Peter Bichsel   Fine Books

Dorat, Claude-Joseph. Fables nouvelles. 4 parts in 2 vols.

With engr. frontispiece, engr. portrait plate showing Dorat, engr. allegorical full-page illus. (repeated in vol. II), 99 engr. vignettes (incl. repeats), 99 end-pieces, engr. title vignette to vol. I, and engr. title to vol. II, all after Clément-Pierre Marillier. XXII pp., 1 leaf, 144 pp.; pp. (145) –309, (3) pp. 8vo. Contemp. marbled calf, spine gilt with labels, covers surrounded by triple gilt fillets. Edges gilt.. – La Haye and Paris, Delalain, 1773 (recte 1775).

Revised and enlarged de luxe edition of Dorat’s 99 fables in its re-dated impression of c. 1775 (many vignettes dated 1774 and 1775), but still showing the typographic characteristics of the first impression in vol. I as listed by Cohen and Lewine. Most desirable copy on “papier de Hollande”. Claude-Joseph Dorat (1734–1780) published a first proof of 83 of his witty fables in 1772. This first edition had great success and was re-issued in the present enlarged edition, sumptuously illustrated by Clément-Pierre Marillier (1740–1808), the outstanding illustrator of the Louis XVI period. More than 25 engravers executed his drawings which show the motifs of the fables within an ornamental frame. – Bodemann 157.2; Fabula docet 102; Landwehr 142; Cohen/de Ricci 313–316 (“chef-d’oeuvre de Marillier”); Lewine 150f.; Sander 508. – Ex-libris “Bibli. de Mr. de Beaumont” on paste-down of vol. I. Very good copy without any flaws. – Best.-Nr. 5443