“CHEERFUL PRESENTATION OF HUMAN WEAKNESSES”: AESOP’S FABLES, 1793, ILLUSTRATED WITH 112 DETAILED COPPER ENGRAVINGS, HANDSOMELY BOUND

AESOP. The Fables, of Aesop, With a Life of the Author. London: John Stockdale, 1793. Two volumes. Royal octavo, late 19th-century full tree calf rebacked in calf-gilt, original red and blue morocco spine labels, raised bands, original marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. $2800.

First Stockdale edition of Aesop’s fables, beautifully printed and illustrated with 112 fine copper engravings— two title pages and one engraving for each fable— by such notable British artists as Stothard, Clark, Chapman and Bromley, handsomely bound.

Aesop's fables, "though not composed for children, have always been popular with them" (Carpenter & Prichard, 8). The stories' "cheerful presentation of human weaknesses [is] recognizable to anyone, even the very young reader. It is difficult to imagine what our English speech ever did without recourse to the early bird, to the fox and the sour grapes in whom the simplest person can see himself, to the tortoise who has brought encouragement to generations of plodders" (Meigs et al., 34). This edition includes 110 fables, each illustrated with an intricate full-page copper engraving, and a Life of Aesop. Lowndes, 870. From the esteemed collection of John A. Spoor, with his bookplates.

Mild offsetting from plates to text, expert restoration to tree calf board extremities.