![LA FONTAINE, [Jean de] (1621-1695). Contes et nouvelles en vers. Amsterdam [Paris: Barbou],1762.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14298_0061_001(la_fontaine_jean_de_contes_et_nouvelles_en_vers_amsterdam_paris_barbou021214).jpg?w=1)
![LA FONTAINE, [Jean de] (1621-1695). Contes et nouvelles en vers. Amsterdam [Paris: Barbou],1762.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14298_0061_002(la_fontaine_jean_de_contes_et_nouvelles_en_vers_amsterdam_paris_barbou021227).jpg?w=1)
![LA FONTAINE, [Jean de] (1621-1695). Contes et nouvelles en vers. Amsterdam [Paris: Barbou],1762.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14298_0061_000(la_fontaine_jean_de_contes_et_nouvelles_en_vers_amsterdam_paris_barbou041623).jpg?w=1)
Details
LA FONTAINE, [Jean de] (1621-1695). Contes et nouvelles en vers. Amsterdam [Paris: Barbou],1762.
2 volumes, 8° (177 x 116mm). Half-titles, engraved frontispiece portraits, title vignettes, 80 engraved plates after Eisen and over 50 culs-de-lampe by Choffard, 4 further vignettes. (Occasional light spotting, a few leaves slightly browned.) Contemporary red morocco, spines gilt, green morocco lettering pieces. Provenance: A. Chauvac-Claretie (bookplate) -- Henry Ormsby (bookplate).
A handsome example of the celebrated ‘Fermiers généraux’ edition, commissioned by a group of wealthy tax collectors ‘determined that the book should be the best of its kind […] Eisen's eighty designs for La Fontaine are the liveliest and most adroit that he ever drew’ (Ray). His exquisite plates, engraved by the foremost engravers of the period, constitute the illustrator’s ‘chef-d’oeuvre’ (Cohen). Cohen/de Ricci 558; Ray, French 26.
2 volumes, 8° (177 x 116mm). Half-titles, engraved frontispiece portraits, title vignettes, 80 engraved plates after Eisen and over 50 culs-de-lampe by Choffard, 4 further vignettes. (Occasional light spotting, a few leaves slightly browned.) Contemporary red morocco, spines gilt, green morocco lettering pieces. Provenance: A. Chauvac-Claretie (bookplate) -- Henry Ormsby (bookplate).
A handsome example of the celebrated ‘Fermiers généraux’ edition, commissioned by a group of wealthy tax collectors ‘determined that the book should be the best of its kind […] Eisen's eighty designs for La Fontaine are the liveliest and most adroit that he ever drew’ (Ray). His exquisite plates, engraved by the foremost engravers of the period, constitute the illustrator’s ‘chef-d’oeuvre’ (Cohen). Cohen/de Ricci 558; Ray, French 26.
Special notice
No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.
Brought to you by
Robert Tyrwhitt