Fragonard "tales Of La Fontaine" Superb Facsimile Of The Béraldi Manuscript 1934-38

[FRAGONARD (Jean-Honoré)] - LA FONTAINE (Jean de) - The Tales of La Fontaine.

Slnd, [P., Jacomet, 1934-38 (?)], 2 folio volumes (362 x 255 mm) bound in full garnet morocco, spine with 6 richly decorated raised bands, triple gilt fillets and lace framed on the covers, gilt edges, inside gilt roulette, linings and endpapers of blue moiré silk, of (4) ff., (2) ff., 244 pp., (1) f., 57 pl. ht (continuous paging).

Spine of the 2 volumes and edges of the upper cover of Volume II slightly insolated, otherwise a fine copy.

Fragonard, around 1770, executed 57 drawings which he enhanced with a sepia wash, certainly for a patron. The edition of the Tales illustrated by Fragonard does not take place... Only the first volume appears in 1795, at Didot. The drawings are taken up by Fragonard to be engraved by the best artists. In the 19th century, much was said about the manuscript, and it was not until 1934 that the work entered the collections of the Petit Palais. Superb and impressive color facsimile, reproduced by the Jacomet process, of the manuscript owned by Eugène Paillet and Henri Béraldi, produced when the copy was acquired by the Museum. It is illustrated with Fragonard's 57 laminated sepia drawings. The text is framed with a green border and the running titles are calligraphic in pink. The concern for the perfection of the reproduction has been pushed so far as to reproduce Béraldi's ex-libris and the various comments left by the various owners over time on the flyleaf, as well as the pale foxing of the original copy. ! The print run is 200 copies, printed on laid paper. A double presentation sheet of the work by Raymond Escholier, bearing the number of the copy was to accompany this one, it is absent here. On the other hand, we are enclosing a double specimen sheet of the work reproducing the title of Volume I, the fable "La Servante justified" and its illustration, in which have been inserted 3 letters addressed to MR Arnold, from Palaiseau: - An autograph letter signed by Royer (?), dated March 16, 1936, telling him that he was sending him a specimen of the "Tales of La Fontaine". - A typed letter signed by Daniel-Weill, treasurer of the publication, dated February 7, 1938, specifying to him that he has no recent news from the publication and that he is forwarding it to Raymond Escholier. - A typed letter signed by Raymond Escholier, curator of the Petit-Palais, on the letterhead of the Museum, dated February 9, 1938: "I apologize for the delay which is only due to the concern for perfection which animates our Committee as to the reproductions of Fragonard's drawings. Mr. Jacomet, in charge of carrying out this work, recently visited by one of my assistant curators, Mr. Héron de Villefosse, assured the latter that he would deliver the first book Tales at the end of the month. With the delays to be expected for the binding, that puts us back in April". These letters therefore allow us to assume that the project would have taken 4 years to come to an end. The binding reproduces that covering the original manuscript executed by Derôme.