1797 – Fables of John Dryden | First Edition – Huge Folio, Fine Binding

John Dryden was a 17th-century English poet who was known as England’s very first Poet Laureate and would lead England into a literary period that would become known as the Age of Dryden. He also established standard forms of English poetry though his satires, fables, epigrams, poems, and plays.

Fables, Ancient and Modern is Dryden’s translations of some of the most famous and iconic works of ancient literature. Dryden includes selections from Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’, Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’, Homer’s ‘Iliad’, and even stories from Giovanni Boccaccio, all translated into English verse.

This particular 1797 edition is an enormous folio! And the size alone is not the only appeal – this edition contains engravings from the artwork of Diana Beauclerc. These 9 full-page illustrations are highly coveted works of art and make this folio one of the most desirable editions of Dryden’s ‘Fables’.

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The fables of John Dryden
• Author(s): John Dryden
• Illustrator(s): Diana Beauclerc
• Publisher: London, Printed by T. Bensley for J. Edwards
• Edition: First edition, 1797.
• Binding: Half Leather, cloth boards
• Format: Folio, single volume
• Size:  14.75 in x 10.75 in (37 cm x 28 cm)
• Collation: [2], xviii, 241, [1] pp
• Illustrations: 9 full-page engraved plates plus vignette engravings
• Contents Include:
  • Selections from Ovid’s Metamorphoses
  • Adaptations from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
  • Episodes from Homer’s Iliad
  • Stories from Boccaccio

Condition:

Near Fine. Leather binding tight and secure with sharp gilt decoration on boards. Gilt page edges lightly faded. Pages clean and well preserved.

Why Collect This?

• First edition folio printing from 1797
• Includes translations of major classical authors
• Large folio format with decorative binding

Item Number: #50265