1990? Clay pipe featuring FG. 5". Unknown source.
The fox seeks the grapes right at the joint of the stem with the bowl. In an unusual turn, the fox here needs to go down to get the grapes. This pipe is fragile. It has already been broken once.
1960? Two puzzle blotters from Claverie, Paris, "La Grande Maison de la Ceinture et du Corset." 3¾" x 6¼". TH and MM, each with a "riddle" of finding a hidden character or two. The verso of each includes a fuller text advertisement for Claverie in Faubourg Saint-Martin. $5 each from Mme Denise Debuigne, Rennes, France, Feb., '02.
The lower half of each portrait-formatted blotter is a colored fable illustration. The upper half mentions Claverie as setting the viewer a riddle. A few of the fable's opening verses occur. The image for MM includes her shoes. Can you find them both? TH includes a hidden tortoise.
2007 Classic Fables. Texts from Joseph Jacobs. Dalian University of Technology Press Co., Ltd.
This disc accompanies a paperbound book with the same title. The CD runs through the 150 stories consecutively beginning with the first. There is a female reader and no musical background. The reader's British accent is excellent. In the first few fables, she trips only once, pronouncing the word "begged" in two syllables. Somehow there are only 149 story tracks on the CD. Some eager researcher can pursue this question: "Which of the 150 stories is omitted on the CD?" Click on the image to see a larger version.
1890? 5 cards beginning a set presenting La Fontaine's MM. The cards follow the fable's text up to a natural break preceding a reflection ("Do not all of us daydream?") by La Fontaine. Perhaps there is another card or two in the series. Paris: Imp. Clamaron, Rue St. Jacques. $20 for the five from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne-Ricouart, France, Nov., '00. Extra copy, cropped, of Card 3 for 40 Francs from Annick Tilly, Clignancourt, August, '99.
2018? Set of six cardboard boxes picturing La Fontaine fables on their covers. Etival Clairefontaine: Clairfontaine.
Now here is something most unusual! I imagine these boxes are meant as organizers for children. They have spirited portrayals of six fables, one on the cover of each box. The other five boxes fit nicely into the largest box. I happened to notice these in the Dinali store in Strasbourg. As I remember it, it was basically a stationery store with some used books. A casual glance at a top shelf paid off! Now, four years later, I try to find some photos or descriptions on the web, and there is only one reference, and that reference leads nowhere. So here we are saving something drastically ephemeral! A second strong recollection is that I tried to talk the store manager into mailing me the boxes. She insisted that I go straight to the post office down the street and mail them myself. I believe the postage was almost double the cost of the boxes!
1984? City Mouse, Country Mouse And Two More Tales from Aesop. Clover Patch Collection. A Scholastic Classic. Providence, RI: Entertainment Software Corp.
LM. BC. Three-minute presentations not terribly well done. Apparently Jacobs' translation adapted. The voices of the mice seem to be fast-forwarded tapes. Nice music and good narrator.
1996? City Mouse & Country Mouse: Everything you need to make these two charming mice. By Alicia Merrett. With a book of the same title. Material, patterns, and step-by-step instructions on how to put together the two mice figures that dominate this story. $2.25 from Caravancass 1 through Ebay, Sept., '01. One extra copy.
The instructions and patterns are done carefully on twelve cards. Even I might be able to make these soft sculptures! The cards and materials come with an accompanying book. Click on the image for an enlargement.
1988 Circular framed crewel-stitchery by Lois Carlson titled "Aesop's Fables." The stitchery presents five pairs: LM, TH, GGE, "The Tree and the Reed," and "The Horse and the Two Thieves."
I think it especially clever of Mom to find fables that gave her pairs of characters. In each pair, one dominates over the other. So the pine dominates over the reed, the lion over the mouse, and the goose over the golden egg. The formula works less well with the hare many times larger than the turtle and with the ass that is many times larger than both the miller and his son. The two human images work together to flank the larger animal between them.
1975? These six smaller plates -- including one double of FC -- with an unusual teal-colored stripe around the rim of each plate are marked by a circular cartoon of a scene, with its title, from La Fontaine's fables. To judge from the accompanying cake plate, the set is missing only a TH plate. With the accompanying cake plate for $199.99 from Gail Ward, Temple City, CA, through eBay, Nov., '05.
These five smaller plates include FC, GA, MM, WC, and "The Lion and the Mosquito."
1975? Two ceramic canisters, marked "Farine" and "Sucre" and featuring titled images of WL and FC, respectively. Cheryl Johannes, Temecula, CA, through eBay, May, '14.
Here are two ceramic kitchen storage canisters, each with a fitting lid. Unfortunately, there seem to be no markings identifying the manufacturer. The "farine" (flour) canister is slightly larger: 4¾" x 4" across the open top and 5¼" high to the top of the lower portion, but 8" to the top of the whole jar. The "sucre" (sugar) canister is 4¼" x 3½" across the open top and 5" high to the top of the lower portion, but 6¾" to the top of the whole jar. "Farine" sports a WL cartoon identical with that on a teal-bordered serving plate in the same series. "Sucre" has the same WL cartoon as the cartoon on a serving plate in the same series.
1975? Here is a cake plate with an unusual teal-colored stripe around the rim. In the center is a titled-scene combining characters from various La Fontaine's fables, with the title "Les Fables de La Fontaine." With six serving plates for $199.99 from Gail Ward, Temple City, CA, through eBay, Nov., '05.
This large cake-plate features characters from all five smaller plates. These include FC, GA, MM, WC, and "The Lion and the Mosquito."
1930? Cigar box "Aesop."
Finding this cigar box was one of the biggest surprises I have had in collecting. Equally surprising is that I have never heard another whisper of "Aesop" cigars. Not a peep! What might Aesop have to do with cigars? By the way, this may be the handsomest Aesop I have seen. He is certainly not the "human turnip" of the popular lives of Aesop.
2005? Set of 6 photographic postcards by Éditeur M.T.I.L (Maurice Tesson Imprimeur à Limoges) presenting "The Cicada in Winter," based at least loosely on La Fontaine's "Cicada and Ant." "S. 73." Each card has a rhyming couplet. All addressed to the same party in Hérault, France. Several are apparently postmarked "February 23, 1905." $25 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne Ricouart, France, Sept., '20.A rough translation of the poem follows:
The snowflakes have already covered the valleys.
Poor grasshopper shivers half naked in the street.
"Little friends, it’s the grasshopper that, rich in poverty, serenades you.
Just like me, gentle finches, you have lost your songs.
Who cares about tomorrow? Today, share my bread.
So that we can always sing summer and the beautiful days."
This highly sentimental presentation seems to presuppose La Fontaine's cicada, rejected in winter. She carries not the usual guitar but rather an accordion. The quality of the photography is not high. The poem presents one answer to the issue raised in La Fontaine's fable: "Who cares about the severity of winter. Live for the beauty of summer!" The human cicada seems to be a brooding and melancholic figure rather than a celebrator of life!
1995? FC. Chromovogue. Postmarked from Ainay le Chateau, June, '96. Printed in France. 7146 - 4. €1.50 from Gerard Crucy, Yerres, at the Paris Post Card Exhibition, Jan., '05.
The picture side of this card presents "Fable de la Fontaine" at the top and "Le corbeau et le renard" at the bottom. In between is a colorful, if playful, children's picture of a dressed fox looking up at a crow with a wedge of cheese in its beak. The red eyes of the fox, which match his red scarf, are very expectant.
1995? Four portrait-format postcards marked "Chromovogue." FC for €1.50 from Gerard Crucy, Yerres, at the Paris Post Card Exhibition, Jan., '05. The other three for €2 each at St. Ouen, August, '13.
At the top of each card is"Fable de La Fontaine" and at the bottom the title of the individual fable. Between these two is in each case a colorful, playful children's picture. In FC, the red eyes of the fox, which match his red scarf, are very expectant. In the other three, birds, butterflies, and ladybugs serve as spectators to the scenes.
2000? Christmas Tree Ornaments of Fox and of Grapes. Glass. 3" and 2" in length. Gift of Margaret Carlson Lytton, Christmas, 2005.
I was able to find the fox online, from Jarmarkt.com in Frankfurt, Germany, who gave this description: " Glasfigur - mundgeblasen, handgeformt, handbemalt und aufwändig dekoriert" (glass figure, blown by mouth, formed by hand, painted by hand, lavishly decorated.) I agree! It is beautiful. The grapes have been surprisingly more difficult to find on the web; I have seen many without the detail here. Thank you, Meg, for finding these and putting them together!
2008 Christmas Tree Ornament of Tortoise and Hare. Glass. 4" in height. Made in China: Old World Christmas. Gift of Margaret Carlson Lytton, Christmas, 2008.
This ornament presenting the tortoise and hare as a buddies is still available on the web, I learned. The tortoise is particularly well done, with his sideways baseball cap and 1st place award. Thank you again, Meg!
1950? TH Noma Christmas Tree Light Cover. $9.99 from Marilyn Waters, Portland, OR, through eBay, April, '03.
Wow! Who would have thought it! Here is a plastic cone-like Christmas light cover shaped to fit a Noma candle. I cannot do better than to offer the seller's eBay description: "It is a white plastic, with a decal on it of the tortoise and the hare. The tortoise is actually pushing a huge snowball behind the hare, who's running like crazy! The decal is marked Noma and Walt Disney Enterprises, and is in amazingly great shape! The height of the cover is 1⅝" and the bottom diameter is 1½"." This has to be one of the more unexpected items in this whole collection!
1950? Russian Christmas Tree Garland of ten double-sided colored paper pictures of fairy tales and fables. Produced by Consumer goods of the production associat4ion" Polygraphist," Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg), Russia. $30 from Svetlykms, Belarus, through Ebay, Dec., '22.
Now here is an ephemeral rarity! I recognize four of these twenty images as at least potentially illustrating fables. Two fit well with Krylov's "Quartet." One is unmistakably FC. There could be many stories for the fox carrying away the rooster. It may be the old "Chanticleer" story that we know best from Chaucer. This is certainly a competitor for the "most unusual" object in the collection. I for one have never experienced a Christmas garland. I think I heard of popcorn strung up on a Christmas tree. Even the package has survived!
2007 Christmas card "No act of love, however small, is ever wasted." Attributed to Aesop. Portfolio: Kathy Davis Studios: Graphique de France. Gift of Mary Keane, Christmas, '08.
Is this line attributed to Aesop really in the fables? This holiday card (4¾" x 6¾") has a printed wish inside: "Wishing you a holiday filled with peace, joy, and most of all, love." The front is decorated with evergreen trees and hearts.
