LA FONTAINE (Jean de). FABLES CHOISIES, mises en vers et par - Lot 97

LA FONTAINE (Jean de). FABLES CHOISIES, mises en vers et par luy, reveues, corrigées et augmentées. Paris, Denis Thierry et Cl. Barbin, 1678-79 and Claude Barbin, 1694. Set of 5 volumes in-12, speckled calf, ornate ribbed spine, speckled edges (period binding). FIRST COLLECTIVE EDITION OF LA FONTAINE'S FABLES, THE FIRST COMPLETE. This is the only edition to have been printed and corrected under the author's own eyes. It is decorated with 235 mid-page figures, all by F. Chauveau and N. Guérard. Guérard, some unsigned. The last three volumes are in the original edition; the first two reproduce the 1668 edition, with the errata leaf for volumes 1 and 2 printed on one side only and, for the second volume, without the mention, "fin de la table". Remarks which, in this edition, prove that they were printed in 1692. A pleasant and scarce copy in contemporary binding, with a slight difference in the irons on the spine of the last volume. Scattered light stains on several leaves, modern ex libris, stamp of Saint Bernard minor seminary and handwritten bookplate "De Saint Mesmin Desvalins". (Rochambeau no. 15) (Tchemerzine III, 871).