Les Fables d'Esope Phrygien avec Celles de Philelphe. Traduction Nouvelle

Abstract

The fact that the bookseller did not include the publisher in the advertisement led to this fascinating incident, that we now have a book very close to but not identical with another in the collection, which is listed under "1757?" What is different here? The frontispiece is lacking, as are the page of illustrations for fables CIX and CX, the illustrations for LI and C, and perhaps others. The title-page has an added small illustration, spells Copenhagen with two "P" letters, has a date (1773) and a publisher: "Chez les Heritiers de Rothe et Proft." This title-page does not include a line from the other: "Edition nouv. avec nouvelles Fig." Finally, the illustrations are placed differently, usually two to four pages away from where they are in the other volume. Bodemann does not have a 1773 edition; this edition is still in the family of #97, sometime after #97.3 but distinct from the German #97.4. Its title-page is almost unattached. It is inscribed by previous owners in 1790, 1811(?), and 1917. As I wrote of the other volume, Bodemann #97.3 was published by Witwe des Gabr. Christ. Rothen. The title-page is here again a mix of black and red ink. The strength of this edition lies in its illustrations, generally about 2¼" x 2¾". Except for the last illustration, "The Bear and the Bees" (290), these occur two to a page close to their fable texts. Among the best of these often dark illustrations I would list FC (104); FK (122); FS (142); "The Stag and the Horse" (184); "The Mule and the Wolf" (202); 2W (232); "The Bulls and the Lion" (260); and "The Boy and the Greedy Man at the Well" (266). Each fable gets a generous paragraph of French prose and then a full page or more of "Sens Moral," climaxed by a rhyming quatrain. CJ is first in the order of fables. Aesop's fables finish on 292, and on 293 those of Philelphe begin. They finish on 339, to be followed by "Fables Diverse Tirées d'Esope" by "Gabrias and Avienus." These conclude on 437, to be followed by "Les Contes d'Esope", which finish on 478. After 478 there is a T of C for each of the sections of the book, starting with the life of Aesop at the book's beginning.