LA FONTAINE, Jean de.- Fables choisies, mises en vers.- Nouvelle edition gravée en taille douce, les figures par le Sr. Fessard. Le texte par le Sr. Montulay.- A Paris: Chez l’Auteur, graveur ordinaire du Cabinet du Roy. M. DCC. LXV. - M. DCC. LXXV. [1765-1775].- 6 vols.: il.; 22 cm.- E. A masterpiece of elegance and refinement, entirely engraved in copperplate print, it took more than 10 years for the publisher to complete the edition. Etienne Fessard (1714-1777) himself was responsible for opening the 238 compositions in verse (in 724 pages) on a copper plate, while the 243 figures, 243 vignettes and 229 “culs-de-lampe” were written by the engraver François Montulay. Very clean copy, from the first and most popular edition, keeping all the proofs (text and illustrations) very fresh. Good bindings, full morocco “vieux rouge”, unsigned, but probably made in France at the beginning of the 20th century (?); top folder of the first volume loose; triple fillets and “dents-de-rat” on the covers, panels closed in gold with florets on the spine sections; rolls on the squares and thickness of the boards; impeccable gilt edges. Of this edition, said Gordon Ray (The art of the French illustrated book. New York, 1982), which ranks among the one hundred most beautiful French illustrated books of the 18th and 19th centuries. Cohen-De Ricci (Livres à engravures), 551. loose top cover of Tome I