2020 Aesop's Fables wood game: Little Golden Books. $36.38 from Little Vintage Tale, Madison, CT, through Etsy, July, '20. Images taken from "The Country Mouse and the City Mouse and Other Aesop's Fables" by Patricia Scarry. Four six-sided story blocks, each about 2" on a side.
Four of the sides replicate scenes from TMCM and one each from the book's other two stories, namely FC and DS. The blocks are well executed. The first challenge of six-sided story blocks like these is often the greatest challenge: which side of each block goes with each side of each other? I had fun recreating the scenes, and so I will show all six here.
1900? Litho-Cardboard with Wooden Stand: "Ass Carrying Relics." 4.5" wide, 3.5" tall. €10 from Thierry Corcelle, Paris, July, '23.
Like so many things coming from France, this small toy diorama has wonderful color. The cardboard is slightly bowed, but the wooden stand still holds it up well. This individual piece was surely a part of a larger set. What might we find in the ass's expression?
1988 Literature Posters. Monterey, CA: Evan Moor Corporation. $8.95 for the set of four, including "Greek Myths" and "Greek and Roman Names," in Council Bluffs, March, '91.
2018 Literary Wall Tile Set: Aesop's Fable: The Lion and the Statue. Each 5½" x 5½". $35 from Literature Lodge, East Taunton, MA through Etsy, August, '18,
Very nice workmanship. Isolating the text and moral in one quadrant is successful here, as is Linton's moral: The story depends on the teller." As the artist's illustration shows, the tiles appear best when given the appropriate small space between their edges. Fables show up in so many places!
1965? Three 6” Lionel Records: FG/TMCM (114 A & B); LM & OF (115 A & B); “Little Red Hen,” Parts 1 and 2 (112 A & B). Aesop narrated by June Winters and the Speartones. Little Red Hen” narrated by Al Javelon. Bridgeport, CN: Lionel Records. Gift of Susan Carlson, Dec. 18.
What a surprise! Two of my passions come together! I was only vaguely aware that Lionel got into the recording (and record-player!) business. The records look as though they could destroy any good needle used to play them! 78 rpm?
The perfect complement to Susie’s gift came with it: a vintage Speartone Lionel record player! 4200. 78 or 45 rpm. In a suitcase casing. What a pair of gifts!
1928 Photographic postcard presenting La Fontaine's moral from "The Lion in Love: "One can say: Farewell, prudence! " $5 from an unknown source, Feb., '22.
What a tribute to romantic love! A gentleman languishes in a chaise with medication nearby and a blanket on his legs. He has fallen, I guess, to the seduction of love. The short quotation is the finish of La Fontaine's fable on the lion who let his teeth and claws be removed so that he could marry a young woman. Once those were gone, the young woman's father began clubbing him
1990? Lion Hand Puppet. Made by Folkmanis, Inc., Emeryville, CA. $20 from Courtney Ritter, Homer, MI, through eBay. August, ’11.
As the tag shows on this puppet in excellent condition, the puppet is meant to recall AL. This Folkmanis hand-puppet stands out from the others by its sheer size. From nose to hind quarters – without even counting the tail – it measures 18”. The insertion point for a manipulator’s hand is cleverly put just at the base of the mane.
2000? Lion and Mouse. Oil painting on canvas by Yarilis Qung (?). 8" x 10". $10 on Ebay, March, '15?
I have had and admired this lively piece of art for some time -- for so long a time that I am completely unaware of where I received it. The signature on the back of the canvas may be Yarilis Qung. The image wraps around onto each of the sides. And the artifact is put together with great solidity. I apologize, O artist, for not cataloguing this lively piece sooner and more accurately!
2015? A heavy cardboard hangable print of a painting of LM "On a souvent besoin d'un plus petit que soi." Scarabéan. $12 from Marie Gervais, St.-Urbain-Premier, Quebec, Canada, through eBay, August, '18.
I apologize for the choice of category for this unusual object. The painting is dramatic, as a mouse reaches toward the lion trapped in a net suspended from the branch of a tree. On the back of this stiff cardboard a little over 8½" square, there is a flap for mounting the piece on a nail. The paper presenting the printed picture is carefully pasted over very stiff cardboard. I have been able to find nothing on or from Scarabéan.
2015? Lion and Mouse Fable Tray: Jewelry Dish. Created by Carrie Walker Lesko.
This 7" x 5" jewelry dish features a pleasant illustration of the lion freed from his net by the mouse in the foreground. The verso offers a title and a moral: "It isn't the size of the friend that counts. It's the size of the friendship." Lesko is "an artist in love with animals," as her website declares.
1986 Lion and mouse. 3¼" high. Pat Lane Diaz, Wausau, WI. West Allis Craft Fair.
Here the artist shows a clever way of integrating a second character into a one-mass medium. The physical fit with each other suggests something nice about their mutual need.
1995 6 envelopes, each featuring on its left a line-drawing dramatizing one of the series of La Fontaine fable stamps issued on June 24, 1995. The envelope bears that same stamp in the upper right. All are postmarked, as is appropriate for an FDC, on June 24, 1995 from Chateau-Thierry . Éditions J.F. Courbevoie. $15 from Philippe Soriano, Paris , through eBay, August, '05.
I wrote earlier about another set that I was amazed to find that there was yet another incarnation of the designs of this series. So here is yet another! The line-drawings are humorous, particularly in the case of "Le Chat, la Belette et le Petit Lapin." Again I say: When the French post office does a promotion, it promotes vigorously!
1975? Linda Powell Prints. 11" x 14". $10.95 from Elaine Bono, Southfield, MI, June, '04.
I had found these six designs earlier on a greeting card and on placemats. Now I am happy to know that they were done by Linda Powell. Each of these six prints is signed by the artist. Three depict fables: TH FG, and GGE. Other items in the series include “the little red hen,” “the frog prince,” and “the magic fish."
2015? Colored postcard of a young Abraham Lincoln holding a copy of Aesop’s Fables. Apparently photo of an exhibit at the Abram Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, IL. Unknown cost and source, before July, 21.
The museum offers a video of Abraham Lincoln reading from Milo Winter’s Aesop for Children.” This card is offered, I believe, in the same spirit. Of course the collector in me wonders what edition of Aesop the Lincoln in this scene is holding!
"Borrowed Feathers." 5¼" square greeting card with the text on the back cover. $4.73 from Limmaginaria on Etsy, Jan., '25.
The artist here chooses to add minimal color accents to a heavily black image. This choice of coloring underscores beautifully the crow's dissatisfaction with his black-and-white-and-no-color image. The added color seems foreign. Lovely work!
2002 Limited Edition Spode Dog Bowl – Signature Collection “Aesop’s Fable.” 10.75" x 8.5" x 3.75". #66 of 750. Unknown source.
It took research on the web for me to realize that this is a dog bowl – that is, not only illustrating a dog but meant for feeding a dog! A copy is on sale online for $275. Though this is recent, it is rare, unusual, and valuable. The DS scene on the bowl appears on another Spode piece in our collection, a reproduction platter.
2000? Lightweight Pins of Krylov's Fables: Brown, Red, Green.
Each pin, about 1 1/4" wide, has "Krylov's Fables" across its top, with an oval presentation of a fable's scene in brown with a green background. "The Swan, Pike, and Crayfish" seems temporarily lost.
1890? 2 colored French cards picturing La Fontaine's "L'Huitre et les Plaideurs" and "Le Lièvre et les Grenouilles. " They are exactly in the format of the 1900 Liebig series "Favole di La Fontaine." The latter card reduplicates one there. The verso is blank on both of these cards.
Is there any chance that "L'Huitre et les Plaideurs" belongs to one of the two earlier sets (1883 and 1896) of La Fontaine’s fables in the Liebig series? Might Liebig have sold the plates from its cards for use by others? "Le Lièvre et les Grenouilles" even has the title bar across the top in which "Vero Estratto di Carne Liebig" appears in the 1900 series. The colors have dulled on these cards. They are in fair to good condition.
