28.

1857  The Fables of Aesop and Others translated into human nature. By Charles Bennett. Kent & co. n.d. [1857]

At last, amid so much serious endeavour on behalf of an unregenerate progress, an artist arrives who can latch on to the customary phrasing for the title of his volume but then turn the contents into joyous satire. The texts may appear to abide by tradition, but they are sufficiently adjusted to bring home the point of the brilliant illustrations in which aspects of contemporary society are lampooned by the animals decked out as human participants. As has been noted before, the frontispiece of Man in the dock before the beasts was used by Tenniel as a model for the trial scene in Alice.

(Part of a bibliography compiled by Brian Alderson to accompany an article about different editions of Aesop’s fables for Books for Keeps 165)