1725-1749

1727 Fabellae Aesopicae Quaedam Notiores, in Scholis usitatae et compositae a Joachimo Camerario. M. Alberto Reineccio. Hardbound. Printed in Leipzig: M.G. Weidmann. $99 from BizWebEBooks, through Ebay, Feb., '02.

This is a surprising book. It is basically a student's complete resource work to understand perhaps 200 of Camerarius' fables in Latin prose. And so, while each right-hand page contains Camerarus' fable texts, each left-hand page is in two columns, giving respectively word and phrase vocabularies in German for the Latin of the fables. This is a seventeenth-century student help book! I cannot find it listed in either Bodemann or my favorite private collector. Page 1 may be lost. Note that only the right-hand pages count in the book's pagination. After 153 of these pages, there are indices of fables and commonplaces from the fables. Some of the fables include a Greek moral, and a third index pulls these Greek references together. The title goes on this way: "nunc vero nova ac utilissima ratione adjectis e regione vocabulis ac phrasibus Latino-Germanicis, ut & triplici indice, primo fabularum, altero rerum & locorum communium, tertio graecarum vocum analytico, in gratiam studiosae iuventutis adornatae." Camerarius' fables seem to have appeared first in 1538.

1728/1727 Fables Choisies Mises en Vers par M. de La Fontaine, Partie 1 - Partie 2.  Illustrator: Henrik Cause, after Chauveau.  Hardbound.  Amsterdam:  Chez Zacharie Chatelain.  $49.99 from njrambler through eBay, Sept.,' 17. 

This very fortunate find on eBay joins another book in the collection dated 1727/1728 and containing the third through fifth "books" of La Fontaine's fables.  These "books" do not correspond to La Fontaine's usual books but are rather Books VII through XII.  This pair of volumes comprises a fine reprint by Chatelain of an edition originally done in 1700 by van Bulderen, a copy of which is in this collection.  The anomaly of its dating appears to be that Partie 2 appeared first in 1727, to be followed by Partie 1 a year later.  Or perhaps the first half of this volume -- Partie 1 -- is a 1728 reprint of a work first done in 1727.  The frontispiece, presumably by Picard with a full explanation in French below it, shows Aesop dictating to La Fontaine with his muse.  Aesop looks up to Fable draping truth in clothing, while Morale is their companion.  Aesop and La Fontaine are surrounded by the animals active in their stories.  There is red print on the title page for Partie 1 (Books I-III) but not for Partie 2 (Books IV-VI); the other Chatelain volume does the same: red for the first but not for the second and third title-pages.  This book has the same size illustrations as that volume.  Henrik Cause is the engraver and he models these engravings after the drawings of Chauveau, as is clear already in GA (3).  The surprisingly large (2¾" x about 3") illustrations are well preserved here.  Among the best of them are perhaps "The Thieves and the Ass" (28); OR (45); SS (66); CW (80); MSA (88); "The Ass and the Lapdog" (152); GGE (214); and "The Horse and Ass" (259).  268 pages plus an AI.

1727 Fables Choisies Mises en Vers par M. de La Fontaine, Partie 3 - Partie 5.  Henrik Cause, after Chauveau.  Hardbound.  Amsterdam: Chez Zacharie Chatelain.  £ 21 from Wisdom Pedlars, Nov., '15.

This book has waited for cataloguing for several months.  Even now, I only happened to pick it up.  As it happens, I just catalogued a book in the same family yesterday!  That was Henry van Bulderen's 1700 volume containing all of La Fontaine's fables.  Bodemann #77 describes a family of editions that starts with Denys Thierry's 1668 publication of La Fontaine's first six books of fables, illustrated by Chauveau (Bodemann #77.1).  The first "Gesamtausgabe" of the twelve books was published between 1669 and 1694 in five "volumes," each of which contained one to three "books" of La Fontaine's fables (Bodemann #77.3).  Were these five, published by different publishers over twenty-five years, bound together to make one volume?  Volume I contained La Fontaine's first three books, and Volume II the next three books.  Life gets trickier with Volume III: it contained what we know as Books 7 and 8 of La Fontaine's fables, but they were called "Books I and II" and their pages were freshly paginated.  Volume IV contained what we know as Books 9-11 but called them "Books III to V."  Volume V contained what we know as Book 12 but called it, mistakenly, "Book VII."  Bodemann correctly notes "richtig VI."  Henrik von Bulderen published the next version of this book in 1688 (Volumes I through IV) and 1694 (Volume V): Bodemann #77.4.  He republished it in 1700 (Bodemann #77.8).  Zacharie Chatelain in Amsterdam published a similar volume in 1727, and here we have its second half.  That half includes Parts 3 through 5, that is, Books VII through XII of La Fontaine's fables.  This volume continues the unusual numbering of books and the mistaken numbering of the final volume.  My understanding is that Henrik Cause is the engraver and he models these engravings after the drawings of Chauveau.  The illustrations are very well preserved here.  133 pages (Parts 3 and 4) plus 123 pages (Part 5).The illustrations continue to be surprisingly large: 2¾" x about 3".  Parts 3 and 4 are each dated 1727 but Part 5 is dated 1728.

1727/38/1967 Fables. John Gay. Introduction by Vinton A. Dearing. Facsimiles of 1727 Fables and 1738 Fables: Volume the Second. Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA. $8 from the publisher, 1987.

The program is summed up in introduction: "Thus ev'ry object of creation/Can furnish hints to contemplation,/And from the most minute and mean/A virtuous mind can morals glean." 50 and 16 talky, preachy fables. Occasional wit: in I 5, the ram says that sheep get their revenge on mankind by supplying drums and parchment (for war). In I 10 a Greek-speaking elephant gets into a bookseller's shop. In I 12 a pet deer gets frisky and loses all inhibitions; the moral is pointed against country girls with soldiers. I 21 "The Ratcatcher and the Cats" comes close to Aesopic fable: touching and wise. Likewise, I 50's hare is deserted by all "friends"; the last of them says "We'll lament you"! The second volume has one great couplet: "And what's a butterfly? At best,/He's but a caterpillar, drest..." Fables are regularly turned against mankind as the most bestial of animals. Gay seems angry. I's illustrations are poor; Gravelot's in II are larger and better. It was a chore to read this book.

1727? (Fables of Aesop and Others.  Newly done into English.  With an Application to each Fable.  Illustrated with Cutts).  Samuel Croxall.  Elisha Kirkall.  Second edition?  Hardbound.  $150 from Mercy in Action Books, Oct., '15.

This book lacks a title page.  It was sent to me for analysis by Mercy in Action, to which it had been donated.  It also lacks a spine and cover, and has copious writing and doodling, for example, on the early pages. It seems to have been inscribed in 1781.  I have compared it with three other editions that I have, including a first edition from 1722.  That edition has no date at the end of the preface and has 1722 on its title-page.  It measures about 8” x 5”.  I also have a third edition from 1731 in very good condition but without a frontispiece.  I do not know if it is known whether the 1731 edition when published featured a frontispiece.  That 1731 edition includes the 1722 date at the end of the dedication and has 1731 on its title page.  That 1731 edition measures, like the present copy, about 6.5” x 4”.  I have an eleventh edition from 1778.  That edition has a different frontispiece.  The publishers have changed.  It retains the 1722 date at the end of the dedication and has 1778 on its title-page.  The frontispiece here is a redoing of the original larger 1722 frontispiece.  In both cases, it shows a statue of Aesop on top of a base declaring “Everything is a story” and quoting the Latin below the whole image: “The Attic Greeks created a huge statue and put a slave onto an eternal foundation.”  The fable illustrations in all four of these editions are, as far as I can tell, the original Elisha Kirkall illustrations.  The illustrations here are the same size as in both the 1722 and 1731 editions.  Bodemann calls the eleventh-edition fable illustrations “Nachschnitte,” but I am not convinced.  Perhaps I have missed some clues, but I think the printer in all these later editions had the same blocks that the 1722 printer had.  This present copy does not have a date after the dedication.  It does not have the same typesetting as either my first edition or my third edition, which are also different from each other.  The difference between this copy and my third edition is already clear in the different typesetting of the first page of the dedication, which is the first element after the title-page.  Bodemann has the first (1722) edition and then nothing until the eleventh (1778).  My guess then is that this copy is a second edition, whenever that was between 1722 and 1731.  I have guessed at 1727.  The absence of the date after the dedication may suggest a date like this.  The frontispiece’s similarity to the first edition’s frontispiece also pushes in the direction, I believe, of that dating.  Alternatively, it may be a fourth or later edition, from sometime between 1731 and 1778.  The late inscription tends in that direction.  In any case it is a lovely, tender book!  196 fables, 357 pages, plus seven pages of Croxall's "index" of qualities and persons.

1728 Fables By Mr. Gay. John Wootton and William Kent. The Second Edition. Hardbound. London: J. Tonson and J. Watts. $125 from Edward Pollack, August, '00.

I had just finished cataloguing several Gay editions when I received an offer from Edward Pollack for a set of two second editions, one each of the two volumes of Gay's fables. I am delighted to have this very good copy, marred only by a hole at the top of the spine. See my remarks on the fourth edition of 1733. I would add to my commendations there that of the dynamic illustration of "The tame Stag" (49). The final pages were missing in that edition. They are here. "Fable XXI" is not misprinted. The paper here is very robust. There are a couple of pencillings and one or two tears and chips along the way. Now can I work my way all the way back to a first edition? Someone wrote "Plates by Bewick" on the front endpaper. I do not think his career began for another generation.

1729 Esope en belle humeur ou l'elite de ses fables enrichies de figures/Esopus bey der Lust. Carl Mouton. First edition. Hardbound. Hamburg: Johann Christoph Kißner. $300 from The Book Chest, NY, Jan., '02.

Bodemann #88.6 and Fabula Docet #44. I am so lucky to have found this little (3½" x 6") book! Kißner represents the beginning of the bilingual "Esope en belle humeur" tradition, which will include my 1750 Christian Herold edition. The red and black title pages (one in French and one in German, separated by the frontispiece) are striking. After a preface and a vita with its own following T of C, the main sections here start with a basic Aesopic section of 99 "Fables Diverses" or "Unterschiedliche Fabeln," each offered in French and German columns with an excellent illustration. The attachments or appendices to individual fables in this section are printed only in French. This section is followed by one of 59 fables of Phaedrus and Philelphus, again in two columns, though without illustration. The following section offers 26 fables of de la Motte, with the two versions given on facing pages rather than in two columns. There are three T of C's at the end, corresponding to the sections of Aesop, Phaedrus, and de la Motte. Several sections reported in Bodemann #88.6 seem to be lacking here, as they are in the Wolfenbüttel exemplar they report on, namely "Les Devoirs de l'honnete Homme" and "fables des Grands et des Petits" (59 fables after Bidpai). Are we to assume that Philelphus is Pilpai? See also Die Bilderwelt im Kinderbuch, 14, 58, for a reference. Full new leather.

1729 Esope en belle humeur ou l'elite de ses fables enrichies de figures/Esopus bey der Lust.  Carl Mouton.  First edition.  Hardbound.  Hamburg: Johann Christoph Kißner.  $75 from 88backnorth, Ontario, Canada, through eBay, June, '16.

Here is a second copy of this book, bound in a different order and lacking several of the pages in my better copy.  Because it is different, I will keep it in the collection.  First, what did I write about the original copy that applies also to this copy?  Bodemann #88.6 and Fabula Docet #44.  I am so lucky to have found this little (3½" x 6") book!  Kißner represents the beginning of the bilingual "Esope en belle humeur" tradition, which will include my 1750 Christian Herold edition.  The main sections here start with a basic Aesopic section of 99 "Fables Diverses" or "Unterschiedliche Fabeln," each offered in French and German columns with an excellent illustration.  After most of these "major" fables, there is a shorter fable only in French without illustration.  This section (1-298) is followed by one of 59 fables of Phaedrus and Philelphus, again in two columns, though without illustration (289-408).  The following section (409-513) offers 26 fables of de la Motte, with the French and German versions given on facing pages rather than in two columns.  There are again three T of C's at the end, corresponding to the sections of Aesop, Phaedrus, and de la Motte.  What is different?  This copy lacks the red and black title pages (one in French and one in German, separated by the frontispiece), but the frontispiece is still here, perhaps formerly separated and pasted back in?  It now comes after a single black-and-white page giving the overall title.  It stands facing the title-page for the "Aesop" section.  The next difference is that the life of Aesop (1-101) with its own following T of C now is bound at the end of this volume.  The covers and spine are coming loose from this volume, and it went through a fire sometime in its existence.  Still, it is a lovely little treasure, especially for the illustrations!  Several sections reported in Bodemann #88.6 seem to be lacking here, as they are in the Wolfenbüttel exemplar they report on, namely "Les Devoirs de l'honnete Homme" and "fables des Grands et des Petits" (59 fables after Bidpai).  Are we to assume that Philelphus is Pilpai?  See also Die Bilderwelt im Kinderbuch, (14, 58) for a reference.

1729 Fables Choisies Mises en Vers par M. de la Fontaine avec la Vie d'Esope, Tome Premier.  Illustrations after Chauveau.  Nouvelle Edition.  Hardbound.  Paris: La Compagnie des Libraires; L'Imprimerie de Pierre Prault.  CHF133 from Librairie Eos, Zurich, July, '23.

Bodemann 77.12.   Nineteen years ago I wrote, in cataloguing the third of three volumes in this publication, that I needed to find the other two.  These many years later, I finally satisfied that need!  This first volume covers Books I-IV.  Bodemann's comment indicates that this edition is one of many that copied Chauveau's illustrations from the first edition of La Fontaine's fables.  There is a T of C for this volume at the beginning after the usual preface and life of Aesop.  There is a new page for each new fable and an illustration for each fable or for those that La Fontaine himself already paired.  One page, 145-46, is severely torn, but the tear does not affect the illustration on 146.  Though this work copies Chauveau, I find these illustrations often more distinct and dramatic. At 3" x 2½", they are also often larger than Chauveau's original work.  By the way, this volume is a good example of the kind of printing that went on in two stages, with the picture printer not always finding his way well with what the print printer had left him.  Particularly good illustrations include 2W (I 17, 46); "Child and Schoolmaster" (I 19, 46); OR (I 22, 52); "Eagle and Snail" (II 8, 73); SS (II 10, 81); CW (II 18, 99) ; MSA (III 1, 109); FG (III 11, 139); "The Lion in Love" (IV 1, 166); and FM (IV 11, 196).  The illustration for FG (139) has the fox climbing rather than leaping.  223 pages.  4¼" x 6½".

1729 Fables Choisies Mises en Vers par M. de la Fontaine avec la Vie d'Esope, Tome Second.  Illustrations after Chauveau.  Nouvelle Edition.  Hardbound.  Paris: La Compagnie des Libraires; L'Imprimerie de Pierre Prault.  CHF133 from Librairie Eos, Zurich, July, '23.

Bodemann 77.12.   Here is the second volume so long sought for after first finding the third volume nineteen years ago.  This volume covers Books V-IX.  Bodemann's comment indicates that this edition is one of many that copied Chauveau's illustrations from the first edition of La Fontaine's fables.  There is a T of C for this volume at the beginning.  There is a new page for each new fable and an illustration for each fable or for those that La Fontaine himself already paired.  Though this work copies Chauveau, I find these illustrations often more distinct and dramatic. At 3" x 2½", they are also often larger than Chauveau's original work.  As in the first volume, each illustration includes both the page and the number of the fable in its book.  Particularly good illustrations include 2P (V2, 7); TB (V 20, 47); "Horse and Ass" (VI 16, 88); "Coach and Fly" (VII 8, 135); "The Pig, Goat, and Sheep" (VIII 12, 207); "Horoscope" (VIII 16, 221); and "Cat and Fox" (IX 14, 305).  On 178, the lion actually wears the skin of the skinned wolf!  335 pages.

1729 Fables Choisies Mises en Vers par M. de la Fontaine avec la Vie d'Esope, Tome Troisième.  Illustrations fter Chauveau.  Nouvelle Edition.  Hardbound.  Paris: La Compagnie des Libraires; L'Imprimerie de Pierre Prault.  CHF133 from Librairie Eos, Zurich, July, '23.

Bodemann 77.12.   Here is the third volume in the set, duplicating the book found nineteen years ago.  In keeping with prior practice I will include both books, the one found alone and this one found in a set.  This volume covers Books X-XII.  Though this work copies Chauveau, I find these illustrations often more distinct and dramatic. At 3" x 2½", they are also often larger than Chauveau's original work.  As in the first volume, each illustration includes both the page and the number of the fable in its book.  There is a T of C for this volume at the beginning and an AI for all three volumes at the end.  A good typical instance of the work here might be the illustration for "Le Cerf Malade" (XII 6, 113).  The characters and the problem are clearly presented.  Other good illustrations include "Le Renard, les Mouches, & le Hérisson" (XII 13, 140) and "Le Renard, le Loup, & le Cheval" (XII 17, 156).  T of C, 261 pages, "Approbation," "Privilege du Roy," AI, and "Fautes à corriger."  Previous owners inscribed the book in 1740 and 1833.

1729 Fables Choisies Mises en Vers par M. de la Fontaine avec la Vie d'Esope, Tome Troisième. Illustrations after Chauveau. Nouvelle Edition. Hardbound. Paris: La Compagnie des Libraires; L'Imprimerie de Pierre Prault. £ 26 from Elaine Dayes, East Yorkshire, UK, through eBay, July, '04.

Bodemann 77.12. This is the third of three volumes, covering Books X-XII. The "12" in Bodemann's catalogue indicates that this edition is one of many that copied Chauveau's illustrations from the first edition of La Fontaine's fables. Apparently, according to Bodemann, the first eleven books contain copies of the Amsterdam edition of 1698, while the twelfth book has direct imitations of Chauveau's early work, first published for the twelfth book in 1694. There is a T of C for this volume at the beginning and an AI for all three volumes at the end. Though the work here copies Chauveau, I find these illustrations often more distinct and dramatic. At 3" x 2½", they are also often larger than Chauveau's original work. A good typical instance of the work here might be the illustration for "Le Cerf Malade" (113). The characters and the problem are clearly presented. Other good illustrations include "Le Renard, les Mouches, & le Hérisson" (140) and "Le Renard, le Loup, & le Cheval" (156). T of C, 262 pages, "Approbation," "Privilege du Roy," AI, and "Fautes à corriger." Inscribed July 6, 1732 in Paris. Now I need to find the other two volumes of this set!

1731  Aesop's Fables English and Latin/Aesopi Fabulae Anglo-Latinae. Charles Hoole. London: J. Read. $125 from Carl Sandler Berkowitz, March, '95.

A fine little bilingual (on facing pages) edition offering 233 fables in its first book and (starting on 154) 208 fables in its second. There is an English AI after 267. The title-page and early pages are worm-eaten. The book is highly fragile. The fables are carefully divided and literally translated. Worn calf. This is a book to handle carefully!

1731 Fables of Aesop and Others. Newly done into English. With an Application to each Fable. S[amuel] Croxall. Illustrations by Elisha Kirkall, not acknowledged. 3rd edition. Hardbound. London: Printed for J. Tonson at Shakespear's Head in the Strand, and J. Watts at the Printing Office in Wild-Court, near Lincolns-Inn Fields. $370 from Alibris, March, '00.

What a delight to have found so early an edition of Croxall in good to very good condition! This copy fits Bodemann's description of the first edition from 1722 (#107.1) except for the number of pages (345 here, 344 there). Here, apparently as there, Croxall is first mentioned at the end of the dedication to Halifax. To quote Alibris' description: "Simply bound in modern full leather, contrasting label, gilt. Spine with raised bands. The title-page has been laid down. A good, clean copy." The Kirkall illustrations are done here with various levels of firmness. Some are unfortunately somewhat faint, e.g. on 32 and 247, others more distinct, e.g. on 155 and 236. Somewhere I had mis-learned that the first edition was done anonymously and that only a subsequent edition had added Kirkall's illustrations to Croxall's texts. While Kirkall is mentioned neither here nor in the first edition, these are his illustrations, as Bodemann makes clear. Unfortunately, Gerard van der Gucht's frontispiece--if it was printed with this edition--is missing here. Croxall gives at the end an "index" especially to qualities and persons. At the beginning, what is labeled "The Contents of the Fables" is an AI. Use that to find a fable by one of its characters.

1731 Les Fables d'Esope Phrygien.  Traduites & Moralisees par J. Baudoin.  Hardbound.  Lyon: La Veuve de Claude Carteron.  £19.95 from Goldenstag, Edinburgh, through Ebay, Nov., '22.

Here is a lovely little (6" x 3½") Baudoin edition published exactly 100 years after the first Baudoin.  Our collection has older Baudoin editions from 1649, 1659, 1660 (two), and 1669.  Like those, this edition contains a basic 118 fables, each numbered and followed by a "discours Maurois," as is typical for Baudoin.  After these 118, there is an "Augmentation" presenting 119-138, each of these with not a "discours" but a much shorter "remarque."  Most fables have a rectangular illustration 2" x 1⅜".  These are well preserved but quite simple.  A good sample is WL on 118.  As I believe to be typical of Baudoin, the first fable is CJ.  Contemporary leather covered boards.  Vii + 520 pp.  The title continues "Augmentees de Plusieres Autres Fables d'Esope, qui ont ete omises dans les Presedentes Impressions."  There is a T of C at the end.

1731 Nouveau Recueil des Fables d'Esope, Mises en François. Nouvelle Edition. Hardbound. Paris: Charles LeClerc. £79 from Paul Foster, Bookseller, London, through eBay, Oct., '05. 

This lovely little book has one of those endless titles. Here is more of it: "Avec le Sens Moral en quatre Vers & des Figures à chaque Fable. Dedié a la Jeunesse. Nouvelle Edition, augmentée des Quatrains du Sieur de Benserade." The source behind this book, according to Bodemann #80.1, was published by Sebastian Mabre-Cramoisy in Paris in 1678. LeClerc apparently brought out an edition in 1718. Bodemann's #80.2 is a 1756 printing. This book of mine would have preceded that one and followed the 1718 edition. It has the requisite 442 pages and 223 fables. As Bodemann notes, the last two of these fables are imageless epigrams without illustration added to the 1678 edition's 221 illustrated fables. There is an AI immediately following the 442 pages of text. The illustrations are oval. Bodemann's comments underscore their narrow dimensions, the concentration on the main characters, the lack of attention paid to background or scenery, the frequent cross-hatching, and the broken contours within the ovals. The illustrations are well preserved here! A good, typical example is FS on 53. This book may be one of the few I have that includes Benserade's quatrains.

1731/1975? Fables and Other Short Poems Collected from the Most Celebrated English Authors. Illustrated by John and George Bickham. London: Thomas Cobb. Williamsburg reprint undated. $5 in Williamsburg, '85. Extra copy, a gift of Greg Haille, Dec., '87.

A wonderfully curious collection of nice moralistic rhymed fables. Almost all match Gay's titles perfectly, but these are not Gay's fables! Each has a pleasing engraving. Between the fables come samples of good handwriting, moral precepts, and other goodies!

1731/1991 Fables and Other Short Poems Collected from the Most Celebrated English Authors. Illustrated by John and George Bickham. London: Thomas Cobb. Reproduced by The Friends of the Osborne and Lillian H. Smith Collections, Toronto Public Library. $25 with membership in the Friends of the Osborne Collection, Jan., '94.

This book adds Volumes II and III to my 1731/1975? book from Williamsburg. Volume II includes ten fables, assorted other material, and A New Introduction to the Art of Drawing. The third volume includes eleven fables. How and why these fables can match Gay so carefully for titles are mysteries to me. Jill Shefrin's afterword states simply that the fables here "are from the first volume of Gay's collection. Their order has been changed and within each fable lines have been deleted, transposed or revised." The afterword goes on to note frequent cases by the Bickhams of what we would call copyright infringement. Each fable has a pleasing engraving. Between fables are samples of good handwriting, moral precepts, and other goodies!

1732 Aesopi Phrygis Fabulae Nunc demum ex Collatione Optimorum Exemplarium ab infinitis pene Mendis repurgatae una cum nonnullis Variorum Autorum Fabulis adjectis et indice correctiori praefixo. Hardbound. London: Typis T. Wood, Impensis Societatis Stationariorum. $45 from Caliban Book Shop, Feb., '02.

This is a strange little (3½" x 5½") volume to come from England. It follows the structure of many of the earliest little fable editions, beginning with a six-page life of Aesop excerpted or digested from that of Planudes, with a curious last page number of 67. Next comes an eight-page AI of fables offered in the volume, followed by a list of "Interpretes." These include Adrianus Barlandus, Angelus Politianus, Anianus, Aulus Gellius, Erasmus Roterodamus, Gulielmus Gaudanus, Gulielmus Harmanus, Joannes Antonius Campanus, Laurentius Abstemius, Laurentius Valla, Nicolaus Gerbelius Phorcensis, Petrus Crinitus, Plinius secundus Novocomensis, and Rimicius. A section given to each of these seems to follow, though I cannot find the section given to Angelus Politianus. Poggio (not mentioned in the list of Interpretes) is the last of the authors, finishing on 176. The book is very frail, and both covers have long since separated from the book. A worm did some powerful eating between about 70 and 120.

1732/1970? The Fable of the Bees: Or Private Vices, Publick Benefits. By Bernard Mandeville. Original Fourth Edition: London: J. Tonson. Reprint: Seattle: Entropy Conservationists. $1 in Denver, March, '94.

I read this work over a Big Mac in Boulder and enjoyed it! Originally the bees were full of vices and they were thriving. "Their crimes conspired to make them great" (5). Then Jove removed fraud, and there were surprising results. Prices went down; lots of trades went out of business; pride and luxury decreased; eventually all arts and crafts shut down; the whole economy stopped. Moral: Vice is beneficial when constrained by justice. The text itself is 13 short pages.

1733 Fables By Mr. Gay. John Wootton and William Kent. The Fourth Edition. Hardbound. London: J. and R. Tonson and J. Watts. Gift of June Clinton, June, '98.

Here is a wonderful little treasure! It falls between Bodemann 110.1 (the first edition) and 110.2 (the fifth edition). It includes only the first 50 fables because the additional seventeen were first published in only 1738. This is a beautiful little book, which June got at Sotheby's sale of the Earl of Granard's library in July, '93. That may be his bookplate facing hers inside the front cover. I am particularly taken on this trip through with the dynamism of "The Lady and the Wasp" (VIII), the foppishness of "The Monkey Who Had Seen the World" (XIV), the exactitude of "The Pin and the Needle" (XVI), and the turbulence of "The Farmer's Wife and the Raven" (XXXVII) complete with broken eggs. The monkeys of XXII ("The Goat without a Beard") are curiously human. Pages 189-92 are missing, including the illustration for the last fable (L). There are a number of small repairs to the paper of particular pages. "Fable XXI" is misprinted as "Fable XIX." I wonder how many copies of this book in this edition still exist around the world.

1733? Fables By Mr. Gay. John Wootton and William Kent. (The Fourth Edition). Hardbound. (London): (J. and R. Tonson and J. Watts). $50 from an unknown source, Jan., '08.

This book is a lovely little anomaly. It seems another copy of the fourth edition of Fables by Mr. Gay, published by J. and R. Tonson and J. Watts in 1733. It matches up very well with a copy I have of that book. It thus has several tell-tale signs. Its illustrations are reversed from those of the second edition (1728) but are the same in orientation as those of the seventh (1753). Like the fourth edition, it has the misprint of "Fable XIX" for what should be "Fable XXI." This mistake is in neither the second nor the seventh edition. This copy is singular for a deficiency and an addition. The deficiency is the lack of all pages up to the "Introduction to the Fables" on a page that is marked "B." The addition is a page inserted after the introduction and before the first regular fable. This page is a handwritten T of C with page numbers. This copy has the pages lacking in my other copy, namely 189-92. The front cover is literally hanging on by a thread. The engravings show the same deep indentation in the paper. Let me repeat some of my comments made on the other copy. Here is a wonderful little treasure! It falls between Bodemann 110.1 (the first edition) and 110.2 (the fifth edition). It includes only the first 50 fables because the additional seventeen were first published in only 1738. I am particularly taken on this trip through with the dynamism of "The Lady and the Wasp" (VIII), the foppishness of "The Monkey Who Had Seen the World" (XIV), the exactitude of "The Pin and the Needle" (XVI), and the turbulence of "The Farmer's Wife and the Raven" (XXXVII) complete with broken eggs. The monkeys of XXII ("The Goat without a Beard") are curiously human. I wondered ten years ago and wonder still how many copies of this book in this edition still exist around the world.

1734 Fables and Tales from La Fontaine in French and English Now First Translated, To which is prefix'd the Author's Life. Anonymous. Hardbound. London: Printed for A. Bettsworth and C. Hitch and C. Davis. $550 from Charta Book Co., Indianapolis, Feb., '00. 

I quote from my favorite private collector (F-0405, with a duplicate C-159): "An attractive edition with the text in French and English on facing pages. Not illustrated, but decorated throughout with a great variety of printers' ornaments used as head and tailpieces. The translator erroneously claims his version to be the first in English. Possibly the first version to have the text in both languages. The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, Vol. II, p. 784 lists a Mandeville translation of 1703." One hundred fables rendered into English prose, with four additional tales. Bound here with The Tales and Fables of the late Archbishop and Duke of Cambray, Author of Telemachus, in French and English, that is, Fénelon, published in 1736 by John Hawkins. Be careful: Bettsworth is spelled in various ways. Bodemann lists it with another "e" before the "w." The advertisement on the very last page of this rather thick and hefty book includes a second "e" but drops the "s"! I notice that in SW on 239, La Fontaine's appropriate wager "Which of us will strip his shoulders" is changed in the English here to the less appropriate "who of us two shall first oblige yon Man on Horseback to uncover his Shoulders."

1735 Favole Scelte/Auserlesene Fablen/Fables Choisies.  Translated by Balthasar Nickisch.  Illustrations by Johann Ulrich Krauss.  Hardbound.  Augsburg: Johann Ulrich Krauss.  $200 from RB Books and Publishing, Overland Park, KS, through Ebay, Sept., '21.

Here is a later publication from a family in which we already have an older brother.  Several years ago in Trier I found "Favole Scelte" published by Johann Ulrich Krauss in 1718 with illustrations apparently done by him.  That book is based on Bodemann #88.4.  It was the prize of a summer's book-hunting.  Now here is apparently the same book published a generation later.  All that I write there seems true here, with the exception of some pages being off by two digits here from what they are there.  Here "The Man and the Satyr" faces 18, and OF faces 30, while DS still faces 40.  6½" x 8".  This copy has the first two pages missing in that book.  As I wrote then, this edition -- even the title -- is trilingual.  The three languages are side by side for the fables but consecutive in the pages before the fables.  Illustrations -- with titles in all three languages -- come two to a page and measure about 3" x 2½".  There are 95 fables on 106 pages.  Picture pages are not printed on the obverse and do not figure in the pagination.  This book has the same frontispiece as that, which I describe there in some detail.  On this reading, I am struck by the stylized character of most of the illustrations.  That style has to do with the cumulative effect of single lines.  One can see it in an illustration like LXI of a stag at the water.  The same style is evident in LXIX and LXX.  This artist also has understandable issues with rendering lions, like that in LXII.

1736  Le Cento Favole di Gabbriello Faerno e Una Favola di Batista Mantovano, Tradotte in Versi Volgari da D. Giovan-Grisostomo Trombelli. Venezia: Francesco Pitteri. $125 from The Owl at the Bridge, Cranston, August, ’96.

I am glad at last to have a copy of Faerno’s fables, certainly one of the mainstays of the fable tradition. This edition, without illustrations, has Latin and Italian on facing pages. A sampling of the fables finds them traditional and their Latin easier than I had expected. I found only one surprise. In IV, the wolf, having been kicked by an ass, says something like "I who am a cook should not have tried to do a doctor’s work" ("Neque enim, coquus qui sum, agere medicum debui"). Mantovan’s fable (130-31) shows the silliness of transplanting an old tree instead of enjoying its fruit. There is an AI on 144-7. For Faerno, see Hobbs 44.

1736 The Tales and Fables of the late Archbishop and Duke of Cambray, Author of Telemachus, in French and English. Francois de Salignac de la Mothe Fénelon; by Nathaniel Gifford, of the Inner-Temple, Gent. Illustrated with Twenty-nine Copper-Plates Engraven by George Bickham, Junior. Hardbound. London: Printed for John Hawkins, and Sold by John Osborn. $360 from Suzanne and Truman Price, Columbia Basin Books, Monmouth, OR, June, '03. 

The title continues: "Written originally for the Instruction of a Young PRINCE, And now publish'd for the Use of SCHOOLS. To which is prefix'd, An Account of the Author's LIFE, extracted from the Memoir's of the Chevalier Ramsay, Author of the Travels of Cyrus. With a particular and curious Relation of the Method observed in training up the young Prince, even from his Infancy, to Virtue and Learning." Twenty-eight stories in French and English facing. I count perhaps sixteen fables, namely #10 through #25. Shapiro (xvi) speaks well of the "rather turgid moralizings of Fénelon's seventeenth-century fables written for the edification of the young duc de Bourgogne." These are prose fables, and for that reason Shapiro does not include them in his anthology. I found it rather difficult to get through these belabored texts. Among the best is "The Two Foxes." Two foxes slaughter a cock and many hens and chickens. The older one wants to eat only some now and return tomorrow and succeeding days for others. The younger one wants to gorge himself on what they have slaughtered. Both do as they please. The younger scarcely makes it back to his home before he dies. The older returns the next day and is killed by the farmer. Each age has its own vices. In the following fable, the wolf talks the lamb into jumping over the fence to enjoy some good grass. That is of course the end of the lamb. Among the best illustrations are those for "The Dragon and the Two Foxes," "The Wolf and the Lamb," and "The Owl that long'd to be married." Not in Bodemann or Snodgrass. I am very happy at last to have Fénelon in English. Apparently the first publication of the fables by Fénelon was about 1718 or 1719, and the first English translation was in 1729, published in London by J. Wilcox.

1736 The Tales and Fables of the late Archbishop and Duke of Cambray, Author of Telemachus, in French and English. Francois de Salignac de la Mothe Fénelon; by Nathaniel Gifford, of the Inner-Temple, Gent. Illustrated with Twenty-nine Copper-Plates Engraven by George Bickham, Junior. Hardbound. London: Printed for John Hawkins, and Sold by John Osborn. $550 from Charta Book Co., Indianapolis, Feb., '00. 

Identical with another volume in the collection with the same bibliographical data, except that this copy is bound with Fables and Tales from La Fontaine, published by Bettsworth and Hitch in 1734. See my comments on the Fénelon book under that item.

1738 Fables. John Gay. Introduction by Vinton A. Dearing. Facsimiles of 1727 Fables and 1738 Fables: Volume the Second. Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA. See 1727/38/1967.

1738 Fables By the late Mr Gay, Volume the Second. Illustrations by Hubert Francois Gravelot. The First Edition. Hardbound. London: J. and P. Knapton and T. Cox. £33.33 from H & K Gostling, The Antique Shop, Thatcham, Berks, UK, through eBay, March, '06. 

At last I have made my way back to a first edition of this second volume of Gay's fables. I will repeat some of what I wrote for the second edition, which I found some six years ago. I find the Gravelot illustrations strong. They take up the full page and remind one of Oudry's work. It may be that Hobbs' use of it (71) has prejudiced me in its favor, but I find "The Man, the Cat, the Dog, and the Fly" (69) among the best. See her good comments there. This is Bodemann #110.5. I agree with Bodemann's description of the illustrations as "geschickt komponierte und in den Tonwerten fein nuancierte Rokokostiche." The frontispiece of Gay's grave-monument, missing in my second edition of this second volume, is present here. Bodemann reproduces it with her comment on this volume. Gravelot signs each of the illustrations, but I cannot find him otherwise acknowledged in this book. The back cover is becoming separated. A great find, especially at this price!

1738 Versuch in poetischen Fabeln und Erzehlungen. Friedrich von Hagedorn (acknowledged?). Engravings by C.A. Wagner and Christian Fritzsch. First edition. Hardbound. Hamburg: Conrad König. €164 from Antiquariat Niedersätz, Berlin, July, '07.

Here is a lovely first edition that I found at one of the first bookstores I tried on this trip to Berlin. It contains seventy-one verse fables, taken particularly from Burkhard Waldis, La Fontaine, and French fabulists just before Hagedorn's time. The leisurely T of C at the end of the book lists the source(s) for each fable. Besides numerous designs after fables, apparently unrelated to each fable's content, there are only three illustrations in the whole 210-page book. The title-page engraving shows truth personified. The illustration atop the foreword shows the freeing of Aesop. The illustration to the first text shows Bathsheba at her toilette. This illustration thus refers more to the frame-narrative than to the fable told by Nathan to the king. For its age, this book is in good condition. I cannot find Hagedorn's name anywhere in the book!

1740 Herrn Daniel Wilhelm Trillers Philos. Ac Med. D. Archiatri Nassouici, Neue Aesopische Fabeln. Daniel Triller. (missing copper engraving). Hardbound. Hamburg: Christian Herold. €80 from Dresdener Antiquariat, August, '09.

The unassuming present-day green cloth cover hides a lovely book here! I have known Herold as publisher of the 1750 editions of Carl Mouton, including Esope en belle humeur. This volume has the same compact size, the same lack of margins, and the same preference for red ink on the title-page. This is Bodemann #118.1. What this volume lacks -- as the bookdealer noted -- is its one illustration, the copper engraved frontispiece. It is illustrated in Bodemann at #118.1. An explanation of the frontispiece is in fact the first element in the book. Bodemann's entry gives a good sense of the book: "150 Versfabeln, in den Motiven teilweise auf aesopisches Traditionsgut zurückgehend, dazu zahlreiche neu erfundene Fabeln zumeist mit dinglichen Protagonisten, was gemäss der Absicht des Dichters grosse Verwunderung und damit Aufmerksamkeit beim Leser hervorruft. Am Ende jeder Fabel eine manchmal als Sprichwort formulierte Lehre." With "dinglichen Protagonisten" Bodemann refers, I believe, to such subjects as diamonds, magnets, books, flame, and smoke. Triller sometimes gives a source for his numbered fables. I tried several and found them quite traditional, if perhaps a bit simple. "Das Kind und der Frosch" (222) teaches that a frog wants the swamp: "Art lässet nimmermehr von Art." "Das Rohr und die Eiche" (223-4) leads up to a sudden change of fortune. "Was sich nicht biegen lässt, muss brechen." There are two "Registers" at the end, one alphabetical by first subject and the other alphabetical by beginning of the "Sittenlehre." 335 pages. 

1740/53? Aesop's Fables. With Instructive Morals and Reflections Abstracted from all Party Considerations, Adapted To All Capacities; and design'd to promote Religion, Morality, and Universal Benevolence. Containing Two Hundred and Forty Fables, with a Cut Engrav'd on Copper to each Fable. And the Life of Aesop prefixed, by Mr. Richardson. York: Printed for T. Wilson and R. Spence. $45 at Spivey's, Kansas City, May, '93.

I have changed the date on this edition after getting a copy of a London edition, for which I have guessed a date of 1761. This edition seems to be that which Ulrike Bodemann places as a second edition of 1753, at the same time as an identical edition from London with a long list of publishers. Notice Richardson's attempt, even on the title page, to avoid the factionalism that surrounded l'Estrange and others. He himself finds two English editions worthy of notice: l'Estrange and Croxall. At the end of the preface (xii-xiii), there are lists of fables from l'Estrange not included here, of fables given new morals or reflections, and of fables altered from the l'Estrange version. A life of Aesop and an alphabetical index follow, still before the fables. "Morals" and "Reflections" are presented separately from each other, though sometimes two fables are handled together and share both of the above. Missing: 101-4 and the pages of illustrations for #101-110, #131-40, and #161-70. Many of the illustrations are water-colored. They are simple in design and execution. They differ apparently from the illustrations, six to a page, in Lessing's translation of Richardson in 1757. Depictions of lions and of frogs are particularly haphazard (117, 155, 156, 158). There are many new fables for me, and some traditional ones are told differently. The miller throws his ass into the water (#226)! Errata: 89 at top has "Aesop's Fbales." 137 (#175) has in its moral my for may. #212 has in its fifth-to-last line feul for fuel. #233 has "conside-able." It needs an r. I can report now, in Feb., '97, that these text errors are not in the Huntington copy, for which some hand has guessed 1750 as a date. Its title page lists "London: Printed for J. Rivington, R. Baldwin" and a list of some thirteen others. One of those thirteen is a J. Dodsley. Bodemann comments aptly that the illustrations are based on those of Barlow.

1740/61? Aesop's Fables. With Instructive Morals and Reflections Abstracted from all Party Considerations, Adapted To All Capacities; and design'd to promote Religion, Morality, and Universal Benevolence. Containing Two Hundred and Forty Fables, with a Cut Engrav'd on Copper to each Fable. And the Life of Aesop prefixed. by Mr. Richardson. Hardbound. London: For T. & T. Longman, C. Hitch & L. Hawes, I. Hodges I. & I. Rivinton, G. Keith & R. Dodsley. £70 by mail from D.M. Fairburn at Rarebooks, Leeds, June, '99.

I had been working with my York Richardson from Spivey in Kansas City, which I had suspected was a second and maybe even a secondary edition. See my comments there. Now I am delighted to get this book. Some bookseller has written "1761" in pencil on the title-page. Though the date is likely in general, it may come from the fact that Dodsley, listed as the last of the publishers here, published his own fable book in 1761. So far I can find no record of a 1761 printing of this book. Ulrike Bodemann's Katalog Illustrierter Fabelausgaben 1461-1990, Vol. 2, Item 131.2 speaks of an original 1749 publication date with J. Osborne as publisher in London. I think the original publication was rather in 1740. She lists two identical copies of a 1753 second edition: York: T. Wilson and R. Spence (my Spivey copy mentioned above) and London: J.F. & C. Rivington, T. Longman, B. Law, W. Nicol, G.G.J. & J. Robinson, T. Cadell, R. Baldwin, S. Hayes, W. Goldsmith, W. Lowndes, Power & Co. My favorite private collector's notes do not indicate a 1761 edition but rather editions in 1739/40, 1747?, 1773, and 1776? He has an edition that he seems to date to 1776, but that publisher's list is different from mine. Common to mine and his 1776 are five of my eight names: Longman, Hawes, Rivinton (sic), Keith, and Dodsley. Common to mine and Bodemann 1753 are two of my eight names: Rivinton (sic) and Longman. Does this comparison not suggest that my edition belongs between the two dates of 1753 and 1776? In any case, this is a remarkably clean copy for its age. The typos I had found in the York edition are not here, though there is the unusual spelling FEWEL in #212. A page of ten life-vignettes faces the title-page, and the other twenty-four pages of fable-vignettes are intact. In all 192 pages long. I am just delighted to have found this book!

1740/2010 Aesop's Fables with Instructive Morals and Reflections, abstracted from all party considerations, adapted to all capacities: and design'd to promote religion, morality, and universal benevolence. Samuel Richardson. Paperbound. London/La Vergne, TN: Eighteenth Century Collections Online Print Editions: J. Osborn, Junior/Gale Ecco. $21.09 from Amazon.com, Oct., '10.

This is a good publish-on-demand printing of apparently the most original of the Samuel Richardson editions. Ecco says the title-page is engraved "Published November 20, 1739." Bodemann #131.1 is their first copy, printed in 1749, but they indicate a first copy done in 1740. Both have Osborn(e) as publisher. As I comment on my earliest copy of Richardson, notice Richardson's attempt, even on the title page, to avoid the factionalism that surrounded l'Estrange, Croxall, and others. Richard himself finds two English editions worthy of notice: l'Estrange and Croxall. At the end of the preface (xii-xiii), there are lists of fables from l'Estrange not included here, of fables given new morals or reflections, and of fables altered from the l'Estrange version. A life of Aesop and an alphabetical index follow, still before the fables. "Morals" and "Reflections" are presented separately from each other, though sometimes two fables are handled together and share both of the above. The illustrations are simple in design and execution. They differ apparently from the illustrations, six to a page, in Lessing's translation of Richardson in 1757. Depictions of lions and of frogs are particularly haphazard (117, 155, 156, 158). The miller throws his ass into the water (#226)! 

1741 Aesop's Fables with their Morals: in Prose and Verse, Grammatically Translated.  Illustrated with Pictures and Emblems.  Hardbound.  London: J. Hodges.  DK 7500 from Norlis Antivariat, Oslo, July, '14.  

"Together with the History of His Life and Death.  Newly and Exactly Translated out of the Original Greek."  This edition was first published by Francis Eglesfield in London in 1651 (Bodemann #71.1) and then by Philiips Rhodes and Taylor in London in 1715 (Bodemann #71.2).  Bodemann calls both this edition and the latter a "leicht veränderter Nachdruck."  The full-page frontispiece shows Aesop with animals.  Bodemann registers 213 fable and 31 "vita" illustrations, always just before the appropriate text.  Metzner, who did the listing, notes the varying quality of the various streams of illustration here.  The first elements in the book are an AI of the fables and a chronological T of C of the life.  The fables are numbered.  The woodcuts are surprisingly rudimentary.  Those that rise above this description include FC (17); "The Dog Invited to Supper" (213); "Aesop and Xanthus' Naked Wife" (333); and "The People of Delphi Cast Aesop from a Cliff" (369).  Some are attractive in their elementary way, like "The Swallow and Other Birds" (26); TB (137); "The Fox and the Goat" (179); and "The Mother Ape and Her Two Sons" (263).  This book represents my most serious purchase during the European trip of 2014.  I was happy to find it in Norway, where the offerings were particularly slim.  Each fable adds a poem in rhyming couplets to its prose story and moral..  "The Rape of the Lock" (1751) is bound in at the book's end.

1741 Fables in English and French Verse Translated from the Original Latin of Gabriel Faerno. Texts of Gabriel Faerno, translated by Charles Perrault. English by Claude Du Bosc? With One Hundred Copper-Plates (by Claude Du Bosc). Marbled boards. London. Printed for Claude Du Bosc. £175 from London Antiquarian Book Arcade, Ltd., Oct., '97.  Extra copy without title-page for $35 from Goodspeed's, Boston, April, '89.

Bodemann 119.1. This is the first English-French bilingual edition of Faerno. Faerno's Latin verse fables were first published in 1563, two years after his death. The preface here gives a lively account of their history and standing. Perrault first published his French translation of Faerno in 1699. See comments on these fables in my edition without title page, which I have listed as "Fables in English and French" under "1780?". This 1741 edition contains two volumes in one. There is thus new pagination and a new T of C at the beginning of the second volume, which contains Books IV and V. In all there are five books with twenty fables in each. Du Bosc's copper engravings, very bright and clean here, are derived especially from Gheeraerts. Narrator and artist are at their best in "The Fox and the Mask" (I 9), "The Fly and the Race-Horses" (II 4), "The Fox changing his Wish" (new to me, II 13), SS (III 6), "The Woman and the Doctor" (IV 1), "The Fox and the Hedge-Hog" (IV 18), "The Thief and his Mother" (V 14), and "The Fox and the Eagle" (V 18). There is the usual problem here with lions' faces. After examining this book, I took a close look at a book which lacks a title-page. I had listed it earlier under "1780?" and given it the title "Fables in English and French." There may be several references to it in various places in this catalogue. The closest examination I can do finds no difference between the books. It is, I am now convinced, a worn copy of this book. I will keep it in the collection and add here the comments I had made on this volume then: "The Drowned Wife" (I 31) makes sense of LaFontaine's difficult fable. The fox here leaps for the "raisins." "Mercury and the Statuary" (IV 5) is well told. The fables in the early books range from 8 to 14 lines, but are longer in the later books. This copy is heavily annotated and corrected. Dedication to Mrs. Boyle. Further good engravings include "The Ass and the Wolf" (II 6), BC (IV 4), "The Fox" (IV 10), "The Fox, the Ass, and the Lion" (IV 11), "The Dog, the Cock and the Fox" (V 8), and MSA (V 20). In this last fable, the clown throws his ass over the bridge.

1741 Fables in English and French Verse Translated from the Original Latin of Gabriel Faerno. Charles Perrault. With One Hundred Copper-Plates (by Claude Du Bosc). Hardbound. London: Claude Du Bosc. $65 from Behr's Books & Bazaar, San Antonio, TX, through eBay, Nov., '11.

Bodemann 119.1.  Here is a third copy of this fine book.  This copy lacks the first page of the dedication immediately following the title-page.  This copy's covers have separated but are present.  As I wrote of the good copy found in 1997, this is the first English-French bilingual edition of Faerno.  Faerno's Latin verse fables were first published in 1563, two years after his death.  The preface here gives a lively account of their history and standing.  Perrault first published his French translation of Faerno in 1699.  This 1741 edition contains two volumes in one.  There is thus new pagination and a new T of C at the beginning of the second volume, which contains Books IV and V.  In all there are five books with twenty fables in each.  Du Bosc's copper engravings are derived especially from Gheeraerts.  Narrator and artist are at their best in "The Fox and the Mask" (I 9), "The  Fly and the Race-Horses" (II 4), "The Fox changing his Wish" (new to me, II 13), SS (III 6), "The Woman and the Doctor" (IV 1), "The Fox and the Hedge-Hog" (IV 18),  "The Thief and his Mother" (V 14), and "The Fox and the Eagle" (V 18).  There is the usual problem here with lions' faces.  Earlier I had found a book which lacks a title-page.  I had listed it earlier under "1780?" and given it the title "Fables in English and French."  There may be several references to it in various places in this catalogue.  The closest examination I can do finds no difference between the books.  It is, I am now convinced, a worn copy of this book.  I will keep it in the collection and add here the comments I had made on this volume then: "The Drowned Wife"  (I 31) makes sense of LaFontaine's difficult fable.  The fox here leaps for the "raisins."   "Mercury and the Statuary" (IV 5) is well told.  The fables in the early books range from 8 to 14 lines, but are longer in the later books.  This copy is heavily annotated and corrected.  Dedication to Mrs. Boyle.  Further good engravings include "The Ass and the Wolf" (II 6), BC (IV 4), "The Fox" (IV 10), "The Fox, the Ass, and the Lion" (IV 11), "The Dog, the Cock and the Fox" (V 8), and MSA (V 20).  In this last fable, the clown throws his ass over the bridge.

1742 Fables By the late Mr Gay, Volume the Second. Illustrations by Hubert Francois Gravelot. The Second Edition. Hardbound. London: J. and P. Knapton and T. Cox. $125 from Edward Pollack, August, '00.

I had just finished cataloguing several Gay editions when I received an offer from Edward Pollack for a set of two second editions, one each of the two volumes of Gay's fables. I am delighted to have this good copy of Volume II. I find the Gravelot illustrations strong. They take up the full page and remind one of Oudry's work. It may be that Hobbs' use of it (71) has prejudiced me in its favor, but I find "The Man, the Cat, the Dog, and the Fly" (69) among the best. See her good comments there. The frontispiece of Gay's grave-monument (pictured with Bodemann 110.5) seems to be missing. This is bound uniformly with the second edition of the first volume which I bought with it. It has a green cloth spine over green boards.

1743 Aesopi Phrygis et aliorum Fabulaequorum nomina sequens pagella indicabit ..., pluribusque auctae & diligentius quam antehac emendatae ; cum indice locupletissimo.  Hardbound.  Bassano del Grappa/Venice: Jo(hannes). Antonius Remondini.  $599 from Scott Schilb, May, ‘21.  

As Scott notes, the volume is complete: [4], 5-279, [9].  The vellum binding is tight and secure.  5¾" x 3".  The Remondini publishing family was famous, starting with Giovanni Antonio (+1711), moving through the publisher named here, also Giovanni Antonio (+1769) and others; the firm went out of business in 1860.  This is the only Remondini in Bodemann.  We have one other, for which I have guessed a date of 1757.  I noticed several dittos among this little book’s illustrations.  The illustration that fits for “De Asino et Equo” on 70 did not fit for “De Asino et Lupo” (64).  The same illustration of two boys occurs on 61 and 228.  Bodemann apptly comments, by contrast with the forerunner of this edition: “Kaum Wiederholungen.”  The 76 illustrations are doubly framed.  They seem to be uniformly a little larger than 2” x 1½”.  On 154 the footprints going into the cave are well presented, but the illustrator struggles with the lion’s face.  There is a typical FC on 240.  On 260 there are two hares, but is there a tortoise?  We have four related publications in the collection, for which I have established or guessed dates of 1757, 1777, 1780, and 1781. These all fit in the family of the "Aesopus Dorpii," first done in Italy by Remondini in Venice around 1550.   The sixteenth century members of this family appear in Bodemann #31.  The problem of misapplied and repeated images seems to have occurred heavily in our 1780 edition.  My comment on our 1757 Remondini mentions this very edition of 1743.  And now we have it!  The AI at the end takes up nine pages.

1743/2010 Aesop Naturaliz'd: in a collection of fables and stories from Aesop, Locman, Pilpay, and others. The fifth edition, with the addition of above fifty new fables. Paperbound. London/La Vergne, TN: D. Midwinter and A. Ward/Ecco Print Editions. $17.75 from amazon.com, July, '10.

This is a standard versified Aesop from the eighteenth century featuring some one-hundred-and-eighty fables. Because it lacks all illustration, it is not in Bodemann. The "naturalized" of the title refers, I believe, to the rendering into English of the fables. My online dictionary offers this third meaning for "to naturalize": "to introduce or adopt (foreign practices, words, etc.) into a country or into general use: to naturalize a french phrase." Perhaps the most engaging part of this book for me is the preface of three pages. I find it endearing and true to the fable form. As the author has diverted himself by creating them, he intends to offer readers "some little pleasure." Those who look down on these fables should try creating a fable themselves. They would find it as hard to make a good fable as most people do to practise the fable's moral! Fables form an easy and pleasant way to instruct, all the more when they are in verse. Further, fables correct people's faults without offending the guilty. A person passes sentence on his own folly before he reflects what he is doing. A final reason for a fable is that it is short and aims to teach us one point at a time. Here a picture is worth a thousand words. The author does not expect to please everyone; he is not altogether pleased with the collection himself. "The worst may please some, and the best will not please all." In any case, he professes that he meant well. This "printed on demand" book is more carefully done than some others I have received.

1743/2018 Fables Gravées Par Sadeler, Avec Un Discours Préliminaire Et Les Sens Moraux En Distiques.  Aesop.  Paperbound.  Hachette Livre.  $27.12 from Pbshop through ABE, July, '18.

This is a print-on-demand xerox copy of the 1747 original.  I picked it up to compare with the 1689 Sadeler edition I bought form Scott Schilb.  The illustrations here of the 139 fables are fascinating.  They have strong resemblances to Gheeraerts, I believe.  As these books go, this is one of the better sets of reproductions.

1744 Cent Fables en Latin et en François, choisies des Anciens Auteurs, Mises en Vers Latins Par Gabriel Faerne et Traduites par Mr. Perrault. Avec de nouvelles Figures en Taille-douce (Claude Du Bosc). Nouvelle Édition. London: C. Marsh, T. Payne, et al. £150 from Nicholas Goodyer, London, July, '99.

Bodemann #119.3. Du Bosc took his 1741 English/French edition and made it into a 1743 Latin/French edition (Bodemann #119.2). Here new publishers one year later present a reprinting of that edition. See my comments under "1741" and "1780?". This edition contains, as did the 1743 Du Bosc edition, a good deal of material beyond the fables, including the preface of the London editor, the carmina and opuscula of Faerno, dedications, letters, and testimonia. There is at the beginning an "Index" (T of C) giving a full listing of materials, but its ordering of materials seems confusing. I understand it only if one removes "G. Faerni centum Fabulae" and "Index Fabularum" and puts them at the bottom of the list. There is a simple T of C of fables, the promised "Index Fabularum," at the book's very end. The order of fables here is different from that in my copy of the 1741 edition. Further, they are numbered not in books but sequentially from 1 to 100. Thus I 1 there is XXXV here. The plates are indeed the same ones used in Du Bosc's 1741 edition, including for example the comically small donkey-pelt carried by the horse in XVI on 40. Both covers have separated, and the spine is crumbling. The book is split between 90 and 91. While "Astrologus" on 168 is numbered LXXIII, "L'Astrologue" on 169 is (incorrectly) LXXIV, just as "Leo & Vulpes" is correctly numbered LXXIV on the next page. This beautiful old book needs a preservationist!

1744 Fables for the Female Sex. (Edward Moore.) Illustrations by F. Hayman. First edition? London: R. Francklin. £45 at Henry Pordes, London, May, '97.

See my comments under the 1744/83? reprinting of these 16 fables. I count this book something of a find. The bookstore mentioned it to me on my second visit during this brief stay in London. They did not know who had written it. (It has two cuts in the title page, the lower perhaps to remove the name of a former owner.) I noted the date, made an unaccepted offer of £30, went home and looked up the date in my own records and noted that 1744 was indeed the date of Moore's first edition. I presumed therefore (and still do) that this is that first edition. I immediately called to reserve the book. Two trips back to get it were frustrated by an explosion and a bank holiday, respectively, but I left a note, and they were good enough to send it to me. The illustration pages are often slightly damaged, but usually without loss to the strong illustrations. In a few there is a tear affecting the image itself: VIII (47), XI (67), XIII (81), and XVI (149). My favorites are IX (55), "The Farmer, the Spaniel, and the Cat" and XIV (89), "The Sparrow, and the Dove."

1744 Raccolta di varie favole, Vol. I.  Giorgio Fossati.  Hardbound.  Venice: Carlo Pecora.  $282.40 from Zubal Books, Cleveland, April, '23.

This set of three volumes (out of 6) was a real find.  Though there are small drawbacks to these three volumes, Fossati volumes sell for much more.  I was lucky to happen upon a half-price sale.  The chief drawback in this volume involves red coloring of some plates: larger pink tint in some, small sections (particularly mouths) in deep red in others.  The coloring is generally not intrusive; the engravings are still lovely.  They are similar to the work of Oudry for framing and classical backgrounds.  Among the best of the illustrations are WS (X); "A Sheep Crowned with Flowers and a Shepherd" (XVII); "The Stag at the Pool" (XVIII); "The Satyr and the Traveler" (XXIV); "Armored Animals" (XXVII); and "Lion, Wolf, and Fox" (XXXIV).  "Armored Animals" receives my overall prize: well executed!  As this short list suggests, the book brings together well-known fables of La Fontaine with lesser known and perhaps even just created stories.  A new fable to me: presents a lion in sheepskin (XXVIII).  Illustration pages are not printed on the verso.  There is a bilingual T of C at the front of the book.  44 pages.  7¾" x 10¼".

1744 Raccolta di varie favole, Vol. 2.  Giorgio Fossati.  Hardbound.  Venice: Carlo Pecora.  $282.40 from Zubal Books, Cleveland, April, '23.

This set of three volumes (out of 6) was a real find.  Generally, Fossati volumes sell for much more.  A quick look finds several volumes on sale through AbeBooks for $1750 apiece.  I was lucky to happen upon a half-price sale.  This volume, 7¾" x 10¼", presents 36 bilingual (Italian and French) fables on 48 pages.  Each fable starts a new page.  Illustration pages are not printed on the verso.  There is a bilingual T of C at the front of the book.  In this volume, the outlines of the separately impressed illustrations are clear.  The engravings are, as in the first volume, lovely.  They are similar to the work of Oudry in their framing and their classical backgrounds.  Among the best of the illustrations are CW (3); "Stag and Vine" (6); CJ (21); TB (25); and WC (38).  I am surprised to find here my favorite fable of the ass carrying flowers and, later, manure (10).  The old woman who overworks her servants is here a young widow (40).  "Fox and Eagle" (24) receives my overall prize: well executed!  As this short list suggests, the book brings together well-known fables of La Fontaine with lesser known and perhaps even just created stories.

1744 Raccolta di varie favole, Vol. 3.  Giorgio Fossati.  Hardbound.  Venice: Carlo Pecora.  $282.40 from Zubal Books, Cleveland, April, '23.

This set of three volumes (out of 6) was a real find.  Generally, Fossati volumes sell for much more.  A quick look finds several volumes on sale through AbeBooks for $1750 apiece.  I was lucky to happen upon a half-price sale.  This volume, 7¾" x 10¼", presents 36 bilingual (Italian and French) fables on 77 pages.  Illustration pages are not printed on the verso.  There is a bilingual T of C at the front of the book.  As in Volume 1, many illustrations include a small portion carefully colored in light red.  The engravings are, as in the first volume, lovely.  They are similar to the work of Oudry in their framing and their classical backgrounds.  Among the best of the illustrations are "Stag and Horse" (17); "Wolf and Sculpted Head" (28); and WL (72).  The man frustrated with a god but finding cash inside his statue is operating here in a temple with a long pole (36)!  My sense is that a greater portion of the fables than in the first two volumes comes from outside the circle of La Fontaine's stories.

1744/83? Fables for the Female Sex. Edward Moore. Publisher unknown (title page missing). $25 at Bookhouse, Arlington, Oct., '91.

A book that apparently went through a number of editions. 1783 seems to be some bookdealer's guess for this one. 16 fables strong on morality, less good on story. The "fable" itself really becomes a derivative illustration of what is basically either sermon or satire. The "woman's world" that emerges here is frightening to imagine today. Frail fair thing, if she loses her honor once, a woman is doomed forever ("The Female Seducers"). Parents giving her to a man whom she has not chosen are the mother sheep giving her lamb to the wolf! Vanity claims in the last fable to rule the whole female race: "Trust me, from titled dames to spinners,/'Tis I make saints, whoe'er makes sinners." The manifold advice may not be easy to put together: character will keep a man much more than looks; clothing should make a man imagine--not see--the best; "striving nature to conceal/you only her defects reveal." A woman has fleeting beauty and gives it to a man for protection; he is grateful for the gift remembered and continues to protect her out of gratitude for what once was. Do not tease the man to whom you have said yes.

1744/67/1966/67 A Little Pretty Pocket-Book. John Newbury. Facsimile with introductory essay and bibliography by M.F. Thwaite. Dust jacket. NY: Harcourt, Brace & World. $10 at Bookworks, Chicago, Sept., '92.

This beautiful little book is the first American edition of a facsimile done in Great Britain in 1966 from the 11th edition of 1767. An extensive introduction stresses that Newbury was following Locke's revolutionary philosophy. One result was that amusement was announced as a (new) goal for this piece of children's literature. Traces Newbury's fascinating life and career as a publisher. "Aesop's Fables" books around his time came from Croxall and Richardson; Newbury himself also did a book of fables by Abraham Aesop, Esq. (145), which is mentioned in the final section made up of ads for Newbury's other books (141ff.). Simple woodcuts throughout; introduction points out that Bewick will soon revolutionize book illustration. The pages move through "Great A" to "Little a" and so on. At "Great X" we get four fables: "The Wolf and the Kid," "The Husbandman and the Stork," BW, and "Mercury and the Woodman" (with only 2 hatchets involved). After each there is a nice little letter of application from Jack the Giant Killer. Good proverbs on 137-40.

1745 Phaedri Augusti Liberti Fabularum Aesopiarum. Libri V. Cum integris commentariis Marq. Gudii, Conr. Rittershusii. Nic. Rigaltii, Is. Neveleti, Nic Heinsii, Jo. Schefferi, Jo. Lud. Praschii, et excerptis aliorum. Curante P.B. Ed. tertia emendatior, et majoris in quarto Ed. Indice aucta. Peter Burman. Hardbound. Leiden: Samuel Luchtmans. £ 85 from Ruth Kidson, East Sussex, UK, Sept., '00. Extra copy with missing spine for $15 from Goodspeed's, April, '89.

Here is one of the classics of this collection. Carnes 217. Lamb speaks warmly of the standard which Burman set with his variorum edition containing the comments of previous critics. The present volume is a third edition of a work Luchtmans first put out in 1727 (Bodemann 90.2). "To this day Burman's edition of 1727 is the only complete commentary on Phaedrus and has not been superseded" Lamb vi). There are two parts, separately paginated: 60+398 and 250+70 pp. The first part contains copious notes under the text of the five books. Then comes an appendix of other Aesopic fables (367-98). The second part consists of notes from three commentators, followed by indices on the text, notes, and authors cited. In the charming frontispiece, Phaedrus and the muse look up upon Aesop and the animals inhabiting a stage just above and behind them.

1745  The Fables of Phaedrus translated into English prose, as near the original as the different idioms of the Latin and the English languages will allow. With the Latin text and order of Construction on the opposite page; and critical, historical, geographical, and classical Notes in English. Joseph Davidson, translator. London: Printed for Joseph Davidson. $120 from Serendipity, Berkeley, Feb., '97.

This book, bound in leather, is in surprisingly good condition. Besides the notes, which seem generally to use a good deal of parallels from classical texts, there is a prose paraphrase next to each Latin text. There is an English AI at the back. Mentioned in Carnes' bibliography of editions of Phaedrus.

1746 Fables Choisies Mises en Vers par Monsieur de La Fontaine avec un Nouveau Commentaire, Vol. I.  (Pierre) Coste.  Engravings (after) Francois Chauveau.  Hardbound.  Paris: Prault pere.  $299.50 from Scott Schilb, Nov., '19.

This is a strong, very early La Fontaine.  Coste's first edition in Bodemann is in 1743.  This edition is thus only three years later.  But that 1743 edition did not use the copper engravings of Chauveau as this does.  My sense is that these are engravings done after Chauveau, rather than by him -- and mirror copies at that.  They are well done.  Many of these illustrations are signed "F.C. Jr."  The engravings by the way seem to have been printed separately from the texts.  One can see the indentation around many of the images.  I was delighted when I found the match to Bodemann #124.1 but struggled to find a clear statement of Prault pere as the publisher.  That is indicated on none of the title-pages in either volume, but it does appear at the bottom of the last page of Volume II.  Together the two volumes contain 240 engravings and vignettes.  Leather binding.  Marbled endpapers.  4" x 7".  This is another star in the collection!  Strong frontispiece of La Fontaine seated among the animals.  The T of C for this first volume is on xlvii-lij.  One of my choices for an outstanding engraving in this volume is FK on 106.

1746 Fables Choisies Mises en Vers par Monsieur de La Fontaine avec un Nouveau Commentaire, Vol. II.  (Pierre) Coste.  Engravings (after) Francois Chauveau.  Hardbound.  Paris: Prault pere.  $299.50 from Scott Schilb, Nov., '19.

This is a strong, very early La Fontaine.  Coste's first edition in Bodemann is in 1743.  This edition is thus only three years later.  But that 1743 edition did not use the copper engravings of Chauveau as this does.  My sense is that these are engravings done after Chauveau, rather than by him -- and mirror copies at that.  They are well done.  Many of these illustrations are signed "F.C. Jr."  The engravings by the way seem to have been printed separately from the texts.  One can see the indentation around many of the images.  I was delighted when I found the match to Bodemann #124.1 but struggled to find a clear statement of Prault pere as the publisher.  That is indicated on none of the title-pages in either volume, but it does appear at the bottom of the last page of this volume.  Together the two volumes contain 240 engravings and vignettes.  Leather binding.  Marbled endpapers.  4" x 7".  This is another star in the collection!  The volume includes Coste's fable, "La Cigale trouvee parmi une foule de Sauterelles," after La Fontaine's own epitaph for himself and an "Avis du Libraire" and before the closing T of C on 393-399. A not-very-successful lion engraving is on 239.  One of my choices for an outstanding engraving in this volume is "The Companions of Ulysses" on 265.

1746 Select Tales and Fables with Prudential Maxims and other Little Lessons of Morality in Prose and Verse Equally Instructive & Entertaining for the Use of Both Sexes, Vols. I-II. Benj. Cole, Engraver. Hardbound. London: For T. Osborn and J. Nourse. £18.22 from Stuart Caulfield, Edinburgh, through eBay, August, '12.

This fine little book has one of those titles that goes on forever. It continues: "Wherein Their Foibles as well as Beauties are presented to their View in the fairest & most inoffensive point of Light...The whole embellished with threescore original designs, expressive of each subject, neatly engraved on copper plates." The pattern in this children's fable book is for sets of four pages. First there are two pleasing almost square illustrations on the first left page, followed by two texts on the first right page. Then follow two adaptations on the second left page, with the second right page conveniently left blank as the verso of the next set of illustrations. The illustration pages and their blank versos are not counted in the page numbers. The prolog is adapted from "Phoedrus." Each volume has 80 pages. After the thirty fables in the first volume, there are three sets each of prudential maxims, first in prose and then in verse, arranged alphabetically for easier memorizing. "Art polishes and improves Nature. Beauty is a fair, but fading Flower." Next come "Fifty Select Counsels or Rules of Life Without Regard to Alphabetical Order." Young readers of this book certainly got enough admonitions! Next come "The Precepts of Pythagoras" and "The Golden Verses of Pythagoras." Finally there are fifty-one "Select Historical Reflections on Various Subjects, Equally Instructive and Entertaining." Volume II follows a similar pattern. Good sample illustrations are those facing 15 in Volume I, FG and "The Farmer and His Sons," and facing 9 in Volume II, "The Fox and the Eagle" and WC. They add "J. Wale Delin." to "B. Cole Sculp." My best find comes from the second book: "The Apple and the Horse-Turd" (23). The two lie on a road when a rainstorm sweeps them away. The horse-turd says to the other "See how we apples swim!" Fable XXVIII in Volume II is a poor man's version of Lessing's great fable about the scholar asked if he does not feel alone who answers that he has never felt so alone as in this conversation. Here the student answers the clown "Thy company is worse than none" (27). The date for the book is given on the second volume's title-page. A possible pre-title-page for the first volume may be missing. Pages 3-10 of the first volume are missing. Not in Bodemann. 

1747 Aesop's Fables. With Instructive Morals and Reflections Abstracted from all Party Considerations, Adapted To All Capacities; and design'd to promote Religion, Morality, and Universal Benevolence. By Mr. Richardson. Hardbound. London: J. Rivington, R.Baldwin, L. Hawes, W. Clarke, R. Collins, T. Caslon, J. (S?) Crowder, T. Longman, B. Law, R. Withy, J. Dodsley, G. Keith, G. Robinson, J. Roberts, T. Cadell. $130.27 from Minglewood Books, Chesterfield, VA, August, '05. 

This is my third early copy of this book. I have dated the first of my other two copies "1740/53?" It was published by Wilson and Spence in York and it is Bodemann #131.2. I dated my second copy "1740/61?" It was published by Longman, Hitch, Hawes et al in London. Neither is what Bodemann lists as her first edition (#131.1), published by J. Osborne in London in 1749. My favorite private collector's notes state "the Richardson bibliography lists a first edition of [1739-1740], a second edition of 1747 (?) and another edition of 1773." He himself has an edition which he dates to c1776; he notes that this edition substitutes as the publisher W. Nicol for R. Withy and W. Stuart for J. Roberts who died in 1776. I had read this latest copy of mine as dated, on its title-page, "1777." As I have looked more closely, I believe that it is actually "1747." That dating would make sense of the remark made just above about the edition of c1776, for my present edition includes the names "R. Withy," and "J. Roberts," for whom that edition substitutes "W. Nicol" and "W. Stuart," respectively. The latter died, according to that note, in 1776. He would not have been a publisher of a "1777" edition. So I say a cautious "Eureka!" This seems to be the 1747 second printing. This copy has no front cover and begins with the title-page. The title-page's illustration includes some brown and blue coloring. There is some coloring of the illustrations, e.g., those facing 32 and 57. Other than that, the illustrations have survived quite well; all 240 are present. Only part of Story #239 survives, and #240 and any pages following at the book's end have been lost. There is significant foxing at various points in the book. The back cover is detached. The typos that I found in the York edition of c1753 are not here; this edition shares with the London edition of c1761 the spelling of "fewel" in #212. This is a lovely, fragile little treasure!

1748 Fables Nouvelles Mises En Vers. Avec La Vie d'Esope, Tiree De Pultarque & D'autres Auteurs.  (Henri) Richer.  Hardbound.  Paris: Chez Barrois.  $187.49 from Resource Books, East Granby, CT, through AbeBooks, Sept., '22.

It is seldom that I can say "I regret buying this book."  I can say that here.  I had thought that this was a La Fontaine that had escaped me thus far.  It seems a strong response to La Fontaine, not least in having two parts that add up to twelve books, preceded by a life of Aesop.  After a non-fable masquerading as a fable about Thetis, Achilles, and Chiron, Richer presents a clever about-face of FC.  The crow wonders as he sees the fox eating some lard.  He points to nearby ducks as a much better meal.  The fox follows the lead and chases the ducks -- in vain.  As he returns he finds the crow eating his lard.  Turn-about is fair play!  Shapiro's "The Fabulists French" gives Richer only an early dismissive remark (xiv) and presents none of his fables.  As I recall, I was aware of a much more expensive copy of this work and was delighted to see it offered at a lower price.  In this case maybe I was the fox chasing some ducks!  Bodemann #129.1 reprints the frontispiece: Athene has a mirror and a poet presents a manuscript.  3¼" x 5½".  52 + 314 + 6 pages.

1748/54  Phaedri Augusti liberti Fabulae. Ad manuscriptos codices et optimam quamque editionem emendavit Steph. And. Philippe. Accesserunt notae ad calcem. Vita Phaedri a J. Scheffero. De Aetate Phaedri a Gerar. Jo. Vossio. Judicia et testimonia de Phaedro. Appendix Fabularum a M. Gudio. Fabulae latine, pluraeque ejusdem cum Phaedri fabulis argumentis. Flavii Avieni Fabularum Aesopiarum liber unicus, accurante S. A. Philippe. L. Annaei Senecae ac P. Syri Mimi Sententiae et notis J. Gruteri. Edited by Stephan Andreas Phillipe [de Prétot]. Paris: Typis Josephi Barbou. $12 at Serendipity, Berkeley, Feb., '97.

Contains a wealth of good things, including the life of Phaedrus by Scheffer (v-xiv), an 'Indiculus editionum Phaedri' (xxxiv-xxxvii), the 1747 edition of Avianus: 'Flavii Aviani Fabularum Aesopiarum, liber unicus', (149-204), and the Sententiae of Seneca and Publilius Syrus. First published both by Barbou and by Grangé in 1748. Carnes notes this 1754 reprint, but says it has 395 pages, whereas this book, like the original he describes, has only 305 after the initial xlviii. At 147-8 there is a leaf lacking; in this copy is pencilled "a blank leaf taken out." Carnes mentions a title-page for Avianus that may have been 147. Formerly in the University of California Bancroft Library, and, before that, in the library of Henry Swinburne. All this for $12, and I found it by chance among the Classics books while she was writing up the cost of my other purchases! Twelve small but engaging illustrations at the beginning (and sometimes ends) of books of fables.

1749 Le Nouvel Esope: Fables Choisies. Paperbound. Paris: Chez la Veuve Delormel et Fils. €60 from Librairie Hatchuel, Paris, August, '02.

Twenty-six rhyming verse fables on 52 pages. Marbled paper covers. No introductory or concluding material other than a colophon on the last page indicating various permissions and a registration. There are printer's decorations on the title-page and first page, and the first initial is done dramatically. The accent in the title apparently belongs on the "nouvel." These are new fables after the fashion of Aesop. In the first fable, "L'Aigle et le Pie," the eagle ends up killing the magpie prophet who predicted bad things for the eagle but long life for the magpie. Do not anger the powerful! The second fable has a humble swan refuting the proud claims of the peacock to be the most beautiful. We all have some points of beauty but lack others. So it goes, through fables featuring respectively two books, a monkey and a fox, and love and absence. It is wonderful to have an older book like this in the collection, but these fables so far do not excite my interest. One of the fables here, "Le Mouton, et le Loup," appears in The Fabulists French (74) as the work of Delaunay, though the work referred to there is Recueil de Fables from 1732. Delaunay died in 1751. "Le Mouton, et le Loup," Shapiro rightly comments, is "typical of the conventional wisdom found in many another animal fable.." Delaunay seems to have written several theatrical pieces using fables. Might this book be a collection of some of those fables that first appeared in his plays?

1749 Mythoi Aisopou: Aesopi Fabulae Graeco-Latinae. Cum novis Notis, nec non Versione emendata. Editio, prioribus antehac editis correctior; Et ad Usum Juventutis Regiae Scholae Etonensis accommodata. Etonae: J. Pote. $85.50 at McNaughton's, Edinburgh, July, '92.

Unusual bilingual reader: The 144 Greek fables are given first, with helpful and extensive Latin notes right after the individual Greek fable. After 122, we start over again with the very same 144 fables in Latin, this time without notes, on 92 pages. There follow two pages of revealing advertisements for Pote's books for Eton's young scholars.

1749 Recueil de Fables Choisies Dans le Goût de M. De la Fontaine. Nouvelle Edition Revue, corrigée & augmentée. Hardbound. Paris: Chez Ph. N. Lottin & J.H. Butard. $100 from Kindel McNeill, Houston, through eBay, July, '05.

The title continues "Sur de petits airs & Vaudevilles connus notés à la fin pour en faciliter le chant." Not in Bodemann. Six books of fables on 322 small (2½" x 5") pages. Notice that both the texts and the organization of the fables is original. Though the book follows La Fontaine, the six books of fables seem not to be organized according to the pattern of La Fontaine's twelve books, and the texts seem redone with a special eye towards providing an appropriate meter for the music. After the texts, there is a ten-page AI. Following a royal permission to publish comes finally the special feature of this little book: 32 pages of musical notation, apparently fitted to the fables. These pages contain some hundred different musical arrangements, usually of two or three lines. The notation system in these pages is surprisingly close to ours. The introduction to each fable in the volume indicates which "air" is appropriate for it.