed. So here is a fascinating surprise. 8" x 9¾".
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Chez Henri Remoissenet
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13610 (Access ID)