DORÉ (Gustave) - [LA FONTAINE (Jean de)]. - Lot 64

DORÉ (Gustave) - [LA FONTAINE (Jean de)]. Les Fables. Paris: Librairie Hachette et Cie, 1868. - 1 volume in two folio volumes, 377 x 280 : 496 pp. ; pp. 497-864, LX, (2 ff.), portrait, illustrated cover. Leaves, under book covers, dark green half-chagrin folder, slipcase. Leblanc, pp. 205-207. First edition illustrated by Gustave DORÉ (1832-1883), with 84 full-page compositions and 248 woodcut vignettes. There is also an out-of-text portrait of La Fontaine, drawn by A. Sandoz and reproduced in heliogravure. This edition appeared in 58 issues. According to Leblanc: "Many bibliographers consider the two-volume in-folio edition, dated 1867, to be the first printing, and the 1868 edition, in a small in-folio volume, to be later. The opposite is true. Even a cursory examination of the prospectus and issue covers shows that publication of the Fables in one volume began on November 13, 1866, that the first fascicle, comprising several issues, was delivered in January 1867, and that the complete work was ready for 1868. Librairie Hachette therefore interleaved the cover and title with the date 1868 in the last issue. The folio edition was prepared during 1867, to be ready at the same time as the small-volume folio edition, the last issue of which appeared at the end of the same year. The two formats were undoubtedly printed simultaneously, but it was with the edition on plain paper that La Fontaine's Fables were revealed to the public" (Leblanc, pp. 206-207). A rare copy, complete with all covers, including that of the volume. As tradition dictates, the introductory pieces (portrait of La Fontaine, title, notice, preface and Vie d'Ésope) appear in the last issues (55 to 58). This copy has the characteristics of both the first and second editions, and the 8 rejected plates mentioned by Leblanc are reprinted here. A very well preserved copy, but with some foxing.