XXV Fables des Animaux

Abstract

This is a large-format (almost 8' x 11½") carefully reproduced set of fables published by Christophe Plantin in Anvers in 1578. Is it true that there is only one copy extant? After a title-page and a frontispiece with facing dedication, there are twenty-four two-page spreads with a text on the left and a full-page engraving on the right. As Fumaroli suggests in his preface, these fables are more inspired by Aesop than taken literally from his traditional canon. The announced purpose of this collection is that every reasonable person can see and comprehend the true similarity between an ignorant person and a brute animal. Each verse fable is followed by an "allusion" and a scriptural reference. The very first fable contrasts the noble horse ready for battle with a sow wallowing in dung. Next up is the snail wanting to fly beyond its nature. He is carried in this fable by the eagle, to whom he has promised treasure that he cannot pay. An apt fable for this approach is XXIII, which I believe has the ass laden with good things preferring to eat thistles. One particularly strong illustration is "The Horse and the Burdened Ass" (VI). "The Peasant and the Satyr" seems so close to Gheeraerts' presentation eleven years earlier! LM (XX) harks back similarly to a strong model. The lying shepherd in XII is apparently not a boy fooling villagers but one shepherd fooling others. I am still unsure of the counting that yields "25" fables here.