Fables de La Fontaine

Abstract

See the English version of the presumably Italian original of this book under The Fables of Aesop and La Fontaine (1958). Surprisingly, it took Fabbri three years after the English version to get to this French version. Notice also that the English title speaks of both Aesop and La Fontaine, while the French speaks only of La Fontaine--though the fables covered are exactly the same. The texts here are La Fontaine's poetry verbatim. Many of the illustrations are even richer in color than those I already praised for their color in the English version: compare the title-page's colors, for example. The T of C here is at the back rather than in the front. The order of the nineteen fables changes somewhat. MM and The Wise Lark switch positions (on 8 and 23). One reason for the switch lies in the overly long version of La Fontaine's L'Alouette et ses Petits; the English saves a whole page of text. Similarly, the English adds a whole page to MM. Le Chat, la Belette et le Petit Lapin takes an extra page in the French, as does Les Deux Chevres. AD and Les Frelons et les Mouches a Miel switch places, with the latter taking an extra page. In all, the fable texts and illustrations run through 56 in the French and 55 in the English. The FS pictures (21-22) are here again in reverse chronological order. Though La Fontaine's text of FG (30) says nothing about it, we still have here the laughing rabbit holding ripe grapes. The cover and its dust-jacket are beautiful. The transparent dust-jacket overlays gold on the title of the front cover and adds a golden spider's web around the back cover's man holding balloons illustrating animals. A delightful book!