1898 Pamphlet printed by Gustave Guérin & Cie, Paris, offering La Fontaine's text of MM along with three chromolithographs of the fable.
I long considered whether this is a book, a card, or an advertisement. In the end, the last seemed most appropriate. I have not discovered these chromolithographs on cards we have. Bertrand calls this printer rare. Inscribed 1898. 3½" x 5½".
1950? La Fontaine Fables segment of a larger work. Gustave Doré. Pages 197-219. 8.9” x 12”. Unknown source.
As I make my way through uncatalogued materials from the past, this is one of the more challenging. Here are 23 pages of black-and-white reproductions of Gustave Doré with English language titles, followed on 220 by a bust of Baron Munchhausen. I presume it is a section of a larger work presenting a number of Doré’s works. The detail seems to me to be unusually well done.
1916? Photograph of Gustav Klimt’s “Fable.” Image 12.2” x 8.7”. Overall 16.5” x 11.6”. Perhaps from fineartamerica.
Starting from the right, we find here FS; FK; perhaps “Heron”; perhaps “Lion in Love”; and perhaps TMCM. There may well be other fables hidden in the painting. d
1890? 7 French cards of La Fontaine fables from Chocolat Grondard. 2" x 3½". No publisher indicated. $16 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne-Ricouart, France, March, '01. 3 more from St. Ouen, August, '15.
These small portrait-formatted cards announce "Chocolat Grondard" at the top in red and run a red framing stripe around a colored illustration. The stripe also frames a few lines from the fable below and, generally, a reference to La Fontaine and the specific fable. Small italic print at the top of the illustration gives its French title. Small numerals in the lower right or left may identify a series or a date ("3 18," :4 v 3 c," "4 10," "5 2," "5 5," "5 9," and "5 17"). There is also a small signature "LV&C" on several cards. See a similar set of cards under "Léopold Verger & Cie." The fables appearing here are 2P, "Le Labourer et ses Enfants," "Le Lievre et le Perdrix," "Le Chameau et les Batons Flottants," BC, "Le Chat & le Vieux Rat," and "Le Renard et le Bouc." The backs uniformly advertise Grondard on the Bd. Saint-Germain ("Spécialité pour Baptèmes"!) and the Bd. Malesherbes in Paris--in brown ink.
1970? Two blotters (and one extra) from Pain d'Epices Gringoire: GA (#2) and TH (#3). "Buvard a Conserver. Les Aventures de Gringo." Signed by "Coq." Imp. Delcey - Dole. One copy of GA for 50 Francs from Annick Tilly, Clignancourt, August, '99. TH and another copy of GA from Mme Denise Debuigne, Rennes, France, May, '02. Three distinct blotters of other phases of TH from Mme Denise Debuigne, Rennes, France, May, '03.
These blotters, about 4" x 7", are among the most colorful blotters I have. GA has a delightful picture of the cicada struggling through the snow, while a black-and-white bunny with a horn and something brown under his arm races across the territory. Is this bunny Gringo, and is he carrying pain d'épices? The GA blotter is marked #2, perhaps of a set of four. I now have four distinct blotters showing different phases of TH. Two distinct blotters are marked #3, but the one representing a later phase in the story has its number set up differently from those of the other three blotters. Gringo overturns the traditional fable by riding on the tortoise's back and then jumping across the finish line just ahead of the tortoise, blowing his horn all the while. A sign points to "Le Pays du Miel." These blotters are made of a very thin paper. I would not have thought of this paper as blotter material.
1979 Grillengesang: Eremiten-Kalender auf das Jahr 1979. Fabeln von Henrike Leonhardt. Graphics from eleven different artists listed on the first page. Düsseldorf: Verlag Eremiten-Presse. €15 from Antiquariat Halkyione, Hamburg, Jan, '16.
The first surprise in this calendar is its size: 4' x 17½"! Each month gets its share of a couple of lively leftist-leaning fables in block letters with art that I cannot begin to understand. I presume that the art is not related to the fables. Here is an ephemeral find of the first order!
1988? "little friends may prove great friends. Aesop." 4½" x 6". The Printery House. Conception, MO: Conception Abbey. Gift of Mary Pat Ryan, Nov., '92.
Though the saying might be most easily matched with LM, the image on the front of the card is that of a psychedelic insect. Might the image and saying both be taken from the fable of the hare, the eagle, and the dung beetle? There is no message inside the card.
