La Fontaine, Jean de (1621-1695) Fables Choisies, Mises en Vers. Four large folio volumes, illustrated with 266 (of 275) plates after Jean Baptiste Oudry engraved by Cochin, Chedel, Prevost, and others, half-titles present, with many woodcut head- and tail-pieces, lacking plates to accompany fables 67, 70, 106, 133, 155, 199, 206, and one other unidentified plate; bound in uniform full French sponge-decorated calfskin, with ornately gilt spines with separate lettering pieces, a.e.g., some repairs to joints, dry and rubbed, marbled endleaves, with bookplate of Le Conte Boudeville and a small oval armorial bookplate, 16 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. Paris: Chez Desaint & Saillant [and] Durand, Imprimerie Jombert, 1755-1759.

 

First edition; Cohen-de Ricci 548-550; Ray, French 5, "One of the most ambitious and successful illustrated books."