Twelve Fables of Aesop
New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1954. Side-stapled pamphlet, measuring 8.25 x 6 inches: [32]. Original buff pictorial wrappers printed in red and black. Linoleum block illustrations printed in black throughout text. Signed and dated “July 9 ‘75” by Antonio Frasconi at title. Upper corner lightly bumped. Housed in publisher’s red envelope with ghost of price label.
First trade edition of one of the most graphically striking modern editions of Aesop, adapted from the limited edition of the same year, signed and dated by Antonio Frasconi. Featured fables include “The Hare with Ability and the Tortoise with Staying Power,” “The Jackdaw with Eclectic Plumage,” and “The Flattered Raven and the Crafty Fox.” Bursting with energy, Frasconi’s linocut images provide a comic counterpoint to Glenway Wescott’s deadpan “narration” of the fables: the stag “took refuge, springing amid the underbrush, where his proud headgear entangled him. There, as he struggled, with the desolate sound of the hound coming closer and closer, in a flash he developed a better sense of values.” The Books of Antonio Frasconi, 9. A near-fine copy, in original publisher’s envelope, scarce signed.
Price: $150.00