Fifty Fables of La Fontaine

This selection presents fifty of Jean de La Fontaine's verse fables, first issued in the late seventeenth century. Animals, peasants, and courtiers act out brief plots of greed, flattery, prudence, and folly, after which a moral is stated or implied. Familiar figures such as the fox, the crow, the wolf, and the lamb appear beside less often anthologized pieces. The setting is a stylized countryside and court that glances at Louis XIV's France without becoming a hidden political roman. The book is a collection of self-contained narrative poems, not a single story, offering a sample of the larger twelve-book fable cycle.

Bound in dark green Indian goat skin blocked in gold foil. Light brown slipcase with gilt printed title across all sides.