1996? Jeep television advertisement using TH. 30 seconds. Gift of the advertising department at Jeep.
The tortoise takes a Jeep and crosses the line first. The producer of the spot advertisement assured me that no animal was harmed in the filming of this advertisement. I think she first read me on the phone as an activist against what she had done. When she found out I was only a harmless collector, she was happy to send me a copy of the advertisement. I will keep this entry also under "Advertising."
1950? Eight colored painted postcards (out of a set of ?) signed by Jeanne Lagarde and presenting children in situations recalling La Fontaine's fables. Paris: Editions Superluxe. Printed in France. $40 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne Ricouart, France, Sept., '18. Extra copy of FC for €6 from Dominique Chapelon, Yronde et Buron, at the Paris Post Card Exhibition, Jan., '05.
The approach of these cards is uniform and, to me, unsatisfying. The children seem presented to remind one of the fable situation, not to play it out in their own world. Perhaps the foxy boy has talked the dreamy girl on a limb of a tree out of her cheese or bread; this card may come the closest to playing out the fable in the world of these children. How, however, are the boy and girl at the stream wolf and lamb? Is the girl with the potted plant teaching the boy with the shovel to love working the land? How are the characters in TMCM, one from city and one from country, playing out the fable's story? TH labors to put a house on the back of one racer and to give ears to the racer behind her. The French know their fables so well, I suppose, that they are happy to see them represented by children, even if the fable is minimally involved.
I have found two sets of Jean Vernon medallions, 2½" and 1½" in diameter. They come from a variety of sources and tended to range between $30 and $75 apiece.
For the 2½" medallions, two sources have been John Wiersma in Holland in Sept., '03, and Frances Trachtenberg, Massapequa Park, NY, March, '04.
The workmanship on these medallions is outstanding! The Wiersma medallions have notifications on the verso: "Crepsa - 1950 - I: Dr. M. Van de Wyer"; "Crepsa - 1952 - 2 C. Tr. - I: Le Dr. M. Van de Wyer"; and "Crepsa - 1952 - C.D. Tr. Eprs - I: Le Dr. M. Van de Wyer." Otherwise the verso tends to be blank. From what I gather on the web, our collection is missing only FG in the 2½" medallions.
1950? Five bronze medallions depicting fables of La Fontaine. Artist: Jean Vernon. Nothing on the verso. Three came for $31 or $32 each from James Johnson, Tucker, GA, through eBay, August, '05. Two-sided medallion of La Fontaine and his muse for $25 from numest, Talinn, Estonia, through Ebay, August, '21. "Fox and Goat in the Well" for $4.99 from T. Lantz, Isle of Palms, SC, through Ebay, May, '22.
These smaller medallions are in exactly the same style as the 2½" variety. The fiveI have are FC, FG, FS, GA, and WL. FG has something other than the title of the fable and the artist's name: "Ils sont trop verts et bons pour les goujats." Similarly, WL has the opening lines of its fable, and GA the closing line of its. The workmanship is excellent. I continue to pursue the question of whether some medallions were cast only in the smaller format and others only in the larger--or whether there were two complete sets, and how large they were. Are there more out there? I will give the "La Fontaine" medallion its own row, to show both faces.
1962 "La Fontaine." Jean Effel. Russian. Unknown source and date.
I have enjoyed Jean Effel's art and am happy now to find a postcard in the same style. La Fontaine walks gingerly toward a tree where lots of animals are waiting for him. The most explicit is a crow who caws out an exclamation mark. To find out what text should go with this cartoon, go to a book Effel published in 1973 here.
1962 Colored postcard of La Fontaine’s FS by Jean Effel. Isogiz. PSNX. $10.90 from Flying Ship 1, Chernivtsi, Ukraine, through Ebay, May, ’21.
Vintage Effel. Great expressions on both faces. Beautiful color work. This is the fox’s turn. Is there a corresponding card featuring the stork’s turn?
1993 Jean de La Fontaine: Oh! les belles fables! Dit par Albert Millaire. Musique de Alexandre Stanké. Grand Auteurs/petits lecteurs. Stanké livre & cassette. Canada: Les éditions internationales Alain Stanké. Tape and booklet for $15.95 Canadian at Coles, Montreal, Oct., '95.
A very nice set. I find the tape's reading and sound-effects stronger than the book's illustrations. Each side of the cassette presents eight fables. The first side takes seventeen minutes, while the second takes somewhat more than eighteen minutes. See my listing also of the book and of a compact disk that seem to have come out together..
1993 Jean de La Fontaine: Oh! les belles fables! Albert Millaire. Musique de Alexandre Stanké. Illustrations et conception visuelle: Anne Côte. Productions: Les Éditions Stanké. Fabriqué au Québec. Participation Sodec. COF-12-CD. Coffragants.
A very nice rendition of sixteen La Fontaine fables, complete with well integrated orchestral support. Millaire has a lovely voice. See the book and cassette that were all apparently done together.
2000 Jean de La Fontaine: Fables. Tome 2. CD. Narrator: Albert Millaire. Illustrations: Anne Coté. Musique: Alexandre Stanké. Collection Coffragants: Alexandre Stanké. From Patrice Julien, Quebec.
Lively and articulate narrations of seventeen fables, separated by brief musical interludes. This and a 1993 CD, also from Millaire and Stanké, may be the only CDs in our collection narrated by a Canadian, though I am sure I cannot tell the different in accent. The disc is accompanied by a 48-page booklet offering the French texts of the fables with one colored and several black-and-white drawings of Anne Coté. Our collection also includes a 1993 audio cassette of Albert Millaire reading, again for Alexandre Alexandre Stanké. I could not establish any clear relationship between this CD and that cassette and could also not compare this CD and booklet with the CD and publication from 1993.
1998? Jean de La Fontaine: 6 Fables de toujours. 20 cubes en bois. Fabriqué en France. St. Germain-en-Montagne, France. Jeujura. 155 Francs at Le Bon Marché, Paris, August, '99.
Six cartoon pictures in 5x4 form in a sturdy wooden box. The packing advertises "100% Fabrication en France" against a red, white, and blue background. A "livret" gives all six pictures. The pictures on each cube are in a sequence; rotate all one turn and revolve all one turn, and you have a complete image. Twenty is a high number of blocks for a puzzle of this sort. Sudden arrangements for a quick trip home for a funeral gave me an extra afternoon in Paris. What a nice surprise to find this set as I bummed around!
1950? Jean de La Fontaine présente...Maitre Corbeau. Paris: Edition de L'Office Central de l'Imagerie. $10 from Nicholas Gulotta, Sharon, WI, through eBay, June, '14.
Here is an ingenious piece of ephemera. One opens a brochure somewhat smaller than 10" x 4". As one opens, scenes open and succeed each other, each with a portion of La Fontaine's "Fox and Crow" on a facing text page. There are two double panels, five single panels, and a final double panel. The first double panel opens a curtain on a crow with a piece of cheese perched in a tree. The second double panel first shows a fox approaching and then, as one opens further, shows him beneath the crow. The first single panel has the crow holding the cheese high. In the next, the cheese is out of the crow's beak, and the tongue is out of the fox's mouth! The next panel shows tears -- or saliva? -- falling from the crow. One more panel shows the fox holding the cheese below an expressionless crow. In the final single panel, the fox is exiting, and the crow seems to be reading a bible on his branch. The last double panel provides a curtain call for the two characters. The fun lies in folding open one panel at a time and finding the appropriate verses and scene. Lovely use of red, brown, black, and green. I am not sure whether to list this lovely piece as a book or a brochure, so I will do both!
1992 Jean Claval "L'Aventure Carto: Les Fables de La Fontaine." One title-card and 37 of 40 portrait postcards offering humorous interpretations of La Fontaine's fables. #AC 92001 through AC 920041. $120 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne Ricouart, France, Sept., '18.
This is one of the liveliest sets of illustrations of La Fontaine's fables that I have encountered. Card after card has surprises! The ass who has crossed the river with salt holds onto a bush with a fingered hand in #2. In #9, the angler is wondering about the small fish he has caught just as a huge Jaws-like shark is ready to break the surface just below him! In "Acorn and Pumpkin" (#15), La Fontaine is walking away from and looking back at the bumpkin about to get hit on the nose by a dropping acorn. In OR (#25), for some reason, Marilyn Monroe is letting the breeze attacking the oak and reed blow up her skirt! In FC (#30), the cheese box is a particular brand, "Caprice des Dieux." On the wall of the bedroom of the dying laborer telling his sons that there is a treasure in the family field, there is a calendar from "The Friends of Mona Lisa" for the year 1695. For me, the first of the two most enjoyable scenes is "Fox and Goat" (#16), with a wild array of objects covered underground from previous eras. The other is "Cobbler and Banker" (#32): so much is going on in the village, including perhaps the artist hawking his cards! TB (#23) may be a specific contemporary political satire; the faces of the two human figures are so specifically portrayed. In GGE (#27), is someone about to kill the rich old hen? Enjoy these cards, especially in their enlarged form, occasioned by clicking on a specific card.
