Phaedri, Augusti Caesaris liberti, Fabularum Aesopiarum libri quinque; notis perpetuis illustrati, & cum integris aliorum observationibvs, in lucem diti à Johanne Laurentio JCto de Phaedrus (Aesop) - 1667

Amsterdam, 1667. Phaedrus and Aesop. Phaedri…Fabularum Aesopiarum libri quinque, edited by Johannes Laurentius, (62),462,(204)pp. Double column text in Latin and Greek. Indices. Engraved additional pictorial title by Christian van der Hagen, 103 half page engravings in the text, light staining to lower outer corner of a few leaves, L7 slightly defective at upper outer corner with loss of a few letters (repaired), bookplate of William Oxnam, old calf with elegant blind-stamped border, g.e., a little rubbed and marked, sensitively rebacked, 8vo, Amsterdam, J. Jannson & Widow of Elizei Weyerstraet, 1667.8vo. Landwehr, Emblem & Fable Books, F-143; STCN (9 copies); not in The Fox and the Grapes; Checklist Aesopic Fables Pierpont Morgan Library; Stevenson Hobbs, Fables; for Hagen: Thieme-Becker 15, p. 461; Wurzbach II, p. 632. First illustrated Phaedrus edition in the Netherlands, richly and beautifully illustrated with 103 half-page engravings. The work contains the text of the 90 Phaedrus fables, with extensive notes added in small type in two columns at the end of each fable. With extensive indices and several laudatory poems, as well as a letter by Conrad von Rittershausen, the first to provide the Phaedrus fables with scholarly commentary. Beautifully illustrated with plates from original designs by an unknown artist. The frontispiece by Christian Hagen shows a Roman emperor in an architectural setting, offering a cap to Phaedrus who stands with an open book while Aesop stands aside, his book under his arm. Vey good copy with the plate on page 276 (brothel scene) intact.. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.