1823 The Fables of Aesop, and Others

Description

Fine Binding, Illustrated, Leather Binding, Signed Binding, With Slipcase

Smartly bound in a half morocco binding with patterned paper to the boards, with renewed endpapers, in a custom cloth clamshell, bound by Eric Sweet in April 2001. Clamshell is in a fine condition.

Facsimile receipt leaf to the front, with the facsimile thumbprint of Bewick. This is copy number 829 with this receipt. 

Pages have been washed, presenting an uncommonly bright copy of this sought after work.

The fables of Aesop, here with the important woodcuts of Bewick.

Aesop's Fables is a selection of fables, generally attributed to the Ancient Greek storyteller Aesop, who lived around 620 BCE-564 BCE. The fables are moral tales that guide in religious and secular aspects of life, following adventure of many different creatures.

Illustrated with a vignette title, and a woodcut head-piece to each fable, alongside tail-pieces, by Thomas Bewick. Collated, complete, though the endpapers have been renewed. 

Bewick's woodcuts of 'Fables' is one of his best known works, and spent almost his entire creative career producing various editions of illustrated Aesop, the first of which was published in 1776.

Bound by Eric Sweet, a keen collector of private press and fables. He studied at the Brighton College of Art, before moving to London to work as a lettering artist and typographer for advertising agencies, later becoming the head of Birmingham School of Printing. Sweet's bindings are unique and striking, reflecting the topics of the volumes in distinctive style.