The Fables of Aesop
author
Aesop
(Sámos, Greece, about 620 BCE - 564 BCE)
translator
Samuel Croxall
(Walton-on-Thames, England, 1688 - 1752)
engraver
Thomas Bewick
(Tyne and Wear, 1753 - 1828, Gateshead)
printer
Edward Walker
(British, 1768 - 1831)
binder
Brightwell
(active Barnstaple, 19th century)
Date1823
MediumPrinted ink on paper
Dimensions22 x 14 x 3.5 cm (8 11/16 x 5 1/2 x 1 3/8 in.)
ClassificationsBooks
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession number9.b.3.13
eMuseum ID718151
EmbARK ObjectID17861
TMS Source ID6072
Last Updated8/9/24
Description1 p. 1., xxiv, 376 pages : illus; 26 cm.Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryIsabella Stewart Gardner was a voracious reader, and books were the first objects that she collected. Of the 2700 books she acquired for her museum, about 120 can be considered children's books.
Thomas Bewick was the first important name in the history of illustrated children’s books and set the standard for quality. Although not composed for children, these fables have always been popular with them. This collection (1818) with text written in 1722 by Samuel Croxall, is dedicated to “the youth of the British Isles.”
Thomas Bewick was the first important name in the history of illustrated children’s books and set the standard for quality. Although not composed for children, these fables have always been popular with them. This collection (1818) with text written in 1722 by Samuel Croxall, is dedicated to “the youth of the British Isles.”
BibliographyNotesIsabella Stewart Gardner. A Choice of Manuscripts and Bookbindings from the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fenway Court (Boston, 1922), p. 56.
John W. Borden. Thomas Bewick & the Fables of Aesop (San Francisco, 1983).
Susan Sinclair and Philip B. Eppard. Catalogue of Children’s Books from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Collection and the Personal Libraries of John Lowell and Isabella Stewart Gardner (Boston, 1988), p. 12, no. 4.
John W. Borden. Thomas Bewick & the Fables of Aesop (San Francisco, 1983).
Susan Sinclair and Philip B. Eppard. Catalogue of Children’s Books from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Collection and the Personal Libraries of John Lowell and Isabella Stewart Gardner (Boston, 1988), p. 12, no. 4.
MarksNotesSticker (inside front cover, top left corner): Brightwell / Bookbinder / Barnstable
Sticker (inside front cover, center): Stafford Goldie Harding
Sticker (inside front cover, center): Stafford Goldie Harding
ProvenanceNotesPurchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the bookseller and importer Charles E. Lauriat and Company, Boston, for $17.50 on 17 July 1922.
