Fables

In-4 of (28) ff., 284 pp., (1) f., (1) blank f.
Green morocco, broad gilt dentelle framing the covers, spine with raised bands and gilt decorations, double gilt fillet on the edges, gilt dentelle to the inner edges, gilt edges over marbling. Binding by Trautz-Bauzonnet.

232 x 171 mm.

La Fontaine, Jean de. Fables Chosen and Versified by M. de La Fontaine.
Paris, Claude Barbin, 1668.

“First edition of La Fontaine’s Fables published by La Fontaine himself, containing the first six books. It is rare and highly sought after” (Claudin, no. 164).
Tchemerzine, III, 865-866; Brunet, III, 750; In French in the Text, no. 105.

First edition of the first six books of La Fontaine’s Fables, comprising 124 fables.

“There is a philosophy of La Fontaine: he knows the work of Descartes, without fully adhering to it, he also knows the ‘libertine’ philosophers and is not ignorant of the Epicureanism renewed by Gassendi. But he is both conformist and progressive: he supports the advancement of science. Overall, however, pessimism dominates: the flaws he depicts, he treats as if their correction is, ultimately, an endlessly repeating task; he hardly seems to believe in human progress. This is seen in particular when considering self-love or simply love. But, synthesizing his stylistic endeavors and transcending his pessimism, the La Fontaine who emerges in the Fables is above all a poet of humor. Laughter is everywhere present, even in the gravest matters, and takes multifaceted forms. The Romantics hardly appreciated this morality of derision, from the forerunner Rousseau, who banned reading the Fables in Émile, to Lamartine, who saw in it a selfish morality. This is because laughter imbues even the emotions, distancing all subjects as well as objects. And it’s certain that the educational use of the Fables—assigned to schoolchildren to memorize as ‘recitations’ and as moral lessons—obscured and minimized their meanings. The school conservation of the Fables was founded partly on a misunderstanding, but the wider recognition and enduring status of the work rest much more solidly on the multiple layers of meaning that it comprises and which invite and will continue to invite readings and interpretations.” (A.Vi).

This first edition was composed for the Dauphin, son of Louis XIV (whose coat of arms appears on the title page). The fabulist stays true to the spirit of his models, Aesop and Phaedrus, whom he merely enlivens with novel or familiar touches, but the Fables of 1668 mark a major milestone in the history of the genre… since Antiquity, the apologue passed from Greek prose… to Latin verse… it was La Fontaine who truly annexed it to poetry… (In French in the Text).

The edition is illustrated with 118 etchings signed by François Chauveau and with headpieces, initials, and tailpieces engraved in wood.

Brunet was among the first bibliographers to highlight the extreme rarity of copies preserved in their first binding, “La Fontaine’s Fables having passed through the hands of children.”

Jules Le Petit and Brunet, moreover, note only copies rebound in the 19th century; those bound, like the present copy, by Trautz-Bauzonnet fetched the highest auction prices: Répertoire Morgand and Fatout (1878), mar. red by Trautz, 3,400 Fr. gold; Guy Pellion Sale (1882), mar. red, doubled with mar. white by Trautz 3,600 Fr gold; J. Renard Sale (1881), mar. red by Capé, 1,400 Fr. gold; in Duru morocco 495 Fr gold Chedeau.

3,600 Fr gold and 3,400 Fr gold bound by Trautz-Bauzonnet in 1882 and 1878; 1,400 Fr gold bound by Capé in 1881; 495 Fr gold bound by Duru are considerable prices when compared to the 10 Fr gold then required for books to enter the realm of high bibliophily.

Precious and beautiful copy in a superb green morocco binding by Trautz-Bauzonnet, adorned with luxurious gilt dentelle. It also preserves the two contemporary ink corrections on leaves H1R (the word “pas,” crossed out, to be replaced with “plus”) and Y4v (the word “Bien” erased), found in a few copies.

The last copy to come on the market in simple contemporary vellum binding was sold 11 years ago for €325,000 (June 20, 2006, Pierre Bergé – Livre du Cabinet Bérès, June 20, 2006, no. 46). It had only one contemporary manuscript correction on page 176; the word “bien” was crossed out on the tenth line from the bottom and, indeed, was omitted in later editions.

The last copy to appear at public auction bound by Trautz-Bauzonnet was sold for €75,400 eight years ago (ref. Christie’s, June 25, 2009), in the midst of the subprime financial crisis.

From the library of Cécile Eluard.