LA FONTAINE (Jean de). Fables choisies. Paris: Desaint & Saillant, Durand, 1755-1759. - 4 volumes in-folio, 470 x 314: frontispiece, (2 ff.), xxx, xviij, 124 pp. with 70 plates; (2 ff.), ij, 135 pp. with 68 plates; (2 ff.), iv, 146 pp. with 68 plates; (2 ff.), ij, 188 pp. with 69 plates. Granite calf, triple gilt fillet on boards, spine ribbed and decorated, red edges (contemporary binding). Rochambeau, 86. - Cohen, I, 548-550. Magnificent illustrated edition by Oudry, probably the most famous and beautiful of the early illustrated editions of La Fontaine's Fables. It was undertaken by the lawyer and journalist Charles-Philippe Montenault (1696-1749) who had acquired the drawings of the painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755) around 1751. He entrusted Charles-Nicolas Cochin with the task of enlarging these drawings and adapting them so that they could be engraved. Father Berthier had this to say about this edition in the Mémoires de Trévoux: "La Fontaine and Oudry have shared, as it were, the empire of the animals. The poet gave them a voice; the painter captured their manners, their games, their attitudes. The former was able to guess what they would have said, if they had formed a society among themselves; the latter had the talent of rendering them as they are. La Fontaine, in his fables, allowed himself to be led by genius; Oudry, in his drawings, was guided by observation: both have produced two masterpieces which can be found together in 4 vol. in-fol. The illustrations include a frontispiece with a bust of La Fontaine and 275 plates based on Oudry's drawings, engraved under Cochin's direction by him and a team of more than 40 engravers, including Aliamet, Aubert, Aveline, Baquoy, Chedel, Chenu, Choffard, Fessart, Galimard, Lebas, Lemire, Moitte, etc. Copy in contemporary binding, including the illustration for Le Singe et le Léopard (tome III, fable CLXXII) in its original state without the mention "Au Léopard" on the banner. It comes from the library of Aymar Jean de Nicolaï, marquis de Goussainville (1709-1785), first president of the chamber of accounts of Paris. Binding skilfully restored, some rubbing from use. Tear without missing at the bottom of leaf R2 in the first volume. Scattered foxing, more pronounced on the edges of some leaves, particularly in the third volume.