LA FONTAINE, Jean de (1621-1695). Contes et Nouvelles... Lot 37

LA FONTAINE, Jean de (1621-1695). Contes et Nouvelles en vers de Monsieur de La Fontaine. New edition enriched with tailles-douces. Amsterdam, Henry Desbordes, 1685. 2 volumes in 1 vol. small in-8. Inside dimensions : 157 X 98 mm. Volume I : Frontispiece, (8 ff), 236 pages ; volume II : (4 ff), 216 pages. Full stiff vellum. Binding of the time. First edition of the first illustrated edition of the Tales of La Fontaine, in its third state. Frontispiece and 58 very fine copper engravings by Romain de Hooghe This 3rd state presents the following particularities: page 211 of volume I has 16 lines of text; on the table of volume I, the Dissertation on the Mona Lisa is erroneously indicated on page 221; the first page of the Preface of volume II has 17 lines, and is signed A2; the figures on pages 30 and 32 of volume I, which had been interchanged, have been covered by the correct engravings; the figure on page 49, volume II, has a gap in the upper corner coming from the broken copperplate at the corner.