Lot 86: LA FONTAINE, Jean de.Fables choisies, mises en vers. Edited by C.P. de Monthenault d'Egly. Paris: Charles-Antoine Jombert for Desaint & Saillant and Durand, 1755-1759.

LA FONTAINE, Jean de. Fables choisies, mises en vers. Edited by C.P. de Monthenault d'Egly. Paris: Charles-Antoine Jombert for Desaint & Saillant and Durand, 1755-1759. 4 volumes, 2° (420 x 284 mm). Engraved and etched frontispiece after Jean-Baptiste Oudry, engraved by Dupuis and etched by Cochin, additional engraved portrait of Oudry by Tardieu, 275 plates after Oudry, engraved under Cochin's direction by Elizabeth Cousinet, Baquoy, Legrand, Fessart, Lemire, Cochin himself and others, wood-engraved vignette on each title, wood-engraved head- and tailpieces by Papillon and Le Sueur after Bachelier. The first plate accompanying "Le Singe et le Lopard" (vol. III, facing p. 112) in the second state, with the banner lettered. (Some occasional pale browning.) Contemporary French mottled calf gilt, covers with triple blind fillet, panelled spine with six raised bands, compartments finely gilt with small tools and floral motifs, two gilt-lettered red and brown morocco lettering-pieces (some light rubbing and peeling, a few discreet repairs). Provenance: Fürstliche Fürsternbergische Hofbibliothek at Donaueschingen (small inkstamp on verso of most plates). FIRST EDITION OF “ONE OF THE MOST AMBITIOUS AND SUCCESSFUL OF ALL ILLUSTRATED BOOKS” (Ray) and a masterpiece of Rococo publishing. Oudry's sketches for La Fontaine's Fables were executed for his own enjoyment between 1729 and 1735. They were purchased by the publisher Montenault, who asked Cochin to take charge of their transformation into finished prints. Cochin redrew the original designs, improving the figures and backgrounds and supplying precise lines for the engravers. The final result was thus their dual achievement. Oudry’s images were among the most influential of all contemporary artistic creations, inspiring imitations in media as varied as Beauvais tapestry, porcelain and furniture. Benezit VI:463; Cohen/de Ricci 548-550; Ray French 5; Rochambeau 86; Sander 1065.