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DORAT, Claude Joseph (1734-1780). Fables nouvelles . The Hague and Paris: Delalain, 1773-[75].
DORAT, Claude Joseph (1734-1780). Fables nouvelles . The Hague and Paris: Delalain, 1773-[75]. 2 volumes, 8 o (235 x 150 mm). 2 engraved title-pages, one title-page vignette, one engraved frontispiece (lacking engraved frontispiece in vol. 2), 99 engraved vignettes, and 99 engraved culs-de-lampe all after Marillier. (Some light stains or soiling, dampstain at top of some leaves, z4 with long vertical crease, 2Q1 with short marginal tear not affecting text.) Original green paper boards, spines with red morocco gilt lettering-pieces gilt, edges untrimmed; green folding case (extremeties worn, rubbed). Provenance : "P.A.W." (bookplate on paste down); acquired from David O'Neal, 1991. LARGE-PAPER COPY on Holland paper, this copy significantly larger than Ray's Holland paper copy (9 1/4 x 6 in. versus 8 3/8 x 5 3/8 in. for the Ray copy). Dorat praised Marillier's ability to depict the infinitely small, which made him an ideal choice to illustrate these poems containing references to snails, grasshoppers, bees, flies, and domestic scenes in city and country settings. According to Ray, the "large copy on Holland paper with brilliant impressions of the vignettes is much more desirable than [a] smaller copy" (p.83). RARE: according to American Book Prices Current , only one copy on Holland paper has appeared at auction in the last 35 years: Christie's London, 18 November 1981, lot 11; no copies in original boards have appeared at auction in the last 35 years. Cohen-de Ricci 314; Ray The French Illustrated Book 43. (2)