GAY, John. Fables by John Gay, With A Life Of The Author and embellished with Seventy Plates. London: Printed for John Stockdale Piccadilly 1793. First of this edition. Bentley & Nurmi 371A. In addition to the engraved title-pages, there are actually 71 plates, including twelve designs by William Blake, freely adapted from earlier editions of the Fables. The seventy illustrations for John Stockdale's two-volume edition of John Gay's Fables are said to have been designed by (Edward Francesco) Burney and Charles Catton the Younger. William Blake engraved twelve of the plates, and several other engravers signed the rest. Since no artist's name appears on any plate, it is not possible to say how well Burney's designs relate to those by William Kent and John Wooton (1727) & by Gravelot (1738) in earlier editions of Gay's Fables. The designs for "The Two Owls and the Sparrow" & "The Vulture, the Sparrow, and Other Birds" derive ultimately from paintings by Francis Barlow. Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England from 1790 to 1914, 1. Hodnett, Five Centuries of English Book Illustration (Scolar Press, 1988), p. 98. 2 volumes, royal 8vo, illustrated with engravings, later full dark green crushed morocco, with elaborately gilt spines, marbled endpapers, a.e.g., by Wallis & Lloyd of London. Spines lightly faded, otherwise a fine set, handsomely bound.
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