LA FONTAINE (Jean de) & OUDRY (Jean-Baptiste). Fables choisies, mises en vers par J. de La Fontaine. Paris, Desaint & Saillant, Durand - De l'imprimerie de Charles-Antoine Jombert, 1755-1759. 4 volumes in-folio, porphyry calf, spines with 6 nerves richly decorated and gilt, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, double gilt fillet on the edges, inner gilt roulette, gilt edges (period binding). Second edition copy with the inscription on the banner of plate CLXXII "le singe et le léopard"". Volume I: [2] ff. (false-title and title), portrait of Oudry, xxx pp. (dedication, warning, life of La Fontaine), xviij pp. (dedication, preface, life of Aesop, table of fables), 124 pp. frontispiece engraved by C. N. Cochin le fils after Oudry, 70 plates. Volume II: [2] ff (false-title and title), ij pp. (table of fables), 135 pp. 68 plates. Volume III: [2] ff (false-title and title), iv pp. (warning, table of fables), 146 pp. 68 plates. Volume IV: [2] ff. (false title and title), ij pp. (table of fables), 188 pp. 69 plates. The work consists of 12 books containing 245 fables illustrated with Oudry's portrait, which does not usually appear in this edition, a frontispiece and 275 plates drawn by J. B. OUDRY, and adapted by Cochin with the help of numerous engravers. The thumbnails and the endpapers were wood-engraved after compositions by the flower painter Jean-Jacques Bachelier. Minimal and negligible foxing, slight defects affecting the bindings, which are in good condition despite some rubbing, splits at two hinges of volume I, tear to a nerve with slight lack of leather, splits at two hinges of volume III. This is the finest illustrated edition of La Fontaine's fables of the 18th century, complete with all plates, printed on medium Hollande paper (Tchemerzine, VI, 391). AP