[Fables] Басни И. А. Крылова

The first edition of Ivan Krylov’s Fables was published in Saint Petersburg in February 1809. The volume then contained twenty-three fables: eight original compositions and fifteen imitations adapted from or inspired by Aesop and La Fontaine, from whom Krylov continued to learn throughout his life. The Russian fabulist expanded the collection year after year, gaining immense popularity. In 1838, a great jubilee reception was held in his honor, and Emperor Nicholas I granted him a lifelong pension. He remained at the height of his fame throughout the Empire until his death in 1844, when the final edition of his collection appeared, by then comprising 197 fables. As with the verses of France’s most celebrated fabulist, many of his phrases have endured in Russia to this day, having become proverbs.

The Swan, the Pike and the Crawfish is one of his most famous fables, with its clear moral: “When comrades pull in different directions, their common enterprise is bound to fail.” Another, “The Inquisitive Man,” gave rise to the expression “the elephant in the room.”

A very fine and rare copy in a charming contemporary publisher’s boards with period decoration.