Aesop's Fables, Illustrated by Charles Folkard, 1916

Aesop. Aesop’ Fables. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1916. Illustrated by Charles Folkard. Reprint. Octavo. In the publisher's original pictorial blue cloth, stamped and illustrated in black, yellow, and green on the front board, spine, and back board, front board and spine with black titles. Illustrated with twelve full color, full page illustrations, including the frontispiece, with numerous line illustrations in the text. Presented with a new archival slipcase. 

Presented is 1916 printing of Aesop’s Fables illustrated by Charles Folkard. This book was published by Adam & Charles Black in London, a reprint of an earlier 1912 gift edition by the same publisher. This anthology offers almost two hundred of the classic fables originating from Aesop, including "The Fox and the Stork," "The Old Hound," "The Wolf and the Lamb," and "The Wind and the Sun." The volume is beautifully bound in the publisher’s original pictorial blue cloth, decorated in black, yellow, and green on the front board, spine, and rear board, with the titles stamped in black on the front board and spine. The text is accompanied by twelve full color full-page plates, including the frontispiece, as well as numerous black and white line illustrations throughout. The book is presented with a new archival slipcase for preservation.

The collection known as Aesop’s Fables, sometimes referred to collectively as the Aesopica, comprises a body of moral tales traditionally attributed to Aesop, a Greek storyteller believed to have lived between approximately 620 and 560 BCE. These short narratives, most often featuring animals endowed with human characteristics, convey moral lessons through concise and memorable storytelling. Over many centuries, the fables have been translated into numerous languages and adapted across a wide range of cultures, appearing in oral tradition, printed literature, theatrical adaptations, and later forms of popular media like film and animation.

The illustrations in this edition were executed by the English artist Charles James Folkard (1878–1963), one of the most accomplished illustrators of children’s literature in the early twentieth century. After briefly pursuing a career as a stage conjuror, Folkard turned to book illustration and gained early recognition with his drawings for The Swiss Family Robinson in 1910. His reputation was firmly established with his illustrated edition of Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio in 1911, a work that remained widely circulated for many years. Folkard subsequently produced a series of notable illustrated volumes for the publisher A. & C. Black, including Grimm’s Fairy Tales (1911), Aesop’s Fables (1912), and The Arabian Nights (1913). Throughout the following decades he continued to illustrate numerous fairy tale and nursery collections, like Ottoman Wonder Tales (1915), Mother Goose’s Nursery Rhymes (1919), and British Fairy and Folk Tales (1920), culminating in the celebrated The Land of Nursery Rhyme (1932). 

CONDITION:

Very good condition. Octavo. Publisher's original pictorial blue cloth, stamped and illustrated with Folkard's design in black, yellow, and green on the front board, spine, and back board. The front board and spine are titled in black. Small surface scratches and fading to printed boards, bumping on corners and top and bottom of spine, small minimal fraying to cloth at head and tail caps. New linings. Interior pages toned, with occasional small stains in margins, finger smudges. Illustrated with twelve full color, full page illustrations, including the frontispiece, with numerous line illustrations in the text. xx, 209, [1, blank], [2, publisher's ads] pp. With new archival cloth slipcase with inlay on the front. 

Book Dimensions: 8 3/8" H x 6 1/4" W x 1 1/2" D 

Slipcase Dimensions: 8 13/16" H x 6 1/2" W x 2" D.

Accompanied by our company’s letter of authenticity.