1998? "Aesop's Fables" by Walter Crane. Illustrations and text for twenty of Crane's "tiles" from The Baby's' Own Aesop, Engraved and Printed in Colours by Edman Evans, 1887. 24" x 36". 15120. Rohnert Park, CA: Pomegranate Communications, Inc. Designed by Lisa Reid. Printed in Korea. $12.95 from Peder Berge at Puddy Sales, North Brunswick, NJ, through Ebay, May, '01. One extra copy at the same time from the same source.
The poster almost does justice to Crane's work, as my photograph certainly does not. The poster becomes somewhat overwhelming, but the individual tiles are lovely. Pomegranate did a set of boxed note cards at the same time.
1927 "Aesop's Fables" blotter featuring FG, compliments of The Ohio Valley Oxygen Company, Cincinnati. Besides a semi-circular illustration and a lively moral, there is some advertising information and a calendar of October, 1927. $9.99 from Matthew Johnson, Middletown, OH, through Ebay, Feb., '01.
This blotter, about 3 7/8" x 9", shows the evidence of some use on its back. The moral here is "He who waits for a windfall usually gets a crop of overripe fruit." The company offers oxygen, hydrogen, acetylene, welding and cutting apparatus, and supplies. Would there have been a set of twelve fable blotters?
Postcard from Anchor graphics addressed to Thomas Joyce advertising "Aesop's Fables: An Exhibition of Prints by Joel Feldman" with an opening on Friday, November 20, 1998. Pictured on the card is "The Sheep and the Crow."
2000? "Aesop's Fables -- The Fox and the Grapes" ring dish. 3½" in diameter. Pairipoint Glass Company, Sagamore, MA. One extra copy. $15. Source unknown.
I spent a great deal of time trying to photograph this exquisite little plate appropriately. My best efforts only approached revealing the deft image of the dapper fox walking under grapes. As I tried to ascertain where I got either exemplar, I searched on Ebay and found a far better image. It is the one you see here.
1930? One pinback 15/16" in diameter, labelled "Aesop's Fables - Waffles - 22." $2 from Connie Amos, Flushing, OH, through Ebay, March, '00.
Against a white background we find "Aesop's Fables" at the top," Waffles" at the bottom, and "22" on the right side. In the center is a dancing animal. Printed around the rim of the back: "Western Theater Premium Co., 1956 S. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, Cal." I presume these pinbacks were theater give-aways. Again, I got lucky on the price!
1930? One pinback 15/16" in diameter, labelled "Aesop's Fables - Mike - 18." $2 from Connie Amos, Flushing, OH, through Ebay, March, '00.
Against a white background we find "Aesop's Fables" at the top, "Mike" at the bottom, and "18" on the right side. In the center is a dancing mouse. Printed around the rim of the back: "Western Theater Premium Co., 1956 S. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, Cal." I presume these pinbacks were theater give-aways. Again, I got lucky on the price!
1930? A pinback 15/16" in diameter, labelled "Aesop's Fables - Don - 19." $5 from Mark's Gallery, Savanna, IL, through Ebay, August, '99.
Against a white background we find "Aesop's Fables" at the top, "Don" at the bottom, and "19" on the right side. In the center is figured a walking male. This is no doubt Don the Dog from the Aesop's Fables movie cartoons that were popular at the time. This button helps me to make sense of the "Countess" button found earlier.
1930? A pinback 15/16" in diameter, labelled "Aesop's Fables - Countess - 23." $1 from James Lennon, Naples, NY, through Ebay, June, '99.
Against a white background we find "Aesop's Fables" at the top, "Countess at the bottom, and "23" on the right side. In the cneter is figured a dancing female mouse. I suspect the pin has something to do with the Aesop's Fables movie cartoons that were popular at the time. My, what one does not find! In this case, the price was certainly right!
2008 Speed Bump. “Aesop Today.” David Coverly. Arizona Daily Star, August 15, 2008. Speedbump.com 8-15. Unknown source.
Here is the postmodern approach to fables’ morals.
1978 One "USOPS Fables" First Day of Issue envelope featuring the "A" Stamp. Postmarked Memphis, TN, May 27, 1978. Signed by Doris Gold. $5.95 from DK Stampman through eBay, July, '18.
Catching up on cataloguing stamps led me to realize that this is a whole series of sustained UPOPS FDC's, and so I went back to see if I could find the missing letters A, B, and D. I had luck so far only on this "A" envelope. "Doris Gold Cachets" here will become simply "Doris Gold" in later FDC's. Was this "A" stamp worth $.15? I believe that no particular "Fairy Tale" is depicted by showing these two children playing with a building/spelling block.
1965 "A Note to La Fontaine," poem by Jean Garrigue in "Selected Poems," published by University of Illinois Press in Urbana, 1992. Poem first appeared in "The New Yorker" in 1965. Available through Internet Archive.
Garrigue catches La Fontaine's sentiments, I believe, beautifully. Fie on the ant life! Live to sing and to be enchanted.
1978 "A Getting-Away-With-It Fable." Crawdaddy Magazine, p. 30. 1978. Illustration by George Jartos. $9.99 from John Huber, Livonia, MI, through eBay, May, '08.
This grasshopper signs a recording deal and cuts an album of Cajun songs "that the ants really dug and the grasshopper went platinum and moved to L.A. while the ants sat around in holes eating some really disgusting things." Good fun!
1990 Five original watercolors of "A Farmer and a Mother Lark" by Kim Young-ok, student at Sogang University. Assigned, confiscated, and donated by Margaret Carlson Lytton, Spring, 1990.
Done originally as a class assignment for a story to be told with a visual aid. The fable's beginning and ending come across especially well in these simple and lively prints. How nice to see Aesop alive in this student's imagination!
1987"A Carnival of Animals" Cup. British Museum Collections. Fine Bone China. Made in England. Unknown source.
There is no direct correlation that I can see with the fables that we know as Aesopic. Still, the ass and the lion playing chess comes close enough – and so figured the friend who gave me this for the collection!
2002? Birthday greeting card "A Birthday Fable." 8¾" x 4". Made in U.S.A. Kansas City, MO: Expressions from Hallmark. $1 from Sheryl Weilgosh, Oklahoma City, OK, through eBay, Jan., '04.
Here is a card meant to supply a surprising answer. Click on this small version first to find the larger version. Then click on the card to open it.
1995? "A Birthday Fable." Portrait formatted cartoon birthday greeting card. The front shows a farmer standing in a ditch and holding a ball of string and then climbing out of the ditch. The front's prose leads up to an outrageous play on words revealed when the card is opened. Dale Cards B-032785. RPP, Inc. 2 copies, gifts in '97.
A niche in twine saved Stine. How nice that people find fable things like this for me!
1989 “’Slow and Steady Wins the Race.’ What’s yours say?” Mort Gerberg. New Yorker. March 6, 1989. Xerox copy.
Here is a nice play on the aphoristic character of morals. Much of the intriguing character of this cartoon comes from the two characters’ faces.
