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three books are lined up in a row on a white surfacethe front cover of a book with a drawing of a dragon on itan old drawing of a man with a dog and other animals near a statuean old black and white drawing of two dogs and a cat in a fielda black and white drawing of a dog chasing a man on a horse
ALDE

43 - LA FONTAINE (Jean de). Selected Fables.
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Estimate €2,000 - €3,000
Sale commission
Description
LA FONTAINE (Jean de). Selected Fables. Paris, Desaint & Saillant, Durand, 1755–1759. 4 folio volumes, veal leather with root-patterned binding, gilt roulette, smooth decorated spine, beaded fillet on the edges, marbled edges (late 18th-century binding). A magnificent and highly celebrated illustration by the animal painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry. It comprises a frontispiece and 275 plates based on his drawings, retouched by Cochin and etched by the finest artists of the time. The text is embellished with vignettes and headpieces featuring floral or allegorical motifs, wood-engraved by Le Sueur and Papillon after compositions by the flower painter Jean-Jacques Bachelier. The typesetting was entrusted to Charles-Antoine Jombert. ‘One of the most ambitious and successful of all illustrated books’ (Ray). A copy elegantly bound in the late 18th century. The engraving of the Monkey and the Leopard is in the second state, following the inscription on the banner. Covers rubbed, one cover stained. Cohen, 548 – Ray, no. 5 – Rochambeau, Fables, no. 86 – A. Coron, Des livres rares, BnF, no. 207.
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About the sale Antique books – Alchemy & the occult sciences
Auction location
Auction time 11/04/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits:
ALDE
See original version (French)
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