Aesop Fables

BELLEGARDE, [Jean Baptiste MORVAN DE]. Les fables d'Esope Phrygien, avec celles de Philelphe. Traduction nouvelle, enrichie de discours moraux & historiques, & de quatrains a la fin de chaque discours. On a joint a cette nouvelle traduction les fables diverses de gabrias, d'avienus, & les contes d'Esope. Amsterdam, Jean Pierre Schmid, 1736.
Rare and beautifully illustrated new edition of Aesop's fables, with extensive discussion of the moral of each fable and a four-line verse at the end of each fable as well, by Jean Baptiste Morvan de Bellegarde (1648-1734). He added the fables of the Latin poet Philelphus, 18 in all, and the fables based on Aesop by Gabrias and Avienus, 37 in total, with the larger fables added: the "Battle of the Cats and the Rats", and the "Battle of the Rats and the Frogs". Thereafter follow 5 "Tales" of Aesop, taken from Plato's dialogue "Protagoras", another six "Poetical fables", with Olympian Gods as protagonists, two more "Tales", one taken from Herodot, and a last fable, taken from Gerbellius. But as interesting as the contents are, much more interesting are the beautiful fable illustrations by Georg Paul Busch, a Berlin copper-engraver who died in 1756. The animals and intentions of Aesop's fables are drawn with a firm and certain hand in clear and rather "sec" scenes and movements, with the strong contrasts in black and white working as a kind of "colour" for the plates. The original frontispiece, which brings the traditional theme of "Aesop ruling the animals" to its finale, and clearly informs the reader that the book is a fable book, is found reproduced in "Fabula Docet". The present edition in one volume seems to be unknown to bibliographers.
Fine copy.- (Binding sl. rubbed, top and bottom of spine sl. worn).
This ed. unrecorded; <I>Fabula Doce</I>t 124, and reproduction of the frontispiece on p. 193 (describes an incomplete ed. Utrecht, 1734); this ed. not in Landwehr, <I>Emblem & Fable Books</I>; Landwehr,<I> Emblem & Fable Books</I>, FO62-F064 (Amst. and Utrecht ed. in 2 vols. from 1708, and 1734 and 1752 resp.); not in Anne Stevenson Hobbs, <I>Fables</I>, or in <I>The Fox and the Grapes, Checklist Aesopic Fables Pierpont Morgan Library</I>.

Sm. 8vo. Contemp. calf, spine ribbed and richly gilt, red mottled edges. With richly engraved frontispiece showing Aesop on a raised stage talking to the people surrounding him, including children, and a group of wild and domestic animals standing and lying down below, engraved emblematic device on title, title printed in red and black, full-page engraved plate illustrating Aesop's life in 6 small scenes, and illustrations to 117 fables of Aesop on 59 full-page engraved plates, all engraved by Berolini after beautiful and strong designs by G.P. Busch. 477, (9) pp.

[SW: 18th Century; Fable Books; Children's Books; French]

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Aesop ; McTigue, B. The Medici Aesop : Spencer Ms 50 from the Spencer Collection of the New York Public Library. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, first edition, 1989.
"This treasure is a dual delight. Not only is it a precious fifteenth-century Florentine manuscript that has been traced to the library of Lorenzo de' Medici's son, Piero, but it is also a fount of wit and wisdom in the guise of a series of Aesop's fables, elegantly handwritten in Greek and illustrated by some of the loveliest miniature paintings that have ever appeared between the covers of a Renaissance manuscript. On the pages of this enchanting volume are inscribed and portrayed a variety of fables or tales that recount incidents or conversations between animals who speak like human beings, or between either animals or people and gods, or involving just people (who seem to learn all their lessons the hard way). Each fable is intended to make a point in morality or worldliness. As Jean de La Fontaine noted in his introduction to 'Fables choisies' in 1668 - 94: "A fable consists of two parts which might be termed body and soul; the story being the body and the moral the soul." Upon 151 pages that gleam with gold and vibrate with an entire rainbow of brilliant colors and elaborate decorations are to be found classic versions oi Aesop's fables, such as "The Eagle and the Beetle," 'The Old Woman and the Doctor," as well as "The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox," together with unusual tales such as "Hermes and the Sculptor" (where the god learns exactly how much a statue portraying him is worth). Moreover, a number of the morals are of a nature that suggests they may have had a special relevance to fifteenth- century Florentine life under the Medicis. The introductory text by Everett Fahy, Chairman of the Department of European Paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, places this manuscript (from the Spencer Collection of The New York Public Library) in historical and aesthetic perspective, while it also provides an overview of the development and popularity of Aesop's fables from their earliest known Greek sources to various later versions. The introductory text by Everett Fahy, Chairman of the Department of European Paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, places this manuscript (from the Spencer Collection of The New York Public Library) in historical and aesthetic perspective, while it also provides an overview of the development and popularity of Aesop's fables from their earliest known Greek sources to various later versions. " - from the blurb.

Cloth, 4to, 29 cm, 175 pp, 151 colour plates. Fine in Fine dustwrapper. 0810915421

[SW: MEDICI AESOP.wykbooks 09352 Illumination of books and manuscripts, Italian Italy Florence. Illumination of books and manuscripts, Renaissance Italy Florence. Manuscripts, Greek Facsimiles. Fables, Greek Manuscripts Facsimiles. Medici, Piero de, 1416-1469 Library. Aesop ; McTigue, Bernard 15th century]

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BAUDOIN, Jean. Het leven en de Fabelen van den alom bekenden wysgeer Esopus, opgeheldert door zedekundige verklaringen en aanmerkingen; waarin men vind veele schrandere vragen en antwoorden, gevestigd op kundige zaken, betrekkelyk tot den voorgaanden en tegenwoordigen tyd, konnende men daaruit leeren, wat men, om gelukkig te leven, in de wereld behoord te doen en te laten. Desgelyks vind men hierin de grondslag om de geschiedenis, zedekunde en romans wel te verstaan en daar van een nuttelyk gebruik te maken, en na de Fransche druk, In 't Nederduitsch overgebragt, door W.H.L. Amsterdam, Bernardus Mourik, (1764).
First Dutch adaptation of the edition of Aesop's fables by Jean Baudoin (ca. 1590-1650). The first edition of 117 fables of Aesop with the ethical-political comments by Baudoin was published at Paris in 1631, but according to both Buijnsters and Landwehr the present edition was translated from Baudoin's "Fables d'Aesope" of 1639. The engraved print-series by Pieter van der Borcht (1545-1608), first published in 1593, was according to "Fabula Docet" based on a series on woodcuts for an Aesop edition by Giuilio Landi, published at Paris in about 1580. Van der Borcht's engravings were used again in the Baudoin editions of Aesop's fables published at Brussels. Most characteristic of Van der Borcht's style are the vivid actions of the fable's protagonists, giving away all that is going to happen next. Van der Borcht's print-series served also as the model for the illustrations of Eustache le Noble's "Esope, Comedie" of 1691.
Good copy.- (Some sl. traces of use).
Geerebaert IV, 12; <I>KLKL</I> 235; Buijnsters, <I>BNK</I>, 1263; Landwehr, <I>Emblem & Fable Books</I>, F061; cf.<I> Fabula Docet</I> 12 (French ed. of Brussels, 1682).

Sm. 8vo. Modern half cloth. With 147 fine engraved illustrations by Pieter van den Borcht in text, 30 for Aesop's "Life", and 117 for the fables. (4), 263, (5) pp.

[SW: Engravings; Fable Books; Children's Books]

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AESOP. Fabulae Graecae & Latinae, nunc denuo selectae: Eae item, quas Avienus Carmine expressit. Acc. Ranarum & Murium Pugna, Homero olim asscripta: Cum elegantissimis in utroque libello Figuris, & utriusque Interpretatione, plurimis in locis emendata. Ex decreto DD. Hollandiae Ordinum, in usum Scholarum. utrecht, Ex off. Georgius a Poolsum, 1685.
Very popular Latin school book, edited by Daniel Heinsius (1580-1655), famous Dutch humanist and teacher, first published by order of the Dutch States in 1626, and beautifully illustrated with woodcuts by Christoph van Sichem II (ca. 1582-1658), a pupil of Jacques de Gheyn and a very popular book illustrator in the first half of the 17th century. The school book contains a short introduction on the life and work of Aesop with a charming woodcut portrait, and 40 fables by Aesop, each illustrated by an attractive woodcut, the text was printed parallel in two columns, in Greek and Latin, with the moral of the fable at the end. This is followed by the same number of fables in verse by Avianus, in Latin only, and the book closes the fable of the "War between the Mice and the Frogs", once ascribed to Homer. Here the text in Greek and Latin is printed parallel on facing pages, and lively illustrated with 6 more woodcuts. The book starts and ends with a poem in Greek by Heinsius, the first on the educational value of Aesop's fables and on the last on the "Batrachomyomachiam", or the "Battle of the Mice and the Frogs".
Good copy, with the bookplates of NP vd Berg & L.H. Dorrenbook.- (Old owner's entries on first endpapers; a few woodcuts partly coloured by a child's hand).
Landwehr, Emblem & Fable Books, F025; Bodemannn 65.4; Van Seters, in: Het Boek XXXIII (1958-1959), p. 84 ff., cat. p. 96; Cat. De Koning 254; Hollstein XXVII, Sichem II, 31; Fabula Docet 16 (Arnhem-ed. of 1649); Cat. Van Rijn 918 (Utrecht-edition of 1626, incomplete); Anne Stevenson Hobbs, Fables, pp.52-53, incl. illustration (Amst. ed. of 1653).

Sm. 8vo. Contemp. vellum. With small woodcut of a fox sitting under a tree on title, woodcut depicting Aesop with animals dancing around him and children wearing a crown looking in the door, illustrating Aesop's life, 40 woodcuts illustrating Aesop's fables, and 6 woodcuts illustrating the "Battke between the Mice and the Frogs", all by Christoph van Sichem. 134, (2) pp.

[SW: Woodcuts; Schoolbooks; Fable Books; Classical Antiquity]

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