1950? Victorian Derby Silver Basket with FS Internal Image. Derby Silver Company Quadruple Plate. 1138? 6" in diameter; basket is 1.75" high. Unknown source.
Here is a well preserved basket with its movable handle intact. I find comparable copies with the same number at about $50. A similar copy had a clearer "8" at the end of "1138."
1920? One tan card advertising "Le Vernicire" wood polish and featuring a one-color image of "The Angler and the Little Fish." Imp. H. Bouourt (?), Paris. St. Ouen, August, '13. 44 further cards, including twelve duplicates, for $154 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne Ricouart, France, Sept. '18.
These cards are unusual in having mostly print on the "image" side of the card. There is a full text of La Fontaine's fable on each verso. The verso of several is crudely cut. The cards are arranged in French alphabetical order.
1935? Four graph-ruled 16-page notebooks offered by "Etablissements Verminck," a major producer of products from peanuts, some edible and some not, like soap, as the advertisements suggest. Orange and black, including on each cover an image and quotation from a La Fontaine fable. Artist: Paul Igert. $5 each from Mme Denise Debuigne, Rennes, France, Feb., '05.
The notebook with the WC cover is filled with computations and titled as notebook for vacation duties at the beginning of the "2eme." To my surprise, it is dated 1969! I would have presumed that these booklets were printed in the 1930's. Paul Igert signs all but the "Bear and the Gardener." He seems to have been born in 1899. In the 1890's, the Verminck family may have been the most powerful influence in Marseilles, the port through which the raw materials for their industry came.
1930? Six handbills offering fable texts and illustrations with advertising on the verso. Three advertise Vermifuge Lune: WC (#13), “Oyster and Litigants” (#22) and MM (#24. $5 each from Mme Denise Debuigne, Rennes, France, May, '05. One, including an extra copy, presents FC (#12) and advertises Marie-Rose, a “Lotion Végétale Parfumée.” Two present GA (#10) and “The Worker and His Children” (#30) and advertise “La Lessive Galet” and “L’Eau de Javel à L’Ancre.” These three for $6 each from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne-Ricouart, France, Sept., 20. Printed by Imageries Réunies de Jarville-Nancy. Three (#5, 13, 15) printed for Pastilles Liberia for £20 each from amgarchive through Ebay, May, '22.
I had not known that "worms" were such a fear for mothers in 1930. Lune seems to have had a long run, to judge from Pinterest exemplars of their two and three dimensional advertisements. WC may be the most engaging of the three Lune illustrations, with its monkey servants. It is this handbill asks for 5, not 6, francs per box of Lune. Dewormers, detergents, and nit-removers! Fables take us into a very concrete human world! See other Marie-Rose handbills here. Notice the contrasting color work on the two versions of #13, WC.
1920? "Reintje de Vos." Six small trade cards advertising Verkade's Chocolate. Serie 59, Numbers 1-6. 1⅞" x 3½". €15 from Albert van den Bosch, Antwerp, June, '23.
This small set catches one of the "fable" elements in this Dutch rendition of the Renard story, the horse's outwitting of the wolf. Renard's conquest of the wolf is quite graphic at the end of the series!
1925? Velvet Smoking Tobacco. Unknown magazine. $10 from an unknown source, Feb., '24.
"A race ain't all in getting' started first" says the terrapin as he passes the rabbit on the road. The bespectacled terrapin is of course smoking a pipe as he passes the sleeping hare. It has been fun trying to date this advertisement. Clues include the reference to "Velvet Joe" and the markings on the tobacco tin. Velvet is boasting of the slow start their tobacco gets by being aged two years.
Velazquez' portrait of Aesop (large format) from the Prado. From the Milwaukee Antique Center, Jan., '88. Who would ever think that someone would make a poster of Aesop!
1977? Postcard reproduction of Velazquez' portrait of Aesop. Museo del Prado. Printed in Spain. Madrid: Ediciones Artisticas. $.50 at the Prado, July, '86.
This is an evocative full-length portrait of "Aesopus." One hand holds a book, while the other is inside his very simple wrap-around cloak. He looks directly into the viewer's eye. His look scrutinizes. His face is anything but pretty!
1895? 2 full-color landscape-formatted cards illustrating the La Fontaine fables "Le Lièvre et les Grenouilles" and WL. 3" x 4 1/8". Both display large block-print fable titles on the picture side. The former advertises F. Dupont in Calais and is marked "Lith. Van Seleyn (?)" with an indecipherable Paris address. $10 for the pair from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne-Ricouart, France, March, '01. TMCM for €5 from Simon Rodrigues, June, '22, along with an extra of "The Hare and the Frogs."
These are two very pretty cards in good condition. The colors in WL particularly create a 3-D effect. The WL card has no further markings other than the title, and its verso is blank. The card displaying "Le Lièvre et les Grenouilles" gives the full fable text in two columns on the upper half of the verso, and offers a full ad for F. Dupont's new offerings in all genres at the Place d'Armes in Calais.
