LA FONTAINE. FABLES CHOISIES, mises en vers par J. de la Fontaine. Paris, by Desaint, Saillant and Durand, 1755-59. 4 volumes in folio, fawn calf, spines decorated with special gilt irons illustrating the fables, boards decorated with a lace with special irons at the corners, inner lace, gilt edges (antique binding). EXEMPLAIRE BERALDI with its ex libris and described under n° 134 of its catalogue "livres illustrés du XVIII°, 1934". It is illustrated with a frontispiece by Oudry, engraved by Cochin and 275 figures drawn by Oudry, engraved by the elite artists of the time, and very fine wood-engraved culs-de-lampe by Lesueur. FIRST EDITION, on medium Hollande paper, with the figure for the Monkey and the Leopard, before the caption on the banner, with the portrait of Cochin engraved by Largillière. Beautiful antique calf binding, decorated on the spine with special irons designed by Louis Douceur, the King's bookbinder and inspired by fables: The crow and the fox, the fox and the stork, the lion and the gnat, the wolf and the lamb, etc... The boards are decorated with the lace known as DENTELLE DU LOUVRE with, in each corner, one of the special irons that decorate the spine.