Fables de La Fontaine: Édition Illustrée, Tome II

Abstract

At the end of a wonderfully successful shopping day along the Seine, a favorite Buchinist mentioned this set of four volumes to me. At first I was uninterested; I have a great deal of Grandville. Then he mentioned that the printing of Grandville's illustrations was particularly sharp, and that that quality was what endeared the set to him. I checked and he was right. The illustrations come off the page wonderfully here! Good examples include The Lion in Love (16), The Wolf, the Goat, and the Kid (73), and The Horse and the Wolf (134). Part of the accomplishment of this book is that pages of illustration are not printed on the verso. Though illustration-pages are included in the pagination, they have no page numbers printed on them. There is a place-marking band. This second volume covers Books IV through VI of La Fontaine's fables. At the end of this volume is a T of C of its three books and also an AI for the whole twelve-book, four-volume set. Very nice!