L Agence General Standard · Carlson Fable Collection

Title

L Agence General Standard

Description

1890? 17 colored French cards picturing human scenes for La Fontaine's fables. Just over 4¼ " x 3 ". Titles are printed in block letters, often in a circle or in unusual spaces within the illustration. Five cards advertise Delorme-Gauthier (DG) on both picture and--with the fable's text--verso. One card advertises New Home (NH) sewing machines on both picture and--with the fable's text--verso. Two blank-backed cards (B) lack the red border stripe, have a white border, offer no fable text, and are printed on thinner cardboard stock. Five DG cards for $40 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne-Ricouart, France, March, '01. The remaining three for 60 Francs each from Annick Tilly at the Clignancourt flea market, August, '99. Two more for €1 each in St. Ouen, August, '13. Six further cards advertising “Biscuits Pernot – Dijon” for $10.28 each from S.O.L. on Ebay, Jan., ’21. One further "Pernot" card from S.O.L. for €9, Sept., '21. "Ass and Robbers" for €9 from s.o.l* through Ebay, August, '22. Four slender cards advertising Belle Jardinière Chicoree at C. Beriot in Lille for €1.50 each from pier-mont through Ebay, Spt., '23: one new (Fox and Goat); and three with differently placed title-circles (Lion in Love; GGE; AD).

These cards choose dramatic moments, especially in fables featuring human actors. In one of the two exceptions, "Les Deux Chèvres " is translated into a dramatic human scene of two men fighting each other on a narrow bridge. (The other exception is DJ, mentioned below.) This card has several other interesting points. One of them is that a French card advertises an English (or American?) machine in French. Another is that it gives a terminus post quem for the card. The front proclaims "Il faut dans chaque famille la Machine Type New Home Standard. Adoptée dans les Écoles de France. Médaille d'Or Paris 1889. " Like three other cards, this card presents the fable title in the form of a circle. The verso includes the text, various advertising, and "Imp. de l'Agence Générale, Standard, Paris. " This is the only indication of a printer of any of the cards. The two B cards-- "L'Ivrogne et sa Femme, " and "Le Berger et la Mer "--have lighter paper, smaller images, and larger margins. Delorme-Gauthier seems to be a cloth merchant in Vichy. The DG cards feature a MM in which the woman has fallen, a dressed-up human cock who waits while the jeweler assesses what he has found, a lion having his nails clipped, a traveler struggling in mid-river, and a standard presentation of the divided oyster. The five “Biscuits Pernot” cards indicate as publisher ”Courbe-Rouzet a Dôle (Jura).” One translation here from the animal to the human sphere strikes me as inept: is the ass who doesn’t care who is his master like a playing child? That ass may be quite smart! See "L'Avare qui a perdu son Trésor " under "Stock Singles." It may well belong to this set.

Date

1890?

Source

Five DG cards for $40 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne-Ricouart, France, March, '01. The remaining three for 60 Francs each from Annick Tilly at the Clignancourt flea market, August, '99. Two more for €1 each in St. Ouen, August, '13. Six further cards advertising “Biscuits Pernot – Dijon” for $10.28 each from S.O.L. on Ebay, Jan., ’21. One further "Pernot" card from S.O.L. for €9, Sept., '21. "Ass and Robbers" for €9 from s.o.l* through Ebay, August, '22. Four slender cards advertising Belle Jardinière Chicoree at C. Beriot in Lille for €1.50 each from pier-mont through Ebay, Spt., '23: one new (Fox and Goat); and three with differently placed title-circles (Lion in Love; GGE; AD).