MONNIER (Antoine). Fables and short poems. Paris : [from the author], 1894. - In-4, 303 x 201 : (106 ff.), illustrated cover. Red half-maroquin with corners, gilt fillets, smooth spine nicely decorated, gilt head, untrimmed, cover and spine preserved (Pouillet). First edition of this remarkable work comprising 56 fables, 24 short poems, a long poem entitled Les Chats à travers les âges and a symbolic essay on the abstract work of the seven days. This collection was entirely composed and illustrated by the poet and engraver Antoine Monnier. It contains 106 etched leaves, text and illustration, "an interesting example of the art of the book, mixing [...] the comical, the macabre and the esoteric" (P. Berès, catalogue 92, n° 838). Published on a self-publishing basis, the print run announced on the publication prospectus bound at the head of the copy was 500 copies, but this number seems exaggerated given the few known copies. Only 3 are mentioned in the Worldcat, of which only one in France. This one would be one of the 400 numbered copies on Arches laid paper; it bears the number 10. Very nice binding signed by Pouillet, decorated on the spine with motifs evoking the subjects treated by the author in the work, namely a satyr's head, a cat, a bird, a dog, torches, a mask and a lyre . A very well preserved copy. The first cover is disbound and there is some light spotting on a few plates. Provenance: listed in the catalogue 92 Stendhal, Baudelaire, and their emulators of the Pierre Berès bookshop, under number 838.