Labyrinte de Versailles. = Der Irr-Garte zu Versailles.

8vo: front.-[50] pp.; 40 pl. (ff. C4, D1 and pl. XII-XIV placed between ff. D3 and D4, some foxing, light soiling and spotting on front., marg. tear restored on f. F4).

Mod. marbled paper bradel signed Robert Stevens, Brussels, red leather title-label on spine, red sp. to edge (light rubbing on endcaps).

First bilingual German-French edition of this best-seller (1st French ed. Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1677), after the Amsterdam ed. (in 4 languages) given in 1682 by Visscher. Engr. ill.: plan of the maze in front. signed Johann Ulrich Kraus, view of entry with satues of Aesop and Love, 39 pl. (numb. in Roman numerals) showing the fountains, each illustrating one fable. The text gives summary of the fable and description of the fountain by Perrault, quatrain by Benserade after Aesop, followed by the translation by Andreas Müller. The translation of the quatrain is placed below the engraving. The preface by Kraus is plagiarised from N. Visscher.
Ref. VD17 12:644437V. - Cp. Tchemerzine-Scheler V:165, de Ganay 29, Kat. Berlin 3605. - Schoettke, Stefan, "L'évolution de l'image de La Fontaine à travers la réception de ses "Fables" dans les pays de langue germanique entre le début du XVIIIe siècle et le milieu du XIXe siècle", in Le Fablier. Revue des Amis de Jean de La Fontaine, 30, 2019, pp. 75-105 (esp. 78-79).