Five Fables of La Fontaine

Abstract

Surprise! When I bought this, I thought it was the 1967 Grolier edition that I already have, The Fox and the Stork And Other La Fontaine Fables, with its illustrations by Boutet de Monvel. Of course, when I found that book, I had thought it was another copy of La Fontaine illustrated by Doré! This little paperback presents five different fables from the five in that Boutet de Monvel edition. Here we have TH, TB, FWT, OF, and MM. For each, there are many illustrations one to a page rather than the several illustrations grouped on one page in the original Boutet de Monvel book (1871). Do not miss the exploding frog on 53. This book adds a Dear Reader page just after the T of C. Two things strike me here: The translation is not very faithful to La Fontaine. The milkmaid Perrette here returns not to her husband but to her father, and he tells her that she must not count her chickens before they are hatched. La Fontaine's own comments on daydreaming are dropped in favor of these additions. Finally, I must confess that when I reported on that book, I wrote this in error: The very last page lists books from Grolier, including the red Doré edition mentioned above, the blue 1967 Aesop by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by Tenniel and Wolf, and this brown volume, listed as Five Fables of La Fontaine. It is strange that the publishing company does not follow its own title, as it is printed on the title page, cover, and spine! Now I must confess that their list was referring to a different book, and they got its title right.