“Place de la Fontaine” menu

Title

“Place de la Fontaine” menu

Description

1975 “Place de la Fontaine” menu from the Château Frontenac in Québec. 6.5” x 12”. Two copies.

This menu from the famous restaurant in the Hotel Château Frontenac in Québec features a cover cartoon illustration of “Le Renard et le Corbeau” with the caption “Never listen to flattery”. The back of the menu shows cartoons representing TH, GA, FG and FS. A caption reads, “Jean de La Fontaine wrote many fables, each with a definite moral. Do you remember the moral of each of the four fables illustrated on this page?” The morals are listed on the inside of the menu. Interestingly, the fable “The Tortoise and the Hare” is an Aesop fable, yet the menu credits it to Jean de La Fontaine. The menu is in both French and English. I presume that there is a play on words here. The "Place" would have been named originally as the site of a community fountain. Clever managers of the chateau have tied that name to the great author of fables and exploited it for the enjoyment of their patrons.

Date

1975

Subject

Printed Materials See all items with this value

Menus See all items with this value

Place de la Fontaine, Québec See all items with this value

The Tortoise and the Hare See all items with this value

The Grasshopper and the Ant See all items with this value

The Fox and the Grapes See all items with this value

The Fox and the Stork See all items with this value