Wemple and Kronheim-WMF

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."

1880? A full set of twelve gold-background cards with La Fontaine scenes and French titles. 2½" x 4". The scenes are again identical with those pictured on cards by Charles Wemple and Martin Kronheim of NY. Several years ago I found a full set of Wemple/Kronheim cards with green backgrounds after struggling to find eight individual cards. They bear no markings besides the fable's name in French. The card lacking from the second set is FM. The gold background invites scratches. Some of the printing here is not exact. The versos are all blank.

1880? 8 cards (from a set of 12?) fable-illustrated stock trade cards lithographed in pink and green by (Charles) Wemple and (Martin) Kronheim of NY. Each card is signed "Wemple & Kronheim" and advertises Jones & Davis, Druggists & Pharmacists, 44 Central Street, in Central Falls, RI. The cards come off as garish because of the color! See references nearby to other Wemple & Kronheim cards in this series, though not with these colors! Did the printer really want them to come out this way? I think it may be rare to find so many from one old advertising source. Each card has some remains of an old scrapbook on its otherwise blank back. The eight fables here are:

1880? 2 cards from the green set by Wemple and Kronheim, stamped "Reward of Merit." These cards of "The Two Dogs" and "The Dog and His Master's Dinner" include a prose text of the fable on the back side. I believe that the two cards did not come from the same printing, since they use different typeface for "Reward of Merit" and since their ink's hue tends to green and to blue, respectively.

1900? One fable-illustrated stock trade card of FC advertising "Aux Filles du Calvaire: Grands Magasins." 2½" x 3¾". This card is identical with that in the WMF set with these exceptions: it prints "Aus Filles du Calvaire" and "Le Corbeau et le Renard" on the picture side; it uses half the text side for advertising; on the lower half of the text page it gives the fable's title again and just six of its lines. This card is slightly smaller than its equivalent in the WMF set. Though the same image is used, a smaller portion of it is printed.

1880? Full set of 12 fable-illustrated stock trade cards lithographed by Charles Wemple and Martin Kronheim of NY. Each card is signed "Wemple & Kronheim" and marked "Series No 52." 2½" x 4". After struggling to find eight individual cards, often including some advertising, I was delighted to have the presumably full set of twelve fall into my lap on eBay. This set has no advertising on either side. The scenes I had found are TH, LM, FM, FS, WL, "The Dog and His Master's Lunch," "The Heron," "The Eagle, the Lamb, and the Crow," and "The Rat and the Frog." New are FC, "The Hare and the Frogs," "Two Goats," and "The Dogs, the River, and the Hide." The versos are all blank. The cards are characterized by an unusual combination of green ink and tan background. "The Dog with His Master's Dinner" departs significantly from the illustration offered in the WMF series above.

1880? 8 cards from a set of 12 fable-illustrated stock trade cards lithographed by Charles Wemple and Martin Kronheim of NY. Each card is signed "Wemple & Kronheim" and marked either "Series No 52" or "Series 52." 2½" x 4". The eight scenes are TH, LM, FM, WL, "The Dog and His Master's Lunch," "The Heron," "The Eagle, the Lamb, and the Crow," and "The Rat and the Frog." Tom Beckman has written about finding the set of twelve, in his case distributed by the L.G. Williams shoe store in Malden, MA. The cards are characterized by an unusual combination of green ink and tan background. Some have fable texts--but no more--on the back. The Beckman FS card, imprinted by J. A. Parker Job Printing, is unusual in that it was overprinted by the very company that intended to use it. The Makis card of the "The Rat and the Frog" has an unusual stamp advertising "Only genuine hand-picked peanuts sold for 5 cts, Charlie Goodwin." WL is stamped on the picture-side by "O.B. Deane, Taxidermist & Bird Dealer" in Springfield, MA. "The Dog with His Master's Dinner" departs significantly from the illustration offered in the WMF series above. I include an illustration of the one extra copy of FM to show the difference in color of printing even within one design.

1900? 12 fable-illustrated stock trade cards included in a packet listing all twelve. This packet, marked "A Merry Christmas," includes "W.F.M." (not WMF) and "Ent. Stat. Hall." It is titled "Aesop's Fables: Twelve Illustrations with Fables at Back." 2½" x 4". Each card has in subtle red ink along its edges both "S.R. de la Perle" and "Lith. Bognard Jne" where the last two letters are unclear. Might they stand for "Jeune"? Here is another full set of these picture cards of fables, apparently identical with the set I have marked WMF Trade Cards. As there, the multi-colored pictures here have a gray background. The picture-side of the card is without print. The text-side, landscape in orientation like all of the pictures, presents only a title and a text. The paper used here is thicker than that used there. This is thus the better set to work from. The confusion between "WMF" there and "WFM" here is puzzling.Also puzzling is the marking of a pack of fable cards as a Christmas present.

1900? One fable-illustrated stock trade card like cards lithographed by WMF. Where the full set of twelve WMF cards is about 2½" x 4", this card is clearly smaller: 2⅜" x 3⅝". The card is numbered as #2 in the series. The front is stamped with "A la Trinité," and the verso has half advertisement and half an excerpt from La Fontaine's verse text. The top of the card may have been cropped.

1900? 12 fable-illustrated stock trade cards lithographed by WMF and included in a packet listing all twelve. 2½" x 4". Each card has in subtle red ink along its edges both "S.R. de la Perle" and "Lith. Bognard Jne" where the last two letters are unclear. Might they stand for "Jeune"? This full set is especially helpful to me because four similar sets are all partial. This group sets the standard at twelve and lists them on the wrapper's back. The multi-colored pictures here have a gray background. The picture-side of the card is without print. The text-side, landscape in orientation like all of the pictures, presents only a title and a text. The paper used is thin, and picture and text have often lost their lamination and have become two pieces of paper. "WMF" appears at the lower left of the wrapper.