1930? Colored painting postcard "Die Grille (Lafontaine's Fabeln)." Künstlerpostkarte No 216. La Cigale. €9 from Akpool, Berlin, May, '20.
This an unusual pose and setting for the cicada! Despite the cold weather and her scant clothing, she seems more like a pinup girl than a starving artist! The chromolithographic presentation of color and gestalt is good. The card may be datable by the fact that the recto shares picture and message room, while the entire verso – in German -- is for the addressee and address. This card was never posted.
Wolfgang Schibel. Illustrations from Ulm, Sebastian Brand, and J.-B. Oudry. CD-ROM. Made in Mannheim. Mannheim: MATEO (Mannheimer Texte Online). Manufactured by Cyperfection GmbH.
2003? Felix the Cat in "The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg" on DVD Video Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome and Nancy Drew...Reporter. The Felix the Cat cartoon is copyrighted 1936 by the Van Beuren Corporation. $2 at Target, Santa Rosa, Nov., '05.
There is not much reference to the fable in this pleasant cartoon. Felix has Goldie churning out golden eggs, from which he makes coins that he gives out to people. Captain Kidd steals Goldie and takes her to sea. Felix shoots himself onto the captain's ship and rescues here. In the last scene, he uses canons to fire coins to the townspeople. Good fun.
1907? Two cards out of an apparent series of five or six produced by Royer of Nancy. Cards #1 and #3 of the fables "Deux Coqs." Card #3 has a time stamp of January 17, 1907. $10 each from Bertrand Cocq, Sept., '20.
In Card #1, two men live in peace. By Card #3, they are distracted from their friendship by a woman. "And voila! War is enflamed!" I will include a photo from the web with the others of the series that I will be looking for.
1905? "Deux Coqs." Set of 10 photographic postcards by Charles Collas & Companie, Cognac, whose trademark is a clover with four C's. $100 for the set from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne-Ricouart, France, Sept., '20.
Arlequin and Pierrot do fine until Columbine enters the picture. The ten photographs spell out the drama to its sad end. A little research led me to Charles Collas & Company of Cognac, strong early promoters of the postcard. The company had three booths at the great Paris fair of the postcard in 1904. This set is unusual in miy experience for having ten cards. I am as excited as Bertrand that he was able to find – or build -- a complete set. After the first card, the text and story depart from La Fontaine's fable. I cannot say that I follow this version's twists and turns to its sad end.
1935? Der Wolf und das Schaf: 10 Fabeln für unsere Kinder. Ten pages in an envelope. Black-and-white images signed by "Gerd." About 4" x 6". €12 at Antiquariat Deinbacher, Vienna, August, '19.
I presume that we found these at Black Swan in Oakland. I found an offer on German Ebay guessing that these were done in 1935-40. The surprising things in this set include the German "Fraktur" Gothic script, hard for many of us to read. A further surprise is the ultra-thin paper used for these ten "cards." I have debated whether to list them as pages or as cards, and finally decided to list them under cards – because, though they are not on cardstock, they do what cards usually do – and to offer a link under printed "fable pages." The third surprise is the way these ten cards integrate known fables with other events. As I look through the pages, I notice these traditional fables: "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing"; WL; and WC. These three are something of a trunk for branching out to other stories. I am not even sure that one can know the exact order of the ten "episodes." The images are well defined and strong.
Vanity Punished
Herda, the loveliest of sheep, is seduced to see how lovely she is in the river's water. Not a good idea! While she admires herself in the water, the wolf devours her.
The Curious Little Lamb
Little Hans, a young sheep, decides to encounter the wolf, whoever he is. Hans escapes, but only with a wound, since the dog and the shepherd intervene after he has been wounded. Do not be a curious young lamb!
The Wolf as Liberator
A vulnerable sheep has a thorn in its hoof. The wolf proclaims "I will free you from your pain." The wolf promptly tears this lamb apart.
False Sympathy
A farmer's barn burns down, and the wolf sympathizes with him and observes him rebuilding. Once a stall is ready for young sheep, one of the sheep goes missing!
The Black Sheep
Peter is the black sheep—and he acts accordingly. He gets flour spilt and whitens himself in the flour. The herd leaves him behind, the wind blows away his whiteness, Peter stumbles in the white cloud, falls into the stream, and ends up dying. Exuberance seldom helps!
The Wolf in Sheepskin
"Hütet Euch vor dem Wolf im Schafspeltz!" Protect yourselves from the wolf in sheepskin!
The Aging Wolf
The old wolf's teeth are not what they used to be. He tries to make a deal with every farmer – for always less recompense. No deal! Do not let the wolf become the shepherd!
The Dying Wolf
The dying wolf remembers that he saved one victim, but the stork remembers that this day was when the wolf had a bone in his throat. "The enemy has good intentions only when it is hindered in the execution of its evil intents."
The Heroic Wolf
A young wolf recalls the 200 victories of his heroic father, who died just yesterday. The fox replies that his 200 victories were against sheep, but his 201st encounter was against perhaps his single worthy opponent, a bull, and he lost.
The Wolf's Monument
Animals are unsure what to memorialize about the wolf. The sheep suggest that he conquered only sheep, not other wolves. The best memorial would be the skulls of his victims.
