1980 A Sap's Fables Mardi Gras doubloon. Knights of Momus, New Orleans.
On the front of a coin, a pudgy girl sticks her tongue out at the beholder, with "A Sap's Fables" written above her and "1980" below. On the back side, a knight is pictured with the legend above "Knights of Momus" and below "Dum vivimus, vivamus" (while we live, let us live). I never knew such a thing existed!
2001 A Precious Life/The Magic of Patience. Illustrated by Rosalyn White. Paperbound. Oakland: A Jataka Tale Coloring Book: Dharma Publishing. $3 from the publisher, Dec., '04.
This CD-Rom -Rom, produced together with a coloring book containing the texts, presents the stories in two booklets with these same titles published earlier. There are several voices--not always successful--with music and good sound effects. In "The Magic of Patience," the Great Being, who is a buffalo, lives within a jungle with a mischievous monkey. The monkey plays constant tricks on the buffalo, but the buffalo remains patient with his pranks and foolishness. A forest sprite asks the buffalo why he puts up with this creature whom he could easily crush. The buffalo answers that the monkey is doing him a favor by teaching him patience. The sprite asks how he can learn patience, and the buffalo answers that you need a real rascal. Gentle and kind creatures will not help. The sprite goes off, and it turns out that the monkey has overheard the conversation. He asks the buffalo for forgiveness. In "A Precious Life," the Great Being, who is a deer, shows mercy to the prince who had tried to hunt and kill him. In fact, the deer revives him after a terrible accident at a ravine during the pursuit. The deer carries him out of the ravine. Offered whatever he wants, the deer asks the hunter to renounce hunting animals. The hunter henceforth realizes that any animal he encounters might be a Great Being.
1980?A plate of La Fontaine's FC using an images by Épinal de Pellerin. £4.99 from Mr. and Mrs. C. Protheroe, Cwmbran, Gwent, UK, through eBay, Oct., '05. This plate measures just over 9" in diameter.It lacks the green stripe around the edge of the smaller plates. The Épinal coloring is again brilliant! The match of color to the black outlines is superior here to the parallel image of FC on the smaller plates. Click on the image to see a larger version.
1990? Cartoon xerox. A lion plays a guitar while a mouse sits at the base of a nearby tree. W. Steig. Unknown publication and source.
This cartoon represents a very peaceful scene. I have no idea how the cartoon relates to the fable!
1890? 1 French full-color card using a young girl to depict La Fontaine's MM. 3" x 4 3/8". The fable title is at a 45° angle in the lower left corner. "A la Samaritaine" is on the picture side and, along with the fable's text on the verso of the card, there identified as "Magasin de la Samaritaine."
This card's picture is exactly that on one of the cards from "A la Place Clichy." The text on the verso seems exactly the same, but it is put higher on the card, with two sets of information about "A la Samaritaine" at a 90 degree angle to it. Apparently the store sells novelties in Paris.
1890? 4 French full-color cards using children to depict various of La Fontaine's fables. 3" x 4 3/8". Each fable title is at a 45° angle in the lower left corner. "A la Place Clichy" is on the picture side and, along with the fable's text, the verso of each card.
These are lovely cards. Each puts children into a landscape. Perhaps the finest is BF, which puts a rather rotund little fellow in military regalia in front of a mirror. By contrast, I am not sure if the world of children fits for portraying the stealing of a donkey! Though all four cards announce "A la Place Clichy" at the top of the picture side, BF and "Les Poissons et le Berger" speak then of an address on the Boulevard des Batignolles as well as three numbered addresses in the Rue d'Amsterdam. MM and "Les Voleurs et l'Ane" speak simply of the "Rue d'Amsterdam et Rue St. Pétersbourg" without giving any number addresses.
1992 A Fairy Tale Which Turned into a Fable. Fable written for Gregory Carlson, S.J., by June Clinton. Sent with a letter from the author, Sept., '92.
Delightful story about Solon, Aesop, and Croesus, asking which of the three had the happy ending and concluding that no one lives happily ever after. I would add: "And some do not more than others"! A delightful unique gift.
1992 A Fairy Tale Which Turned into a Fable. Fable written for Gregory Carlson, S.J., by June Clinton. Sent with a letter from the author, Sept., '92.
Delightful story about Solon, Aesop, and Croesus, asking which of the three had the happy ending and concluding that no one lives happily ever after. I would add: "And some do not more than others"! A delightful unique gift.
1890? A cream-colored plate 9¾" in diameter with a 6½" blue-and-white circular design at its center presenting TT. The back of the plate shows two registry marks and a crown through a circle surrounding a coat of arms with "BWM & Co" across it and "Fables" underneath it. Other marks include a complex sign headed by a "Faience Anglaise" banner and giving addresses in Paris and Marseille. Hanley, Staffordshire: Brown-Westhead, Moore and Company. £10.51 from Chris Hill, UK, through eBay, Oct., '02.
There is a chip at about 9 o'clock along the scalloped edge of this lovely plate. The design, showing the moment just before lift-off, is repeated elsewhere in Brown-Westhead, Moore and Company productions. The design spills over nicely into the ridge connecting the center of this plate with its rim.
1890? A cream-colored plate 9¾" in diameter with a 6½" blue-and-white circular design at its center presenting "The Oyster and the Rat." The back of the plate shows several registry marks and a crown through a circle surrounding a coat of arms with "BWM & Co" across it and "Fables" underneath it. Other marks include a complex sign headed by a "Faience Anglaise" banner and giving addresses in Paris and Marseille. Hanley, Staffordshire: Brown-Westhead, Moore and Company. $65 from Debra Johnson, Rock Hill, SC, through eBay, May, '06.
This plate seems to be in a set with the similar presentation of TT which I acquired at the same time. There is a chip at about 12 o'clock along the scalloped edge of this lovely plate. The design shows the moment just before the rat will find the oyster clamping down around his head. The design spills over nicely into the ridge connecting the center of this plate with its rim.
