La Fontaine

LA FONTAINE, [Jean] de. Contes et nouvelles en vers. Amsterdam (=Paris), (Duchesne), 1762.
Splendid copy of one of the most famous editions of the stories and novels by Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695).Jean de La Fontaine's <I>Contes et Nouvelles</I> were at the time probably even more popular then his fables. Based on Boccaccio, La Fontaines tales consist of all sorts of exemplary stories, fairy tales and popular tales, they also contained a lesson or moral at the end. In the oldest collections from the East, like the Bidpai or the<I> Thousand and One Nights</I>, fables and fairy tales were freely mixed together, and also in the early West European collections, like the Exempla or the History of the Seven Wise Men of Rome, the various moralizing genres of fables, allegories and fairy tales were all present together. Still, La Fontaine's Contes et Nouvelles were more intended for the amusement of a gallant company than for the education of youth, often containing spicy 'exotic' and erotic elements.Our copy is of the so called 'Fermiers-Generaux' edition. In 1762 La Fontaine was commissioned by the 'farmers-general', or tax-farmers, a large and powerful group of men who collected the indirect taxes levied by the French crown. Nothing was spared to produce ''a fitting monument to the tax-farmers' wealth and position" and contains 71 Contes et nouvelles and other writings. The last 5 stories are not by La Fontaine:<I> La Couturiere, Le Gascon </I>and <I>La Cruche</I> are by Autereau; Promettre est un et tenir est un autre by Vergier and Le Rossignol which is attributed to Lamblin or to Du Trousset de Valincourt. Furthermore the <I>Dissertation sur la Joconde</I> at the end of the first volume, is by Boileau. The portrait of La Fontaine in the first volume is designed by Hyacinthe Rigaud and engraved by Ficquet, who also engraved the portrait of Charles Eisen after Vispre in the second volume. Eisen (1720-1778) on his turn is the designer of the 80 engraved plates illustrating the stories. He was one of the acknowledged masters of French rococo book illustration and these 80 designs are his finest work. "The robustness and voloptuous sensuality of his plates capture the flavor of the original Boccaccio from whom La Fontaine took his these tales, yet the precision and delicacy of their execution saves them from vulgarity." (Leslie A. Morris in <I>Visions of a collector</I>). His designs were engraved by Aliamet, Baquoy, Choffard, Delafosse, Flipart, Lemire, Leveau, de Longueil and Ouvrier. Pierre-Philippe Choffard (1730?-1809) also engraved the vignettes and head- and tailpieces, which wittily comment on the events in every preceding tale. In the second volume, the last tailpiece is a portrait of Choffard. Volume one contains an extra loose, refused engraving that depicts a scene of the fable <I>Le calendrier des Vieillards</I>.
Beautiful copy.
Cohen-De Ricci, pp. 558-68; Leslie A. Morris in: Visions of a collector (Washington 1991), p. 277-9; Lewine, pp. 278-80.

2 vols. 8vo. Contemporary red morocco, spine with gilt flowers and calf title-label, covers with triple-fillet gilt borders and a gilt flower in every corner, inside covers gilt as well, g.e. 2 volumes preserved together in modern slipcase. First volume contains 1 engraved portrait of La Fontaine, and 39 engraved plates illustrating the fables, second volume with an engraved portrait of Charles Eisen and 41 engraved plates. In total 4 vignettes and 53 beautifully engraved head- and tailpieces adorn the 2 volumes. XIV, 268, (2), 16; VIII, 306, (8 + 2 blank) pp.

[SW: Schoolbooks; Fable Books; Fairy Tales; Illustrated Books; La Fontaine; Literature]

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[LA FONTAINE, Jean DE]: La Fontaine en estampes, ou Nouvelle Edition des Fables, plus complete que les precedentes; precedee de la Vie de l'Auteur, extraite du nouvel Ouvrage de M. Walckenaer. Paris, Nepveu, 1821.
Beautiful illustrated edition of the fables of Jean de La Fontaine, dedicated to the Dauphin, and preceeded by "Precis de la Vie de J. de La Fontaine", at the end of which is stated that this edition is especially intended for youth. Further noted is that the arrangement of the large plates brought with it the changing of the usual order of the fables, as well as the omission of their numbering and division in Books. This however, is repaired by the alphabetical index, which adds the relevant Books and numbers to each fable. At the end of each fable some explanatory notes are added for the children as well. The book was printed for Nepveu by Imprimerie de Le Normant at Paris. The beautiful large plates were based on the grand Paris edition of La Fontaine's "Fables" with the magnificent print-series by the painter Jean Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755), and are here in fine and clear impressions. The plate on the title-page is also based on the frontispiece design by Oudry, depicting a detail in which Aesop is pointing out for some large animals the buste of Jean de La Fontaine covered with a garland of flowers. Oudry's fable illustrations were set in elegant architectural backgrounds, idyllic landscapes and beautiful garden scenes in the style of Louis XV.
Fine copy.- (Binding sl. rubbed; pp. XXV-XXVI of the "Precis" s erroneously bound in between pp. X-XI, and the "Dedication to the Dauphin", pp. (XXVII)-XXVIII, is found between pp. XIV-XV).
Not in Gumuchian; Rochambeau 305; for the grand Paris ed. with Oudry's print-series, see <I>Fabula Docet </I>51.

4to. Contemp. half red morocco, spine richly gilt, g.e. With large engraving on title, and 110 half-page engraved plates illustrating the fables, based on the designs by Oudry. XXVIII, 462 pp.

[SW: Fable Books; Illustrated Books; Children's Books; La Fontaine]

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Marais, Mathieu (Jean de La Fontaine): Histoire de la vie et des ouvrages de M. de La Fontaine, par Mathieu Marais. Publiee pour la premiere fois avec des notes et quelques pieces inedites. (includes FIRST PRINTING of "Ode Anacreontique", "Madrigal pour le Roi", "Quittance publique", e, Paris: De l'Imprimerie des Notaires / Renouard, 1811 ; 1. Ed.

FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST ACCOUNT OF LA FONTAINE'S LIFE AND WORKS, written c. 1700 by a friend of La Fontaine but unpublished until this edition. 2 leaves; vi, 132 pp. Includes a few heretofore unpublished poems by La Fontaine. Beautifully printed on fine laid paper. Bound in contemporary calf, decorated in gilt on cover and spine. All edges gilt. Front joint cracked but holding. Spine and corners worn. Internally FINE AND BRIGHT. Rare.

[SW: coleantiq la fontaine french biography fables]

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Orieux, Jean: La Fontaine. Paris: Flammarion, 1976.
Quand Jean Orieux nous fait decouvrir La Fontaine, c'est en verkable ami qu'il le presente, c'est-ä-dire sans indulgence mais sans severite, avec une tendresse toujours chaleureuse. II essaie - et il y parvient de facon magistrale - de nous entrainer dans les arcanes de ce temperament : täche difficile car La Fontaine est un etre secret, qui ne devoile qu'ä contrecceur ses sentiments. Et c'est par une lecture entierement nouvelle des Fahles et des Contes que Jean Orieux eclaire comme jamais eile ne le fut cette personnalite dont il nous dit : " La Fontaine echappe ä tous les jugements et s'evade de toutes les categories. Le voici en disciple d'Epicure; si l'on tourne la page, il est janseniste. II est paresseux et s'en flatte; penchons-nous sur les manuscrits qu'on a de lui : c'est un travail de benedictin. II raille les pretres, le pape, adore la volupte; or, il n'a jamais cesse d'etre profondement religieux. Tantöt il flatte le roi pour ses conquetes et le pousse ä conquerir encore; tantöt il execre les conquerants et, en mainte occasion, fait l'eloge de la paix. II chante la solitude et la simplicite rustiques, mais il se complait dans les salons des duchesses. II fait sa cour aux femmes les plus elegantes dans des poemes d'une delicatesse inimitable, mais il aime fidelement les gaillardises d'auberge et de bordel. Une douce gaiete baigne son ceuvre; or, il est la proie d'une melancolie profonde. II faut en prendre son parti : La Fontaine est tout cela." Jean Orieux est ne en 1907 a Duras. II public en 1940 son premier roman Fontagre. Depuis lors, il n'a cesse de publier romans, nouvelles et biographics. Apres sa remarquablc biographie de Voltaire (Prix des Critiques, 1968), la vic de Talleyrand lui vaut le Prix des Ambassadeurs, 1971. En 1987, le Prix Paul Morand de l'Acadcmie Francaise lui est decerne pour Vensemble de son ceuvrc. Avec Catherine de Medicis, il brossc un double Portrait exceptionnel: cclui d'une vie et celui d'une cpoque.

684 Seiten, gebundene Ausgabe, SU, neuwertig

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