Oncques ne fut un rimeur si parfait"). It must be noticed however that modern literary critics are now of the opinion that this epistle may have been addressed to his nephew (mentioned below) since it implicitly refers to a bad fortune. For his part, Jacob Grimm, who was a close friend, considered Boisard's fables as natural and diverse, but sometimes naïve. He was quite laudatory in writing that Boisard was the fabulist who imitated the less La Fontaine, but came the closest to the master. The polemical writer Antoine de Rivarol was sarcastic in stating that Boisard's fables "have outmoded those of La Fontaine, which is always somewhat unfair" ("ont fait passer de mode celles de La Fontaine, ce qui est toujours un peu injuste!") Boisard is one of the most prolific authors of French literature. His publications were produced over a period of 33 years (1773 to 1806). Presently, he is broadly considered as the best fabulist after La Fontaine, although his literary style, pleasant and light but sometimes inelegant, is certainly not of the same standard. In 1806, "Mille et une fables" ("A Thousand and One Fables") was published as a compilation of at least five former editions. It was a bulky and sumptuously printed and illustrated publication, which does not seem to be available now. As with hundreds of French fabulists of that time, except La Fontaine, the work of Boisard did not really survive as centuries passed. Boisard also produced a lyrical poem, "Ode sur le déluge", which was crowned, in 1790, by the Academy of Rouen. Boisard died in his home town of Caen in 1831 or 1833. First collection of Fables published in 1773, second collection in 1777, third collection in 1803, fourth in 1804, fifth in 1805. Final publication: "Mille et une fables", in 1806