Aesop's Fables: A New Version Written by Munro Leaf with Illustrations by Robert Lawson. Collector's Edition. Bound in genuine leather.

Abstract

I finally broke down and picked up this fancy rendition of a book I have enjoyed very much. The cover is dramatic, the binding is made of buffalo, with moire endleaves and excellent paper--and I still like the art, particularly the full-page illustrations; in fact I like it here more than I did in the original 1941 edition! There is a newly commissioned frontispiece of Aesop by Gillian Tyler, as the newly added Publisher's Preface points out. I think my three copies may represent three stages in the publisher's history with the book. The Gatti copy does the frontispiece in brown, not black, and adds The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written to the title-page. Its covers have not the portrait of a fox but an abstract design, and its framing work on the cover and spine are done in egg-and-dart designs instead of arrows. My third copy drops the title page's reference to The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written, perhaps because Easton's series grew beyond one hundred. What a thoughtful gift!