1900? 7 colored cards of one size advertising Wheeler & Wilson Sewing Machines, and two cards of a slightly larger size. All have the Wheeler & Wilson logo, a circle in blue ink, with a white ring identifying the company and an inner circle of "W & W" in red.
1900? 12 fable-illustrated stock trade cards included in a packet listing all twelve. This packet, marked "A Merry Christmas," includes "W.F.M." (not WMF) and "Ent. Stat. Hall." It is titled "Aesop's Fables: Twelve Illustrations with Fables at Back." 2½" x 4". Each card has in subtle red ink along its edges both "S.R. de la Perle" and "Lith. Bognard Jne" where the last two letters are unclear. Might they stand for "Jeune"? £18.36 from Dawn Holmas, Rudyard, England, through eBay, March, '05.
Here is another full set of these picture cards of fables, apparently identical with the set I have marked WMF Trade Cards. As there, the multi-colored pictures here have a gray background. The picture-side of the card is without print. The text-side, landscape in orientation like all of the pictures, presents only a title and a text. The paper used here is thicker than that used there. This is thus the better set to work from. The confusion between "WMF" there and "WFM" here is puzzling.Also puzzling is the marking of a pack of fable cards as a Christmas present.
1982 Wer kann die Wahrheit nackend sehn? Five fabulists. Holzstiche von Harald Metzkes. Slipcase with five folded pages. Leipzig: Verlag Karl Quarch. €33.88 from Leipziger Antiquariat, Oct., '21.
This fascinating work is a set of five folded pages -- each with four folds about 4" by 8¼' -- brought together in a slipcase that offers a title on one side and a T of C on the other. For safety's sake, I am listing this work both as a book and as a set of printed woodcuts. The five fabulists are Gotthold Ehraim Lessing. Five fascinating fable texts are transformed into strong woodcuts, 3½" by up to 4½". It seems to me that the texts all have something to do with reverencing art. I am delighted to have come across this unusual effort!
