The Fables of...

'The Fables unquestionably represent the peak of La Fontaine's achievement' and this edition, that of Doré's as well.

'La Fontaine did not invent the basic material of his Fables; he took it chiefly from the Aesopic tradition and, in the case of the second collection, from the East Asian. He enriched immeasurably the simple stories that earlier fabulists had in general been content to tell perfunctorily, subordinating them to their narrowly didactic intention.' (Britannica).

Early Printing; folio (315 x265 mm); engraved frontispiece portrait of the author, 86 full-page engraved plates and numerous chapter headings and vignettes throughout, age-toning to text block, the very occasional, minor spot or mark, otherwise very good-plus; publisher's brown cloth, illutrated gilt panels to upper board and spine, rubbed and bumped at extremities, slight fraying to corners, movement to hinges but not split, in the main very good and most handsome.

Ray, Illustrator and the Book, 207.