Aesop's Fables

Abstract

Here is a nice reproduction of G.F. Townsend's "Three Hundred Aesop's Fables" of 1880, published then by George Routledge and Sons and including, now as then, fifty of Harrison Weir's illustrations. This reproduction is good enough to reproduce the title-page from that edition, with the addition of the present-day names and places. The Weir illustrations are better defined here than in many of the early publications by various publishers. There is a T of C at the end and a list of illustrations between the life of Aesop and the first fable. I believe that the T of C has changed the typeface of the page numbers; I wonder what mystery lies behind that choice. Have some stories or pages been dropped? This book has made me aware for the first time that there is an editing group named "aesopbooks.com." This volume belongs to their "Aesop Classics," along with Shakespeare and Canterbury Tales. Though this seems to be the only "Aesop" book that they publish, it is heartening to find a publishing group named after the ancient fabulist!