CHARLES MARTIN'S ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF LA FONTAINE

(MARTIN, Charles, illustrator) LA FONTAINE, Jean de. Contes et Nouvelles en Vers de Jean de La Fontaine. Paris: Librairie de France, 1930. Two volumes. Thick quarto, contemporary three-quarter green morocco gilt, raised bands, marbled boards and endpapers, top edges gilt, uncut; original wrappers bound in. $1600.

Illustrated limited edition, number 2146 of 1500 copies on Velin d'Alfa Navarre paper (from a total edition of 3500), of La Fontaine's "light love stories" in verse, with 64 full-page illustrations (32 in color; some mildly erotic) by Art Deco artist Charles Martin, handsomely bound by Bennett of New York.

One of his most famous works and his first work of real importance, Tales and Novels follows the stories of Boccaccio, Marguerite, and other renowned literary storytellers whose subjects concerned "light love, the misfortunes of husbands, the cunning of wives, [and] the breach of their vows by ecclesiastics" (Concise Oxford Dictionary of French Literature, 327). This handsome edition is illustrated by Art Deco posterist, fashion designer and set designer Charles Martin. Martin contributed frequently to such leading French fashion journals as Gazette du Bon Ton, Modes et Manières d'Aujourd'hui, and Vogue. Text in French.

Text and plates clean and fine, minor rubbing to corners. A handsome, near-fine copy.