Les fabulistes populaires. Illustrés par Bertall [pseud.]

Paris: Gustave Barba, 1860 ¶ A SCARCE AND VERY VALUABLE COMPILATION comprising 232 moral fables in French verse, selected from the works of 127 fabulists other than La Fontaine and INCLUDING A FABLE ATTRIBUTED TO NAPOLÉON BONAPARTE, said to have been composed by him as a schoolboy at Brienne-le-Château. Each fabulist's work here is prefaced by a short bio-bibliographical note, ranging from two or three lines to a quarter page: Together these notes amount to a rudimentary BIO-BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE MINOR FRENCH FABULISTS circa 1530 - 1851, documenting some 140 fable-books in all. The editor inserts five of his own fables as well, explaining that 'Après avoir réuni les matériaux du présent recueil, il doit s'excuser d'y avoir inséré les fables suivantes, qui le déparent peut-être, mais qui ont l'avantage d'être inédites'. The whole work is prefaced by an essay on the history of the fable genre. The illustrator was Charles Albert d'Arnould (1820-1882), known as 'Bertall'. ¶ VERY SCARCE: Only one copy is recorded in the French union catalogue (CCFr); and only one other copy is known in America. ||| Caption-title. Series: Panthéon populaire illustré, 4ème série, no. 50. Collation: In 8s (301 x 213 mm): 24 leaves, paginated [1] 2-48. Two columns. Half-page wood-engraved headpiece and 18 wood-engraved illustrations after 'Bertall' by Best, Hotelin et Régnier. Binding: Bound ninth in a sammelband of twelve 'éditions populaires illustrées' dated 1850-51 or undated. Contemporary quarter dark-brown morocco, spine lettered 'Mélanges' in gilt and stamped in blind, black boards, marbled endpapers, red headbands, all edges trimmed & plain, binder's waste dated January 1856. ||| References: OCLC 14135706 (UCLA only); RLIN. Not in McKenzie or Carlson. See also Witkowski Les éditions populaires illustrées, 1848-1870 (1997). ||| Provenance: (1) Descotes(?); (2) Société des Missionnaires Diocésains, Pont d'Ain (near Lyon); (3) François Couderette, of Paris. Condition: Rubbed, shaken. ||| For further details please contact Jay Dillon / Rare Books & Manuscripts, as below..