LA FONTAINE (Jean de) - Lot 14

LA FONTAINE (Jean de) FONTAINE (Jean de). Contes et nouvelles en vers. Paris, Didot l'aîné, An III - 1795. 2 volumes in-4, edition illustrated with 20 hors-texte etchings in volume 1, including 17 after drawings by Fragonard, one after Monnet, two after Touzé, and a vignette by Choffard on the title of each volume. Copy on wove paper, engraving no. 13 before the letter. Bound in full posterior red morocco, the boards framed in triple fillet, 5-ribbed ornate spine, title, tomaison, place and date gilt, double fillet on the edges, all edges gilt, frieze of flowers with roulette on the chasses, signed Sumpus Ltd Oxford St W. Ex-libris Sir David Salomon Bart. Designed by Pierre Didot to rival the Fermiers généraux edition, this edition, launched by subscription shortly after the Terror, was initially intended to include 80 figures after drawings by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, for an edition of 550 copies. But political and economic conditions, as well as changing tastes, meant that publication was halted after just 20 engravings. (Joints slightly cracked, tiny ink stains and minor bumps to boards, slight wetness in margins of last text leaves, one freckle to engraving no. 22).