DORAT (Claude Joseph). Lot n° 25

Fables or philosophical allegories. La Haye and is in Paris, Delalain, 1772. In-8 of xxiv pp.-176-[5] pp. red morocco, spine ribbed and decorated, title page in havana marble, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, gilt fillet on the edges, gilt roulette on the covers, gilt tr. The illustration consists of an engraved frontispiece, a large title vignette, an hors-texte figure, a headband and a bas-de-lampe, all by MARILLIER. ""First edition of the Fables and first attempt at illustration for this book, with the help of skilled artists who were to create the following year one of the most pleasant books of the 18th century. The frontispieces and fleurons, which were used for the 1773 edition, are naturally here in first proofs."" Cohen. Top cover worn, one corner slightly worn, spines rubbed, otherwise a fine copy in contemporary morocco (Cohen, 313.)