A. Galland - Contes et fables indiennes, de Bidpai et Lokman - 1778

[GALLAND, ANTOINE AND CARDONNE, DENIS-DOMINIQUE]. — INDIAN TALES AND FABLES, OF BIDPAÏ AND OF LOKMAN (PARIS, SIMON, DEBURE, NYON, 1778, 3 COMPLETE VOLUMES). Paris: P. G. Simon, Debure, Nyon, etc., 1778. 3 volumes in-12. Full contemporaneous calf, spine with raised bands ornamented. A precious complete set in three volumes, published under the reign of Louis XVI by a consortium of the foremost Parisian booksellers of the Quai des Augustins and Saint-Jacques Street. These fables, of Indian and Sanskrit origin (transmitted through Persian, Arabic, and Turkish versions by Ali Tchelebi), offer a vast collection of moral parables, political tales, and animal fables. It is in Bidpai’s text that La Fontaine drew the subject of his second collection of fables (as in The Turtle and the two Ducks or The Two Digeons). The work opens with the adventures of the Chinese emperor Humaiun-fal, interweaving fantastical storytelling with lessons of wisdom for princes and courtiers. Beautiful exemplar preserved in its eighteenth-century full brown marbled calf binding. Spine with raised bands and gilded florets that are very bright and refined. Original title and volume labels very legible. Upper and lower edges in good condition with only minute signs of wear, corners slightly blunted, bindings solid and uniform. Marbled edges very fresh. Interior sound, very fresh on laid paper with very sparse, non-serious foxing. Presence of a handwritten scholarly note on the first flyleaf of volume I. La Fontaine himself confessed it in the preface to his second collection: "It is a book translated from the Indian Pilpay... I owe the greater part of it to Pilpay, the Indian sage." To complete the colossal work begun by Antoine Galland (the translator who introduced The Thousand and One Nights to Europe) was the grand achievement of Denis-Dominique Cardonne, secretary-interpreter of Louis XV for Oriental languages.

Estimate:$251.84

View all items fromCatawikiorBooks, Maps & Manuscripts