Item

Maison Quantin Broadsides

Title: Maison Quantin Broadsides
Description: 1890? Twenty-five printed sheets, 10¾" x 14½", each featuring an individual fable of La Fontaine. The sheets themselves give no identifying trademark, but these posters are identical with individual pages in two volumes, Imagerie Artistique: 20 Fables de La Fontaine I and II, listed under "1890?" and estimated by Bodemann to have been printed in 1888-90. The artists include H. Vogel, Gaston Gélibert, Mangonot, Godefroy, Firmin Bouisset, (Anatole Paul?) Ray, Job (=Jacques Marie Gaston Onfroy de Breville), and Gustave Fraipont. (I am indebted to Bodemann for the deciphering and spelling of these.) A frequent engraver's mark is "Michelet sc". One is dated 1888. Listed individually at 80 and 100 Francs, the set cost 1200 Francs from a Buchinist along the Seine, August, '99. Two extras from Bailly, Paris, June, '17, for €24. And 18 from Anne-Marie-Kucharski for €234, June, '17. "Shepherd and the Sea" for €3.25 from antikobjet 84200 through Ebay, Dec., '23.

Each page includes a title in caps at the top, with "Fable de la Fontaine" in smaller caps inside parentheses just below it. Somewhere on the page, the text of the fable appears. The colors are strong in many but may be misprinted somewhat in others (like "Le Rat et l'Huitre"). Among the strongest images are "Les Deux Coqs," "La Mort et le Bucheron," "La Cigale et la Fourmi," and "La Grenouille et le Boeuf." My highest prize goes to the complex composition of "Le Renard et les Raisins," complete with a poor man pointing to a palatial manor. "Conseil Tenu par les Rats" shows children protesting with placards (for example, "Vive les Vacances") outside the school. "Les Deux Chèvres" features two little girls plunging from a bridge into some water, with picnic basket, bottle, and shoe falling with them. One sheet is unfortunately cropped (by the publisher?) right through the title : "Les Oreilles du Lievre"). I found this set just after I had found a set of Pellerin large-format colored sheets of La Fontaine's fables. A genuinely surprising find was "Le Berger et la Mer" six years after finding other members of this group! I again experienced that making out Firmin Bouisset's signature is not easy!
Source: Listed individually at 80 and 100 Francs, the set cost 1200 Francs from a Buchinist along the Seine, August, '99. Two extras from Bailly, Paris, June, '17, for €24. And 18 from Anne-Marie-Kucharski for €234, June, '17. "Shepherd and the Sea" for €3.25 from antikobjet 84200 through Ebay, Dec., '23.
Date: 1890?
Subject: Printed Materials See all items with this value; Broadsides See all items with this value; The Donkey Carrying Relics See all items with this value; The Miser Who Lost His Treasure See all items with this value; The Oak and the Reed See all items with this value; The Dog and the Wolf See all items with this value; The Grasshopper and the Ant See all items with this value; The Council Held by Rats See all items with this value; The Two Goats See all items with this value; The Two Cocks See all items with this value; The Two Pigeons See all items with this value; The Two Rats, the Fox, and the Egg See all items with this value; The Child and the Schoolmaster See all items with this value; The Forest and the Woodcutter See all items with this value; The Jay Adorned with Peacock Feathers See all items with this value; The Ox and the Frog See all items with this value; The Swallow and the Little Birds See all items with this value; The Man and the Wooden Idol See all items with this value; The Oyster and the Litigants See all items with this value; Death and the Woodcutter See all items with this value; The Hare's Ears See all items with this value; The Two Pots See all items with this value; The Rat and the Oyster See all items with this value; The Fox and the Grapes See all items with this value; The Cobbler and the Financier See all items with this value; The Thieves and the Donkey See all items with this value; The Shepherd and the Sea See all items with this value

Item sets: Carlson Fable Collection