Monday, June 6, 2016

Labyrinte de Versailles

Isaac de Benserade - Labyrinte de Versailles (1677)

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The labyrinth at Versailles had 39 fountains, planned by Charles Perrault to illustrate one each of Aesop's fables.  This book has engravings of the fountains along with short prose versions of each fable (apparently by Perrault) and verse by Benserade, a poet and playwright patronized by Richelieu.  Louis XVI had the labyrinth destroyed in 1778.

Just was finishing this I discovered an English translation though the scan quality is so shoddy I find it hard to read.