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Title
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en_US
Fables Choisies Mises en Vers, Vol. I
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Description
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en_US
This is a hardbound book (hard cover)
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en_US
Language note: French
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en_US
#1801 of 3333
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en_US
par M. de la Fontaine
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Creator
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en_US
La Fontaine, Jean de
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Contributor
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en_US
Chauveau, Francois
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Date
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2016-01-25T16:30:04Z
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en_US
1999-01
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en_US
1948
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Date Available
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2016-01-25T16:30:04Z
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Date Issued
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en_US
1948
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Abstract
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en_US
A beautiful folio of uncut pages, boxed, numbered and even identified facing the portrait of La Fontaine before the title page as Exemplaire No 1801 Spécialement imprimé pour le Docteur Georges Loublie. These volumes are not facsimiles of the original pages. For that see the facsimile of the first six books done by Firmin-Didot in 1930, and check my comments on it. These are rather fine printings of La Fontaine's text in today's orthography and type with reproductions, I gather, of Chauveau's small engravings. The colophon at the end of this volume, which contains Books I-IV, says that this edition comporte toutes les fables et les illustrations de Chauveau choisies par La Fontaine lui-même pour les deux éditions originales de 1668 et de 1678-1694. My question would be about the illustrations: are they re-engraved by someone contemporary or perhaps photographic replicas of Chauveau's originals? In any case they appear here as much more substantial and less grainy than they are in the Firmin-Didot facsimile. This edition makes for a wonderful chance to contemplate Chauveau's work. I agree with Johanna Winkelmann (Aus dem Antiquariat, 1987, A 269) that Chauveau's illustrations suffer from a certain fixedness, lifelessness, and closedness. The artist gets the important elements of the text into the picture, and that may accomplish his main purpose. An example might be FK (III 4) on 137; from this most dramatic fable, we have little action, drama, emotion in the picture or engagement in us as we see it. Some of the illustrations avoid that tendency. AD (II 12) on 107 has a good surprised reaction from the hunter as the bird flies away. Or again the fox in FG (III 11) on 149 is in a great posture of trying to get a leg up on one of the trellis-holding tree trunks. Finally, Chauveau's illustration for The Horse Wanting to Get Revenge Against the Stag (IV 13) on 197 prompts good engagement by its dramatic character. Where some of the great artists like Gheeraerts seem to be looking forward in their art to developments to come, Chauveau seems to me rather to be looking back to strong, simple fable presentations of the past. T of C for this volume at the end. As with each of these volumes, the box is broken, but the portfolio cover remains intact.
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Identifier
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en_US
3167 (Access ID)
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Language
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en_US
fre
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Publisher
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en_US
Les Bibliolatres de France: Les Minimes
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en_US
Brie-Comte-Robert
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Subject
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en_US
PQ1808.A1 1948
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en_US
Title Page Scanned
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Type
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en_US
Book, Whole