2017 Aesop's Fables with Colin Hay. Written by Tom Graves. E-book and spoken CD. Memphis, TN: Devault-Graves Agency.
Tom and I had corresponded as he was on his way to creating this E-Book and spoken CD. He decided – wisely, I would say -- to use images from Milo Winter and Arthur Rackham. My sense is that Tom's versions enter into the stories' details with a loving eye, and that Colin Hay renders the stories with a loving ear and voice. Aesop keeps inspiring people to add their part! This very nice work is a labor of love!
1965 Aesop's Fables the Smothers Brothers Way. Words and Music by John McCarthy. Arranged and Produced by David Carroll. The Smothers Brothers. Mercury Records SR 60989. MG 20989.
Clever working of songs into a typical Smothers Brothers routine, with lots of nonsense included. The fables are respected by and large. Tommy howls and gets into it, and sometimes the moral comes through. See the same material on a compact disk.
1990 Aesop's Fables the Smothers Brothers Way. Words and Music by John McCarthy. Arranged and Produced by David Carroll. Smothers Brothers. Redway, CA: Music For Little People #2178. Reproduced from 1965 original.
The CD format makes these delightful renditions even more available for use in the classroom or lecture situation. Seven fables are surrounded by an overture and a reprise and are interspersed with five "I'd better stay me" interludes. To listen to these renditions, visit Internet Archive. See my comment on the original record.
Words and Music by John McCarthy. Arranged and Produced by David Carroll. Smothers Brothers. Redway, CA: Music For Little People #2178. (Reproduced from 1965 original.)
1990? Aesop's Fables Set #2: Pre-Cut Felt and Flannel Board Materials. Little Folk Visuals: Learning Wonders. Unknown source.
Apparently the eight 6" x 8" pieces allow a child to tell the story. BW gets two scenes. "Learning Wonders products require no batteries, only imagination!" Fables get around.
2003 Aesop's Fables. 48 piece jigsaw puzzle. John Steven Gurney. Finished Size 24" x 36". Manufactured by SunsOut, Inc. MPN# 81102. One extra copy. Boxes unopened. Unknown source.
The cover of this puzzle asks "Can you find all your favorite fables?" I can find twenty, cleverly worked into one picture. I am unsure of several of the images, particularly the farmer with a pitcher and the animal tumbling into the well. Cleverly done! I can remember being frustrated that I bought this same puzzle twice within a short time, but I cannot yet establish when and from whom.
1988 Four mounted plates by Olivia Lobos. LM and DS (15.5" x 11.5") plus two title-pages (8" x 11.5") in a portfolio 12" x 15.5". Completed by Olivia Lobos for the final assessment of Graphic Communications and Printing Technology. Plus three letters from Eric Sweet.
The text of the two fables is printed on transparent vinyl and overlaid onto the artist's illustrations. The mouse perches on the lion’s nose; the dog runs happily over an open field before his bad decision at the water. Loosely inserted in a stout portfolio are three letters from Eric Sweet detailing his wish to purchase the most successful set of illustrations to add to his collection, as well as the letter confirming this set's purchase. The lovely art work includes the surprising non-capital for “Lion” in the title. This item was part of a large purchase of the legacy of Eric Sweet by Rooke Books. Eric Sweet was a keen collector of private press and fables. He studied at the Brighton College of Art, before moving to London to work as a lettering artist and typographer for advertising agencies, later becoming the head of Birmingham School of Printing.
1974 Aesop's Fables Mardi Gras doubloon. Argus. Emperor Romulus. Jefferson Parish, LA. 1973.
What does one do with a coin that has different dates on its front and back? On the front, there are a stork with a tall vase, a grasshopper playing a violin, a Greek temple facade, a building column, and a written scroll. The back seems to feature Argus and the peacock.
1935? Aesop's Fables. Five blotters 7" x 3 5/8" combining a three-color scene, fable text, and insurance reflection. $15 from Steven Kawalec, Clifton, NJ, through Ebay, Feb., '02. Extra copy of "The Bald Huntsman" compliments of Bovard-Anderson Co., Real Estate, Insurance & Rentals, Beaver, PA, for $5 from T.A.I.L.S., Inc, Vincent OH, through Ebay, Feb., '00.
I had to buy thirteen blotters to get the Bovard-Anderson blotter, but it was worth it. Hat and hair both go flying. So almost does the huntsman, but he keeps smiling. The text is an adaptation of Croxall. The blotter adds this application: "Could YOU laugh if a severe windstorm or tornado seriously damaged your property? Windstorm and tornado insurance costs so very little--its protection is extremely important." Then two years later I found the whole set including this blotter on Ebay, though not from any particular insurance agent. Each blotter applies its fable to insurance, and I find the fables well selected for that purpose.
1987 Aesop's Fables in Song. Ralph Martell. Hollywood, CA: Ralmar Enterprises. May, '91.
Ten delightful songs to accompany the book of the same name. Martell's voice is not as good as his music and lyrics. Nice variety of contemporary rhythms. Some sing-along possibilities.
1967 Aesop's Fables I-III. Metal master tape and two videotape copies of three sixteen-millimeter films. No author, illustrator, or reader acknowledged. Living Prose Series. In collaboration with Lumin Films. McGraw-Hill, Inc. Gift of John Carlson, Dec., '95.
See my comments under "Films."
1931 Aesop's Fables Hankie Book. Illustrations by Pearl Gilligan (et al?). Paperbound. Los Angeles: N.R. Woodard Co. $38.93 from Giancarlo's Closet, Exton, PA, through eBay, August, '11.
It took twelve years, but this purchase solves a mystery. I had found a copy of this book in 1999 and saw it as a coloring book. "What it has to do with a hankie neither the seller nor I can figure out," I wrote then, adding that it measures slightly larger than 10" x 11" and has seven pages of black-and-white outlines to color in. They were in fact colored in by some youthful hands. Now I find a copy whose spine has given way but whose pictures are uncolored. But this copy contains six of the (probably) eight original handkerchiefs pinned into the booklet! Those missing are "Don Dog" and "Waffles and Countess." Neither copy seems to have a first coloring-page for "Mike," one of the handkerchiefs here. As the seller noted, "the hankies are in great condition and have no distinguishing damage other than some slight color variation/facing and/or creasing due to age." In fact, the handkerchiefs present a fine color version of the coloring book design I admired in that copy. As I mentioned then, the booklet fits with the "Aesop's Fables" pins I have found and with versions of the cartoons associated with this Van Beuren series. Click on a small image below to get a view of the book open to a picture of the "Fables Gang" flying to school on an airplane, of Mike picnicking, or of Countess serving cakes and tea. Click on the book's title above to find the book in the bibliography.
2004? Greeting card "Aesop's Fables," about 6" x 4". The front cover shows three picture cards and one text verso; the back cover shows two text versos and one "Sweet Afton" Virginia Cigarettes advertisement. Produced by the Antique Map & Print Gallery, April Cottage, UK. $1.88 from Jackie Daniels, Peterborough, UK, through eBay, Oct., '05. Nine extra copies at the same time for the same price.
The eBay advertisement for this item read "Cigarette Card Greeting Card." The irony is that the pictures and texts here were all taken from Typhoo Tea cards! The printing around the colorful picture ovals has been carefully removed. The card acknowledges The Antique Map & Print Gallery in Worcester, England. Perhaps the gallery had already removed the print.
