LA FONTAINE. CONTES ET NOUVELLES EN VERS. Paris, chez Plassa - Lot 102

LA FONTAINE. CONTES ET NOUVELLES EN VERS. Paris, chez Plassan, Chevalier, 1792. 2 volumes in-8, shagreened basane, smooth spines covered with red calf (19th century binding). Complete reproduction of the fermiers généraux edition. "This edition, which is rare to find, was printed by Plassan in order to use the series of figures printed in 1762 and not used; in fact, there are some figures from the very first print run, and even uncovered figures in some copies" (Rochambeau). It includes 2 portrait-frontispices by Étienne Ficquet and 83 first-edition hors texte figures by Charles Eisen, as well as numerous fleurons and culs-de-lampe. Enriched with 3 additional plates and a handwritten note from the period, on a leaf in volume I, which states: "This edition, printed in a small number of copies, is not in commerce, having been almost destroyed in 1793, during the arrest of the fermiers généraux. The few remaining copies that escaped seizure were recently acquired by a private individual". Scattered foxing, marginal restoration on a few leaves (Rochambeau no. 101).