1995? Monkey Hand Puppet. Furry Folk and Folktales: Folkmanis, Inc., Emeryville, CA. Unknown source.
As the tag shows on this puppet in excellent condition, the puppet is meant to recall “The Monkey and the Crocodile.” This is the “I left my heart at home in a tree” story. A puppeteer’s hand can move head and both arms of this decidedly happy creature. His mouth is quite fixed in a nice smile.
1997 Four French cartoon postcards of La Fontaine's fables in multiple panels. Monique Touvay, Les Quatre Zéphires Editeur, Versailles. Printed in France. €3 each at St. Ouen, August, '13. Extra of MM for €1.50 from Gérard Crucy, Yerres, at the Paris Post Card Exhibition, Jan., '05. Extra of "The Cat, the Weasel, and the Little Rabbit" for $4 from Topical Paradise, May, '14. TH for $8 from Mrs. Zigletta on Ebay, April, 20.
In MM, successive animals seem to leap out of the pitcher of milk resting on the walking milkmaid's head--until the calf says "adieu" and the pitcher slips off of her head. In FC, the second and third panels are cleverly interrelated: what the crow lets go in #2 falls into the fox's hand in #3, so that in #4 we see only the fox holding the cheese. In FS, notice the parallel vertical lines in pictures #1 and #3 and the parallel diagonal lines in #4, including the chagrined fox heading home with his hat. A good deal of action is puti nto the twelve panels of "The Cat, the Weasel, and the Little Rabbit."
2021 Monaco “Office des Timbres” FDC envelope honoring Jean de La Fontaine. $14.77 from Patrick Ruyssen, Lille, France, through Ebay. May, ’21.
The stamp and postmark share the same image, the stamp for €3.86 in two-color, and the cancellation as a line drawing. I have not yet discovered if the date of May 5 is important for La Fontaine.
1940? From Aesop's Fables. Four full-color cards each presenting one fable. 3½" x 5½". Numbered 166 through 169. London: The Medici Society. FG for $2 from Jim Hawkins, Kansas City, Kansas, through Ebay, Feb., '01. TMCM and TH for £10 each from Unicorn Books, Middlesex, through ABE, Jan., 01. DM for $5 from Mike Marsland, Cheshire, England, through Ebay, Jan., '01.
I have found these four Brett cards from three different sources. The cards have an unusual feature. Brett's art takes up at least the upper half of the picture side of each card, with several figures from the story at the very bottom. In between one finds a title and the first few verses of the fable, finishing each time with three dots . . . which lead to the rest of the text on the verso. Are there more cards in the series? I find two particularly charming elements here. One has to do with the cow at the end of DM: "…without a doubt,/She lowered her horns and--tossed him out." One can see the dog at the lower right twirling through the air. Can one make out that the fox at the bottom of FG is breathing heavily?
