Separated Book Pages

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. 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.

1901? Recasting of Roberto Fontana (Italian, 1844-1907), “Aesop Narrates his Fables to the Handmaids of Xanthus,” 1876; engraved by G. Gallieni. This is actually quite an interesting piece, first of all because it is not faithful to Fontana’s original. I am creating a second page on this piece so that people can compare other versions of the piece. A second fascination for me is the question where this appeared. Perhaps something like the Book of Knowledge or a similar encyclopedic work? Click here to see our version and several versions online. The original seems to have been composed in 1876 and then published as part of the "Exposition Universelle de 1878" by Gebbie and Barrie. Gravure by Goupil Companie.

1800? Portrait of La Fontaine. Blanchard sculp. I found this torn-out frontispiece of a small (5" x 3.25") book in a book recently purchased. While it follows the standard presentation of La Fontaine in such frontispieces, here his nose seems large and the picture's impression is unusual. The oval portrait is surrounded by geometric forms filled with printer's lines.

1950? La Fontaine Fables segment of a larger work. Gustave Doré. Pages 197-219. 8.9” x 12”. Unknown source. As I make my way through uncatalogued materials from the past, this is one of the more challenging. Here are 23 pages of black-and-white reproductions of Gustave Doré with English language titles, followed on 220 by a bust of Baron Munchhausen. I presume it is a section of a larger work presenting a number of Doré’s works. The detail seems to me to be unusually well done.

1940? 12 pages of Florian’s fables with black-and-white illustrations. 29-40. Artist’s signature unclear. Source unknown. This is a curious find. The seller’s attached note says that she does not know the author. “Another amateur has passed before me.” Efforts to match these pages with an edition we have have failed thus far. The page illustrated here (29) gives a good sense of the style of illustration, which tends, I would say, in the direction of cartoon.

1912 “Aesop’s Fables” illustrated by Charles Folkard. London: Adam *+& Charles Black.

1850? 13 separated pages from a set of (La Fontaine’s?) numbered fables. 4.25” x 7.2”. €50. Unknown source. I wonder if I will be able to find this edition in our collection. And I wonder if these really are separated pages. There are (page?) numbers besides the individual fable numbers. Is that Fable CXXIII not “La Discorde”? The illustrator has the traditional problem in presenting the face of a lion, presumably because he had never seen one.

1838? Four hand-colored illustrations of La Fontaine’s fables by J.J. Grandville. 5.6" x 7.6". Unknown source. A fascinating set of exquisitely colored illustrations. Apparently taped inside protective covers, one of which remains. A fascinating aspect of these hand-colored pages is the way the color seeps through selectively onto the verso of the page. A lovely find!

1800? 5 reproductions of Oudry's illustrations, perhaps the 1755 edition, with markings of the tissues that protected the illustrations. I enjoy Oudry's work, and these prints have come out well. I will be on the lookout for the edition that matches this format: pages 8.9" x 11.8" and illustrations 5.75" x 7.7". Oudry is acknowledged on all but one; five different people are listed as the engravers—all, I believe, from the original group that translated Oudry's work into printed form: Cochin and Chenu, LeBas, Tardieu, Beauvarlet, and Pasquier, respectively.

1800? Two lively 5” x 5” duochrome (hand-painted?) illustrations. Image 3.8” x 3.2”. “Saunders Sculp”. From LaArtier, Portslade, West Sussex, England. It is hard to know whether these are separated book pages or separate prints. “Beaver” is a less told tale, partly because of its subject matter. The action of the beaver is here quite unmistakable. Well colored! The range of browns in this rendition of UP is particularly strong. The artist includes the dogs, which I believe are a fiction of the clever rooster’s mind.

We have an unusual set of woodcuts cut out, apparently from a book, and attached to 8.5" x 11" sheets in rows. There are eleven pages of fables and two pages of the life of Aesop. I can find no English language edition of Aesop published in 1686. There is a French edition of that year. We present them here in groups of three according to the rows in which they are presented on all but one of the sheets. If we ever get to identify these with the text they came from, it will help that "Of the Boar and the Countryman" is Fable 110.

1840? Hand-colored GA page from a Spanish book of fables. Fable 77. Pages 183-84. 3” x 5.2”. Unknown source. I am cataloguing this piece long after it came to our collection. It is one of those random parts of the collection. I find the hand-coloring very nice but the cicada hard to make out with his green buried in the image’s browns. Fine work by a careful hand!