1857 The Fables of Aesop and Others, Translated into Human Nature

Description

Colour Plates, First Edition, Illustrated, Publishers' Original Binding, Very Scarce, With Slipcase

A very scarce first edition.

In this edition, Bennett reimagines the traditional animal characters of Aesop's work with human traits and behaviours, offering a satirical lens on Victorian society. He includes characters such as 'the callous footman, the idle officer, the exposed swindler, the ignorant patron of the arts, and the foolish social climber' (Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England from 1790-1914).

Illustrated with twenty-four hand coloured plates by Bennett. Collated, complete.

Bennett was a prolific Victorian illustrator who had a short career which ended when he died of consumption.

Rebacked in calf, in the publisher's original cloth covered boards, retaining the original endpapers. Housed in a clamshell case, with the bookplate of Eric Sweet to the front pastedown of the clamshell.

With the contemporary inscription of Helen Bessie Steel to a front blank, and the inscription of Claud G. Steel to recto of frontispiece.

Quayle, in 'Early Children's Books', says this is one of Bennett's finest and most vigorous works, and one of the most notable editions of Aesop's Fables.