Description:
Famous edition known as the Fessard edition, the most richly illustrated of La Fontaine in the 18th century.Printed on large paper and with large margins.
Volumes entirely engraved copper-plated, illustrated with 724 compositions by Étienne Fessard from the drawings of several artists including Claude-Louis Desrais, Charles Monnet and Jean-Baptiste Le Prince.
The text was engraved by Montulay and Drouet, as an hors texte, 244 plates stamped on the front alone:
• 2 of dedication (Princes du sang in volume I and Duke of Burgundy in volume VI),
• 238 each illustrating a fable,
• 2 portraits (Aesop and La Fontaine in volume I),
and 2 each illustrating an epilogue.
In the text, on the ff. included in the collation above, 480 vignettes including
• 10 full page (one half-title, one on the back of the title of volume I, 6 titles and three culs-de-lampe),
• 244 banners,
• 226 cul-de-lampe.
Provenance: E. Robert (ex-libris stamp on the title pages) ; Librairie Pierre Berès (label on first inside… Read More