Esope

1623 · ABC_45188 — Paris: Jean Libert 1623. Contemporary French gold-tooled calf sewn on 2 supports each board with the coat-of-arms of Henri de La Tour 1555-1623 Duc de Bouillon and Prince of Sedan who married the daughter of William the Silent founding father of the Dutch Republic with a French Ducal crown the whole in a wreath of 2 laurel branches with berries the flat spine divided into 4 fields each with a central decoration gilt edges. Marbled paste-downs fine-toothed combed pattern in red blue and white. 16mo. With a woodcut decoration on the title-page and woodcut decorated initials in the text. Very rare 24º edition of 150 prose fables by Aesop and 43 verse fables by Babrius here called Gabrius in Greek and Latin on facing pages remotely based on the text of the illustrated humanistic editions published by Jean de Tournes in Lyons. While the existence of Aesop ca. 620-ca. 584 BCE as a story teller is attested in many early sources the canon that appears under his name contains fables passed down orally and rendered in literary form by many authors over the centuries. Babrius wrote verse fables shortly before 200 CE that were later rendered in Greek prose and added to the Aesop canon. Although the title-page indicates that the fables are illustrated the present edition never contains woodcuts: Libert apparently copied his title from one of the illustrated editions. He does include Maximus Planudes’s extensive account of Aesop’s life preceding the fables. Although the earliest European marbled papers appear to have been made in or around southern Germany they were not combed. Wolfe notes that the French first used marbled paper for bookbindings and the present paste-downs closely resemble his earliest example of combed marbled paper. The arms on the binding are quartered with an inescutcheon. The Counts of Auvergne had born the quartered arms of La Tour and the Counts of Auvergne with the inescutcheon of the Counts of Boulogne since 1389. With the Counts of Boulogne extinct the arms passed to another branch of the family descending to Henri de La Tour 1555-1623 who took the title Duc de Bouillon by marriage in 1591 and later inherited the title Vicomte de Turenne from his father. In 1595 he married Elisabeth van Oranje Nassau daughter of William the Silent 1533-1584. Their second son was the famous Marshal Turenne 1611-1675. Early owner’s inscription on title-page in ink. Lacking the last leaf of the index title-page cut short at the head not affecting the text and a small worm hole in the second half sometime affecting a letter in the first line but otherwise in good condition. Binding rubbed not affecting the arms and backstrip worn a few small chips and holes and hinges cracked.l KVK & WorldCat 2 or 3 copies; cf. Bodemann 29.2 similar 1570 De Tournes ed. Jean Libert, unknown