Hundert Fabeln mit hundert Bildern von Grandville

Abstract

"This book is surprising in many ways. First, it is not what one usually finds in a book titled "Fifty" or "One Hundred" fables. Those are commonly Speckter and Hey's collection of pedagogical verse. The next surprise in this book is that it combines one illustrator, Grandville, with some ten fabulists: La Fontaine, Pfeffel, Langbein, Kuh, Michaelis, Weisse, Catel, Zacharä, Canitz, and Gleim. Lessing is perhaps not included because I doubt that his fables would match Grandville's illustrations, which after all were done for La Fontaine's fables. The next surprise is that only half of this book is here! After a T of C naming all hundred fables, we start with #50. Where is the other half? There is no mention of two volumes or two parts. We start thus on 177 and finish on 364. A further surprise is that, in the T of C's attribution of each fable to an author, La Fontaine, who is featured at the top of the title page and for whose fables Grandville made his illustrations, is not credited with a single one of these fables! That fact strengthens my theory that this book collects Aesop/LaFontaine fables as they have been imitated or redone by other authors. The Grandville illustrations are surprisingly sharply rendered. The last surprise is the price I had to pay for this book, and that price represents a 40% discount!"