[Aesop]. Francis Barlow. Aesop's Fables, With His Life: In English, French and Latin. London: William Godbid fo...

Description

Rare First Edition, Large-Paper Copy of Barlow's Masterpiece

Aesop & Francis Barlow. AesopÕs Fables, With His Life: In English, French and Latin. London: William Godbid for Francis Barlow, 1666. Folio. 14 1/2Ó x 9 1/8Ó ¹1, b2. B-L2, [2]B [C2 bound before B
2]-I2, [3]B-3P2. [8], 40; 31, [1]; 17, 2-221, [3] p. Contemporary English Restoration red goatskin, the covers tooled in gilt with two panels, the outer with floral ornaments at the corners and in compartments at each side, the inner panel with border of repeating floral motifs, flower tools at the corners, spine gilt in seven compartments within raised bands, refurbished and rebacked preserving original spine,lacks ties; marbled endpapers .Occasional light soiling, one or two short repairs, 2 leaves misbound, 3 faint blindstamps not touching text, 39 leaves are inset in larger sheets [from small paper copy],repair on 3G2; library label on front pastedown of Bradford Library.
LARGE PAPER ISSUE: Quire B and pages C1v and C2r are in a different setting from the small-paper version: the "B" of signature B2r is under "of", the hyphen at the end of line 1 of C1v is straight, and the first word of line 2 of C2r is "tbat" [sic]. [ESTC] Hoefer adds: the pates XLVIII-LXIX and for LXX-LXXI are transposed in the large-paper copy...Ó Additional engraved pictorial title, engraved plate and 108 engraved illustrations by Francis Barlow. First Barlow Illustrated Edition; Large Paper Issue. Rare first edition, large-paper copy, of BarlowÕs masterpiece.
ÒIt is natural that soon after the Restoration Francis Barlow should decide to illustrate an edition of AesopÕs Fables... during the 1650Õs he was already recognized as the leading bird and animal artist of England... Barlow also turned publisher and brought out his edition of the fables together with a life of Aesop not provided by Ogilby. William Godbid was the printer. Thomas Philipott prepared the English text and Roger Codrington the French and Latin... Emotional involvement is at the heart of BarlowÕs success as an interpretive illustrator.His birds and animals, no less than his human beings, are the believable, reacting embodyments of those vain, gullible, shrewd, and predatory creatures that the legendary Aesop made immortal...Ó [Hodnett, Barlow]
Ò... an extraordinary folio edition of AesopÕs Fables... Breaking with the emblematic style of earlier fable illustrations... Barlow designed images of an astonishing concreteness and emotive force... BarlowÕs vivid images evoked the behavior of real, sentient animals and their conflicts with the human race in a manner that was quite new, and emphatically gave the lie to Cartesian notions of the Ôbeast-machine.Ó [Diana Donald, Picturing Animals in Britain, 1750-1850. p121.]
The stock of BarlowÕs 1666 edition at New Street was apparently destroyed in the Great Fire of London and copies are rare. Although,Philip Hoefer believes that the general state of England after the plague, war, and fire may be the more likely reason for its scarcity. ÒSee: Francis BarlowÕs Aesop -- Harvard Library Bulletin 2 (1948) 279-295.]
It was isued in large and small paper copies. ÒThe paper in the two copies differs both quality and in watermark, the large paper copy having heavier paper and a shield type of watermark...Ó[Hoefer] ESTC finds only the Huntington copy of the Large-paper issue but HoeferÕs essay shows that Harvard also has a copy.
Our copy has 39 leaves supplied from the smaller paper copy which are inset into larger leaves. This was done contemporaneously and we assume that, in order to save the remaining copies of the Large-paper issue, these leaves were supplied from a copy of the smaller issue. This gives credence to the belief that the copies were destroyed by the fire and all was done to save the remaining copies. Wing A696. ESTC r477463. Morgan, ChildrenÕs 9. Hodnett, Aesop,72. Hoffmann I,85. Hoefer, Barlow, I. Restoration Binding. Illustrated. Fables. Tales. Old Master. Occult. Animals. Children.