2019 Bookmarks of Erlesenes Bookshop in Vienna.
Visiting this bookshop was one of the most refreshing of my fable-seeking adventures. I noticed online an unusual volume that they were offering: "A Bölcs Esopusnak" in Hungarian from 1943. I found their bookshop -- it was not easy -- and was immediately struck by the FG symbol at the doorway. This bookshop is a search for the exquisite grapes of literature! Their advertising is consistent with their brand, and so I have a business card as well as these three bookmarks. There is also an incident connected with my visit there. The manager could not find the book and at last remembered that it might be in the "Lager," since she had worked on the volume. She found it! Victory! The exquisite possessed!
1895? Booklet of 16 dust-jackets stapled together. Algis and G. Dascher. published by C(amille) Charier in Saumur, France. €33 from Maxime Chupin, Carqueiranne, France, through Ebay, July, ’21.
Here is a remarkable experience and a remarkable object. The experience is that it had taken me some nine months to arrive at cataloguing a set of unusual early dust-jackets just a few days ago. Then an object arrived that I had ordered on Ebay because it was unusual: a stapled booklet presenting 16 images consecutively in the first half on the right side of the booklet and then, in reverse order on the left-hand pages, the La Fontaine fable texts for those illustrations. What happened here? Did someone gather the dust jackets and assemble them? Was that someone the publisher? As with the individual dust jackets, so in the booklet: while the common top and left frame scene is signed by “Algis,” some of the inset illustrations are signed by “Algis” and others by “G. Dascher.” Camille Charier seems to be the publisher. The texts are printed not only in different colors but in differing typefaces. What a strange find! I show the booklet with edges exposed in hopes that viewers can see the four staples at the central crease of this booklet.
1920? Pair of TH sculptures. 6" high. Resin. Hand painted. Sterling Industries? $25. Unknown source and date.
These two heavy fellows would do great book-backing! There is a nice contrast here between the two hand-held objects: a loaf of bread and a victory trophy.
1944? Eight cards showing children fulfilling the roles of La Fontaine's fables. Signed by "L (?) Bonniol." Imprimé en France. Éditions Superluxe-Paris. "Oyster and Litigants" for €5 from Suzanne Botti, Le Bono, at the Paris Post Card Exhibition, Jan., '05. WL for €4 at the Paris Post Card Exhibition, Jan., '05. The other six a gift of Bertrand Cocq, Calonne-Ricouart, France, August, '15. Now, in Sept., '19, two last cards (TB and TMCM) for $14 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne Ricouart, France, along with an extra copy of TB for $8. Four further cards as part of a group for $1.10 each from yvrl through Ebay, May, '22. "Acorn and Pumpkin" for €10 from Albert van den Bosch, Antwerp, June, '23.
Good color work in these cards notable for their unevenly cut edges. One can ask what the purpose is of having the children play the adult roles in some of these fables. In "The Oyster and the Litigants" there may be something adult and even erotic about these children. In WL, it makes sense that the bigger boy can take what he wants from the little girl. Is the fox in FG a male putting down females above? One might also ask questions about how the figures in MSA fit together. Does changing to the child's world lose the point here? I am not sure, finally, how OF might work between these two children. For all those questions, I still delight in the colors and forms in these engaging cards!
1950? Four monochrome hidden-picture cards featuring La Fontaine fables from Teinturerie Bonnin in Nantes, France. Light paper with orange coloring. 4” x 2½”. Two are signed by an artist with a name something like “Sluston.” €14.99 from place-nette-nantes on Ebay, August, ’21.
The seller identifies these as ”DLG Benjamin Rabier.” Though they remind one of Rabier’s style, I do not believe they are his work. Three clearly present fables. I am not sure what the commerce of the two fish is meant to relate to in La Fontaine. Two of the puzzle-answers were so easy that I wonder if I am not missing something obvious in the other two, which I find hard. The opening statement on the verso seems clever, but I sense that they are playing with a verb other than “aller.”
2009 Boner's Edelstein. 176 jpg images of pages on a CD prepared by the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbuttel of a colored version of Albrecht Pfister's book published in Bamberg in 1461.
I asked for these images as I was preparing a paper for the Renard Society in summer of 2009. I actually found that scans I got from our facsimile served my illustrated lecture's purpose even better. The preparation of this paper made for a lively summer in Mannheim in 2009.
1990? Bone carving of the wolf and stork. 4" x 1 3/8" x 5¼" high.
The texture and color of each of the figures are different. The stork is a lighter in color and almost translucent, while the wolf is a darker hue. Several inserted pieces of lighter-colored material suggest his teeth well.
1930? Three circular fable images, each presenting a fable scene under the double title "Les Fables de Lafontaine" and the name of the individual fable. At the bottom of the picture is "Bonbons Surfins." On the right side is "La Pierrette." Might each of these have come in a tin of candy? The three scenes are of FC, TH, and "Le Singe et le Chat." After finding these cards, I have now also found a candy tin from Surfins. It presents this very same scene of FC, expanded by about a half inch around the whole circumference. Visit the "Cans and Tins" page, on which it can be seen.
