LA MOTTE (Antoine Houdar de). Fables nouvelles. Paris, Grégoire Dupuis, 1719. In-4, fawn calf, spine decorated, red edges (Binding of the period). First edition. This "very fine, rare and sought-after edition", according to Cohen, is the first true book by a French painter published in the 18th century, by Claude Gillot, Watteau's teacher. It is decorated with a frontispiece by Coypel, a title vignette by Vleughels and 101 pretty and witty mid-page vignettes in the first edition, 56 of which were drawn and engraved by Gillot himself, 6 interpreted from his drawings and the others executed by Cochin, Edelinck, Picart, Ranck or unsigned. The figure of the Horoscope du Lion, p. 331, bears Gillot's signature. A pleasant copy, despite a few scattered brown spots; light halos at the head of a few leaves. Cohen, 594.