Contes et Nouvelles en Vers [Four Volumes]

Paris: P. Didot L'Aine 1795. 12mo. 4 volumes - 2 books bound in 4 parts. 12mo in sixes. viii, 118; [iii], 119-256; 164; [iii], 165-298 pp. Full red straight grained morocco, with elaborate gilt borders, decoration and lettering to boards and spine; marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Slight rubbing to joints and corners and one small area of damage to the top compartment of the spine of volume four, but generally in near fine condition - all volumes are externally clean and bright, especially in their delicate gilt work. Scattered foxing and offsetting throughout. Slightly less famous today than his 'Fables', de la Fontaine's 'Contes' represent his first literary success. A collection of ribald short stories and novellas put into verse taken in part from Boccaccio's Decameron and Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, it lacks the moralising dimension that marks the famous fabulist's later work; by contrast these tales are libertine, erotic and jaunty - an uncensored Fables, if you will. The volumes are illustrated throughout with copper engravings depicting the saucy stories. The well-preserved binding is beautiful, exemplar of the work of Joseph Thouvenin before 1820 (on the spine of vol. I he has signed his work R.[ELIÉ] P.[AR] THOUVENIN, when after 1820 he signed only his name), one of the premier bookbinders of his day who, along with the Bozérian family, helped revitalise French binding enough to compete with English binders in the early 19th century. His work is mentioned by Balzac and Stendhal as of the first order. This set was published in Paris at the height of the French Revolution just after Robespierre faced the guillotine, during the 'White Terror' where those architects of the 'Great Terror' were subjected to violence. It's an amazing survival. . Near Fine. Gilt-decorated Morocco. 1795.