Les Fables de La Fontaine: Un livre-théâtre avec de magnifiques illustrations réalisées en papiers découpés

Abstract

I first picked this book up from Amazon.fr in 2011. Now in 2018 I have acquired a slightly different copy along with its partner volume. There are slight changes to the typesetting on the inside front cover and on the back cover. Check the bottom outside edges to notice the changes. I will repeat some of what I wrote then. What a piece of work! This oversize (13½" x 9¼") landscape book contains eight open-faced spreads of pages. On the left is a text. On the right is a stage frame with two dimensions of players and other items on the stage. The effect as the book is open to any given page is three dimensional. The artwork and papercutting are both splendid! The back-cover describes these as the eight "incontournables" fables of La Fontaine, which means something like "the eight that cannot be overlooked." They are FC, GA, TH, TMCM, OF, DW, LM, and FS. My favorites are OF, DW, and FS. I have noticed with this copy that the paper tends to stick slightly when the pages have not been opened for a while.