Claude Joseph DORAT - EO - Fables nouvelles. - 1773

Claude Joseph DORAT.

Fables nouvelles.

1773, Delalain, The Hague and Paris.
Two parts in one octavo volume, bound, comprising XXII–309 pages.
Beautiful full red morocco binding, spine with 5 raised bands, decorated with compartments, rules, friezes and fleurons; title, date and place at the foot, tooled in fine gold; triple gilt rules framing the boards; all edges gilt; gilt roll-tooled turn-ins.
Beautiful first edition, illustrated by Clément Pierre Marillier, an eminent illustrator who pioneered the use of vignettes at the beginning and end of short texts, in the style of Louis XVI. Marillier’s illustrations for Dorat’s Fables, together with those he made for Dorat’s Baisers, are generally regarded as the two masterpieces of eighteenth-century miniature illustration. His intricate drawings were engraved by around twenty of the finest engravers of the period. The 1773 edition of Dorat’s Fables is the first to include Marillier’s illustrations and, according to the author in his preface, was enriched with 24 new fables.

Good condition despite a superficial split to the upper joint; the board remains firmly attached.
Armorial bookplate of an anonymous owner, bearing the motto “Deo et Regi”.