LA FONTAINE. FABLES CHOISIES, set in verse by J. de la Fonta - Lot 51

LA FONTAINE. FABLES CHOISIES, set in verse by J. de la Fontaine. Paris, chez Desaint, Saillant et Durand, 1755-59. 4 volumes in folio, porphyry calf, spines decorated with special gilt irons illustrating the fables, gilt edges (period binding). FIRST EDITION COPY. Illustrated with a frontispiece by Oudry, engraved by Cochin, and 271 (out of 276) figures drawn by Oudry, engraved by the elite artists of the time, and very fine wood-engraved culs-de-lampe by Lesueur. Copy with the figure for the Monkey and the Leopard, before the caption on the banner, lacking the general frontispiece and 4 plates in the first volume. The bindings are decorated on the spine with special irons designed by Louis Douceur, the King's bookbinder, and inspired by the fables: Le corbeau et le renard, le renard et la cigogne, le lion et le moucheron, le loup et l'agneau, etc. Various rubs and scuffs to bindings, internally fresh. Early 19th-century handwritten bookplate: "Gero, enployé au cabiné d'istoire naturel".