Houdart De La Motte - New Fables Dedicated To The King. With A Speech On The Fable. 1719.

HOUDART DE LA MOTTE (Antoine) - New fables dedicated to the king. With a speech on the fable. Paris, Chez Georges Dupuis, 1719; in-4, frontispiece by Coypel, XLII-360 pp., full speckled calf binding of the time, spine decorated with 5 ribs, title piece in red morocco, edges painted in red. First edition of this beautiful work illustrated in a Rococo style with a frontispiece engraved by Tardieu after Charles-Antoine Coypel, a fleuron on the title by Vleughels engraved by Simoneau, a hundred vignettes engraved on copper in-text after Claude Gillot, after Coypel, Picart and Ranc, Edelinck, engraved by Cochin, Gillot, Picart, Tardieu, Edelinck, Simoneau. Good condition for this very beautiful illustrated work from the 18th century. Antoine Houdart de La Motte, born in 1672 and died in 1731, is a French writer and playwright. He holds an important place in the literary life of his time through his writings and his conceptions. His abridged translation of Homer rekindled the quarrel between the ancients and the moderns. He himself, a supporter of the moderns, retains a wit and courtesy unlike his opponents. La Motte was also a regular at philosophical cafés.