[The Fables, of which there are several hundred, are recorded in numerous Greek manuscripts,
which contain widely differing versions of the individual fables.
They were put into Greek verse by Babrius (AD40)
and translated into Latin by Phaedrus,
a Roman poet.
Aesop's fables were adopted by Latin writers, and later by the French, who in the
17thC produced their own brilliant fabulist, LA FONTAINE]
15thC
First English collection printed by CAXTON (1484)
Based on a French text taken from
the German of Heinrich Steinhowel
17thC
1651 : John Ogilby
Fables of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists with Morals and Reflections
by Sir Roger L'Estrange (1692 Printed by Mr Gilliflower, London)
Offered in 1995 for £550
18thC
Fables of Aesop & Other Eminent Mythologists (1704-1699. 4th Ed for R Sare)
Truth in Fiction .. A Collection of Fables of Aesop and Others (1708 for J Churchill)
AEsops Fables (1722 Samuel Croxall)
Fables of Aesop & Other Eminent Mythologists (1724 D Brown, London. 7th Ed)
- 2 vols in 1
Fables of Aesop & others (1754 for Tonson & Watts, London)
Selected Fables of Aesop and Other Fabulists (1761 Dodsley)
Aesop's Fables : With Instructive Morals and Reflections (c1770 Rivington, Baldwin)
Offered in 1995 for £485
Select Fables (1774 Strahan. 8th Ed)
The Fables of Aesop, with a Life of the Author (1793 Stockdale)
- 2 vols
Offered in 1995 for £425
Aesop's Fables (1797 T Hepyinstall, London)
19thC
Fables of Aesop & Others (1804 Brambles, Meggitt & Waters, London. New Ed)
The Fables of Aesop, and Others (1818 E Walker for T Bewick)
(1823. 2nd Ed)
- woodcuts <Thomas Bewick>
Second Edition offered in 1995 for £435
Aesop's Fables accompanied by Many Hundred Proverbs and Moral Maxims (1821 Bentham, Dublin)
Aesop's Fables : Accompanied by many Hundred Proverbs & Moral Maxims (1824 W Espy, Dublin)
Aesop Fables in Verse (by Richard S Sharpe)
(1826 Smith Elder)
Aesop's Fables (retold by Rev Thomas James)
(1848 Murray)
- John Tenniel
The Fables of Aesop and Others (1857 Kent)
- C H Bennett
Three Hundred Aesop fables (Trans by G Fyler Townsend)
(nd. c1865 Routledge)
- Weir & J Greenaway
Aesop's Fables (1867 Hurd & Houghton, NY)
- Henry W Herrick
Aesop's Fables (Revised & Rewritten by J B Rundell)
(1869 Cassell, Peter & Galpin)
- Ernest Griset
Bewick's Select Fables of Aesop & Others : In 3 parts ... (c1871 Bickers, London)
- Bewick
Fables of Aesop (1872 Strahan)
- Wolf, Zwecker & T Dalziel
Fables of Aesop (c1874 Milner & Sowerby, London)
Aesop's Fables (1875 Chatto & Windus)
- Charles Bennett
Some of Aesop's Fables (1883 Macmillan)
(1883 Macmillan NY)
- Randolph Caldecott
The Baby's Own Aesop (1887 Routledge)
- Walter Crane
Aesop's Fables for Little Readers, by Mrs Arthur Freshfield (1888 Fisher Unwin)
- Henry J Ford
Fables of Aesop, told anew and their History traced by Joseph Jacobs
(1894 Macmillan)
- Richard Heighway
Aesop's Fables (1895 Dent)
- Charles Robinson
A Hundred Fables (1899 Bodley Head)
- P J Billinghurst
1900-1925
Aesop's Fables (trans by G F Townsend)
(1904 Routledge)
- Harrison Weir
The Fables of Aesop (1909 Hodder & Stoughton)
- E J Detmold
The Fables of Aesop (1909 Hodder & Stoughton)
- E J Detmold 750 signed by artist
Aesop's Fables (1912 Heinemann)
- 1400 signed by Arthur Rackham
Offered for £700 in 1998
(1912 Doubleday Page, NY)
- Arthur Rackham
Aesop's Fables (1912 A & C Black)
- Charles Folkard
Aesop's Fables. A New Version, chiefly from Original Sources by Thomas James (1912 Murray)
A Child's Aesop by Alton Towers (c1918 Hodder & Stoughton)
Aesop's Fables (Retold by Blanche Winder)
(1924 Ward Lock)
- Harry Rountree
Aesop's Fables : Chosen and Retold by A P Williams (1925 Bell)
1926-1950
Aesop : The Fables (1926
Golden Cockerel Press)
- Ltd Ed 350. Engravings Celia M Fiennes
Aesop's Fables (1927 Harper US)
- Louis Rhead
Aesop's Animal Fables (c1930 Juvenile Productions)
Aesop's Fables (1930 J Coker. Reprint)
- Nora Fry
Aesop's Movie Fables Books (1931 Sonnet Publishing, NY)
The Fables of Esope (Trans by Wm Caxton)
(1931
Gregynog Press)
- 250. Agnes Miller Parker
Aesop's Fables (Samuel Croxall's Trans)
(1933 Ltd Editions Club NY)
- 1500 signed by Bruce Rogers
Fables (Trans by Roger L'Estrange)
(1936 Harrap)
- 525 signed by Stephen Gooden
Offered in 1991 for £315
Aesop's Fables : A New Version by Munro Leaf (1941 Heritage Press)
- Munro Leaf
Aesop's Animal Fable Picture & Story Book (c1947 Juvenile Productions, London)
- E H Davie
My First Book of Fables (c1950 Children's Press)
- Arthur Mansbridge
AFTER 1951
Twelve Fables (1954 MoMA, NY)
- Antonio Frasconi
Aesop : Five Centuries of Illustrated Fables (1964 Metropolitan Museum of Art NY)
The Fables of Aesop (1981 Hodder & Stoughton)
- E J Detmold
Four Fables (1976 World's End Press, Ashford)
- 50. Ann Brunskill
The History & Fables : Reproduced in Facsimile from the Wm Caxton 1484 Copy in the
Royal Library, Windsor Castle (1976 Scolar Press, Ilkley)
- 500
Aesop's Fables (1982 Acorn Press)
- Hellmuth Weissenborn
Aesop's Fables (1985 Holt US)
- Michael Hague
READING
Charles Boyle : Dr Bentley's Dissertations on the Epistles of Phalaris and the Fables
of Aesop Examined (1698 for Thomas Bennet, London. 2nd Ed)