Aesopi Phrygis et aliorum fabulae (WITH CUSTOM BINDING), Quoru nomina sequens pagella indicabit. Accessit Huic Editioni Alterum Laurentij Abstemij Hecathomythium, hoc est, centum Fabularum Libellus alter. Aesop (Aesopi Phrygis)

Aesop's Phrygian and other fables, whose names the following page will indicate. Added to this edition is the Second Hecathomythium of Laurentius Abstemius, that is, the second volume of a hundred fables. ***A nearly 500-year-old edition of Aesop's Fables in beautiful custom morocco binding. VERY SCARCE with no other copies currently listed for sale and with few copies held by institutions.*** PROVENANCE: From the private collection of Eric Sweet. Eric Sweet (1929-2024) was a keen collector of Fable and Private Press books from his youngest years until his 90s, and a lifelong student of the book arts: paper, type, illustration and bookbinding. Eric spent some years in London as a lettering artist and typographer for various advertising agencies before a move to Birmingham where he was to become head of the Birmingham School of Printing. Both this book's binding and its custom drop-back slip case were designed and hand-made by Eric Sweet. ABOUT THE BOOK: Post-Incunable edition of Aesop's Fables. Published in 1539 by In Jean Barbou in what is now Lyon, France (Lugduni). First Barbou edition (and one of the first books published by the Barbou publishing dynasty which operated for nearly 300 years). Rebound by hand in modern full black morocco in 2004 by the prior owner (Eric Sweet, when he was 75-years-old) with custom designed vertical paper board banding with ink lettering. Comes with a hand-made, custom-fit drop-back case covered in a light green and pastel orange cloth with paper spine labels. Interior lined with a softly textured peach colored paper. Octavo, 6 3-4" x 4 3/8". Collated and complete: 299 [21] pp. (but really 279 [21] due to printer pagination errors starting at page 230 which is incorrectly numbered "250"). High quality paper with wide margins. Decorated woodcut initials. Text in Latin with its translation from the original Greeks with commentary by an assigned translator (15 different commentators in total) for that section of text in a smaller italic font in Latin. Contents: 1. Life of Aesop 2. A few short poems 3. Fable of Philostratus 4. Fable of Hermogenus 5. Aesop's Fables 6. Hecatonmythius second volume of 100 fables. 7. Index ABOUT THE PUBLISHER Les Barbou Imprimeurs who worked in Lyon, then Limoges, then Paris from 1524 (some sources contend 1539) to 1820, the longest run family-owned book publisher in the world. In Paris, at the zenith of their business, they functioned as printers, publishers, and booksellers known for high quality printing and for publishing new editions of Latin classics. The patriarch of the nearly-300-year-old Barbou printing and publication dynasty, Jean Barbou, published this book in Lyon, France in 1539. CONDITION REPORT: Very Good POST-INCUNABLE Condition Refreshed endpapers and flyleaves. Multiple instances of erroneous page numbering by the printer, particularly the last quartile. Exterior is FINE - square binding, firm hinges and joints, tight pages, sharp corners, clean, unrubbed boards and edges. Looks brand new: A beauty! Interior is VERY GOOD by Post-Incunabula standards. A few leaves with marginal worming. Multiple leaves with professional paper restoration and repair from both wormholes and tears. Text block mostly white with last quartile darkened a bit due to water dampening. Only a word or two with faded antiquarian underlining. Text block is generally quite clean and bright with a few grubby pages but mostly occasional signs of handling - light creasing, a few bent corners and smudges. Only a few pages with light foxing. Writing in faded antiquarian ink on the title page. A spot or two where the Latin was corrected within text by a contemporary hand in ink. A VERY GOOD copy for a nearly 500-year-old VERY SCARCE first Barbou printing of Aesop's Fables by the famous publishing dynasty. With a beautiful hand-made morocco binding and a custom-fit, protective case.