Fables; With a life of the author, and embellished with a plate to each fable
London: printed by Darton & Harvey, for F. & C. Rivington, B & B. White, T. Longman, B. Law & Son, G.G. & J. Robinson, T. Cadell. S. Bladon, R. Baldwin, J. Sewell, J. Johnson, H.L. Gardner, J. Bew, W. Goldsmith, J. Murray, W. Lowndes, J. Scatcherd & Co. G. & T. Wilkie, & E. Newbery. 1793. Octavo : pp. [2] xvi, 256 : title page engraved : 69 further engravings, 12 after William Blake : new eps and marbled covered boards : recent calf spine lettered in gilt : with variant state of A2 which ends "as he pro-" and the catchword is "bably". ESTC T13872
Foxmark (1cm) extending from rhs of engraved face on title page; three other pin head fox marks to title; very occasional mark thereafter. Near fine. Item #3177
John Gay (1685-1732) was an. English poet and dramatist, chiefly remembered as the author of The Beggar’s Opera, a work distinguished by good-humoured satire and technical assurance. His poetry was much influenced by that of Alexander Pope, who was a contemporary and close friend. Gay was a member, together with Pope, Jonathan Swift, and John Arbuthnot, of the Scriblerus Club, a literary group that aimed to ridicule pedantry.
This Darton & Harvey edition, printed the same year as the first Stockdale edition contains two plates to a page which very closely copy (often reversed) those in the Stockdale; "most notably in this respect is the strikingly Blakean shepherd imitated from Blakes first engraving". Bentley, Blake Books, p.566.
Price: $500.00