Podcast

The Glories of Stories: Exciting Moments in the Carlson Fable Collection

Fr. Greg Carlson, S.J., reveals the exciting stories behind the thousands of glorious books and artifacts in the Carlson Fable Collection at Creighton University.

List of episodes:

Episode 1 - Spode

The Carlson Fable Collection features some rare pieces of fine tableware produced by Josiah Spode, as well as some later reproductions. Featured fables include Horse and Mule, Dog and His Shadow, Lion and Fox, Bear and Fox, Fox and Grapes, Crow and Pitcher, Mountain in Labor, Oak and Reed, Tortoise and Hare, Leopard and Fox, Lion in Love, and Sow and Piglets.

Provided below is all of the Spode Tableware found within the Carlson Fable Collection:

  • Item
    Tortoise and Hare Parsly Spice Jar
    One spice jar, 4½" high and 2½" in diameter. The fox faces the tortoise and hare, perhaps at the start of their race. The design is in fact identical with that on the cup, but some of the space between the fox and the other pair is removed on the smaller jar. The jar is marked "Parsley" at its top, and the floral pattern of the top of the cylinder is repeated on the separate lid. $26 from Nona Thompson, Stewartstown, PA, through Ebay, Feb.,' 00.
  • Item
    Tortoise and Hare Spode Mug
    One cup, almost 3½" high and 3" in diameter, showing the tortoise and hare with the fox perhaps as starter for the race. $15 from Donna Roark at The Scarlet Ibis in McKinney, Texas, through Ebay, August, '99.
  • Item
    Two identical mugs, boxed in "Spode Blue Room" boxes
    2006 Two identical mugs, boxed in "Spode Blue Room" boxes with applied seals "Archive Aesop's Fables Mug, 0.5L, 16oz." Information on the bottom of the mug says "First introduced c. 1830." "Dishwasher, Freezer, Microwave Safe." The design on this cup features, in blue, a simple scene of a lion (?) and a fox apparently simply looking at each other. My best guess is that the scene depicted is that of the fox that first approached the lion and ran away with fear. A second time he came closer. The third time he came right up and addressed him.
  • Item
    Limited Edition Spode Dog Bowl – Signature Collection “Aesop’s Fable.”
    2002 Limited Edition Spode Dog Bowl – Signature Collection “Aesop’s Fable.” 10.75" x 8.5" x 3.75". #66 of 750. Unknown source. It took research on the web for me to realize that this is a dog bowl – that is, not only illustrating a dog but meant for feeding a dog! A copy is on sale online for $275. Though this is recent, it is rare, unusual, and valuable. The DS scene on the bowl appears on another Spode piece in our collection, a reproduction platter.
  • Item
    Tree and well platter featuring "The Horse and the Ass."
    2003 Tree and well platter featuring "The Horse and the Ass." 21". #472 of 1500. "The Signature Collection: "Aesop's Fables." Pattern introduced 1831. $88.99 from Elaine Esquivel through Ebay, Nov, '18. One of the main values of our having this large and impressive piece is that we can show it rather than the original we have from 1831!
  • Item
    One green plate showing "The Lion and the Fox"
    One green plate, with the same dimensions and designs as the pink and blue. Its back reads, as does the pink plate's, "The Spode Archive Collection." $9.99 from KeyStrokes, Lebanon, CT, through Ebay, August, '00.
  • Item
    One pink plate showing "The Lion and the Fox"
    One pink plate, with the same dimensions and designs but in pink. Its back reads as the others with one change in the first phrase: "The Spode Archive Collection" (emphasis mine). $15 from Walter Fisette at the Craftsmen's Gallery, Manchester, CT, through Ebay, Oct., '99.
  • Item
    Three blue plates, 10½" in diameter, showing "The Lion and the Fox"
    Three blue plates, 10½" in diameter, showing "The Lion and the Fox" in two scenes, the first in the foreground with a cringing fox and the second in the background with the fox facing the lion. $9.99 from John Harper, Chesterton, Newcastle, England, through Ebay, August, '99; $22.50 from Paula Brickhouse, East Amherst, NY, through Ebay, Sept., '99; and $19.99 from Darlene Furlong, Menominee, MI, through Ebay, Oct., '99.
  • Item
    The Dog and the Shadow platter
    Platter, 10½" x 7½", showing DS. $25 from Gayle Hoyle, Kingston, WA, through Ebay, Dec., '99.
  • Item
    Spode medium-sized platter picturing "The Mountain in Labour"
    1835? Spode medium-sized platter picturing "The Mountain in Labour" in their series "Aesop's Fables." 10¼" x 8". $150 from Aesthetic Transferware, May, '20. The mouse is appropriately difficult to find at first in this grand scene. There are several people in the left foreground who seem to be uninvolved or uninterested in the "big doings" that have brought a group of people out of the town on the far right. These people have come some distance, only to be disappointed. I offer a detail of the central image below the platter.
  • Item
    Spode ashette or medium-sized platter picturing "The Crow and the Pitcher"
    1835? Spode ashette or medium-sized platter picturing "The Crow and the Pitcher" in their series "Aesop's Fables." 8½" x 6". £28 from newcowper through Ebay, Nov., '19. As with each 19th-century Spode piece I see, the design here is exquisite. I would have to check with the sort of people who ran Downton Abbey to know just when an ashette like this would be used, but it would be lovely, even though I wonder about people taking food off of platters showing crows and rocks!
  • Item
    Transferware Plate "The Fox and the Grapes."
    1835 Transferware Plate "The Fox and the Grapes." 6¼" diameter. "Aesop's Fables." Copeland and Garrett. $50 from Alphabetiques, Montague, MA, through Ebay, Sept., '19 The artistry of the green illustration occupying the center of this small plate expresses the fable well. The fox is walking away but he is still looking back at the grapes. He has given up on them and, though he is bad-mouthing them, he would still want to have them. The verso includes "Copeland and Garrett Late Spode."
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Episode 2 - Great Categories in Collecting

This episode of Glories of Stories focuses on Great Categories in Collecting: Rare and Reasonable, Surprising, Parodies, and Recent and Creative. Fr. Greg discusses works featuring a host of people, places, and things, including the Silver Spring Book Fair, Pierre Barboutau, Bartleby's Books, Gustave Dore, Libros Fugitivos, Samuel Croxhall, Menier Chocolates, Benjamin Rabier, muselets, Hugo Gellert, James Thurber, Dominique Pelletier, Nicolas Millet, Barbara McClintock, and Robert Coover. It is a smorgasbord of rare treats served up by the master fable gourmet himself, Monsieur Fable!

Below you can scroll through to see some of the books and artifacts Fr. Carlson mentions in this episode of "The Glories of Stories."