eBay and the Expansion of the Fable Collection
In 1999, a family reunion in Milwaukee occasioned an experience my mother, sister, brother, and I all enjoyed. "Let's go to the flea market!" We all considered ourselves connoisseurs of toys. Several of us had lived for a time in various parts of the world. We enjoyed finding old toys, especially foreign toys. And I was always on the lookout for fable books and frequently ran across them at flea markets.
Typical and Embarrassing Incident
In the midst of composing this exhibit, I took a break one evening to catalogue some books found recently. One was Fables de La Fontaine from 1990 with strong, colorful illustrations by Claudine Suret-Canale. I did not recognize this artist and so checked on the web. I saw her described as a surrealist. I tried to learn more about her fable book. The first item to appear on Google for "Claudine Suret-Canale fables" was, to my surprise, Creighton's Carlson Fable Collection! I clicked on the link and found what I had catalogued not long ago, a set of calendar cards which this artist produced. A little checking showed that those calendar cards are the very illustrations in this book. Like Oedipus in Sophocles, I had serached then found what was right under my nose!
GET SCAN OF THIS BOOK PZ24.2.L3Fab 1990
In this flea market, I received a surprising answer from one of the vendors: "Check on eBay." "What is eBay?" I asked as the family got back together. Well, in these 21 years, I have learned what eBay is!
Collector's Comment: I am surprised even now, after so many years of collecting, at the different sorts of objects that people have used to present fables. Watching for "fable objects" on eBay is thus a regular source of delightful surpise. Consider these things found in the last few weeks:
- A Spanish version of La Fontaine's fables from 1944
- Macau stamps from 2018, including "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" and other fables
- An embroidered "Fox and Crow" pillow cover
- Pamphlets of fables from Russia and the Phillipines
- Bilingual cards from Canada Nabisco "Shreddies"
- A bilingual book of fox fables in Croation and English
- A Japanese catalogue of the fable work of Marc Chagall
- Silhouette drawings from 1923 for childre to copy
And the list goes on.
At about the same time, I became aware of and began to use two great used book exchanges, AbeBoks and ZVAB (Zentrales Verzeichnis Antiquarischer Bücher). They have been a regular source of wonderful finds. The internet has changed book selling, often for the worse, but it has certainly benefited this collector by making me aware of so many things available! As a collector, I find that nothing beats walking into a shop, but the internet experience has supplemented that most basic experience and enriched this collection.
By the way, in the first ten years or so of collecting, one experience was surprisingly frequent. Upon entering a shop, I would as for fable books. In the answer was "I am afraid we will not have anything for you," that comment was followed in almost 100% of the cases by me finding a book of fables new to me! When by contrast owners said, "Oh, I have many things for you," those were generally things I had already found elsewhere! Unfortunately, as the number of books in the collection has increased and the number of bookdealers has decreased.
In 2006, I came to know of a copy of Francis Barlow's rare original edition of Aesop's Fables published in 1666. Most copies vanished in the Great Fire of London. Barlow's vigorous compositions, which he etched himself, have stamped the tradition of fable illustrations ever since. The volume brings together texts in Latin, French, and English.
A young California family had inherited this volume and wanted to find it a good home. I happened to be living nearby. We negotiated over some time, and we were both happy to see this treasure come to the collection. Barlow would go on years later to do a second edition that would include illustrations for a life of Aesop. That edition is much lass rare than this original edition of 1666. I often see an image in a new book and say "Yes, this view goes back to Barlow."