‎BEWICK. - LE GRAND, (D'Aussey, Pierre Jean-Baptiste (1737-1800)):‎
‎Fabliaux or Tales, Abridged from French Manuscripts of the XII and XIII Centuries. Selected and Translated Into English Verse, with a Preface and Notes. In 2 volumes bound in 1.‎

‎London, Bulmer and Co, Shakespeare Press, 1796, 1800, lg. in-8vo, 2 leaves (Titlepage -Sonnet to G.E.) + XXXVII (preface) (+ 1) + 1 leave + 280 p. / Titlepage + 340 p., illustrated with 52 woodengraved vignettes by John Bewick, some mild foxing, a bit more in some places, early 20th -century green h.-morocco over 5 raised bands. Spine with title & gilt filets. Top edge gilt. A fine copy.‎

Reference : 99271aaf

‎First edition. Volume 2: idem.. Selected and Translated into English Verse by Gregory Lewis Way, Esq. With a preface, notes, and appendix by G. Ellis, Esq. With 52 woodcut vignettes in the text by John and Thomas Bewick, Charlton Nesbit, and Luke Clennell.Way’s version has first been published between 1796 and 1800 in 2 vols. without notes and preface, while the French original version was first published in 1779. The fine woodcuts accompanying the tales are of the best done by the famous Bewick brothers and among the last works by John Bewick. Large description of a former collegue sticked on the inner first cover. xxxviii, 280, 340pp. Uniformly bound in tree calf. The tales were selected and translated by Gregory Lewis Way who added extensive notes commenting on the source and context of these fables. Each fable has a head and tail piece engraved by John Bewick who died during this commision which was then completed by Thomas Bewick. ---"The following work is an attempt at a metrical translation of some French Tales: The original compositions of which this author has given us extracts being 12th and 13th centuries, are consequently anterior to our English historical ballads and metrical romances."- preface. Good condition, some wear to gilt on spine and spine ends. The author-. Image disp.‎