1963 Seven “Fabeln” by Erwin Poell, Mannheim. Texts from “Antike Fabeln” by Wolfgang Mader (1951). D. Stempel Verlag. Size. Cost? Source unknown.
These very large prints feature a variety of typefaces, almost as though the publisher was advertising the possibilities he could offer. I find the mixture of text and image strong. This set is available online these days and is not expensive. Sellers seem to me to presume that these are “fables of Aesop.” I do not see that attribution here. Among the best are: “Der Esel und der Hund”; “Krebs und Schlange”; “Der Löwe und der Hase”; and “Die Tanzenden Affen.” What a joy, after years to bring these to our website!
2000? Série complète de 10 fèves Fables de la Fontaine. Two dimensional.
The unusual characteristic of this otherwise unidentified set of 10 fèves is that each has a flat side and is thus two-dimensional. It is also unusual that two pairs out of the ten figurines use the same form but are colored differently. Is there a black ant and a white ant? And are there two cicadas? Otherwise we have OF, TH, and FC.
2010? Complete set of six fèves depicting fables of La Fontaine. Ref. T111.
These six fèves are marked by their double character. Even FG is really about the interaction of two entities. With all the others it is even clearer. It is curious that that FG fève is the only one of this set not already in the collection and pictured under "fèves to be viewed three dimensionally." Comparison of the five duplicates shows how differently those of this set are colored. I have been unable to learn anything more about this set or where it comes from.
1995 Set of four uncancelled stamps from Albania featuring "Zhan de la Fonten." The three conventional full-color stamps display each a variety of fable characters. The fourth, larger item worth 60 leke presents La Fontaine himself with several fable scenes. $3.35 from John Ortz, Montreal, through eBay, Oct., '02. Extra copy of the 60 leke stamp for $1.75 from Mr. Y. Fuks, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, through eBay, Oct., '06.
Earlier I had found the FDC with the three cancelled stamps. Now I have a set of the stamps uncancelled and the fourth piece that goes with them. This larger piece is not perforated. It presents La Fontaine, LM, FC, OF, "The Eagle and the Tortoise," and a final scene which I cannot specify. This scene involves a man and a snake, but I cannot understand their relationship. It bears the name "A. Matsoukis, S.A." It is numbered 0032252. To allow closer viewing of the stamps, I present each enlarged: click on the stamp to see the enlarged version.
2014 Set of four Hadley “Aesop’s Fables” Table Placemats. Boxed. 15.5” x 11.6”. Wood and cork. Source unknown.
This set is one of the heaviest items in the collection! These substantial placemats picture TH; FG with a smaller tortoise and hare; “The Wise Owl and the Little Birds”; and “Two Fish.” The third of these has the owl warning other birds successively about the dangerous trees that men are growing. The other birds do not heed his wise advice and pay the price for that, while he removes himself from their company. I do not know which fable that placemat of the two fish refers to. There is also a circular set of Hadley placemats. Now to find those!
1989 Set of four full-color Ciskei stamps illustrating "Little Jackal and the Lion." Johan van Niekerk. $3.50 from Carolyn and Dan Lequerica at the CarDan Company, Fairfield, CA, through Ebay, Sept., '01.
Ciskei is a former black homeland and nominal republic in southeastern South Africa, one of the "Bantustans" created by the former South Africa. I do not know the story presented on these stamps. It may be a trickster tale that involves getting the lion to climb a vine that will not support his weight. They are pretty stamps! Each is numbered and has a different denomination:
2020? Set of four "Fable Beer and Ale" coasters. Foam rubber. Unknown source.
"Good friends. Good times. Good beer." I have tried hard to find out where I might have received or found these. No luck! Who would have thought of "Fable Beer and Ale"?
1981 Set of five PRC China postage stamps. "Marking the Gunwale" Series Presentation Folder. Mint. Issued March 10, 1981. £7.19 from Simon Andrews Stamps/The Cecil Court Stamp Shop, London, through eBay, Nov., '02.
This is a favorite fable of mine. It has the right leap from one category to another that sometimes makes a fable take our breath away. I will let the presentation folder tell the fable itself. The other side of the folder identifies the five scenes in the series:
Marking the Gunwale to Find the Sword
Crossing the River
The Sword Dropping into the Water
Marking a Mark on the Gunwale
Jumping into the Water to Find the Sword
1995 Set of eight Republique Française "Fables de La Fontaine" postage stamps. Mint. Marked "La Poste 1995." A T of C stamp lists the last six stamps of the series amid a border showing FG. Then on the second stamp the neck-scarf of a portrait-bust of La Fontaine reaches out to enclose a scene of TMCM. The six stamps follow, all showing a value of 2,80. The art is by R. and C. Sabatier. The last seven stamps in the series show "ITVF" in the lower right corner. £4 from Rowan S. Baker, The Covent Garden Stamp Shop, July, '98. One extra set for the same price at the same time. See the set of almost-identical postcards for a larger blow-up of each scene.
LAFsetof6a.jpg(right top) "Le Lièvre et la Tortue" shows the tortoise breaking the finish-line tape while the hare chases a butterfly with a net.
(center top) "Le Corbeau et le Renard" gives the serenading fox a violin.
(left top) "La Cigale et la Fourmi" has the grasshopper playing an accordion and a tambourine.
(right bottom) "Le Chat, la Belette et le petit Lapin" shows a cat already licking his chops as he holds a scale with one of the contestants in each pan.
(center bottom) "La Grenouille qui se veut fair aussi grosse que le Boeuf" manages to present the nose-holding frog as being as big as the steer in the background.
(left bottom) "Le Loup et l'Agneau" is one of the best; the wolf leers at the lamb, but as a reflection seen by the lamb in the water
I had heard of a recent set of French La Fontaine stamps and had asked for them at several places. It was luck and a whim that led me to ask for them when I passed this stamp shop during a very brief London visit. The eight stamps are a single strip, and the better copy has a margin attached on the left. Here's the way the strip looks as originally published with the stamps together:
2001? Complete set of eight fèves depicting four pairs of characters from fables of La Fontaine. Casino - Arguydal. AFF 50.2001. P12. *74.
These eight fèves are nicely divided into pairs. The best may be the crow and the wolf. The least good may be the grasshopper. Their small size may have precluded more detail.
1987 Set of eight "Republique du Burundi" postage stamps . Mint. Issued Sept. 14, 1977. Scott Numbers 524a-d and 526a-d. Purchased for $4.00 from Bulldog Stamps, Bethesda, Feb., '92. In a series with four each of Grimm (5F: 523a-d), Anderson (14F: 525a-d), and Les Contes des Anglais (26F: 527a-d). Extra copy, cancelled, with Grimm and Anderson (but without Les Contes des Anglais) for $4 from J.R. Stamps, Chelsea Antiques Building, NY, April, '96.
1910? Set of nine small plates almost 7" in diameter illustrating fables of La Fontaine from K G Keller and Guerin, Luneville, France. €140 from superschiko through Ebay, May, '20. Extra of FG for $35 from Pascal Pinan-Lucarre, Lille, France, through Ebay, June, '99.
The seller tells me that the trademark "Marque blazon couronné KG" was used between 1880 and 1922. Each plate shows a pleasing interaction between a central photograph-like image in black and the green leaf-pattern around the outside, with a strong, dark green rim beyond that. The fable title is given at the top of the image, and key lines are at the bottom. In the extra plate, there is a set of repaired cracks from 8 to 10 o'clock. After having just one plate for twenty years, I feel fortunate to have found the set!
1910? Seven "talking plates" by Hautin Boulenger & Cie, in Choisy-le-Roi, France, featuring illustrations of fables of La Fontaine. 7¾" in diameter. €8 each from Jobey Antique Shop, Normandie, France, through Ebay, Oct., '20. Four further plates from artdelatable50 through Ebay for €46, Jan., '22.
The blue illustrations inside a black floral-animal circular frame on these crème colored plates are adventuresome "translations" of the fables into human situations and events. Some of the human scenes depicted here are hard for me to decipher. Is the dog's plight in DW that he lives in a spare room in the attic? Is the promenading wife in FG looking down on others she could have married? Has the hookah-smoker taken over a whole room in his host's house? Will the child bothering the "Lion" like a mosquito soon run into the police? Does the "stag" stepping off the curb into water misunderstand what is good and what is bad for him? Is there anything more to WL than an ugly attack on the street?
1870? Set of 6 magic lantern slides of fables of La Fontaine in pairs. 2¼" x 9⅛".
This medium sized collection is unusually well done and well preserved.
1. Jean de La Fontaine and Aesop
2. Le loup et l'agneau - Le corbeau et Le renard
3. Le cheval et l'âne - Le chien qui lâche sa proie pour l'ombre
4. Le cerf et la vigne - Le lièvre et la tortue
5. Les deux coqs - Bertrand et Raton
6. Le lion et le rat - Le renard et la cigogne
1870? Set of 6 magic lantern slides of fables of La Fontaine in pairs. 2¼" x 14". Source unknown.
We have been working our way through objects found some time ago but never catalogued on this website. We have made some discoveries! Here is one of the loveliest. These are beautiful elongated magic lantern slides. Their images are the same as those on narrower slides, but the two sets are differently colored. Do not miss the slide-by-slide comparison of the two sets!
1834 30 copper engravings by Gouget of Fables of La Fontaine. Plus two duplicates of "The Peasant from the Danube. 9½" x 13". €120 from Alain Cano, Lyon, through Ebay, Feb., '25.
I have enjoyed finding various forms of this set of engravings. These correspond to pages of the two volumes "Fables de La Fontaine: Edition Taille-Douce," published by LeCointe and Pougin. Their quality varies. I especially impressed with "The Spider and the Swallow"; the second illustration for "The Peasant from the Danube"; "The Dog and His Master's Lunch"; and "The Eagle and the Magpie." A real find for €4 a print! The torn left margins suggest that these were once bookpages, probably from the volumes I just mentioned.
1900? Set of 24 wooden checkers. Tan and black. Differing designs on one side of each. In a Marshall Fields box. Unknown source.
These are so worn that it is often difficult to make out what fable is being presented. Oh, to find some listing of them online that would make sense of the numbering system at the bottom of each. On the tan checkers, the verso is always "Stag at the Pool" (if that is indeed the right name for this common verso). The black and tan sets are identical -- and both deeply worn.
2010? Set of 12 gift tags featuring Arthur Rackham's colored illustration for CW. Unknown source and price.
Some years later, this item remains a mystery for me. 1 3/4" x 2 3/4" with a hole for a ribbon, these slick reproductions of CW come in their own little mesh bag with gold ribbons ready for tying them to a gift. One can imagine what CW has to do with gift giving -- or, even more, what this image suggests to a gift's recipient! I could not find anything similar on the web and wonder where I ever found this unusual set of objects!
1950? 11 French plates featuring La Fontaine fable scenes produced in Longwy, France. Each is 7¾" in diameter. Backs of the plates include one or all of these three elements: an ink stamp of the Longwy name and coat of arms (apparently a berry branch under a crown); an imprinted mark; and a stamped number (5 or 8). There is one extra of WC. 1500 Francs from Jacques Chesnais at Marché Vernaison in Clignancourt, August, '99.
Each plate has a green line inside an undulating outer edge. At the point of indentation an 1¼" into the plate there is a simple black line. Once the plate reaches its lowest level, a repeated pattern of thin and thick blocks forms a circle around the fable scene. This is done in about five strong colors: brown, tan, blue, green, red, and black. The resulting scenes look like wood inlay and are delightful in their simplicity. Does the mouse in FM wear goggles and a swimsuit? The snail in "The Heron" is particularly charming. I found this set early in the day, made a deal to hold them for the day, and had to visit several money machines to get the cash to buy them! Then I got to carry them on my back for the rest of my travels! It was worth it!
2010? Complete set 5 pairs of "Ronde des Pains" Feves of the fables of La Fontaine.
This is an unusual set of feves in that each piece advertises "Ronde des Pains," an apparently well-known set of French bakeries. There are no titles of individual characters or fables on the pieces themselves. Each partner's base has a straight-line edge ready to match up with the edge of its partner's base.
2023 Series of three new refrigerator magnets representing three fables of La Fontaine.
I am only beginning to learn that there is a significant market for refrigerator magnets! Here are three magnets with lovely representation of presumably older, traditional fable illustrations. That these exist was a pleasant surprise to me; that there are many other refrigerator magnets was another surprise! Now I need to find out where these traditional illustrations come from.
2005? Série complète de 12 fèves Vahiné - Fables de la Fontaine.
This is a generally well-executed set of six pairs of statuettes. A distinguishing characteristic is the circles around eyes. Perhaps the best pair is FC. The cicada seems to be more of a hobo than a musician!
