The Fables of La Fontaine. Translated into English Verse by Walter Thornbury, with Illustrations by Gustave Dore. London and New York: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, undated but circa 1870.
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A beautiful copy of Fontaine's classic fables written in a manner similar to Aesop. Here translated into English and beautiful illustrated by Gustave Dore. This copy is beautifully finely bound in half red morocco with all edges gilt and a particularly remarkable gilt design to the inside of the front board, truly one of the most excellent obtainable editions of Fontaine's classic fables, here with excellent typography.
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Size: 250 x 310 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[i-lxiv, pp.1-839, i]
Contemporary half red morocco over marbled paper backed boards. The spine is slightly rubbed but shows very attractively on the shelf indeed. Some rubbing to the joints, cracked on both sides at the head, but with both boards securely attached. The binding secure and without shelf lean. Shelf and edge wear with losses to marbled paper covering the boards on both sides. Some small white paint stains at the foot of the front board which are fairly none-intrusive. Front hinge cracked. Without any attached bookplates but with the pencil ownership inscription of "Henry West" to the head of the title page. Offsetting to inner gutter of preliminary blanks affecting up to the verso of the frontispiece from some now removed tape. The removal of this tape has also resulted in small losses to the inner gutter of some of the preliminary leaves including at the foot of the frontis. Text block generally very clean with the odd spot of foxing throughout but largely without, more noticeable through the contents leaves at the beginning, else an excellent copy internally. All page edges gilt, a few minor scratches as typical with the top edge dulled as often.
