The Fables of Aesop

Abstract

At last I have found a copy--and now two--of an edition I found recommended early in my hunt for fable books. This book may be a good deal later than the date I am guessing for it. Compare with three other books, all by Warne, which I have listed under 1866?, 1867?, and 1869? This edition has a brown cloth cover with black printing and some gold print background only on the spine. It does not say New Edition on the title-page. It lists an address for Warne. It gives the printer (R. Clay, Sons, and Taylor) on the reverse of the title-page. It has no page between the Life of Aesop and the first fable. The advertisements on the front endpapers claim 99 volumes in the Chandos Classics Series. The big learning occasioned by examining this book and the copy listed under 1869? is that the illustrations here are by Herrick! They are exactly the same as those in his 1865 edition. That book claims 111 illustrations, perhaps including the illustration on the title-page, which does not occur here. The typeface is excellent in this printing. Compare it with the deteriorating typeface in the 1869? edition. See my notes on the other volumes, especially on the possible roles played by L'Estrange and Valentine. This volume of course lacks Croxall's long applications, which Herrick includes, though perhaps not always complete.