Other Printed Materials

1999? Far Side Cartoon Featuring the Grasshopper and Ant.” Gary Larson. Calendar for Friday, March 20, 1999? Unknown source. The cartoon asks what might have happened after the fable’s usual ending, which has the ant shutting out the freezing, starving grasshopper. Here the grasshopper kills the ant with his violin and marches off with a bag of grain. Is he waving good-bye? An online entry says that the cartoon was originally published in 1988.

1993 Far Side Cartoon “Scenes that make a crow smile.” Gary Larson. FarWorks. Universal Press Syndicate. Unknown source. The cartoon shows a roadkill. A viewer might need to look more closely to see that it is a fox that has been killed. The crow would be smiling because the fox outsmarted him in the fable and came away with the crow’s piece of cheese. The verso includes an offer with a coupon expiring in late January, 1993.

1990 Far Side Cartoon Featuring the Grasshopper and Ant.” Gary Larson. Newspaper clippings. 3 copies, all apparently from the Omaha World-Herald. Universal Press Syndicate. Unknown sources. The cartoon asks what might have happened after the fable’s usual ending, which has the ant shutting out the freezing, starving grasshopper. Here the grasshopper kills the ant with his violin and marches off with a bag of grain. Is he waving good-bye? An online entry says that the cartoon was originally published in 1988.

1986 Into Books: Literature Pack No. 1: Brian Wildsmith's Fables. Melbourne: Oxford. AU $15 from Babyboomerbooks, Mount Gambier, Australia, through eBay, Feb., '09. Here is a boxed literature unit meant to structure five sessions with pupils. A cover sheet details the contents, including five paperbound Wildsmith fables all contained elsewhere in the collection; a teacher's manual by Andrew Perry and Ron Thomas; two posters; a "Hare and Tortoise" board game; and reproducible bookmarks. Some teacher has also xeroxed copies of some of this material. The fables involved are: The Miller, the Boy, and the Donkey (1969/86); The North Wind and the Sun (1964/86); The Lion and the Rat (1963/86); The Rich Man and the Shoemaker (1965/86); and The Hare and the Tortoise (1982/86). Notice that all were reprinted in the year in which this pack was put together. I have all four elswhere in paperback versions; I have only a hardbound copy of The Rich Man and the Shoemaker. I will crosslist that paperback, as well as the teacher's manual but will keep all these materials together. One poster reproduces the cover of the box and the teacher's manual; the other is unrelated to fables. The six bookmarks offer different black-and-white scenes from TH. A lovely find!

2023 Thirteen more stickers from redbubble.com. Nov., '24. Etsy artists continue to turn to fables for ideas. I may be late to the craze for stickers! Muddled Fable, AJSRPrints, $5.61 Satyr and Peasant Family, Jan Steen, 1662, $6.61 FG by Bibblued, 2.5", $9.18 FC, by Panagis, 2.7", $1.66 TMCM by Stephanie Smith, 2.9", $1.60 LM Respect Patch, Emily Congdon, 2.9", $1.73 FG by Stephanie Smith, 2.7", $1.60 TH by Sarah Rudge, Queensland, Australia, 3.8", $2.39 The Satyr and the Peasant by Jacob Jordaens, 3.2", $1.60 "Don't Trust Flatterers," ninied, 3.6", $1.73 "Fable of the Hares and the Frogs," Tom Seidmann-Freud, 3.6", $2.26 DS, c. 1310, A APART T, 3.5", $2.26 Shanzabeh in the Pasture, c. 1310, A APART T, 3.7", $2.26 Muddled Fable, 8.5" x 8.5". AJSRPrints, $9.17

2015? Eleven reverse stickers illustrating TH within a red circle. 4.25” square. With adhesive on the image side, covered by a thick transparency. Unknown source. I wonder where and how we got these! Eight have www.cartilage.biz at the bottom, and 3 have www.hareandtortoise.co.uk. The latter seem to belong to a London restaurant. I removed the transparent cover of one to scan it. Stickers generally have the adhesive on the verso. And so I wonder how these were meant to be used. Red hare, green tortoise.

1849 Fables de La Fontaine: Recueil de croquis composé et dessiné par Seurre Ainé. Bernard Gabriel Seurre, lithography by Victor Adam. Hardbound. Paris: Bance Editeur. €340 from Antiquariaat De Keerkring, Malden, Netherlands, Jan., ‘25. “Collection of Sketches.” Seurre Ainé was a pen name for Bernard Gabriel Seurre. This massive book – 22¼” x 15” and over 17 pounds in weight – is the loving creation of Harry J. Hendriks at Antiquariaat De Keerkring in Malden, Netherlands. He mentioned that it cost him €150 to have it skillfully rebound. And skillfully rebound it is! Between its covers, after a title-page, is the complete set of 96 sketches. Their style is eminently “classical,” with half-naked figures dressed in Greek clothing and surrounded by classical architecture. Each sketch has a fable title from La Fontaine at its top, a short selection of the fable’s verse under the illustration, with a small serial number just below the picture. Among the best for me are 2W (8-9); “Teacher and Drowning Child” (10); CW (15); MSA (16-20); “Ass and Lapdog” (28); “Eye of the Master” (38); “Old Woman and Two Servants” (44-46); “Young Widow” (59-61); MM (64-65); “Cobbler and Banker” (69-72); and “Gardener and Bear” (74). This is a wonderful, unique addition to the collection!

Sajou Needlepoint Fable Kits. 14 of 24 available kits. From an unknown source. The manufacturer’s description for these charming designs includes this information: “To embroider on natural linen to obtain a band measuring 20cm wide and 1m50 high. Kit contents: 1.60m of natural linen band width 20cm; 22 cards of Retors du Nord: 2004, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2024, 2033, 2034, 2039, 2041, 2190, 2221, 2302, 2317, 2332, 2350, 2409, 2443, 2445 x 2, 2570, 2777, 2876; a Sajou “Créé par moi” label; full-colour pattern chart with explanations.” The latter might be the most important inclusion. As they say, it is presented in a lovely Sajou re-usable packet. Of the 24 kits, we have 14.

1983 Eleven separated book pages offering art by David Frankland. Most probably taken from Aesop's Fables as published by Hamlyn in England in 1983 and by Silver Burdett in the USA in 1986. $14.16 from BurkeSevenVintage, Steinbach, Canada, through Etsy, July, '20. The indication that these are separated book pages comes in the texts of other fables on the verso of each illustration. I hope these were taken from a book in terrible condition that had no other use left. See my comments on Frankland's art under the books themselves.

1920? BC. 8.5"x11" page (47) from an unknown magazine or encyclopedia presenting "The Mice in Council," illustrated by D. Hine. $16 from Rick Meyers, Muskegon, MI, through Ebay, July, '99. An elaborate broad margin-design of cat and mice surrounds a title balanced by an image of the cat looking down, a half-page of text, and an image of one mouse wearing spectacles speaking to a group of mice, one of whom holds a bell. The text, including moral, seems lifted verbatim from James. The article on the back of the page gives women advice on how to test textiles.

1912 "The Fool that Tried to Please Everybody." Illustration by Byam Shaw and text on p. 21 in "Libby's Annual" for 1912. $13.50 on Ebay, Dec. 20, '06. The original painting, according to the article, is in the Lang Art Gallery. Shaw died in 1919. The painting is a more detailed presentation of MSA than I believe I have ever seen elsewhere. Libby's comment is excellent. This is a piece of pure comedy, carried out with zest to the last detail. The fables of Aesop are of no time or place: their shrewd wisdom applies wherever human nature exists. The story of the old man and his son and the ass can be traced to an Oriental source thousands of years old; but it is just as true in the yard of an eighteenth-century English inn, where Mr. Shaw has so delightfully placed it. The first great lesson an amiable man has to learn in life is that good advisers are often completely contradictory; and, moreover, that those who give advice will, if he takes it, often be the first to despise him for having no mind of his own. First (in the fable) they walked with the donkey; next, the boy rode it; then: to please the critics, the old man got on it. That would not do, so they both rode it. Accused of cruelty, they finally carried it between them. Here we see them struggling into the inn yard with their burden, accompanied by a procession of jeering small boys, to the huge amusement of the village worthies and gossips. Mr. Shaw has given us much more than an illustration of the fable. It is a delightful picture of old English life and character.

1900? DLS This appears to be a book illustration cut out with no identifying marks left. The perspective is unusual. The owner approaches the shaggy-dressed donkey menacingly with one hand behind his back and a club in the other hand. I have no idea where I got this picture!