2004 Aesop Goes Modern. CD. 29 tracks. Directed by Daniele J. Suissa. Written by Kim Terrell. Produced by Marc Solomon. Virtual Theatre Project.
"Charming Educational Stories for Ages 4 and Up!" I agree. Seven-year-old Asher meets Aesop and Aesop's father, and they start to tell him fables. They wisely tell him early that there is no right answer to a story. There are musical interludes leading into this encounter and filling in as Asher asks other people what they think a fable means and returns with his best "answer." The last track in fact has a lyre playing for the donkey who cannot play it himself. Track 20 brings Danielle, who recites a La Fontaine's DW section by section in French, and Aesop translates. This version pleases me more than the one Aesop presented as his first fable. I expected a more radical "modernization" of Aesop here. I would say that his storytelling is here taken seriously for what it is.
1940 Aesop Fables Society of Medalists SOM-21, silver plated by Edmond Amateis.
This double-sided medallion is both large (2.6” in diameter) and heavy. The seller notes that Amateis selected these fables for "their enduring timeliness and left the interpretation up to the beholder, as best suits his sociological, political, or economic inclinations." For me, both faces reveal a great deal in their lowest segment: the reflection in DS and the pinned dove under the regal hawk.
2002? Aesop Fable Placemats. 10” x 13”. Based on prints by Linda Powell. $5.95 from Lisa Baldwin on Ebay, April, '03.
I knew one of the six images used here from a card I was given in 1985, viewable under greeting cards. Now I have been able to recognize that Linda Powell was the creator of this set of designs, as seen in her prints. This set of six placements seems to include three fables: TH, FG, and GGE. The images are richly and brightly colored.
2011 Aesop Dress'd Or a Collection of Fables. Bernard Mandeville, based on Jean de La Fontaine. First published in 1704. The Augustan Reprint Society. Digitalized on CD by "The Again Shop." Wordcount: 19504. Pages: 67. Purchased online.
Our collection has three copies of the Augustan Reprint digitalized here. This kind of "book" created by a print-recognition device does not have much appeal for me. A photographic reprint of the book has, for me, much more appeal. I suppose that there is a kind of searchability achieved by this digitalization. I did a quick search for "fox" and immediately got 16 "hits." That is a good sign!
