FINE BOOK # 4 Aesopus semper vivus - Peter Bichsel · Fine Books

A E S O P U S S E M P E R V I V U S
gravings of Hendrik Goltzius (1558–1617). – Bodemann 72.1 (47 plates only); Fabula docet
108 (35 plates only); Hoffmann I, 76f.; Thieme/Becker XV, 50 (Grimm). – Plate «F» with restored
marginal tear touching the plate margin. Inner margins affected by old wormholes in places.
3 Laurentius, Johannes, S. J., ed. Fabularum Aesopiarum libri
quinque. With frontispiece engr. by Chr. Hagens, and 103 engr. vignettes. Title, (60),
462 pp., blank leaf, (204) pp. index, 2 blank leaves. 8vo. Contemp. full vellum.
Amsterdam, Johannes Jansson van Waesberge and widow of Elizeus Weyerstraet,
1667. CHF 1’600.– (EUR 1’070.–)
Authoritative edition of Phaedrus, compiled and annotated by the jurist and Jesuit Johannes
Laurentius. His commentaries have a special focus on juridical use. The 103 anonymous illustrations
to the fables don’t follow any known examples. Their motifs point forward to the illustrations
of Jan van Vianen in the early 18th century. In the present copy the correct illustrations
to the prologue and fable XV of book III are separately inserted as mounted single leaves to replace
the wrong engravings printed onto the page. – Bodemann 75.1; Fabula docet 68; Brunet
IV, 588 («recherchée … par rapport aux figures»); Ebert 16583. Not in Landwehr. – Engr. exlibris
with erased owner’s name on first paste-down. A very clean copy.
4 La Fontaine, (Jean) de. Fables choisies, mises en vers. With
118 vignettes by François Chauveau. (56), 284 pp., (3) leaves. Small 4to. Orig. printed
wrappers in transparent dust-jacket, untrimmed.
Paris, Denys Thierry, 1668 (repr. Firmin-Didot 1930). CHF 1’200.– (EUR 800.–)
One of 600 numbered copies of the Firmin-Didot reprint of the famous first edition of La Fontaine’s
first 124 fables, dedicated to the six-year old Dauphin Louis, son of Louis XIV. La Fontaine’s
(1621–1695) fables are a landmark in the history of world literature. The first six books
were re-issued three times in the year of the first edition and the year after. Books VII and VIII
followed in 1678, books IX to XI in 1679. A XIIth book published in 1694 rounded off the work
which elevated its author to one of the most famous poets. Here: one of the few reprints which
are quite as rare as their original. – Cf. Bodemann 77.1 (1st ed.); Fabula docet 47. – Clean copy.
5 VAN DER BORCHT. – Baudoin, J(ean), ed. Les Fables d’Esope
Phrygien. Illustrées de Discours Moraux, Philosophiques, et Politiques. Nouvelle
édition. With engr. frontispiece and 147 engr. vignettes by Pieter van der Borcht. (5)
leaves, 86, 412, (8) pp. 12mo. Contemp. calf, spine gilt, with labels (rebacked).
Bruxelles, François Foppens, 1669. CHF 1’400.– (EUR 930.–)
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