Stock Series

1915? One colored French card illustrating "The Fox, the Traveller, and the Snake" and advertising on its verso Chicorée Extra and Daniel Voelcker-Coumes. From Boulevard des Ecritures, St. Ouen, August, '15. This card is curious in several ways. It has the same instepped borders and is in fact identical with the text and image of a stock trade card in the "5430" series. I also have other trade cards in a different format from Chicorée Extra and Daniel Voelcker-Coumes.

1880? 2 more cards from the green set by Wemple and Kronheim, stamped "Reward of Merit" and then stamped again by Robinson Brothers' Picture Frames of Springfield, MA. These cards of "The Eagle, the Lamb, and the Crow" and "The Heron" again include a prose text of the fable on the back side. Both the physical overstamping and the double function (reward of merit and advertisement) seem gauche to me.

1880? 1 TH card from the above set by Wemple and Kronheim, stamped "Reward of Merit." This card, like the two above, includes a prose text of the fable on the back side. The color printing here may be among the best for Wemple and Kronheim cards. Here, as there, "Reward of Merit" tends to have some filigree work around it. It has the fancy "R" found in the card depicting "The Dog and His Master's Dinner."

1885? One colored card of FK advertising the Universal Advertising Company of Brockton, MA. Here text-box is utilized to advertise a series of six designs of Aesop's Fables, labeled "No. 20." The series sells for 4¢! This card gives prices for blank and printed versions. Enough of the picture shows through to let us see the face of the log-king as well as the frog-eating crane. The card came with a companion card in the same format advertising "No. 21: Scenery Chromos, 2d Series."

1885? One colored card with FG and an open space advertising Shoneman's in Philadelphia. 3⅛" x 1¾". The same small card as above is filled in differently. The text design here is more pedestrian.

1885? One colored card with FG and an open space declaring "Try Lavine for Washing." 3⅛" x 1¾". This may be the smallest trade card I have found. The scene depicted may be more European than American. The design for the text is quite elaborate and intricate.

1908? One colored "The Cock and the Jewel " card advertising Heydt's "Yankee" bread. 2¾" x almost 4". The card is slightly torn on its right side. Again, the artist creates a composite picture, with the real life scene in the center. In this scene, a rooster and a chicken stand over a gold pocket watch while a third fowl nests in the background. The two additional scenes show, in the upper left, an ear of corn and, in the lower right, an array of gleaming jewels. Sickle-like arcs and ribbons divide the sections. This card has no indication of being printed in Germany. The message for Heydt's "Yankee" bread seems to vary with each picture. Here it is "All Bread is not alike. Try Heydt's 'Yankee' Bread and note the difference."

1908? One colored "The Trick Bear and His Keeper" card advertising Heydt's "Yankee" bread. 2¾" x almost 4". Again, an arc divides this colored image into sections. The title and picture both make the bear into a doer of tricks; the text knows nothing of this description. The befriending is shown in the upper left section; the rest of the card's picture shows the result of this bear's care for his friend. "Quantity and Quality are both found in Heydt's 'Yankee' bread. A trial will be convincing."

1908? One colored "The Lark and Her Young Ones" card advertising Sauer's Flavoring Extracts from C. F. Sauer Co., of Richmond, VA. 2¾" x almost 4". One of the loveliest trade cards I have. Sickle-like arcs divide the colored image into three sections moving from the farmer and his son in the upper right to the lark mother and her chicks in the center to the harvested sheaves in the lower left. Sauer's 32 flavors are "Guaranteed under Food and Drug Act, June 30, 1906."

1908? One colored "The Ass Eating Thistles " card advertising Stapler Crackers from the Original Trenton Cracker Company. "3⅛ x 4⅜" Sickle-like arcs divide the colored image into two sections. The large upper portion shows the ass eating thistles. Arcs enclosing the lower left separate a picture of a man being served fine food. The picture does not punctuate "Aesops." The text side has "Printed in Germany." It introduces a long description of its product with this question: "Do You Use the Cracker Stamped 'Stapler'? If not, why not?" It is quite surprising that I found two cards independently--and within a couple of months of each other--advertising the same local firm in Trenton.

1890? Here is a mystery. The same image as "le sanglier et le rossignol" is presented in this unusual card as "L'Artiste t le Financier." No one has been able to point me to a text with this name or even subject. It took more than a little hunting to recognize where in our collection these Florian images have occurred.

1880? 7 cards depicting fables of Florian, including a text of very small print in two columns at the top of the back of the card and a simple colored picture on the front. 4 3/8" x 3 1/8". The first six from Clignancourt are cropped. At present I have full versions of all seven cards except "Le Lion et le Léopard," for which my only examplar is cropped. How wonderful to have something from an institution like "Aux Deux Magots" right at St. Germain des Pres! The colors are strong and the animals well dressed. Most humans would need a magnifying glass to read these fable texts! They were kept deliberately small, one suspects, to make room for the advertiser's information. "La Guenon, le Singe et la Noix" may have the strongest illustration of the lot. The printer for both LP and ER is "Publicité Roussette, 65 Faub. St. Denis, Paris, while the printer for AQF and ADM is "Ass. d'Ouv. lith., Romanet et Cie, 27bis, r. Corbeau. While some cards have only the image on one side and the text of the fable with its title on the other, the other cards represent several advertisers.