Henry Fielding - Tom Jones, ou L'Enfant Trouvé. Fourth Edition. Four Volumes. Illustrated by Gravelot. - 1777

Henry Fielding, "Tom Jones, ou L'Enfant Trouvé. Imitation de l'Anglois de M. H. Fielding, par M. de La Place. Quatrième édition, revue, corrigée & augmentée de la Vie de l'Auteur Anglois". Londres, et se vend à Paris, chez Bauche, 1777.

Complete set of four volumes, published in 1777, containing the celebrated French adaptation of Henry Fielding's masterpiece The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, originally published in English in 1749.

This fourth edition was revised and corrected, with the addition of a biography of the English author. The French adaptation was prepared by Pierre-Antoine de La Place, an important eighteenth-century French writer and translator who played a significant role in introducing English literature to French readers.

Contemporary full calf bindings, with elegant gilt-decorated smooth spines, gilt floral ornaments, gilt rules, and titles and volume numbers lettered in gold. All four volumes retain their matching original eighteenth-century bindings. The text-block edges are attractively marbled in multiple colours, a particularly charming feature of this set.

Illustrated with finely executed copper engravings, including an engraved frontispiece and plates by Punt after designs by Hubert-François Gravelot (1699–1773), one of the most accomplished and influential illustrators of the eighteenth century.

Condition: Very good . An attractive and well-preserved eighteenth-century set. The gilt decorations remain clearly visible and retain much of their original charm. The interiors are clean and well preserved. The engraved illustrations retain excellent definition and fine detail.