The Fables of Aesop by Aesop - 1909

London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1909 . First edition. Cloth. Very Good Indeed. 13" by 11". Edward J. Detmold. An exceptional limited edition collection of Aesop's fables, illustrated in colour and signed by Detmold. Number 69 of 750 numbered copies, signed by the artist, Edward J. Detmold.Illustrated with twenty-five tipped in colour plates by Edward Julius Detmold, a prolific late Victorian era book illustrator. This limited edition features two plates which do not appear in the trade edition of the same year. Collated, complete.A truly beautiful edition of the fables attributed to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. The fables originally belonged to the oral tradition, and were not written down until centuries after Aesop's death.This collection includes classic tales including 'The Tortoise and the Hare' and 'The Vain Jackdaw'. In the publisher's original buckram, with extensive gilt detailing. Externally, exceptionally lovely. Bumping to back strip head and tail. Discolouration to back strip, with minor handling marks to rear board. Internally, firmly bound. Pages clean and bright, but with light handling marks to perimeters of first two plates. Lacking all but two tissue guards. Very Good Indeed