2017 12 Notecards by Redwood Library and Athenaeum Presenting Images and Texts from Phaedrus. Illustrations engraved by B. Cole from 1734 “Phaedri Fabulae Selectae, Latine, Anglice, Gallice.” Newport, RI. Unknown source.
This is a strong set of oval images, apparently with the (updated?) English of the original. The cards are in the middle and have identical last pages. I inquired at The Redwood Library and Athenaeum and received a helpful answer that the first record of selling these cards was in 2017. They could not say if there are more in the group; those that they have left are all represented in our twelve.
1980? Red and white runner featuring fable figures. 8’ x 8.3”. Source unknown.
This long piece of cloth features three repeated fable scenes – WL; FC; and TH – in that order around a central scene of a wolf with a young woman carrying a pitcher. Red Riding Hood perhaps?
1980? Red and white runner featuring ten fable scenes. 44.5" x 14.5”. Source unknown.
This piece of cloth features two rows of distinctive fable scenes. One row features, from left to right, FC; "The Heron"; MM; TH; and WL. If we turn it over and again proceed from left to right, we have "The Secret"; CJ; FS; "The Hare and the Frogs"; and MSA. Some scenes are more skillfully rendered than others, but overall it is a lovely piece!
1951 Receipt for purchase of Chocolat-Menier. February 13, 1951. 44,214 Francs. Richard LeFranc in Avignon. Sold by Chocolat-Menier in Paris. €10 from kam-oulox through Ebay, March, '22.
The verso presents a child and many of La Fontaine's animals and urges the collecting of Menier's colored images of the fables of La Fontaine. Might Monsieur LeFranc in 1951 have dreamed that someone in 2022 would value the receipt he received for paying 44,000 Francs for chocolate? And who ever looks at the verso of a receipt?
1996? Rebus postcard. A soccer-player with milk in his hand asks "Retrouvez le title d'une célèbre fable de Jean de la Fontaine." The art bears the mark "Turier." Producteurs de Lait de Picardie, Amiens. Imp. Garet, Breteuil. Postmarked from Amiens, Jan., '97. €3 from Gerard Crucy, Yerres, at the Paris Post Card Exhibition, Jan., '05.
I wish that my French were good enough to put together this title! The verso contains the motto "Le Lait l'Allié du Sportif."
1910? Nine colored numbered cards signed by "Raylambert." The highest number here is "18." The verso of each repeats the number and offers La Fontaine's text. €1 for "14" at Paris Postcard Exhibit, Jan., '05. €1 for each of the others from Philippe Rault in Marche dauphine, Saint Ouen, August, '13.
These cards have an unusual cartoon-like style emphasizing vivid action and strong emotion.
The print depicts the Lion and the Mouse, with the mouse holding a large chainsaw labeled “Rat-N-Decker”. Adam Rhine was the artist who made the print. The vibrant colors make for a very appealing fable illustration.
1991 Rap La Fontaine. CD. 10 fables embedded in jazz arrangements, plus the arrangements without texts. Musiques de Dominique bouvier et Georges Sandri. Editions: J.L.B.E. Studio de la Nation. Herisson Vert/Warm-Up SA.
This disc surprised me. Rap turns out to be a great way to understand La Fontaine! The rap artist presents each fable quite briskly. Jump on the bus, because it is leaving fast and moving fast! Each fable is given first in its mixed form, with music and text, and then only the musical part is played – perhaps so that one can oneself rap? I could not identify what is titled "Le Grenouille Et Le Boeuf." It seems not to be La Fontaine's "Le Grenouille qui veut se faire aussi grosse que le Boeuf."
2005 Rammie Reads Aesop's Fables. DVD. Nine Aesopic fables and several exhortations from Rammie, the mascot of the Derby County Football Club. Ages 4-9. Film Studios, Duffield, UK. £2.99 through Ebay, Nov., '06.
Rammie starts by warning children not to go off with strangers – and finishes by urging them not to run out onto the road between parked cars. In between Rammie tells nine fables in various pastoral settings in the Derbyshire Dales countryside. Some fables may be so animated in their telling that the motivation gets obscured. Does the fox really invite his good friend the stork because he wants others to know his great soup and then decide to make sport of his friend? The mischievous boy in BW is never allowed to have fun again! The video segment turns amateurish in an attempt, for example, to simulate the panic of fearing an approaching wolf. Rammie's big message tends to be "Reading is fun!"
2000? Ralph Lauren Polo Shirt Featuring MLS. XL. 100% cotton. Made in Indonesia. Unknown source.
Here is a surprise! My mind does not easily put Aesop and Ralph Lauren into the same sentence. Secondly, the choice of this fable for a shirt is another surprise. Finally, the result is, for me at least, a surprise. This may be the most garish object in the collection! The patterns are familiar, but from where?
1920? Raimond grapes scissors. 6.5" long. Silver plated? Unknown source.
Heavy and beautifully formed. The fox heads offer a further point of contact for the fingers of the person using the scissors. A similar Raimond version is on Ebay now for $130. The edge here is not serrated. The seller on Ebay comments that gentlemen do not touch food with their hands. Might one better say that one does not touch food that may come to others? It seems difficult to sit at table and to get grapes from the vine all the way to one's mouth without touching them.
2004 Arthur Rackham, "The Shipwrecked Man and the Sea" from Aesop's Fables (1912). Copyright 2004 The Estate of Arthur Rackham/The Bridgeman Art Library. $1.75 from Penny's Postcards, Pearland, TAX, through eBay, May, '04.
This formidable portrait may go against the fable text. The sea blaming the winds seems to have a temper of her own to work on!
1988 Racing plastic turtle. 2½" high. Funrise Company. $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. This little fellow with #18 on his chest has a great smile!
