1880? One badly damaged and clumsily repaired ABC plate 7½" in diameter. Various patterns encircle the alphabet displayed on the plate's rim. On its inner circle in capitals are "Æsop's Fables" above and "The Fox and the Grapes" below a pleasing design of a fox walking away from grapes hanging from a tree. Maker unknown. $29.99 from Susan Levine, Scarsdale, NY through Ebay, Sept., '99.
I have seen ABC plates on Ebay and hoped to land one, but they have been very expensive. Finding a broken one was my lucky way to beat that problem! Someone e-mailed Ms Levine during the auction with the information that it was customary, after a child grew up, to break his ABC plate and then glue it back together. Maybe that is what happened here. Actually, I like it broken! Around the letters of the alphabet are, in order, diamonds, and a maze pattern surrounded with a dark band that reaches to the edge of the plate. Colors are painted onto the central scene: red for flowers; purple for grapes; brown and green for leaves, grass, and ground. Has some color washed off?
1996 Badische Neueste Nachrichten Article on Ulm Fable Exhibit in Badische Landesbibliiothek: “Was man von den schlauen Füchsen d den dummen Hähnen lernen kann.” Sept. 5, ’96.
Our collection has a page and a brochure announcing the exhibit and the opening session program. My biggest surprise in this report on the exhibit is the statement that only two copies of the original edition survive. I have the impression that there are several, including at least two in Wolfenbüttel.
1920? Twelve cards, each with a line to be completed with a child's name after "Bon Point de." 2¾" x 4". Each card is signed (Ferdinand) "Bac." There is also regularly a further--illegible--signature at the picture's lower edge. Each verso contains La Fontaine's text and these two attributions: "A. Jeandé, Libraire-Éditeur, Paris" and "Paris - Imp. Des Arts et Manuifactures, 12, rue Paul-Lelong." $6 for GGE from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne-Ricouart, France, March, '01. $13.90 for the other ten from Patrick Ruelle, Monaco, through Ebay, June, '20.
1906 6 postcard series featuring children Perrette and Colin. Postmarked all to Marguerite Giltat, June 25, 1906. $36 for the set from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne Ricouart, France, Sept., '20.
This seems to be a story built off of La Fontaine's fable, since it features Perrette, a jug, and a male. Perrette fills her jug as Colin looks on. She fills her jug, but he loves her. He describes to her the happiness of lovers. He puts his arm around her. Her jug falls and breaks, and Colin is happy over his mischief. Seeing her cry, he leads her into his house. As Bertrand writes of the set, "largely inspired by La Fontaine." Are these good lessons to be teaching French kids in 1906 or now?
1994 Averse to Beasts:Twenty-Three Reasonless Rhymes. Written, Illustrated, and Read by Nick Bantock. Hardbound. Printed in Hong Kong. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. $5 from Sebastopol Antique Mall, June, '99.
This book comes together with a tape, which presents the twenty-three poems well in a live performance (at "The Trough" no less!) with introductory comments and sound effects. Bantock is well known for the "Griffin & Sabine" series, and this book is worthy of him. There are perhaps four fables here. In "Bad Manners," a turkey vulture schooled to culture still eats the waiter along with the meal! "Harvest Mouse" is something of an answer to Beatrix Potter, but it only reinforces the old fable wisdom that a mouse out in a field will be eaten by a hawk. "The Warrior's Way" is a satire on contemporary yuppie samurai. This one uses a sword to defeat a warrior-fly but cuts off his own nose in the process! "Old School Ties" has fun with "allege" and "alligator" but in the process shows--as I understand it--that judges might follow old school loyalties rather than process or evidence. One item ("The Wolf at the Door") parodies WL in applying it to urban human wolves. The other pieces have fun with words (e.g., "Hitch" and "Aero Dynamics"), with shapes (e.g., "Appendages"), and with fantasies (e.g., "Rabbit's Revenge"). Each poem is done on a left-page with an illustration facing on the right-page. Among the best illustrations are "Bad Manners," "Thick Soup," "Carnivorous," "Appendages," "Preparing My Giraffe for a Formal Occasion," and especially "Harvest Mouse."
