Les Amours de Psyché et de Cupidon, avec ceux de Vénus et d'Adonis. De M. de La Fontaine.

A rare 1750 reimpression of two works first published together in 1669, brought together by the fabulist from that first date.

Contemporary full brown sheep, spine with five raised bands highlighted with a gilt fillet and decorated with five compartments tooled with dandelion-shaped gilt fleurons, red morocco lettering piece, blind-ruled fillet framing the boards, gilt fillet on board edges, red edges, shell pattern marbled pastedowns and endpapers.

Head and tail caps slightly split, discreet loss of leather and light scratches to boards, corners worn.

Marginal tear to p. 197, light scattered foxing, otherwise in fine condition.

In the Avertissement on p. 209, Jean de La Fontaine wittily remarks that he has joined "the loves of the son with those of the mother"; this collection, inspired by the Latin writers Apuleius and Ovid, opens with a novel mixing prose and verse featuring Cupid, and closes with the poem Adonis, featuring Venus. Only one year after the publication of the Fables, La Fontaine thus turned his hand to prose, which he nevertheless embellished with verse "in many places" to enrich his narrative. In his preface, the author justifies these stylistic choices and speaks candidly about the difficulty he encountered in writing The Loves of Psyche and Cupid:

"I have found greater difficulties in this Work than in any other that has flowed from my pen. This will doubtless surprise those who read it. One would never imagine that a fable told in prose could have taken so much of my time. For as to the principal point, which is the conduct of the plot, I had my guide: it was impossible for me to go astray. Apuleius furnished the matter; there remained only the form, that is to say the words: and to bring prose to some point of perfection, it does not seem to me a very difficult thing: it is the natural language of all men. Yet I confess it cost me as much effort as Verse. And if ever it cost me effort, it was in this Work."

To discover Jean de La Fontaine as a prose writer, this book stands as essential reading. The verse, for its part, would be applauded by posterity, notably by Paul Valéry, who recounted in his Variétés that the verses of the Adonis poem possess "a refinement that has few equals in our poetry." The latter, unlike the Cupid text, was first committed to paper well before its publication in 1669. La Fontaine actually composed it in 1658 for Nicolas Fouquet when he entered into his service.

A rare copy containing two major works by Jean de La Fontaine, published approximately one year after the Fables, in which his writing talents shine unmistakably, both in prose and verse, along with his strong interest in the Ancients—in this case Apuleius and Ovid, and not Aesop.

(our own translation)