LA FONTAINE - Contes et nouvelles en vers. Paris, Impr. de P - Lot 313

LA FONTAINE - Contes et nouvelles en vers. Paris, Impr. de P. Didot l'aîné, an III, 1795. 2 volumes in one vol. in-4, VII, 282 pp. ; (2) ff. 334 pp, russet on serpents, pl. long-grained red morocco, boards decorated with two framings with garland, straight wires, scrolls, fleurons at corners, smooth spine decorated with rocaille irons, blue tabis endpapers, gilt tr., small tear at one hinge, qqs. light stains. COHEN 573, printed on wove paper. A smaller edition than the advertised 550, comprising only twenty hors texte etchings, including 16 after Fragonard, one after Malet, one after Monnet, and two after Touzé. Vignette by Choffard repeated on both title pages. Fragonard's drawings were executed around 1780, and the reason, according to Rahir quoted by Cohen, why the edition met with little success is to be found ''in the taste of the day, which, to the charming productions of a Fragonard, preferred nobler compositions, executed in a more academic style''.