LA FONTAINE (Jean de)

Lot 119
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Estimation :
800 - 1200 EUR
LA FONTAINE (Jean de)
Fables. Paris, Antoine-Augustin Renouard [de l'Imprimerie de P. Didot l'aîné], 1811. 2 volumes in-12, of 2 ff.n.ch., CVI and 245 pp. ; 2 ff.n.ch. and 382 pp.: basane racinée, chaînette et dent de rat en encadrement, dos lisse ornéné pièces de titre et de tomaison havane, tranches marbrées (contemporary binding). Charming edition, very well printed by Didot l'aîné and illustrated with 266 vignettes engraved in relief by Jean-Louis Duplat. First book illustrated with relief stone engraving. This process newly invented around 1805 - then patented in 1810 - by Jean-Louis Duplat (1757-1833), a woodcutter born in Orange and active in Paris from the end of the 18th century, is a mixture of etching and lithography. The artist engraved his drawing on a stone using a chisel and acid to obtain molten metal matrices from which he later produced printable plates. (Cohen, col. 555-Carteret, III, p. 355-Rochambeau, no. 210.) Nice rooted calf binding. Freckles, especially on the first and last pages (caused by the skin returning to the back covers). Lack of angular paper, without gravity, on the page corresponding to pp. 233-234 of Volume I. Volume II, horizontal folding to a leaf which is partly doubled (pp. 177-178). A halo of wetness on a plate, slight rubbing.
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