1995. “After I won, I came all unglued.” Victoria Roberts. New Yorker. August 7, ’95. Xerox copy. Source unknown.
Might the tortoise be speaking to a universal experience here, perhaps analogous to postpartum and post-super-bowl experiences. I am glad he is still talking to the hare, and the hare – although drinking – is listening!
2012 “Aesop’s Fables” poster by Mark Gonyea. Two copies. 12” x 16”. Story Posters. Purchased from the artist on Etsy, August, ‘18.
Here is a fascinating approach to fables. The poster has eleven “blocks” of 3 x 3 images. Blocks have uniform blue, tan, and green backgrounds to let them be easily identified. Each block presents one fable through black-and-white images. A good example is the first, which pictures TH. By the third image, they are at the starting point. By the sixth, we have seen the hare racing and the tortoise plodding. The crucial seventh image shows the hare sitting perched against a tree. He awakens in the eighth, and the ninth shows the tortoise crossing the finish line. For another good presentation, follow DS in the lower left. The crucial middle image shows the bone falling. This is clever work!
2015 “Aesop’s Fables: The man and the serpent.” Oil painting. 9.8” x 12. Richard Hubbard. UK. Unknown source.
This is a deeply imaginative presentation, I presume of the man who brought home a frozen snake. In the background shimmers a post industrial scene. The man gives every appearance of struggling, his hands with vines and his feed with barbed wire that may become supple tree branches. Curious stuff! I found anther work of his online that seems quite similar. It sold for 25 pounds. Are we to believe that we have an original painting of his?
2004 LM: “Aesop’s Fables: Forgive me this time, I shall never forget it!” Signed “Christine Russell 03/25/04.” 8.5” x 11”. ESL Printables.
This delightful piece has appeared among the things we are trying in 2025 to catch up to. I have sought in vain for a connection with Christine Russell in 2004. What a delightful, lively presentation of LM!
1980? “Aesop’s Fables Thomas Bewick 1784” hand print by Patterson Fabrics of NY. About 3’1” square. Source unknown.
Four rows of four rectangles each. My attempts to learn something about Patterson Fabrics have not been successful. Bewick may suffer from being enlarged from his exquisite woodcuts.
2007 “Aesop’s Fables Illustrated by John Hejduk.” Poster. 20” x 15”. NY: Rizzoli. Unknown source.
I was first alerted to the existence of this book at a Georgetown University celebration while I was a guest lecturer there. Imagine my surprise that the art gallery bookstore had a fable not yet in our growing collection! The TH image chosen here is apt for the book in this immense poster. Is this the biggest poster in our collection?
"Aesop's Fables" illustrates characters and objects from TMCM, LM, GGE, FG, FS, and TH. Simple, playful art graces this poster. The angry fox and the scurrying mice are perhaps the best characters here. See the 1988 book Aesop's Fables: Posters & Reproducible Pages based on this poster.
"Fable Search" presents twelve morals associated with well known fables. To what fable does this poster's "Half a loaf is better than none" moral belong?
2011 Speed Bump. “Aesop’s Brother, Asap.” David Coverly. Speedbump.com. 4-18 Unknown source.
Here is yet another instance of this great cartoon, this instance distinguished only by its date in the upper left.
2011 Speed Bump. “Aesop’s Brother, Asap.” David Coverly. Speedbump.com. . Unknown source.
Good exploitation of a pun and the common knowledge that Aesop was in the ancient Western world. Well done! Match an ancient name with a trendy acronym, and you have no idea what will happen next!
1980 “Aesop…Are you telling me another fable?” Laugh Parade. Bill Hoest. Likely from Parade, a Sunday newspaper supplement. Mounted on stiff card. Unknown source.
One of my favorite cartoons about Aesop. The expressions on both faces tell a wonderful story. I have used this cartoon frequently in presentations on fables.
1901? Recasting of Roberto Fontana (Italian, 1844-1907), “Aesop Narrates his Fables to the Handmaids of Xanthus,” 1876; engraved by G. Gallieni.
This is actually quite an interesting piece, first of all because it is not faithful to Fontana’s original. I am creating a second page on this piece so that people can compare other versions of the piece. A second fascination for me is the question where this appeared. Perhaps something like the Book of Knowledge or a similar encyclopedic work? Click here to see our version and several versions online. The original seems to have been composed in 1876 and then published as part of the "Exposition Universelle de 1878" by Gebbie and Barrie. Gravure by Goupil Companie.
1940? Separated cover of “Aesop Fables Coloring Set for the Young Artist.” Paints and Crayons with Many Pictures to Color. Apparently produced by the American Crayon Company of Sandusky, Ohio. Measurements. Unknown source.
How I would love to know how this large cover – without side flaps – survived! Its illustration style is reminiscent of Milo Winter and Harry Rountree. Both animals are fully dressed. The hare wears glasses, while the tortoise smokes a pipe and has a cane in one hand and an umbrella in the other. I could find no parallels on the web.
1908 “Aesop and Xantas.” Goupilgravure. Goupil & Cie. Image 6.4” x 4.2”. “Photogravure of the original painting.” $6.99 from redbuk on Ebay, Jan., ’01.
Alamy offers a print of this image titled d”His Master Introduces Aesop to the Family Circle.” Aesop here approaches the anti-type of an ideal body, not quite the “human turnip” some lives call him. This is the only time t hat I have seen “Xantas” rather than “Xanthos,” “Xanthus,” or “Xantus.” Goupil was apparently also the publisher of Roberto Fontana’s “Aesop Narrates His Fables ;to the Handmaids of Xanthus,” painted in 1876.
2016 "Zero Euro." Souvenir currency. $13.54 from Actualités d'Antan through Ebay, May, '22.
This is a beautifully executed bill. I am particularly taken with the grouping of colored symbols on the verso, with Mona Lisa keeping an eye on things. I was of course utterly unaware that such things exist!
1947 "Zehn Fabeln," portfolio of prints printed by Eduard Stichnote in Potsdam. Artists: Walter Heisig; Otto Bunzel; Hans Leistikow; and Max Debus. 3 partial collections in portfolios whose flap shows a list of the ten. Unknown sources.
This collection is readily available on the web. The selection of fables, from various sources, is unusual. Several of these fables are only infrequently told. Sometimes the artistry seems as weird as a green-and-red ass! I find Lessing's pelican surprising, and I had usually thought of the Panchatantra's mysterious sound-maker as bigger than a little bell. I wonder what Potsdam was like in 1947.
The Green Ass with Red Legs (Gellert: Heisig)
The Blind and the Lame (Gellert; Heisig)
FC (La Fontaine: Bunzel)
GA (La Fontaine: Bunzel)
Hamster and Ants (Lessing: Debus)
Stallion and Horsefly (Gellert: Heisig)
Siskin and Nightingale (Gellert: Heisig)
Chicken and Bee (Lessing: Leistikow)
The Stupid Pelican (Lessing: Debus): Compare the copy just below.
The Stupid Pelican: Notice the lack of red elements.
The Fox and the Bell (India: Leistikow)
"What Are The Long-term Effects of Instant Gratification?" TH Nuveen advertisement. The New Yorker. Nuveen are specialists in tax-free investments. Pages 58-59. Which issue is unknown.
1869? "Two Rats and an Egg" Inkwell by/after Antonin Aigon. Unknown source and date of acquisition.
This is a very heavy desktop accessory. The inkwell is shaped like the lower two-thirds of an egg, and so it fits very well with La Fontaine's charming fable about the collaborative effort of two rats to bring an egg to their nest. According to La Fontaine's fable, one got himself under the egg, and the other pulled him by the tail. Together they got the job done! Here carrier rat is not as in most interpretations, I believe, under the egg but rather beside it. I have found the object on the web. Christie's, presumably for the original, auctioned it for $863. Drouout is offering a piece clearly labeled as "After Antonin Aigon." Which kind do we have? That question lies behind my question mark concerning the original date of this item.
1922 "Thin Numerals." The number in the series here appears in large, thin print within the banner at the upper right. The crosslike form in the upper left corner touches the outer line of the frame. The typesetting of the fable text in this series is that of the 1912 series, except for the change in placement of the card number. #43 verso here has "The Field of Threasure." Complete set for £70 from Murray Cards International, Cecil Court, London, July, '99. Extra copies of #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #13, #15, #28, #30, #32, #36, #40, #45, #52, #54, #70, #85, #96, and #99. Extra set of 100 for £12 from an unknown source. Partial set of 49 extras for $15 from John Cole, Kent, UK, through eBay, August, '10.
1922 "Thick Numerals." The number in the series here appears in thick, bold print within the banner at the upper right. The crosslike form in the upper left corner does not touch the outer line of the frame. The typesetting of the fable text in this series is tighter than in either of the others. The green ink here is often so dark as to seem black. #43 verso here has "The Field of Treasure." Complete set for $40 from Mandy North-Graves, Norfolk, England, through Ebay, March, '00.
1875? Six-inch square tile titled "The Wolf and the Crane." Manufactured by Mintons China Works, Stoke on Trent. Designed by John Moyr Smith. Unknown source.
In this lively scene, the two characters' forms fill out over 50% of the circle's circumference. Can we see in their faces the diligence of the crane and the (temporary) submissiveness of the wolf? Lovely brown and cream colors. The title is read in curious fashion, starting from nine o'clock and reading toward three o'clock, and then restarting from eight and reading toward four. In the upper left and lower right, one needs to read going up; the key is to start as far left as possible and always move right.
1951 "The Wolf and the Crane." Twenty-Third in a Series of 24 Aesop's Fables. With calendars for December, 1951 and January, 1952. Compliments of the Tulsa Agency, J.G. Brinkley Manager. Minneapolis: Northwestern National Life Insurance Company. $2.50 from Rocky Trading, Neodesha, KS, through Ebay, Jan., '02.
This blotter, about 3½" x 6¼", presents an oval line drawing of WC in the upper left, with a full text and moral below it. The right half of the card presents its title, the series, a calendar, and the local Tulsa sponsor. The bottom of the blotter shows the national sponsor. This blotter may be among the most prosaic fable items I have.
1865? "The Washington Grape." An envelope with an illustration of FG. The Ebay seller describes it as "black printed Civil War Patriotic," and identifies the fox with the South and the grapes with the North. 5½" x 3¼". $9.99 from Douglas Uzakewicz, East Northport, NY, through Ebay, Feb., '02.
Notice the "Johnny Reb" crossed guns on the hind quarters of the fox. The fox is apparently Jefferson Davis ("J.D."), and he is hankering after the city Washington, whether as a military objective or as a political "plum." Is the fox's tail bandaged? What might the circle of holes or markings on the end of his tail suggest? Perhaps that he has been shot up?
1875? Six-inch square tile titled "The Tortoise Which Wished To Learn To Fly." Manufactured by Minton's China Works, Stoke on Trent. Designed by John Moyr Smith. $86 from Artifacts Gallery and Custom Framing, Trenton, NJ, through Ebay, March, '99.
This is my first of Minton's series of twelve. Lovely brown and cream colors. The title is read in curious fashion, starting from nine o'clock and reading toward three o'clock, and then restarting from eight and reading toward four. The eagle looks serious and gruff, while the tortoise has his neck extended. Other birds fly elsewhere in the sky. The seller identifies the style as early Arts and Crafts.
1934 "The Tortoise and the Hare from the Walt Disney Silly Symphony." Good Housekeeping, Oct., 1934. Page 37, with five cartoon panels detailing the race. 8 1/8" x 11½". $12.50 from Byron Grush, Cerrillos, NM, through Ebay, Sept., '00.
The conception here is just as it is in the early Disney book presentations of TH in 1935. Rhyming verse quatrains here follow the story, with Disney's usual inclusion of Miss Cottontail's Boarding School, interested snails, and a last minute thrust of his head by the tortoise to win. Excellent condition.
