c.1868 - La Fontaine\'s Fables / Illustrated by Gustave Doré / Large 4.3 kg / Eng For Sale

Pub. circa 1868 / The Fables of La Fontaine, translated into English verse by Walter Thornbury, with illustrations by Gustave Doré. Published by Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, London and New York. The frontispiece features an engraved portrait of Jean de La Fontaine.This is a substantial volume, measuring 32 x 26 cm (12.6 x 10.2 inches) and weighing 4.3 kg (9.5 lbs). A monumental collection of Jean de La Fontaine\'s 17th century verse fables, rendered into English verse by the Victorian poet and journalist Walter Thornbury. The volume opens with an essay on the life and works of La Fontaine, followed by a life of Aesop the Phrygian, a dedication to the Dauphin, and the author\'s preface. The fables themselves are organised into 240+ numbered tales, beginning with the famous \"The Grasshopper and the Ant,\" \"The Raven and the Fox,\" \"The Wolf and the Lamb,\" \"The Oak and the Reed,\" \"The Fox and the Grapes,\" \"The Lion in Love,\" and continuing through to \"The Arbitrator, Almoner, and Hermit.\" The text is lavishly illustrated by Gustave Doré, with 86 full-page wood-engraved plates and hundreds of in-text vignettes and tailpieces, engraved by master engravers including Pannemaker-Doms, Jonnard, Ettling, and others. The book runs to 839 pages.Condition: Professionally rebacked with new cloth, with the original illustrated gilt-stamped spine laid down over the new backing to preserve the period appearance. Original cream and gilt-stamped pictorial cloth boards retained, the front cover featuring an elaborate gilt design of a hare among reeds with frogs in the foreground. Original spine shows fading, wear at head and tail with some cloth loss at the foot, gilt lettering still legible. Boards show fading (particularly visible discoloration to a purple/mauve tone on rear cover), and rubbing to edges and corners. Hinges firm and secure following the rebacking. Internally pages are clean with light foxing and age-toning to the margins, plates and text bright. All edges gilt, somewhat dulled. A complete and structurally sound copy.
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