MOORE, Edward. ~ Fables for the Female Sex... the third edition. London: for R. Francklin, 1749.
8vo (190 × 118 mm), pp. [4], 173, [3], including final advert leaf. Engraved frontispiece and 16 plates by Grignion, Ravenet and others after Hayman, title in red and black with engraved vignette Small wormtrack/hole to gutter towards the rear, lightly browned. Contemporary panelled calf, gilt, panelled spine with green morocco label and urn tools. Slightly rubbed. Inscription of W[illia]m Danby to front free endpaper and note of purchase (’Bought of Mr Dyer, Exeter. March 1805’.) A particularly nice copy.
First published anonymously in May 1744, Moore’s Fables for the Female Sex had at least seventeen other editions in the eighteenth century, four of which were American; it was translated into French in 1764 and German in 1772. Three of the fables are actually by Henry Brooke. Hayman’s illustrations incorporate numerous elements from Francis Barlow’s sequence of the previous century; his original drawings of 1744 are preserved in the Rothschild collections at Waddesdon. Foxon, M428.