The Beautifully Illustrated Second Edition of Select Fables, Finely Bound by Riviere & Son

Thomas and John Bewick, illus. SELECT FABLES, IN THREE PARTS. Part I. Fables extracted from Dodsley's. Part II. Fables with Reflections, in Prose and Verse. Part III. Fables in Verse...A New Edition, improved. Newcastle: Printed by and for T. Saint, 1784. Second edition; second issue (without abrupt end to reflection on page 168). Full morocco, boards with gilt fillet border, spine with raised bands and gilt-lettered and decorated compartments, with gilt turn-ins, marbled and fresh endpapers, and all edges gilt. Stamped "BOUND BY RIVIERE & SON" on front turn-in. 12mo; [i-iii], iv-xii, [i]-ii, [1]-308pp. (page 179 mistakenly numbered 197). With "The Life of Aesop" and "An Essay upon Fable"; this copy with the index bound after the essay. Includes wood-engraved title vignette and numerous illustrations and tailpieces throughout. Tattersfield TB 2.574; Hugo 25; ESTC T78508.

7 x 4 1/4 in.

From a Private Chapel Hill, North Carolina Collection

The Bewick Collection of Sidney Roscoe (with slip tipped in at front endpaper indicating this copy is from the Fanhams Hall Sale)

Thomas Bewick (England, 1753-1828) was a self-taught wood-engraver who worked primarily in Newcastle. He is often considered the founder of the wood-engraving technique of relief printing. Bewick is best known for illustrating A General History of Quadrupeds, History of British Birds, and many editions of Aesop's Fables.

According to Bewick collector Thomas Hugo, the first edition of this book from 1776 had "a miserable set of illustrations." However, "for this edition a new set of cuts was engraved by Thomas and John Bewick, and the work was otherwise materially improved. These cuts were then deemed superior to any of Bewick's previous productions." (Hugo, The Bewick Collector, page 12.)


Handsome binding in near pristine condition with only negligible creasing and rubbing to joints and one subtle dent to edge; interior with scattered light foxing, a few small tears, title page with ink signature, a tiny hole in E2, and L4 trimmed slightly at outer margin; as Tattersfield points out, the copperplate frontispiece is usually wanting, as it is in this copy. Easily very good.

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