Fables nouvelles
first edition Hardcover
1773 · Paris
by DORAT, Claude Joseph
Paris, 1773. First Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. Two volumes. [xxii], [2], 176; [177]-309, [3] pp. Illustrated with 2 engraved title-pages, 1 full-page plate (repeated), 1 title-page fleuron, 99 vignettes, and 99 culs-de-lampe all executed after designs by Pierre-Clément Marillier. 8vo., 204 x 131 mm, bound nineteenth-century calf-backed boards. A La Haye, Et se trouve à Paris: Chez Delalain, 1773. First Edition, first issue, of Dorat's Fables nouvelles. Gordon N. Ray described this edition as an "eighteenth-century masterpiece of miniature illustration." Cohen-De Ricci claimed that this work remains the "chef-d'oeuvre de Marillier, sous le rapport de la finesse de l'exécution et de l'esprit qui règne dans tous les jolis sujets qui l'ornent." Pierre-Clément Marillier (1740-1808) was praised by Dorat for these delightful interpretations of the author's verse. It was with good reason that Baron Roger Portalis described this artist as "The Master of the Infinitely Small." Of the two-hundred and two engravings herein there are indeed many masterpieces in miniature. Lewine quite simply states that, "In delicacy of execution, as well as in the beauty of the embellishments, the book rivals Les Baisers and must be regarded as Marillier's masterpiece." A very nice copy with fine impressions of all the plates. Lewine 150-151. Cohen-De Ricci 313-316. Ray, French 43 (with 4 reproductions). Portalis Les dessinateurs au XVIIIe siècle I, 367. (Inventory #: D14545)