Jean de La Fontaine: Fables, Tome Premier

Abstract

I found Volume II in paperback form and was so excited that I went out and got this hardbound set of four volumes including two volumes of fables and two of La Fontaine's stories. I am not disappointed. The same exacting style is at work here. We again look at aquarelles, hand-colored by Beaufumé. The spine is weakened, and the book spent too long in some musty place. The monochrome designs on the two covers offer the front and back of a scene of animals around La Fontaine; this scene is different from the one featured on the covers of Volume II. The frontispiece is a good rendition of OF. I find the illustrations like those I enjoy so much from Barret: small, exact, lively. Scenes open out onto large perspectives, just as the story offers perspective on a detailed action. There is an illustration about every three fables. Among the best illustrations of this volume, I would say, are FC (13); WL (23); "The Astrologer Who Fell into a Well" (55); "The Gardener and His Master" (95); FM (111); TB (151); and "The Young Widow" (187). There is a T of C on 249-53, and there are delightful little designs along the way. One fine small illustration is at the end of "The Man with Two Mistresses" (26). I can find no information on Beaufumé.