Phaedrus Gutenberg

[Pablo Tatts]

Oneof the benefits of being a daily watchdog of eBay offerings is that occasionally an item that is completely new to you comes up for auction. This was the case a few months ago with a portfolio of wood engravings entitled Phaedrus Augusti libertus: Aesopische Fabeln. (The title essentially translates as Aesop Fables, by Phaedrus, who was freed by Augustus.) The suite of eight prints and an illuminated initial are signed by Erich Glas. I immediately found the prints to be imaginatively designed and beautifully engraved. Moreover, fable illustrations hold a fascination for me. I already had four books of illustrated fables.

So my next action was to start an online search. Who was Phaedrus? Who was Erich Glas? Was this eBay offering unique? Since only two of the prints were posted on eBay, what did all eight wood engravings look like? And what were the eight fables that Glas illustrated?

One night I came away with two volumes of the four volumes that comprises the Fables choisies mises en vers of Jean de la Fontaine (Paris: Jombert for Desaint et Saillant, 1755-1759). The covers were taped together, but dozens of wonderful engravings by Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755) were all accounted for.

(These volumes are also notable because of woodcuts, as seen on the title page, designed by J.J. Bachelier and engraved by Jean Michel Papillon. These woodcuts were considered among the best done in France in the 17th century. Or as Herbert Furst in his The Woodcut: An Annual, No. III, (Fleuron Limited, London, 1929) said:

On the same search I come up with some etchings by Max Klinger (1857-1920). Oddly enough the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Museum website offers some Klinger images for Der Fuss, published by Amsler & Ruthardt in 1923.

(The fable in verse form can be found at gutenberg.org Go to the table of contents; find the fable by seeking the book and fable number as given in the sequence below; then tap on the second number in blue after the fable title.)

A Cow, a She-Goat, and a Sheep patient under injuries, were partners in the forests with a Lion. When they had captured a Stag of vast bulk, thus spoke the Lion, after it had been divided into shares: Because my name is Lion, I take the first; the second you will yield to me because I am courageous; then, because I am the strongest, the third will fall to my lot; if anyone touches the fourth, woe betide him

A bungling Cobbler, broken down by want, having begun to practise physic in a strange place, and selling his antidote under a feigned name, gained some reputation for himself by his delusive speeches.

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