Esope

1708 · 1514 — Amsterdam: Pierre Mortier 1708. First Illustrated Edition. Near Fine. 2 vols. bound into one. Small 8vo 5 7/8 x 3.34 inches 150 x 95 mm 12 297 7; 2 287 4 pp. Frontispiece engraving printer devices on title pages and 117 in-text half-page engravings one for each fable engraved by Georg Paul Busch. Cancel on p. 276 fable LXX where wrong image had been printed. Contemporary vellum binding with later ms. title on spine edges speckled in red. Pages bright and clean with some bookseller pencil and ink markings on front and back flyleaves. Vellum a little thumbed but in excellent condition for a book of its age.<br /> <br /> STCN 334560683. A VERY RARE and EARLY EDITION of Aesop translated into French by Jean-Baptiste Morvan de Bellegarde 1649 -1734 a Jesuit priest author of works on ethics religion and education and accompanied by his discussion of the moral of each fable and four lines of verse. The fables are accompanied by a lively depiction of the story by the Berlin copper-plate engraver Georg Paul Busch 1682 - 1759. In Vol. 1 the 78 fables are preceded by "La Vie d'Esope" pp. 1-93 written by the Byzantine Greek monk and scholar Maximus Planudes c. 1260 - c. 1305. Vol. 2 contains fables 79-117 as well as French prose translations of further fables without illustrations: 18 numbered fables by the Renaissance Italian humanist poet and scholar Francesco Filelfo or Philelphus 139-1481 translated from the Latin verse; 37 fables based on Aesop by Gabrias and Avienus translated from the Latin verse; two longer fables: the "Battle of the cats and the rats" and the "Battle of the rats and the frogs"; five Aesop "tales" taken from Plato's dialogue Protagoras including one titled "De l'Origine de l'Amour"; six numbered "poetical fables" with Olympian Gods as protagonists; and finally three more tales the first from Herodotus and the last from Gerbellius. Each volumes includes an index. <br /> Later editions of the book 1736 for example pair two illustrations on one page. Busch's engravings show a certain hand with strong contrasts and dynamic movements. Pierre Mortier unknown