La Fontaine Fables

Powell, Kirsten H.: Fables in Frames. La Fontaine and Visual Culture in Nineteenth-Century France. New York, Bern, Berlin, Frankfurt/M., Paris, Wien Peter Lang Vlg. 1997. ISBN: 978-0-8204-3096-6
Fables in Frames argues that the increased interest in the fables of La Fontaine during the nineteenth century resulted largely from the activities of artists, who offered the seventeenth-century fables new contexts for a post-Revolution age. First in caricature and book illustration and later in Salon painting, artists transformed the fables to comment on contemporary issues. The goal of this study is to tackle the general issue of why La Fontaine's fables appeared in art at all during the nineteenth century and to explore the specific questions of how certain artists made those texts culturally normative.

XVI, 180 pp., num. ill. Hardback *neuwertig*

[KW: Kunstwissenschaft]

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RUZICKA. - La Fontaine, Jean de: The Fables. Newly translated into English Verse by Joseph Auslander and Jacques Le Clercq, New York, The Limited Editions Club, 1930.
One of 1500 numbered copies printed for the members of The Limited Editions Club and signed in the colophon by the artist. The Czech-born American graphic artist Rudolph Ruzicka (1883-1978) was awarded the gold medal from the American Institute of Graphic Arts in 1935. As a book designer he often worked together with Daniel Berkeley Updike (1860-1941). - Bodemann 422.1. Not in Fabula docet. - Except for the slipcase a fine set.

With 2 engr. title pages (repeated) and 12 engr. vignettes by Rudolph Ruzicka. XX, (2), 265, (1) pp.; XIV, 398, (6) pp. 8vo. Orig. blue cloth with gilt-lettered spine and gilt decoration on front cover. Top edge gilt, outer and lower edges untrimmed. In orig. blue slipcase (edges somewhat worn).

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TRENAMAN. - La Fontaine, Jean de: The Raven and the Fox and other Fables, (London), The Camberwell Press, 1986.
One of 25 numbered copies only on Old Dutch Printing White Laid paper with last leaf blind-stamped "Edition Printed by the Artist". Text set in 12pt Imprint. Edited and designed by Snake River Press. English translation by Elizur Wright. The Camberwell Press is part of the Camberwell College of Arts in London and was founded in the early 1980ies by Eileen Hogan. - Not in Bodemann. - Mint copy.

With 5 full-page lithographs by Geoffrey Trenaman. 39 pp. Royal 4to. Grey grained half morocco with gilt-lettered spine label and marbled boards.

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Gay, (John): Fables. 2 vols, London, J. Tonson and J. Watts; J. and P. Knapton and T. Cox, 1727-1738.
First edition of both volumes of the fables of John Gay (1685-1732, author of the famous "Beggar's Opera", 1728) who stylistically follows the French examples of La Fontaine and La Motte-Houdart. The first volume is dedicated to prince William, Duke of Cumberland (b. 1721). The 50 fables are designed for the education of the prince. The 16 fables of the posthumously published second volume are all dedicated to an individual personality of public renown and include satirical reflexions about the court-life. The frontispiece to vol. II by the French rococo master H.-F. Gravelot (1699-1773) shows the epitaph of John Gay in Westminster Abbey. - Bodemann 110.1 and 110.5; cf. Fabula docet 97 (6th ed. only) u. 98 (3rd ed. only). - Some browning and marginal spotting in vol. I. Vol. II with contemp. ms. ownership entry on title and with small brown spot to inner hinge of the first quire, else a clean copy.

With engr. title vignette, and 51 text vignettes by John Wootton and William Kent (vol. I) and frontispiece, 16 copper plates, and title vignette by Hubert-Francois Gravelot (vol. II). (7) leaves, 173 pp.; (4) leaves, 155 pp. Small 4to (vol. I) and 8vo (vol. II). Modern half grained morocco over five raised bands (vol. I) and contemp. full calf over five raised bands, spine gilt, boards framed with double gilt fillets (vol. II; outer hinges starting and with defective upper spine end).

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