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Jean de La Fontaine présente...Maitre Corbeau

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Title

Jean de La Fontaine présente...Maitre Corbeau

Description

1950? Jean de La Fontaine présente...Maitre Corbeau. Paris: Edition de L'Office Central de l'Imagerie. $10 from Nicholas Gulotta, Sharon, WI, through eBay, June, '14.

Here is an ingenious piece of ephemera. One opens a brochure somewhat smaller than 10" x 4". As one opens, scenes open and succeed each other, each with a portion of La Fontaine's "Fox and Crow" on a facing text page. There are two double panels, five single panels, and a final double panel. The first double panel opens a curtain on a crow with a piece of cheese perched in a tree. The second double panel first shows a fox approaching and then, as one opens further, shows him beneath the crow. The first single panel has the crow holding the cheese high. In the next, the cheese is out of the crow's beak, and the tongue is out of the fox's mouth! The next panel shows tears -- or saliva? -- falling from the crow. One more panel shows the fox holding the cheese below an expressionless crow. In the final single panel, the fox is exiting, and the crow seems to be reading a bible on his branch. The last double panel provides a curtain call for the two characters. The fun lies in folding open one panel at a time and finding the appropriate verses and scene. Lovely use of red, brown, black, and green. I am not sure whether to list this lovely piece as a book or a brochure, so I will do both!

Source

$10 from Nicholas Gulotta, Sharon, WI, through eBay, June, '14.

Date

Collection

Carlson Fable Collection

Citation

“Jean de La Fontaine présente...Maitre Corbeau,” Creighton University Libraries: Archives & Special Collections, accessed January 16, 2025, https://creightonarchives.omeka.net/items/show/1001.

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