[Rarebooks] FS: Beautifully illustrated 17th cent. Aesop's Fables w/the "indecent " plate

[Karmbooks at aol.com]

Aesop. AESOP’S FABLES, with His Life: In English, French, and Latin. Newly 
Translated. Illustrated with One Hundred and Twelve Sculptures. To This Edition 
Are Likewise Added, Thirty One New Figures Representing His Life. By Francis 
Barlow. London: Printed by H. Hills jun. for Francis Barlow, and are to be sold 
for Chr. Wilkinson (etc.). 1687. Folio. (8),40,40,17,2-221,(3)pp. Added in 
between “The Life of Aesop” in English and the “Life” in French are 31 
numbered full-page engravings. Added engraved title. Plate of the Devonshire arms, 
and full-page plate of Aesop and animals on A2 verso. Text illustrated with 110 
half-page copper engravings. Bound in 18th c. straight grained green morocco, 
blind tooled cover borders and spine ornamentation. Hinges somewhat rubbed, 
but a very sound copy. Title with 2 early ownership inscriptions, “J. Elwes, 1687
” (having paid 1 pound, 3 shillings for the book), and “Mary Dodwell 1741.” 
In this copy the “indecent” full-page plate #17 is present. Plate #8 is 
mounted (on the same paper stock as the other plates). There are a few minor 
repairs to blank margins, and one other neat repair to a fore-edge tear into the 
bottom blank portion of the 1/2 page engraving on p. 27 (Fable 13). A 
particularly clean copy, with sharp impressions of the engravings.     $12,500.00 (trade 
discount allowed)
“One of the most beautiful and handsomely illustrated books of the 
seventeenth century.” (Hofer). Substantially altered from the first edition of 1666 
(largely destroyed in the London fire); in this 1687 edition all of the engraved 
text on each plate has been rewritten by Mrs. Aphra Behn. There are 31 
completely new full-page plates, and the French text of the Fables was considerably 
altered. Plate #17, illustrating a nude woman’s backside in some detail, has 
usually been removed. Wing A703.

Kenneth Karmiole, Bookseller, Inc.
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