1650-1699

1651 The Fables of Aesop Paraphras'd in Verse, and adorned with Sculpture. By John Ogilby. Franz Cleyn. London: Printed by Thomas Warren for Andrew Crook. $2,300 from Scott Ellis, Nov., '00.

Bodemann #70.1. Here is the costliest book in my collection. I never thought I would have a chance at it! This book has lost its binding, though its boards are still present. After an "epistle dedicatory," a tribute by W. D'Avenant, another tribute by James Shirley, and an imprimatur, we find the eighty-one verse fables in four books (including 22, 20, 18, and 21 fables, respectively). Bodemann rightly calls these "Fabelnachdichtungen." As she says, Aesopic material is broadened by additions, examples, dialogues, citations from ancient history and mythology, and royalistic allusions to contemporary events. Cleyn's frontispiece of Ogilby seems to be lacking, but the second frontispiece is here: Aesop talks to the people in the midst of the animals. There is one plate for Fables 14 and 15. Plate 58 is lacking here. Bodemann says that the image motifs are oriented to Gheeraerts but include many new creations. To my surprise, neither the text nor the illustrations are a clean match for the 1668 reprint from the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. That reprint was done from the second edition, which seems to have had not only new art but changes in the text and a considerable addition of footnotes and notations. Some images here have been colored. Among the images I find best are "The Mountain in labour" (#8), "Of the Boare and the Asse" (#11), "Of the Husband-man and the Serpent" (#16), "Of the Old Hownd and his Master" (#18), "Of the Dog and the Thief" (#21), "Of the Lyon grown old" (#23), FS (#26), "Of the Horse and laden Asse" (#48), SW (#65), OR (#67), and "Of the Youngman and the Cat" (#73). My favorite remains "Of the Rebellion of the Hands and Feet" (#47). In general, these illustrations seem sketchier than those of the 1668 second edition. Note that Ogilby follows the tradition of having a wolf rather than a fox come upon the carved head (#22). This book is crumbling in my hands, but it is a treasure!

1659 Les Fables d'Esope Phrygien: Traduction Nouuelle. Illustrée de Discours Moraux, Philosophiques & Politiques. Par J[ean] Baudoin. Avec les figures en taille douce. Hardbound. Paris: Chez Pierre Rocolet. €280 from Antiquariat Canicio, Heidelberg, August, '12.

I already have a copy of a 1660 Baudoin. I mention there the Paris edition by du Bray in 1659. Bodemann writes at the end of the comment on that 1659 edition that other copies have three other publishers' names: Rocolet, Courbé, and Sommaville. This is one of the Rocolet copies. Bodemann calls the 1659 edition a slightly altered and reduced "Nachdruck" of the 1631 original published by Courbé and Sommaville. This copy is not identical in pagination with that 1660 copy that we have. This copy has flaws. 15-16 and 102-9 are missing in this copy, and there are two sets of pages 581-90, though both sets of pages are where they should be. The printer simply forgot to change his second digit. The illustration for "The Sick Ass and the Wolf" on 328 has been colored green. The illustration for "The Tortoise and the Eagle" (504) has a hole. The illustration for "The Lion and the Goat" (608) is damaged. Canicio counts 120 illustrations. Baudoin's first edition in 1631 in Paris contained only 117 Aesopic fables, reportedly translated by Pierre Boissat. Roman page numbers run through the life and T of C, and start anew at Roman 1 for the fables. Philelphus has his own newly paginated section of 110 pages right after 712. However it happened, this edition has 118 fables. Generally, a fable in large print about a page long is followed by a discourse in small print about two pages long. Some of the discourses reach considerable length; "The Greedy and the Envious" (582) and CP (612) seem to get the record with about seventeen pages of discourse each! Several fables have not a "discours" but only a "remarque." Every fable has an impressive numbered full-page copper-plate, like those in the 1631 edition always on the left side facing the beginning of the fable. Sometimes, as on 61, that process means leaving a whole right page blank. The source for the visual motifs is Gheeraerts, as can be seen in "The Satyr and the Traveller" (638). Two of my favorites among the magnificent illustrations are DS (20) and "The Laborer and the Serpent" (34). "The Dog and the Ass" (84) is also strong. In FK (108), Jupiter in the heavens already has the log in his hand. "The Thief and the Dog" (120) represents more good work. The clear vase in FS (164) allows the fox to see what he is missing inside it. "The Man and the Lion" (338) reverses the monument-relief's lie right before our eyes. The cut-away of the well is curious in "The Fox and the Wolf" (386). 2W (478) shows a man with a curious facial expression as both women work diligently on him. The excellent picture of Aesop facing his life (1) is the only one I notice here to have "Briot sc" inscribed. "Du Laboureur et du Serpent" (34) does not have Briot's name, as it seems to have in the 1660 copy. One hinge of the spine-cover is detached. A great find on a day in Heidelberg! 

1660 Fabulae Variorum Auctorum.  Isaac Nicolaus Neveletus.  Woodcuts after Solis. Hardbound.  Frankfurt: Christoph Gerlach and Simon Beckenstein.  £460 from FineCopy Rare and Collectable Books through Ebay, August, '23.

It is thrilling to bring this book into the collection!  It is the second, augmented, edition of the 1610 original which had the title "Mythologia Aesopica."  "Variorum" is appropriate.  Eight different collections are presented here in their entirety as they were known then.  The edition is augmented in that it includes in its first section, "Fabulae Aesopi," some 148 Greek fables not in the 1610 edition.  The division of the work is significant.  Sections marked by "Aesopi," "Aphtonii," "Gabrii," and "Babrii" are all delivered in Greek with Latin translations, the first two in parallel columns and the latter two in sequential quatrains.  There follow four Latin collections.  Of these, the title-page lists first the "Anonymus Neveleti," perhaps because, like the four Greek collections, it comes from the Bibliotheca Palatina.   The book offers the four Latin collections in this order: Phaedrus, Avienus, Anonymus, and Abstemius.  The title-page offers the count of each.  The total number of fables comes to 781.  The woodcuts imitate those of Virgil Solis.  Many of them recur as their fables appear in multiple collections.  Two of the most frequently repeated illustrations are DLS (127; 329; 361; and 457) and FC (256; 345; 364; 397; and 497).  The editor apparently does not mind that the same illustration of ass and boar appears on 585 and 588.  [16] 678 pages; 237 woodcuts; 3½" x 6".

1660 Les Fables d'Esope Phrygien: Traduction Nouuelle. Illustrée de Discours Moraux, Philosophiques & Politiques. Par J[ean] Baudoin. Avec les figures en taille douce. Hardbound. Rouen: Chez Jean & David Berthelin. £175 from Abbey Antiquarian, June, '98.

Fabula Docet lists three Baudoin editions in its catalogue (#12, 17, 123). Baudoin's first edition in 1631 in Paris contained only 117 Aesopic fables, reportedly translated by Pierre Boissat. With the ethical and political commentary promised in the title, the book already came to 653 pages! For the new edition in 1645, Baudoin broadened the vita and in 1649 he added 18 fables of Franciscus Philelphus (1398-1481). Fabula Docet also presents on 100 the Paris edition of 1659 published by Jean Du Bray. The picture of Aesop as frontispiece to his vita there seems to be the source in mirror-reverse-view for mine here facing the beginning of the vita. (Roman page numbers run through the vita and T of C, and start anew at Roman 1 for the fables.) Bodemann (#67) says of the 1631 edition that its Aesopic fables follow the selection and sequence of the anonymous French collection of 1547. She lists several derivative Baudoin editions--all including the fables of Philelphus--but not this one. The title-plate of this copy is noteworthy. A strong figure at its center holds the instruments of military and hunting power and communicates with the animals arranged below him. I find in this copy 118 fables listed, and I do not see any reference to Philelphus. The whole work finishes on 638. Generally, a fable in large print about a page long is followed by a discourse in small print about two pages long. Some of the discourses reach considerable length; CP (551) seems to get the record with almost seventeen pages of discourse! There is already a hint here of the way Croxall will build sermons on top of the fables! OF (200) allows a reader to catch breath, since it has not a "discours" but only a "remarque." Every fable has an impressive numbered full-page copper-plate, like those in the 1631 edition always on the left side facing the beginning of the fable. Sometimes, as on 201, that means leaving a whole right page blank. The source for the visual motifs is Gheeraerts, as can be seen clearly in "The Satyr and the Traveller" (574). DS (16) is the first to have "Marie Briot sc" inscribed, and it is one of the best illustrations. "Du Laboureur et du Serpent" (28) is another strong Briot illustration. "The Dog and the Ass" (100) is also strong. The illustrations, e.g. of the master's face here, can have so much more detail than smaller ones I have been looking at recently, like those of Chauveau or Remondini. In FK (118), Jupiter in the heavens already has the log in his hand. "The Thief and the Dog" (130) represents more good work. The clear vase in FS (166) allows the fox to see what he is missing inside it. "The Man and the Lion" (308) reverses the monument-relief's lie right before our eyes. The cut-away of the well is curious in "The Fox and the Wolf" (350). 2W (426) shows a man with a curious facial expression as both women work diligently on him. I had to hand carry this book in my travels from Cheltenham to Naples and through Germany. We became very good friends!

1660? (Les Fables d'Esope Phrygien).  Jean Baudoin.  Hardbound.  $200 from The Presbyterian Baptist through Ebay, Sept., '21.

This book represents a significant addition to the collection in a family already richly represented.  The family of Bodemann #67.1, associated with Jean Baudoin as its author, contains four editions (1631, 1659, 1682, and 1683).  Our collection already has editions in this family dated 1649, 1659, 1660, and 1669.  This present copy has its own place among them.  Cataloguing this book is challenging because pages are lacking at the beginning and -- almost certainly -- at the end.  Elements to note near the beginning are these: the first present pages are in the "Epistre," signed by Baudoin.  After a notice to the reader, there is an unillustrated life of Aesop (1-131) begun with a strong full-page illustration of Aesop signed by Briot and featured in "Fabula Docet."  There follows an unpaginated T of C of 118 individual fables -- the last on 650 -- and, finally, a statement of royal privilege signed by Renovard and dated 1631.  At this copy's end, there is a statement "end of the 117th fable" at the bottom of 648; pagination had started over for the fables themselves.  Along the way, each fable receives a full-page illustration, many of them dependent, I believe, on Gheeraerts.  Examples of strong and familiar illustrations include "Thief and Dog" (#21 on 113) and "Traveler and Satyr" (#106 on 585).  Pages 15-16 are missing.  Numeration of the fables is off in their 80's; these are listed as though they are 90's.  Image pages are printed on the verso, and the paper is very thin.  Each fable is followed here by a "discours" or a "remarque."  By contrast with some other Baudoin editions, there is no "Philelphus" section here after the Aesop section.  Apparently all of these Baudoin editions follow the order and number of fables found in Bodemann #26.1, an anonymous French collection of 1547.  I gather that the 1669 edition turns to a different artist for its illustrations.  4¼" x 6¾".  I will leave it to bibliographers with more resources and time than me to discern the publisher and date of this lovely book!

1664 Vita Di Esopo Frigio, Prudente, & Facetto Favelatore. Tradutto dal Sig. Conte Giulio Landi. Hardbound. Venice: Per Il Cestari. $183.50 from Brakov, Hampshire, UK through eBay, July, '08.

Here is a great little addition to the collection. It most closely approximates Bodemann #52.3 but was published nine years earlier. The publisher there is listed as "Erben des Giovanni Baptista Cestari," with a publication date of 1673. Here it is simply "Per Il Cestari" in 1664. The dimensions, page numbers, and other bibliographical specifics of the book seem otherwise the same. With vellum covers, this little Italian translation of 400 fables on 419 pages with a T of C at the end has lost its spine. The "Vita" lasts through 144. After each fable there is a "Sentenza." Bodemann #52.3 has 139 illustrations. That number is at least approximately correct for this version. As in that edition, there is frequent repeating of images. Thus the image on 147 is the same as that on 386, and the image on 191 is the same as that on 214. The front cover shows a number of worm holes. The illustrations are delightful but of varying quality, both in their artistic conception and in their printing. The book is very fragile.

1666 Aesop's Fables with his Life: in English, French, and Latin, Newly Translated. English by Thomas Philipott, French and Latin by Robert Codrington. Illustrated with one hundred and ten sculptures by Francis Barlow. First edition. Hardbound. London. $4000 from Stephen Zabriski, Dublin, CA, April, '06.

Here is one of the foremost treasures of this collection! Barlow did a first edition, to which this book belongs, in 1666. As Hobbs reports, "The original edition had been printed in 1666, a year after Ogilby's folio collection, but most copies vanished in the Great Fire of London. Barlow's one hundred and ten vigorous compositions -- which he etched himself -- gave fresh impetus to the ever-persisting influence of Marcus Gheeraerts' genre pictures, which had yielded a whole succession of imitations since their first appearance in 1567." There are actually one hundred and twelve illustrations, including the frontispiece -- Aesop and the animals -- and title-page. The title-page actually dates the book to 1665. After three lives of Aesop -- English, French, and Latin -- each fable has its own program: a French prose version with "Le Sens Moral"; the half-page illustration including the English verse version; and the Latin prose version with its moral. So many of these illustrations are either memorable or famous or both! I feel as though I have seen half of them elsewhere in various histories in tribute to Barlow. There are some curious features of the book. The consistency of the paper is different on different pages. The illustrations (including the English verse) are clearly imprinted onto the paper in a separate operation from the printing of the prose texts, and the two do not always align well with each other. There are some problems, as could only have been expected in bringing together many different elements. Thus on 99 the illustration is of the ant and fly. It is labeled "Ant and Grasshopper." On 143 there is a picture of a man and cat; the title is "The Nurse and her Child," already used correctly on 139. Is "The Old Lyon" (199) a repeat picture? There is a bit lacking on the book's last page; there are some repeated tears (e.g., on 132); and there is some water damage. But what a glorious book! "Even more than Gheeraerts, Barlow 'in turning fable illustrations from humorous pantomime or stylized morality plays into often moving domestic drama' (Hodnett 1979) achieved 'a sense of credibility that is the mark of distinguished illustration" (Hobbs, 62). Besides Stephen Zabriski, this book has belonged to Charles Butler; Edward Cheney; and John Griffith and Justice Edwards.

1667 Phaedri Augusti Caesaris liberti, Fabularum Aesopiarum libri quinque, notis perpetuis illustrati et cum integris aliorum observationibus in lucem editi a Joanne Laurentio.  Laurentius.  Christian Hagens (frontispiece).  First edition; boxed.  Hardbound.  Johannes Janssonius van Waesberrge - Witwe des Elizei Weyerstraet.  $360 from Oak Knoll Books, New Castle, Delaware, Oct., '20.

Oak Knoll Books was running a 20% off sale, and I could not resist adding this early first edition to the collection.  The collection has had an early descendant of this Laurentius 1667 edition, printed perhaps in 1750 and bought in June, '98, at a Great Russell Book Fair in London.  With this copy, we have a title-page and the glorious frontispiece featuring a Roman Emperor, Phaedrus, and Aesop.  Bodemann #75.1 notes the number of dedications that open the book.  They are followed by an AI.  The illustrations for each fable are uniformly just over 3½" by 2¾".  According to Bodemann, they have few known sources.  They tend to portray several phases of a fable at once; for example, on 43 we see in the foreground the stag admiring his image in the water.  Further back and to the right, we see the dogs catching the stag as the hunter stands by.  Similarly, we see both phases of FS on 78.  The illustrations are strong and well preserved.  They were printed in a separate phase from the texts, as is clear for example on 25, where the illustration overlaps the bottom of the title.  I seem to remember many of the images from various sources, like the dramatic pose of the Aesop statue on 128.  Page 194 has a second illustration pasted in over the original illustration for III 12, "Pullus ad Margaritam."  The same on 205 for "Canis ad Agnum," III 15.  Several fables, like V 2, seem to have some lines expurgated and replaced with asterisks.  I am unsure why.  The fables are followed by significant sections of "Variae Lectiones," "Notae Guyeti," "Vocabulorum," and an "Index Rerum et Verborum." The final page has a list of errata.  Beautiful leather binding and matching box.

1667/1750? Phaedri Augusti Caesaris liberti, Fabularum Aesopiarum libri quinque, notis perpetuis illustrati et cum integris aliorum observationibus (Rigaltii, Rittershusii, Schoppii, Meursii, Fabri, Schefferi) in lucem editi a Joanne Laurentio. Laurentius. Illustrated by Christian Hagens, NA. Hardbound. Amsterdam?: Jansson Westberg and Vidua Elzaeus Weyerstraet? £75 from T.F.S. Scott, at a Great Russell Book Fair in London, June, '98.

This exquisite book lacks a title page and 177/78. Besides, 179 is misprinted as 197. It remains for me an exquisite mystery book. If it were not for the fact that it seems to end on 400, I would think that it is either a copy or a descendant of Laurentius' 1667 edition, because the illustrations match so exactly those given by Bodemann in Fabula Docet (19 and 144). The Laurentius edition is Bodemann's #68 in Fabula Docet and #75.1 in Das Fabelbuch. I can find no mention of reproductions of Hagens' work in Carnes or Bodemann. Here is work for a researcher more skilled than I! In the meantime, it is a lovely little book, very well preserved and nicely bound.

1668 Fables choisies, mises en vers par M. de la Fontaine. Illustrations by Francois Chauveau. Hardbound. First edition. Paris: Denys Thierry. $369 from Lorne Scharf, Hampstead, Quebec, through eBay, Sept., '03.

I never thought that I would be able to place a copy of La Fontaine first edition of 1668 into the collection. Whoopee! The edition includes the first six books of La Fontaine's fables. There is an AI at the front, along with the dedicatory letter to "Monsieur le Dauphin" and a life of Aesop. Each fable (except the second of double-fables and the last two) receives a small (2.5" x 2" ) illustration. In the past, I have criticized Chauveau's illustrations. Here I find more to praise. First, do not miss the very nice hand-colored "Les deux Taureaux & une Grenouille" (II 4). (I also notice some coloring in OF, I 3). Some of the illustrations show more force and drama than others, like "Lex deux Mulets" (I 4). I have already praised I 14 (the palace crumbles), III 1 (MSA), and V 12 (Les Medecins). I still think that the illustration for II 13 may miss the point; the star-specialist here is looking at something in his hand. III 14 shows difficulty in depicting a lion's head. A previous owner has made a list of missing items on the blank pre-title-page. One page of the T of C is missing (roughly from "H" to "O"). First first leaf of "La vie d'Ésope" is not here. Pages 215-218 are not here (V 10 and V 11). Pages 58, 252, 258, and 260 have been restored. Pages 265 and 267 are missing small but important portions--important in that they belong to illustrations. Finally, 280-281 is missing. This book is a treasure!

1668 The Fables of Aesop Paraphras'd in Verse, 2 vols in one..  John Ogilby.  Illustrated by Wenceslaus Hollar.  Second Edition.  Hardbound.  London: Thomas Roycroft.  Gift of Creighton Archives, Jan., '19.

Ogilby here sets a new standard by improving on his 1651 edition with a folio edition, a size and type of book, I believe, not previously published in England.  This book, about 16" x 10", offers two new enhancements.  First, the art work was done now largely by Wenceslaus Hollar, often basing his engravings on the simpler etchings of Cleyn from 1651.  Critics rave about the achievement of Hollar, one of the standout artists in the history of fable illustration.  The second enhancement is that Ogilby himself creates a set of marginalia commenting and expanding on the various references already embedded in the stories.  Latin and Greek sources and mythological cross-references lift Aesop into an even higher level of respectability.  Performance art has gone one step further as a learned, curious man invites cultured readers into the realms of ancient story and mythology.  Some of the fascination in reading this book is surely the pleasure of listening to a learned man in action.

1668/1930  Fables choisies, mises en vers par M. de la Fontaine. Illustrated by FranH ois Chauveau. #185 of 600 facsimiles. Original: Paris: Denys Thierry. Facsimile: Paris: Firmin-Didot. $24 at Crescent City Books, New Orleans, August, ’96.

A prize and a surprise. Here is a fine facsimile of the first six books that La Fontaine published together in 1668. Two pages of notes at the conclusion name the differences from the authorized version of 1678 and 1679. There is an AI at the front, along with the dedication, preface, and life of Aesop. Each fable (except the second of double-fables and the last two) receives a small (2.5" x 2") illustration. Perhaps I expected too much from such a classic, but they are disappointing: small, uninspired, derivative, and stylized. The best of them might be I 14 (the palace crumbles), III 1 (MSA), and V 12 (Les Medecins). Both text and illustration are strong in VI 8 ("Le Vieillard & l’Asne"); I think the real point here is that any master is our enemy. The illustration for II 13 may miss the point; the star-specialist here is looking at something in his hand. III 14 shows difficulty in depicting a lion’s head. There seem to be horizontal and vertical lines across the engravings; are these in the original or the facsimile? I cut the pages of this book. I find it a frail treasure!

1668/1965 The Fables of Aesop Paraphras'd in Verse. John Ogilby. Illustrations especially by Wenceslaus Hollar, also by Stoop and perhaps by Francis Barlow. Introduction by Earl Miner. Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: UCLA. $8 from the publisher, 1985. Extra copy for $6.38 at Murphy-Brookfield Books, Iowa City, April, '93.

The versions here are longish and filled with topical references. The illustrations are quite faint. Several put another fable's picture in the background. The best illustrations for me might be "The Head and the Members" [with a great belly-face] and FS.

1669 Les Fables d Esope Phrygien. Illustrées de Discours Moraux, Philosophiques, et Politiques. Nouvelle édition.  Jean Baudoin.  Pieter van der Borcht.  Hardbound.  Brussels: François Foppens.  400 Swiss Francs from Peter Bichsel Fine Books, Zurich, June, ‘21.  

I was particularly attracted to this book for a long time, especially because we do not otherwise have any work of Pieter van der Borcht.  I also have had my eye out for anything done by Baudoin.  As Peter Bichsel writes, this is a collection of 117 Aesopian fables compiled by the French scholar Jean Baudoin with his life of Aesop.  Baudoin s collection was first published in 1631 in Paris. The Brussels editions like this contain a different series of illustrations from the earlier Paris editions.  Borcht, who worked for the famous Plantin printers in Antwerp here presents an engraved frontispiece and 147 vignettes in the text, each about 2” x 1½”.  The frontispiece shows that great court scene I have admired so much in Sadeler.  Is that Aesop delighting the children and looking out over all the animals?  The beginning life of Aesop features an illustration for each of its 30 chapters.  Pagination simply begins over again with the fables.  Typical fable illustrations are WL (4) and OF (119).  Well executed!  One finds on 329 a remarkably graphic depiction of “The Greedy Man and the Envious.”  Each fable is followed by a lengthy “Discours Moral,” foreshadowing what Croxall would do in English some 50 years later.  Bodemann does not have this edition, but her #67.3 is a later Brussels Foppens edition from 1682.  The earlier Paris editions to which Bichsel refers include Bodemann's #67.1 from 1649 and #67.2 of 1659.  3¾" x 6¼".

 

1673 Phaedri Fabularum Aesopiarum Libri Quinque. Cum adnotationibus Joannis Schefferi Argentoratensis et Francisci Guyeti. Notis Nunquam antea publicatis. Editio Tertia Prioribus Emendatior & Auctior in qua iungitur interpretatio Gallica cum notis, & Index Latinus uberrimus. Hamburg: Gothofred Schultzen and Amsterdam: Joannes Janssonium a Waesberge. $15 at Goodspeed's, Jan., '89.

There is a nice French translation immediately after the text of each fable. Copious notes. Guyeti's additional notes begin on 248. They are in French and seem to include some Greek. A steal for the price!

1675 Aesopicks or a Second Collection of Fables Paraphras'd in Verse, Adorned with Sculpture, and Illustrated with Annotations. By John Ogilby. Illustrated by Wenceslaus Hollar?, Francis Barlow?, and Joshua English?. Third edition. London: Printed for T. Basset, R. Clavel, and R. Chiswel at the George in Fleetstreet, at the Peacock, and the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard. $130 from June Clinton, April, '98.

Bodemann #76.1 is the first edition of this work. I take it that the first edition was a large-format work. I suspect that the annotations there were done in the margin. Here "Androcleus" and "The Ephesian Matron" are the two last texts, following fifty fables and finishing on 267. A T of C follows next, and then the annotations are separately paginated on 32 pages. I will be curious to compare the full-page illustrations here someday with those in the first edition. I presume that these are copies by another hand. My favorites among them are: "Of the Swan and the Stork" (#5), "Of the Crab and her Mother" (#9), DW (#43), "Of the Fox and the Eagle" (#46), and "Of the Panther and Rusticks" (#49). The best images for "Androcleus" may be the human images facing 213 and 217, and for "The Ephesian Matron" the human image facing 229. The illustration for FC (#8) seems to be missing. Not every fable receives an illustration; several pairs or sets of three seem to use the same illustration (e.g., #24-26 and #27-28, respectively). Some fables (like #36) may simply be missing their illustration. The book is in good condition--especially when compared with my copy of the first edition!

1677/1982 Labyrinte de Versailles 1677. Présenté par Charles Perrault. Avec des gravures de Sébastian Le Clerc. Postface de Michel Conan. Hardbound. Paris: Le Temps des jardins: Editions du Moniteur. €30 from Michel Besombes, Le Marché George Brassens, Paris, July, '12.

This is perhaps the sixth book I have found presenting the Labyrinthe at Versailles. I continue to be fascinated and somewhat confused by the subject. My confusion here arises from a book I just catalogued: Contes et Fables: Texte Integral, a contemporary work including what seem to be Perrault's labyrinth fables. Each of these includes a prose summary and a verse moral, which is almost always amatory in character. Now I go back to this facsimile of Perrault's 1677 work and find the prose summaries, separate from the illustrations, but I find none of the verse morals about love. There is a verse moral with each fable here, but it seems different and not focussed particularly on love. In the early part of this book, the prose rendition of each fable is followed by a description of the fountain scene presented in the Labyrinth. The rendering of LeClerc's plates is adequate. The Labyrinth, the back cover tells us, was destroyed in 1774. The postface by Michel Conan includes nine illustrations, listed just after the postface.

1678/2010 Fables d'Esope en Quatraines dont Il y en a une Partie au Labyrinthe de Versailles. (Isaac) Benserade. Illustrations by Pierre le Sueur I. Paperbound. Paris/La Vergne, TN: Sebastien Mabre-Cramoisy/Kessinger Publishing. AU$32.49 from The Nile Publishing Company, Australia, Sept., '10.

One learns from Wikipedia that André Le Nôtre initially planned a maze of unadorned paths in 1665, but in 1669, Charles Perrault advised Louis XIV to include thirty-nine hydraulic fountains each representing one of the fables of Aesop. The work was carried out between 1672 and 1677. In 1675 the poet Isaac de Benserade provided the quatrains accompanying each fountain. Here Benserade adds enough fable quatrains to make a total of 221, the additional ones following the pattern he had set with the 1675 fountain quatrains. A number of the quatrains here are marked "Versailles"; apparently those are the very ones used in the labyrinth. The publisher of this original book is the same that published Perrault's book on the labyrinth a year earlier. Though this copy, like most on-demand reprints, suffers from inexact xeroxing, the cameos are surprisingly detailed and quite pleasing. Take as a sample Fable LXXII on 73. The quatrain is simple and clear. The cameo presents the characters, a serpent and a hedgehog, clearly and has them face each other, as they may well have done during their spirited dialog! As Metzner notes in his Bodemann description, the quatrain often serves as a title for the cameo. I have three books from the labyrinth tradition: Labyrinte de Versailles (1683?) by Perrault, with Sébastian Le Clerc as illustrator and Nicolaus Visscher as publisher; Labyrinte de Versailles (1690?) by Johann Ulrich Krauss, reproduced in a contemporary version by Helmut Eisendle; and Aesop at Court (1768) by Bellamy, with Bickham as an illustrator and W. Faden as publisher.

1683? Labyrinte de Versailles. Isaac de Benserade; Charles Perrault. Sébastian Le Clerc? Second edition? Hardbound. Amsterdam: Nicolaus Visscher. €2200 from Librairie de l'Avenue, St. Ouen , Paris, June, '09.

Finding this book was a terrific surprise! Laurence Veyrier had shown me a number of fable books. As I finished, she mentioned offhand that I probably would not be interested in the Versailles labyrinth. I have looked for it for years! At last I had it in my hand. I breathed deeply and considered my policy that I should buy any book that I have not had in my hand before. We negotiated and I finally agreed to have the book sent to me in Heidelberg, so that I would carry it back to the USA. (A box of books from Germany had been lost in the mail a year before.) I love the book! There are several clues to its structure. First, the text sections are all in fours to accommodate the four languages. The title-page thus has four titles. After what look like two "imprimi potest" statements in Dutch, there are four addresses to the "Courteous Reader." After four descriptions of the labyrinth, quartets of fable texts plus fountain explanations follow, both in prose. Pagination of this section ends on 82. Four "explanations of the platform" follow, an enumerated list of fables. New pagination then marks the illustration section. Two beginning illustrations show the labyrinth's plan and the two statues -- Aesop and Cupid -- at its entrance. Then follow thirty-nine engravings of the fountains. On the left facing each illustration is Benserade's quatrain and a poetic rendering into quatrains in the other three languages. The key to understanding the artistry of the fountains is, I believe, that the water is the animals' speech. They frequently spew forth in competition with each other. The pattern is at its simplest in Fable III, UP. Cock spews back a lie for the fox's lie. That the stream of water is speech-as-attack seems to me clear in Fable XXI, WC, where only the wolf spews water. The same effect is at work in "The Fox and the Goat" (XXIV), where the goat is in the water and not spewing it, while the fox pours insults onto him. Of course a well is a perfect setting for a part of a fountain! Stories that are new to me include "The Cock and the Turkey-cock" (Fable VIII) and "The Parrot and the Ape" (XVII). I had mentioned the latter in my comment on the reprint version of this book done by Helmut Eisendle in 1975. The mother monkey squeezes her son to death in Fable XI; might the water be pressured out of him by her embrace? Favorites of mine include Fable XII, a domed enclosure in which the birds and beasts fight it out with their water streams; Fable XXII, the kite's party in which the guests learn that they are the meal; Fable XXVI, in which the frogs are stupidly spewing forth their desires about kingship; and Fable XXXVIII, "The Serpent and the Porcupine," where torrents of water represent the porcupine's quills. Fountains XIII and XIV are the two phases of FS, beautifully done. Fable XIX has the frog carrying the mouse on his back in the water. I have trouble finding that a good version of this story. It may be a sample of what had become of some fables in the tradition: the principal twist of the story is lost, and good artists are working with inferior stories. Bodemann #79 mentions four editions in a LeClerc tradition: 1677 in Paris, 1679 in Paris (first and second editions by Mabre-Cramoisy); about 1700 by Krauss in Augsburg (the edition used by Eisendle); and 1768 in London with plates by Bickham. Hobbs describes the Visscher edition (60) and seems confident that the illustrations are from LeClerc. Veyrier calls this a second edition. A pencilled date is either 1682 (Visscher's first edition) or -- more likely -- 1683.

1686 Ad Iambum Ut Carolum Pererium V. Cl. admoneat Fabulam iamdudum promissam in lucem edere. Carolus Pererius, Joannes Comirius. Paperbound. Paris: Andreae Cramoisy. €5 from Antiquariat Müller & Gräff, Stuttgart, August, '09.

Here is a strange little eight-page pamphlet that seems to be a dialogue between two fabulists, Carolus Pererius and Joannes Comirius, S.J. At first there is an introduction and then a fable, "Mus, Feles, & Muscipula," that is, "The Mouse, the Cat, and the Mousetrap." Pererius responds in an iamb, which is followed by an address to Comirius, followed by another fable, "Leo Aeger, Vulpes & Lupus," that is, "The Sick Lion, the Fox, and the Wolf." Burrowing into the medieval Latin verse here will have to wait for another day! 

1689 Fables d'Esope, avec les Figures de Sadeler.  Pierre du Fresne.  Illustrations after (Aegidius) Sadeler.   Traduction Nouvelle.  Hardbound. Paris: Pierre Auboyn, Pierre Emery, & Charles Clouzier.  $1500 from Scott Schilb, April, '18.

Here is the French translation of the original German "Theatrum Morum" of 1608, published by Paul Sesse in Prag.  The illustrations, however lovely, are done "after" Sadeler, not by him.  After a signed frontispiece offering humans on an upper tier and animals on a lower tier, there are 139 prose fables, each with a rectangular illustration covering about half of the right-hand page with a "sens moral," while the text takes up the left-hand page.  There are some unfortunate brown stains on this lovely old book's pages.  Apparently Sadeler follows in the tradition of de Dene.  In any case, these are wonderfully active and detailed illustrations!  279 pages.  This book has clearly been around for a while!  My prizes among the illustrations go to "The Thief and the Dog" (41); "The Ass and the Lapdog" (103); WLS (131); and "The Bull and the Calf" (135).

1692 Fables of Aesop and other Eminent Mythologists with Morals and Reflexions. By Sir Roger L'Estrange, Kt. First edition. London: R. Sare, T. Sawbridge, B. Took, M. Gillyflower, A. & J. Churchil, and J. Hindmarsh. $465 from Emil Reimer, Steinbach, MB, Canada, through Ebay, Nov., '00.

Bodemann #86.1. Included are these elements: Frontispiece, Title-Page, Preface, Aesop Engraving, Life of Aesop in eighteen chapters (with pages in Arabic numerals 1-28), AI, Errata, and (starting on a new Arabic "1") five hundred numbered fables without illustration finishing on 480. Bodemann offers a division of the fables: Aesop (1-201), Barlandus, etc. [from Aesopus Dorpii] (202-214), Anianus, etc. (215-252), Abstemius, etc. (253-351), Poggius (352-373), Miscellany fables [= Fables in the Common School-Book] (374-383), Supplement [of more recent authors] (384-500). The frontispiece portrait of L'Estrange is by G. Kneller. Facing the "Life of Aesop" is a full-page engraving of Aesop among the animals and birds. Bodemann seems to speak of 132 text-illustrations, but there are none here. Do I understand correctly that they were appended as a group after the fables? I do not think I have yet seen an illustrated edition of L'Estrange. There is some water damage perceptible on many pages, especially early in the book. The bottom of the outer spine is worn away. Internally the book seems sound. Signed "Charles Wright 1692" on cover page. Ex Libris "Scott Chad." This is the year during which I have seen to digitizing L'Estrange's 500 fable texts. I am delighted to have found this book at just the right time!

1694 Fables of Aesop and other Eminent Mythologists with Morals and Reflexions.  By Sir Roger L'Estrange, Kt..  Second edition.  Hardbound.  London:  R. Sare, T. Sawbridge, B. Took, M. Gillyflower, A. & J. Churchil, J. Hindmarsh, and G. Sawbridge.  $165 from Thomas J. Joyce and Company, Chicago, May, '19.

Here is a venerable old second edition to complement our first (1692) and third (1699).  Included are these elements: frontispiece portrait of L'Estrange (detached), Aesop engraving (plus blank verso), title-page (plus blank verso), Life of Aesop in nineteen chapters (with pages in Arabic numerals 1-28), Preface (8 pages), AI (7 pages and a blank), and (starting on a new Arabic "1") five hundred numbered fables without illustration finishing on 476.  Also on 476 are both "Fables omitted in the table" and "errata's" (sic).  Bodemann's account of the first edition (#86.1) offers a division of the fables that holds true here: Aesop (1-201), Barlandus, etc. [from Aesopus Dorpii] (202-214, beginning on page 181), Anianus, etc. (215-252, beginning on page 195), Abstemius, etc. (253-351, beginning on page 217), Poggius (352-373, beginning on page 317), Miscellany fables [= Fables in the Common School-Book] (374-383, beginning on page 342), Supplement [of more recent authors] (384-500, beginning on page 352).  Each of these sections begins with a fresh title-page.  Somehow this edition ends up being four pages shorter than the first edition.  Tom got this book for me from Hindman Auctions in Chicago.  Their price was $150.  I will enclose their invoice.  How nice of Tom to think of me!

1693 Esope en Belle Humeur.  Aesop.  Hardbound.  Brussels: Chez François Foppens.  $599 from Scott Schilb, Columbia, MO, August, '15.

The title continues ""Ou Derniere Traduction et Augmentation de ses Fables, en Prose, et en Vers."  As Bodemann notes, there are 157 fables on 360 pages, followed by an AI.  A strong frontispiece starts the book facing the inside front cover: a capped Aesop, carrying an object, walks through a pastoral scene surrounded by animals and perhaps a child.  The title-page is followed by a ten page envoy "Esope au Lecteur."  This Aesop promises the reader "une plaisante affaire," especially because he is in good humor.  The illustration at the start of the two-page life of Aesop is especially lively: Aesop dances while monkeys play music (15).  That pagination makes clear, I believe, that the printer has been counting pages from the very first page.  The illustrations, about 2" by 1½", are strong and well defined.  Among the strongest are "The Eagle and the Fox" (26); "The Stag Caught by His Antlers" (55); "The Horse and the Stag" (109); "The Dog and the Ass" (122); "An Old Dog and His Master" (179); TMCM (199); TB (208); "Two Lobsters" (258); OR (265); 2W (287); 2P (297); "The Greedy and the Envious" (302); and "The Eagle and the Crow" (347).  It seems to me that I have seen this book's illustration for GA (233) before.  La Fontaine's GA appears without illustration in its original form on 244 and is soon followed by a number of other La Fontaine texts, usually without illustration.  Other fables too, like "The Charlatan" (194) and "L'Alouette et ses Petits" (224) lack illustrations.  This book is another star in this collection!  About 6" x 3½".  Formerly owned by Denis du Peage.

1698 Phaedri Augusti Liberti Fabularum Aesopiarum. Libri V. Cum integris commentariis Marq. Gudii, Conr. Rittershusii. Nic. Rigaltii, Nic Heinsii, Joan. Schefferi, Jo. Lud. Praschii, & excerptis aliorum. Curante Petro Burmanno. Curante Petro Burmanno (Peter Burman). Frontispiece drawn by Tiedemann, engraved by Joseph Mulder. Hardbound. Amsterdam (Amstelaedami): Heinrich Wetstein (apud Henricum Wetstenium). $299.99 from The Holy Graal, Edmonton, Canada, through ebay, Nov., '11.

I had been looking for some time for a second full copy of Peter Burman's famous commentary on Phaedrus, reproduced so many times in so many different ways. I had previously found a 1745 Luchtmans edition from Leiden. I noticed this copy on eBay and went for it. It turns out that this is the editio princeps of Burman! Bodemann #90.1 and Carnes #94. Carnes writes "The first Pieter Burman (1668-1741) edition of Phaedrus, which is to become generally the standard Phaedrus for the next century, and (through second and third) generation editions, well into the nineteenth century. This popularity results in a pedigree almost impossible to follow. Burman's edition will be the foundation for many other editions, all through Europe and North and South America, some of which will credit Burman, though most do not. Burman himself will see three editions through the press, together with a shorter school version. The 1698 edition contains the first edition of the transcription of the R manuscript. Contains also commentaries by Marquard Gude (1635-1689), Konrad Rittershausen (1560-1613), Nicolas Rigault (1577-1654), Nicolaus Heinsius (1620-1681), Johannes Scheffer (1621-1679), and Johann Ludwig Prasch (1637-1690)." Bodemann is more exact in recording the unusual pagination as one moves from introduction to texts to index to commentaries to an index on the commentaries: [54], 312, [58], 203-462, [58]. I cannot find the promised contribution of Heinsius here. Scheffer and Prasch have praefationes early in the book.

1699 Fables of Aesop and other Eminent Mythologists with Morals and Reflexions. By Sir Roger L'Estrange, Kt. The Third Edition Corrected and Amended. London: R. Sare, B. Took, M. Gillyflower, A. & J. Churchil, G. Sawbridge, and H. Hindmarsh. £40 from June Clinton, May, '96.

Bodemann does not seem to have a separate listing for other than the 1692 first edition of L'Estrange's work. The second edition was in 1694. Here is the third. By a random sampling, I conclude that the entire work has been newly typeset. This copy lacks the frontispiece portrait of La Fontaine; it also does not have the preface or the portrait of Aesop that faced the "Life of Aesop" in my first edition. There is no longer a list of errata facing the first fable; presumably they have all been corrected! There are 476 pages, whereas the first edition had 480. The title-page print area is crowded into the upper left corner of the page. Two names among the publishers have changed their initial; they had been T. Sawbridge and J. Hindmarsh. I have put down the price that June Clinton charged me for this book, but that is a joke. It should be listed simply as a gift--because that is what it is. My understanding is that one of L'Estrange's major contributions to the history of fable publishing is the addition of the "Reflexion" to the moral. We will pay dearly for this innovation in reading L'Estrange's political and religious adversary, Croxall! The reflections include undisguised social and political commentary with more than a hint of Jacobitism.

1699/1910? Fables of Aesop and other Eminent Mythologists with Morals and Reflexions. By Sir Roger L'Estrange, Kt. The Third Edition Corrected and Amended. London: R. Sare, B. Took, M. Gillyflower, A. & J. Churchil, G. Sawbridge, and H. Hindmarsh; Reprinted and Published by W.H. Allen and Co. $50 from an unknown source, July, '98.

One of two different copies I have of this reprint, originating from different publishers. The surprising thing is that I have a third edition of L'Estrange, and neither of these books is an exact reproduction of it. The typesetting is new. Did the reproducers set the type for a whole new edition? The order of elements in this volume is this: Frontispiece, Title-Page [with the misprinted date of 1669], acknowledgement of the reprinter, AI, blank, Life of Aesop (1-30), Preface, and the 500 Fables (1-476). This edition has gilt page-edges all the way around, a green cloth cover, and a gold-on-red label "Aesop's Fables" on the spine. Good condition.

1699/1910? Fables of Aesop and other Eminent Mythologists with Morals and Reflexions. By Sir Roger L'Estrange, Kt. The Third Edition Corrected and Amended. London: R. Sare, B. Took, M. Gillyflower, A. & J. Churchil, G. Sawbridge, and H. Hindmarsh; Reprinted and Published by John Gray and Co. $85 from Chanticleer, Sonoma, July, '00.

Here is the fancier reprint of l'Estrange's third edition from 1699. As far as I can ascertain, it is--except for one difference--exactly identical internally with the edition by W.H.Allen and Company, which I have listed under the same date. As I mention there, the surprising thing is that I have a third edition of L'Estrange, and neither of these books is an exact reproduction of it. The typesetting is new. Did the reproducers set the type for a whole new edition? The beginning order of elements in this volume is this: Frontispiece, Title-Page [with the misprinted date of 1669], acknowledgement of the reprinter, AI, blank, Life of Aesop (1-30), and Preface. Then there appears here, facing the last page of the preface, the full-page engraving of Aesop among the animals. That engraving does not appear in my copy of the Allen reproduction. The engraving's blank back faces the first of the 500 numbered fables, which again run from 1 to 476. Full leather. The front cover is separated. Marbled inside covers and endpapers. The spine has in gold on red "Fables, of Aesop &c. L'Estrange." At the spine's bottom is "1669."