Loto des Fables de LaFontaine

Title

Loto des Fables de LaFontaine

Description

1860? "Loto des Fables de LaFontaine." Twenty-four stiff 4½" x 7¼" cards using illustrations after those of J.J. Grandville. $120 from François Binetruy, Versailles, France, through Ebay, Dec., '00.

The upper 2½" of each card is taken up with a good rendition after Grandville of an individual fable illustration over a block-print title. The lower 4¼" is taken up with La Fontaine's text and three columns of bingo-like numbers. (The middle column splits the text in cumbersome fashion.) Some cards have one or two footnotes on difficult or antiquated vocabulary. One of the twenty-four cards is outside the pattern. Its upper portion gives the game's title around a bust of La Fontaine, supported by a cabinet. At the center of this cabinet, which is flanked by a fox and a cat, stands "Regle." This card tells us that this "new" game differs from the old one only in its vertical rather than horizontal columns. Apparently, one agrees on the price of each card and pays for his/her cards. Then number-balls are drawn from a sack and called out. For a win, one needs to cover the five numbers in any one column. Unfortunately, there is no real connection between the fables and the game…. I remember seeing this game--I cannot remember where--at a price I could not dream of. I think my favorite fable-collector picked up that copy. I am delighted to find this other copy now!

Date

1860?

Source

$120 from François Binetruy, Versailles, France, through Ebay, Dec., '00.

Subject

Toys and Games See all items with this value

Lottery Games See all items with this value