Fables Choisies, mises en vers par J de La Fontaine.

Notes

The first edition of La Fontaine's iconic Fables with illustrations based on the black ink drawings Jean-Baptist Oudry (1686-1755), one of the finest examples of rococo book illustration. Oudry apparently composed these works during times of leisure between 1729 and 1734, with the preface here confirming that he 'made them for his own pleasure, and in those moments of joy and fancy when an artist vividly captures the ideas inspired by his subject, and when he gives free rein to his genius' (Fables choisies, mises en vers, I, Paris, 1755, p. iv: 'les composoit pour son propre plaisir, & dans ces momens de joie & de fantaisie où un Artiste saisit vivement les idées de son sujet, & donne un libre essor à son génie').
In 1751 Oudry sold the drawings to Parisian publisher Louis Regnard de Montenault, who employed Charles-Nicolas Cochin the Younger (1715-1790) to oversee reworking the drawings into engravings for this edition. Nearly four dozen engravers took part in the project, including Catherine Elisabeth Cousinet (1726-1780), who was a successful printmaker and engraver at a time when the profession was dominated by men.
This is one of the very generously-margined large-paper copies, though not on thick paper, and the first plate illustrating Le Singe et le Leopard is in the second state, with the banner bearing 'Le Leopard' along the top.