The Fables of La Fontaine

Description

The Fables by Jean de La Fontaine are considered classics of French literature. Collecting fables from a variety of sources, La Fontaine then adapted them into verse. Consisting of twelve books and 239 fables in all, these were originally aimed at adults, but have since been taught to children as a way to educate them in morals. At times they have been mixed in with the fables of Aesop. The sources for the fables are wide ranging, from Aesop to Boccaccio, from Babrius to Machiavelli - even drawing at times from ancient Indian collections of tales.

Part of Anne Haight's List of Banned Books.

This book has 95,530 words, and 425 pages in the PDF version. This translation by Elizur Wright was originally published in 1882.

Production notes: This edition of The Fables of La Fontaine was published by Global Grey on the 14th July 2021. The artwork used for the cover is 'The Threatened Swan' by Jan Asselijn.