1855? Xerox copy of Robert Schumann's "Fabel" from Fantasiestücke," Wiener Urtext Edition. 4 pages. With an accompanying personal letter from Gert-Jan van Dyck. Sept., '92.
What could be lovelier than this sensitive gift from one of my favorite "fable friends." Gert-Jan knows better than anyone what it is to be a "vrai collectioneur."
1961 Robert Rocca Presénte 6 Fables de Jean de La Fontaine. Vinyl record 7" x 7". $5, March, '03.
The back cover of this vinyl disc states, in French, “A songwriter that is tired of the fables actually recited aloud.” Presumably, Robert Rocco is a songwriter who adapted the classic Jean de la Fontaine fables that were popular in France and set them to music. The fables include “Le savetier et le financier”, “L’alouette et ses petits”, “ Le Renard et les Raisins”, “Les animaux maladies de la peste”, La vielle et les deux servants”, and “Le petit poisson et le pecheur”.
1950? This complete set of 84 cards was a special find on a January day when I was passing through Paris. I stopped at a postcard show. As I was leaving, I asked a vendor whom I had not met if she had any fables. She asked "Including complete sets?" I was thrilled to find this set of postcard-sized trade cards, which advertises at the bottom of each text page "Les Gaufrettes Rivoire & Jeandet - Tarare." $120, Jan., '05. An extra copy of #75, "Un Fou et Un Sage," for €5 at St. Ouen, June, '19. Click on an image to see a larger version. As it happens, I have a blotter advertising this set of cards. The unusual presentation of #5, "The Fox and the Cock," made me check back; sure enough that image advertised this very set of cards.
1920? Two cards presenting two contrasting stories about Rising Sun Stove Cleaner, manufactured by Morse Brothers in Canton, Massachusetts.
The continuity of style is striking between the two light-stock cards. Is it fair to see these stories as fables?
1999 Ring Dish Celebrating the International Renard Society. Poitiers, August 23-27, 1999. 3.5" x 4.5". Porcelain produced by Yves Deshoulières in France.
Here is a lovely gift made for those attending one of the Renard Society's meetings. As it happened, I could attend this meeting because it was not too deep into the American fall semester. I was called away after offering my presentation because of a death among relatives, and I was sad. The image of Renard reading is a favorite one Renardians!
1960 China plate of TH by Richard Ginori, Italy. Almost 10" in diameter. Decoration by M. Praquin of Crépy. Exlusivity of "L'or et l'argent," Chateau-Thierry, France. $9.95 from Shayna Prentice, San Diego, CA, through ebay, April, '04.
This delightful plate is inscribed in a delicate longhand on its back "Le Lièvre et la Tortue." The front of the plate is unadorned except for the rendering of the finish line of TH after J.J. Grandville. Grandville's initials are still on the milepost marking the finish.
In 1988 and 1989, Funrise marketed as "Rhymekins" in various packaging a number of storybook plastic figurines together with matching storybooks. Some of these are fables, while others are nursery rhymes or fairytales. Maximum height or length 4". Made in China. Except for one, the source is unknown.
I am surprised to see fables so well represented among these figurines. TH, LM, and TMCM are all featured, as well "The Emperor Without Clothes." As I rediscovered these figurines, I found three of them apt for fables but then learned they are designed to go with fairytales. Now I have to find the Rhymekins TMCM pair!
LM: Scale was clearly not a goal here!
"The Emperor Without Clothes": I am pleased that they thought that meant that he was in his underwear! He originally came with the truth-telling child. He has disappeared, but we can hope that he has not disappeared in our life!
TH: Both figures are lively. The tortoise, whose source I happen to know, has a great smile! Tortoise $3 from Frances Thompson, Fremont, CA, through Ebay, July, '00. Frances writes that Funrise put out a line of storybook characters from fairy tales and fables. Now I have found many of them!
These three figures are part of the Rhymekins sets. As I discovered them, I thought easily of each of them as a fable character. Does not the little fellow on the left – who turned out to be Jack from "Jack and Jill" -- perfectly represent the attitude of the rich man who buried his treasure and then discovered that it was stolen? And could not that middle character be the farmer whose goose suddenly produced golden eggs? (I wonder if he is the giant or Jack.) And that little fellow on the right: Could he not be La Fontaine's "Gregoire" returning the sack of cash to the financier? For his makers, he was Jack, with his bag of seeds.
1880? 2 cards from the green set by Wemple and Kronheim, stamped "Reward of Merit." $2.50 each from Postcard Canada, Burlington, Ontario, Jan., '00.
These cards of "The Two Dogs" and "The Dog and His Master's Dinner" include a prose text of the fable on the back side. I believe that the two cards did not come from the same printing, since they use different typeface for "Reward of Merit" and since their ink's hue tends to green and to blue, respectively.
1950? Menu: Restaurant Francais. 2442 North Clark Street, Chicago. "Fables de La Fontaine." 9" x 14". $4.99 through Ebay, May, '19.
When was a complete dinner $9.95?! The offerings look delectable. The front cover features a drawing of FC, and the back cover offers La Fontaine's text of the fable. I could find no information online about when this institution went out of business. There is a seven-digit phone number, and those seem to have started in the 50's, while area codes seem to have been added in the 60's.
1880? Repaired ABC plate 7½" in diameter. Various patterns encircle the alphabet displayed on the plate's rim. On its inner circle in capitals are "Æsop's Fables" above and "The Fox and the Grapes" below a pleasing design of a fox walking away from grapes hanging from a tree. Maker unknown. $24.99 from Cindy Schneider, Wellington, OH, through Ebay, Oct., '00.
Here is a much better exemplar than the plate I had found earlier. The colored design in the middle is very well preserved. Repairs have been made to reinstate a smaller piece from about 10 and 11 o'clock and a larger piece extending from 11 to 4 o'clock.
1920? "Le Renard, le Loup et le Cheval." 4 (?) Deposé. €4 at the Paris Post Card Exhibition, Jan., '04.
Apparently a copy of an oil painting showing the horse kicking the wolf as the latter was about to read what was supposed to be on the horse's hoof. Spector translates the verses on the card's picture side this way: "The Wolf, all flattered by this address,/Drew near, but his vain foolishness/Cost him four teeth. The Horse, with no further debate,/Gave him a kick and off he ran. So there was Wolf prostrate,/In deplorable shape, a bloody mess." The verso is blank, the card unused.
1997 Christmas postcard from the Reineke Fuchs Museum, Linden, Germany, with photograph of an 1890's clock, made in Paris, adorned by a statue of La Fontaine with fox and crow. Message from Friedrich von Fuchs to Rev. Gregory Carlson, S.J.
French meets German meets American, just as fox met crow.
2008 Two refrigerator magnets, each about 3½" x 5", presenting GA and "The Ant and the Chrysalis," respectively. $3.60 each from Mark and Judy Cooke, Elkhart, IN, through eBay, Oct., '08.
Here is another new one on me! I never would have thought of Aesopic refrigerator magnets. These two are very nicely made. Notice the hyperbole in the GA text: the ant drags a banana to his nest! Space and a change of typeface set off the moral in each case. Now here is a use of fables that Aesop never had in mind!
