1980? French kitchen towel. TH. 18½" x 27". Cotton. Where and when?
This is one of the less flattering portraits of La Fontaine, I would say. The bright yellow is attractive, but there is not much spirit in this design.
1880? A full set of twelve gold-background cards with La Fontaine scenes and French titles. 2½" x 4". The scenes are again identical with those pictured on cards by Charles Wemple and Martin Kronheim of NY.
Several years ago I found a full set of Wemple/Kronheim cards with green backgrounds after struggling to find eight individual cards. They bear no markings besides the fable's name in French. The card lacking from the second set is FM. The gold background invites scratches. Some of the printing here is not exact. The versos are all blank.
1934? French FC dust-jacket, 9½" x 7½", apparently for a school book, advertising "Pastilles Salmon" for protection against coughing. Imageries Réunies de Jarville-Nancy.
This "protege-cahier" puts a colored image of FC on its cover against a checkerboard background. The back cover offers the text of La Fontaine's fable under addition and multiplication tables. Mimi mentioned to me that this, along with the accompanying BF dust-jacket, belonged to her mother in 1934. The inside has simple 1½" stapled flaps.
1975? French colored postcard of FC. "Imprimé en France." 30 Francs at Clignancourt, August, '99.
This card quotes the first line of La Fontaine's fable. It sketches a simple and colorful village in the background. Except for the identifying phrase above as to its origin, the back is blank. Does this card not seem very much in the style of Jim Patt's postcard of FC?
1952? French dust-jacket, 9½" x 7", apparently for a school book, advertising "Amora: La Moutarde de Dijon." €5 at St. Ouen, August, '17. One duplicate for $5 from Mme Denise Debuigne, Rennes, France, Feb., '05.
The colorful mix of reds, yellows, and greens follows the pattern on Amora's blotter of the same era. Here La Fontaine appears in a medallion in the upper center. Around him are five fables. Four are named and illustrated: WL; "The Fox and the Goat"; LM; and "The Little Fish and the Angler." Another, FC, is pictured on a glass container of Amora mustard. As the back of the cover makes clear, there is a set of twelve glasses in the set, each with a different fable. Now that would be a set to find!
1990? French dish towel featuring five fables: MM; 2P; WL; FG; and OF.
Our first dish towel! I can find no markings about its date or origin. As with many French materials, the colors are lovely. The present image is temporary.
each giving the title and an illustration for a fable of either Jean de La Fontaine or Florian. The total set may number fifty. Fifty were announced, but so far I have found only these thirty. There are also two larger 2 3/8" x 2¾" labels, apparently for a package of ten of the packets that would use the sixteen individual labels. AU $10 from Dave Cox, Drysdale, Australia, through Ebay, Sept., '00. Several extras and two new labels from Dany Wolfs, Roesalare, Belgium, August, '00. Four extras and twelve new labels for $14.19 from Jim Swiftway through eBay, April, '04.
These are lovely designs, much different in their simplicity from the simple Russian matchbox covers. As one can see from actual French matchboxes, a picture design was used on only one of the two large sides, by contrast with the double images for Russian matchboxes. Do not miss the excellent use of color in SS and of form in "La Jeune Poule et le Renard" and FG. There are excellent facial expressions on the animals in "Le Rat et l'Huitre," LM, WL, and "Le Singe qui Montre la Lanterne Magique." It is a special pleasure to find such loveliness in simple things!
1934? French BF dust-jacket, 9½" x 7 1/8", apparently for a school book, advertising "A la Belle Jardinière," a clothing store for men, women and children. The cover's black-and-white illustration is signed by Claude Garnier. The booklet's cover is signed as belonging to Marie Louise Venet (or Knet?). Imageries Réunies de Jarville-Nancy. 20 Francs from Mimi Gras, Chambly, France, through Ebay, Nov., '01.
This "protege-cahier" pictures the jay at a peacocks' ball or court. Like the other dust-jacket sent by Mimi, it has a checkerboard background. The back cover offers the text of La Fontaine's fable under addition and multiplication tables. Mimi mentioned to me that this, along with the accompanying FC dust-jacket, belonged to her mother in 1934. The inside has simple 6" fold-in flaps with more advertising. Like the cover, the advertising here also mentions "Grand' Place, Le Cateau."
1920? Set of 6 tin canisters displaying lithographs of La Fontaine Fables. Sugar tin for $50 from tincollectors@gmail.com, Jan., '20. The other 5 French tin canisters for $109.75 from petitbrocante through Etsy, Nov., '24.
Now here is a surprise. Over four years ago, I found a single tin -- for sugar -- and have hoped since then to get others in the set. I finally got my wish, even though these five canisters have been through even more than the sugar tin had been through! Front faces display La Fontaine fables. Other faces and top have unnamed floral designs, ducks, and a bird. I wrote about the sugar tin that "I understand the French love for fables and for reminding themselves of them around the home. Still, would I want to be reminded of the wolf devouring the lamb every time I reached for sugar!" The other tins similarly do not provide comfort as I consider food!
1989 Frederick and His Friends. Leo Lionni. A Knopf Book and Cassette Classic. Music by Blane and DeRosa Productions. Tape manufactured in Singapore. NY: Dragonfly Books: Alfred A. Knopf. Part of a set of four books and a tape. $2 at Heartwood, Charlottesville, VA, April, '92.
Great stories well read: "Frederick," "Swimmy," "Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse," and "Fish is Fish." Nice musical accompaniment.
