LA FONTAINE (Jean de) & FRAGONARD (Jean Honoré). Tales. Repr - Lot 511

Lot 511
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100 - 150 EUR
LA FONTAINE (Jean de) & FRAGONARD (Jean Honoré). Tales. Repr - Lot 511
LA FONTAINE (Jean de) & FRAGONARD (Jean Honoré). Tales. Reprint of Didot's edition, 1795. Reviewed and enlarged by M. Anatole de MONTAIGLON. Paris, Le Vasseur, 1884. 2 vol. fort in-4 demi-chagrin rouge, spine with nerves, gilt title and tomaison, gilt head. Complete of 100 prints including 91 plates engraved out of text after Fragonard's drawings (and 9 portraits, vignettes or culs-de-lampe). "This beautiful edition was to be adorned with 80 engravings, according to Fragonard's drawings, executed by the first artists of the time; unfortunately, the work appeared in 1795, the day after the Terror. Lovers of splendid and expensive publications, scattered, diminished, ruined, were much more concerned with politics than with books, and thought more about saving their heads than about decorating the shelves of their libraries. As a result, the first two issues of prints were not successful and remained with the publisher without finding sufficient subscribers. Fragonard, moreover, seemed to have abandoned the execution of the drawings. In vain were Le Barbier, Monnet, Touzé and Mallet called upon to increase the subjects of prints in tales of a certain length. As the public did not respond to the donors' leaflets, the publication of the prints was stopped." Portalis for Cohen, 574, for the first edition of 1795. Worn jaws, rubbed caps and nerves, qqs rare and very slight freckles if not good copy bearing the ex-libris of the photographer Laure ALBIN-GUILLOT (1879-1962).
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