Fables
The Fables of La Fontaine illustrated with 276 beautiful figures, bound with the coat of arms of the Countess of Rosny, daughter of the Duchess of Berry.
Very beautiful and precious copy in green contemporary armorial morocco.
6 volumes in-18; green long-grain morocco, gilt fillet and frame roll on covers, arms stamped in gold at center, spine with raised bands and gilt decoration, edges decorated, inner roll, gilt edges. Armorial binding signed by P. Simier.
148 x 92 mm.
La Fontaine, Jean de. Fables of La Fontaine, with plates engraved by Messrs. Simon and Coiny.
Paris, Bossange, Masson and Besson, Year IV [1796].
“Beautiful complete edition of the Fables.It is adorned with a frontispiece and 275 plates drawn by Vivier, first painter to His Serene Highness the Duke of Bourbon and engraved by Simon and Coiny. The frontispiece depicts La Fontaine in bust between rocks; five winged cupids are reading or carrying volumes” (Rochambeau).
Tchemerzine, III, 877; Rochambeau, 54-55; Lesage, Jean de La Fontaine, pp. 154, 157 and 169.
We owe the superb pencil illustrations to Vivier, first painter to His Highness Prince de Bourbon.
“The draughtsman and etcher Coiny engraved landscapes and soon devoted himself to vignettes. His most interesting work in this genre is his illustration for La Fontaine’s Works, published by Didot (1787), for which he engraved the drawings in collaboration with Simon. “Ingenious little figures, made with taste,” says Renouard” (R. Portalis).
“The Fables mark a milestone in the history of the genre. This masterpiece allows him to stand alongside the major representatives of French classicism; its well-deserved success was immediate” (In French in the text).
Exceptional copy, illustrated with 276 plates, preserved in its beautiful contemporary green morocco binding bearing the arms of the Countess of Rosny, daughter of the Duchess of Berry.
Louise Marie Thérèse d’Artois (1819-1864), third child of the Duke and Duchess of Berry, took the title of Countess of Rosny in 1830 after the fall of Charles X, her grandfather. She married Ferdinand Charles de Bourbon in Austria in 1845, who became Duke of Parma in 1849.
