"What Are The Long-term Effects of Instant Gratification?" TH Nuveen advertisement. The New Yorker. Nuveen are specialists in tax-free investments. Pages 58-59. Which issue is unknown.
1869? "Two Rats and an Egg" Inkwell by/after Antonin Aigon. Unknown source and date of acquisition.
This is a very heavy desktop accessory. The inkwell is shaped like the lower two-thirds of an egg, and so it fits very well with La Fontaine's charming fable about the collaborative effort of two rats to bring an egg to their nest. According to La Fontaine's fable, one got himself under the egg, and the other pulled him by the tail. Together they got the job done! Here carrier rat is not as in most interpretations, I believe, under the egg but rather beside it. I have found the object on the web. Christie's, presumably for the original, auctioned it for $863. Drouout is offering a piece clearly labeled as "After Antonin Aigon." Which kind do we have? That question lies behind my question mark concerning the original date of this item.
1922 "Thin Numerals." The number in the series here appears in large, thin print within the banner at the upper right. The crosslike form in the upper left corner touches the outer line of the frame. The typesetting of the fable text in this series is that of the 1912 series, except for the change in placement of the card number. #43 verso here has "The Field of Threasure." Complete set for £70 from Murray Cards International, Cecil Court, London, July, '99. Extra copies of #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #13, #15, #28, #30, #32, #36, #40, #45, #52, #54, #70, #85, #96, and #99. Extra set of 100 for £12 from an unknown source. Partial set of 49 extras for $15 from John Cole, Kent, UK, through eBay, August, '10.
1922 "Thick Numerals." The number in the series here appears in thick, bold print within the banner at the upper right. The crosslike form in the upper left corner does not touch the outer line of the frame. The typesetting of the fable text in this series is tighter than in either of the others. The green ink here is often so dark as to seem black. #43 verso here has "The Field of Treasure." Complete set for $40 from Mandy North-Graves, Norfolk, England, through Ebay, March, '00.
1875? Six-inch square tile titled "The Wolf and the Crane." Manufactured by Mintons China Works, Stoke on Trent. Designed by John Moyr Smith. Unknown source.
In this lively scene, the two characters' forms fill out over 50% of the circle's circumference. Can we see in their faces the diligence of the crane and the (temporary) submissiveness of the wolf? Lovely brown and cream colors. The title is read in curious fashion, starting from nine o'clock and reading toward three o'clock, and then restarting from eight and reading toward four. In the upper left and lower right, one needs to read going up; the key is to start as far left as possible and always move right.
1951 "The Wolf and the Crane." Twenty-Third in a Series of 24 Aesop's Fables. With calendars for December, 1951 and January, 1952. Compliments of the Tulsa Agency, J.G. Brinkley Manager. Minneapolis: Northwestern National Life Insurance Company. $2.50 from Rocky Trading, Neodesha, KS, through Ebay, Jan., '02.
This blotter, about 3½" x 6¼", presents an oval line drawing of WC in the upper left, with a full text and moral below it. The right half of the card presents its title, the series, a calendar, and the local Tulsa sponsor. The bottom of the blotter shows the national sponsor. This blotter may be among the most prosaic fable items I have.
1865? "The Washington Grape." An envelope with an illustration of FG. The Ebay seller describes it as "black printed Civil War Patriotic," and identifies the fox with the South and the grapes with the North. 5½" x 3¼". $9.99 from Douglas Uzakewicz, East Northport, NY, through Ebay, Feb., '02.
Notice the "Johnny Reb" crossed guns on the hind quarters of the fox. The fox is apparently Jefferson Davis ("J.D."), and he is hankering after the city Washington, whether as a military objective or as a political "plum." Is the fox's tail bandaged? What might the circle of holes or markings on the end of his tail suggest? Perhaps that he has been shot up?
1875? Six-inch square tile titled "The Tortoise Which Wished To Learn To Fly." Manufactured by Minton's China Works, Stoke on Trent. Designed by John Moyr Smith. $86 from Artifacts Gallery and Custom Framing, Trenton, NJ, through Ebay, March, '99.
This is my first of Minton's series of twelve. Lovely brown and cream colors. The title is read in curious fashion, starting from nine o'clock and reading toward three o'clock, and then restarting from eight and reading toward four. The eagle looks serious and gruff, while the tortoise has his neck extended. Other birds fly elsewhere in the sky. The seller identifies the style as early Arts and Crafts.
1934 "The Tortoise and the Hare from the Walt Disney Silly Symphony." Good Housekeeping, Oct., 1934. Page 37, with five cartoon panels detailing the race. 8 1/8" x 11½". $12.50 from Byron Grush, Cerrillos, NM, through Ebay, Sept., '00.
The conception here is just as it is in the early Disney book presentations of TH in 1935. Rhyming verse quatrains here follow the story, with Disney's usual inclusion of Miss Cottontail's Boarding School, interested snails, and a last minute thrust of his head by the tortoise to win. Excellent condition.
2001? "The Tortoise and the Hair" magnet. Metal. 2" square.
This pun has been used before, for example in "Sin City Fables" from 1981. The cartoon character here is charming! I am unsure of the use of this magnet -- perhaps on refrigerators? The creator recommends it as a gift to hairdressers. Fables provoke fun!
1978 "The Tortoise and the Hare" game. Made in USA. Girard, PA: Louis Marx Co. $2 from Connie Tibbitts, Providence, UT, through Ebay, March, '01.
This seems to be a simple game. The large stiff playing board includes a circular track, with a plastic ledge to insert as its inside rail. The wind-up tortoise moves around in a clockwise circular fashion to land on various squares. The game itself is in mint condition, though the box shows significant wear. There are instructions, four small rabbits, and even a decal!
1967 "The Tortoise & the Hare: A Pirelli Film." Combined map, advertising for the film, and for Pirelli's Cinturato tires. Film presented by Cammell Hudson & Brownjohn Associates. Produced and directed by Hugh Hudson. Starring Liz Allsopp, Gino Zottarelli, and Lucy Hornak. Script by David Cammell and Hugh Hudson, inspired by La Fontaine. Map produced by Mears Caldwell Hacker Ltd. £2.79 from Timothy Gardener, Bedhampton, UK, through eBay, June, '04.
This is a tour-de-force! The map sets the scene for a movie that seems built around a tour of its own. I gather that a sports car overtakes a truck, only to find the same truck ahead again, and again, and again. On the back of this oversized map are a number of stills from the film and photographs of the actors and settings. Prose talks about the generation of the film's idea and Pirelli's backing of it. Two of the many little panels--I think I count eighty-three of them--reproduce TH from standard text pages of Aesop and La Fontaine. Would this map have been sold in the theater on the occasion of the film? Or perhaps handed out as advertising for Pirelli's Cinturato tires (or as the brochure reads, "tyres")? Like almost every other map in the world, this one is big, unwieldy, clumsy. But besides that, it is one of the craziest of Aesopic remnants I have found. Aesop lives!
1854 "The Split Crow in Difficulties.--A Fable for the Day." Punch, No. 657. February 11, 1854. 10¾" x 8¼". $9.99 from Ed and Laura Harrison, oldartgallery, N. Olmsted, OH, through Ebay, August, '99.
"A split crow fancying himself an eagle, fixed his talons in the fleece of a sheep--but, neither able to move his prey, nor to disentangle his feet, he was destroyed by the shepherds." Part of the joke here lies in the fact that the crow is split and wears a Kaiser's crown--in fact, two of them! There is an inch tear through the border of the cartoon. Click on the image to see a much larger version
2010? "The Over-Fed Fox" coffee mug. Featuring Gallaher Cigarette Card #24. $18.97 from EclecticRetroBazaar on Etsy, Jan., '23.
I am encouraged. I recognized the image immediately and thought it might be from the Gallaher horizontal set. Here it is! My curious mind wonders what brings an artist to select a particular image or fable from the great array that is out there.
