[Fables de la Fontaine. Nouvelle édition collationée avec soin sur les meilleurs textes]. [Half title:] Contes, fables, oeuvres diverses, théâtre.

Paris: E.A. Lequien, 1824. Hardcover. Very Good. 8vo (205 x 125mm). [xlvii], 534pp., (pp. 521-531, alphabetical index). Engraved portrait frontispiece of La Fontaine by Bertonnier based on portrait by Rigault. Another engraving for La Fontaine’s home of Chateau-Thierry, northeast of Paris, signed by Geunepin and Lemaitre and dated 1821. Beautifully produced illustrated edition of the La Fontaine Fables with suite of 60 engraved vignettes by Ransonnette, some signed and dated 1822; all in repeating printed borders animated with wildlife and foliage. 19th-century embossed full red calf by Vincens of Toulouse, detailed with rosettes in central arabesque on covers, single gilt filet frame, flat spine extra embossed with gothic architectural motifs and gilt lettering “LA FONTAINE FABLES,” marbled endpapers, gilt edges and turn-ins; (intermittent light stains or foxing mostly at edges and not affecting engravings, which are fine and clear under original tissue guards, original calf with light edgewear but sound copy).

1824 Walckenaer edition of the illustrated classic La Fontaine’s Fables in French embossed calf. This edition was prepared by Charles Athanase Walckenaer (1771-1852) and contained the Fables in twelve books, often separated but here together, ending with two tales Philémon et Baucis and Les filles de Minée. The whole is preceded by a “Notice” on La Fontaine by Walckenaer, an “Eloge” of La Fontaine by Sebastien-Roch-Nicolas de Chamfort (1741-1794), a preface and vita of La Fontaine and Aesop. Dedicated to the Dauphin of France, this work was an inestimable gift of French inspiration - polished in language, plenty in genius of wit, and full of moral and philosophical truths. The separate editions of La Fontaine’s Fables are too numerous to count, but the successive editions brought out by Walckenaer, who made the life and oeuvres of La Fontaine his own special property, were widely regarded as the best. At least, this edition of the Fables follows a popular edition of 1822 by Nepveu, here revised, and was published the same year as definitive Oeuvres completes of La Fontaine also by Lequien. The great French fabulist is unmatched with such instinctive accuracy of the characteristics of the animal world and Ransonette’s illustrations perfectly capture their unique qualities and expressions. In all, Fontaine turned the fables into an admirable account, allegorically recounting the passions, hopes, fears, and weaknesses of man. Good copy of Walckenaer’s 1824 illustrated edition in an elegant French embossed calf. In this state it is a charming and rare find. Quérard, La littérature contemporaine, p. 409; Rochambeau, Bibliographie des oeuvres de La Fontaine, no. 341