Books

Amsterdam: Chez Henry Desbordes, 1685. Nouvelle éd. enrichie de tailles-douces. . Leather. Very Good. 12mo (17cm); 2 volumes in one. Engraved frontispiece, 58 half-page etchings by Romeyn de Hooghe. Woodcut ornaments. Bound in contemporary dark green grained morocco, rebacked a hundred years ago. Original spine intact. Old repairs recently strengthened and reinforced. Marbled endleaves; gilt edges. Covers somewhat worn but sound and entire. First two guarded and expertly integrated into text block. Stock somewhat toned, but unblemished. References: Brunet III, 758; Landwehr Romeyn de Hooghe 62; Hofer, Baroque Book Illustration, #145; Hollstein IX, 591-648. First illustrated edition of La Fontaine's collection of naughty and bawdy tales in verse, first published in a somewhat different form and without illustrations in 1665. Romeyn de Hooghe's vivid engravings, which are as famous and iconic as the tales themselves, influenced book illustration in France and the Low…