PHAEDRUS.
Phaedri Augusti Liberti Fabularum libri V. Cum notis et supplementis Gabrielis Brotier. Accesserunt parallelae Joannis de la Fontaine Fabulae.
Paris, Joseph Barbou, 1783. 12mo. With frontispiece (12 x 7 cm.) of Mercure addressing Aesop, engraved by Etienne Fessard (1714-1777) after Louis Durand. Fessard also engraved the 5 fable illustrations (ca. 4 x 6.5 cm., all dated 1747) at the beginning of each of the five fable books, woodcut vignette on title-page, woodcut head- and tailpieces. Mottled calf over boards with triple gilt ruling along the edges of both covers, spine gilt in compartments with label lettered in gold, inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, gild edges. [2], XXIV, 315, [9] pp.
€ 340
Beautifully printed first edition by the French historien, théologien and classical scholar Gabriel Brotier (1723-1789) of the 93 Phaedrus Fables in Latin verses, most of them with a motto underneath; the notes are printed separately on pp. 97-172. The edition is based on the editions by S.A. Philippe of 1748 and 1754 (Bodemann 127.1-2). Brotier is also the first who added 51 fables of La Fontaine in French verses.
One hinge weak, in protecting plastic cover. A fine elegantly printed copy. Bodemann, 127.3; Fabula docet, 182, nr. 110; Schwabe/Barbier, 111.
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