Creighton University Archives and Special Collections

Carlson Fable Collection

Item Set

Items

• "Les Grenouilles qui Demandent un Roi." Biscottes L'Angevine.
  1950? "Les Grenouilles qui Demandent un Roi." Biscottes L'Angevine. Angers. 5¼" x 6¾". Printed in Nantes. €1 from French Vintage Shop, Paris, through eBay, Feb., '13. The crown and regal garb distinguish this king. The frogs are generally in mid-leap into the water – all but the helpless one caught in the king's beak. Lively colors mark this blotter.
• "Le Renard et la Cigogne." Biscottes L'Angevine.
  1950? "Le Renard et la Cigogne." Biscottes L'Angevine. Angers. 5¼" x 6¾". $5 from Mme Denise Debuigne, Rennes, France, May, '02. The upper three quarters of this colorful blotter are a simple illustration. The fox dressed in courtly garb strides away disgruntled from the feminine stork with her beak in a vase. This blotter seems to have doubled as the label for the package, since the blotter gives a net weight at the time of their packaging.
• Le Lièvre et la Tortue." Biscottes L'Angevine.
  1950? "Le Lièvre et la Tortue." Biscottes L'Angevine. Angers. 5¼" x 6¾". $5 from Mme Denise Debuigne, Rennes, France, May, '03. The upper three quarters of this colorful blotter are a simple illustration. The hare is eating a carrot while the tortoise, looking back and smiling, nears the goal. This blotter seems to have doubled as the label for the package, since the blotter gives a net weight at the time of their packaging.
• Amora Mustard Blotters
  1950? Amora. La Moutarde de Dijon dans son Verre Décoré "La Fontaine." Buvard and Buvard "EFGÉ." 5¼" x 8¼". Opéra Publicité. $5 each for two blotters from Mme Denise Debuigne, Rennes, France, Feb., '02. One extra blotter from the same source, August, '09. These are among the most colorful blotters I have received. Apparently the glass jar containing Amora mustard is decorated with characters from La Fontaine's fables. One recognizes, e.g., TT on the glass pictured at the forefront of one of the blotters here. Many other characters from the fables appear on the rest of this blotter: tortoise and hare; fox surrounded by crow, grapes, and goat; wolf and lamb; deer, dove, frog, fish, beetle, snail, rat, and butterfly--with a nice bust of La Fontaine in their midst. And the other blotter shows the variety of glasses offered showing various characters from La Fontaine's fables. Might I find the whole set somewhere?
• Albemarle Blotters 3.75 x 8.67
  1950? Series of 12 Aesop's Fables. Five blotters 3¾" x 7⅝" including the text "One of a Series of 12 Aesop's Fables." Albemarle Verigood Blotting. All five advertise the Seaman-Patrick Paper Company in Detroit. Here is a curiosity: the designs on these blotters include the same images and texts as the parallel set from the same firm, but they have a different size and structure, as can be seen by comparing the two examples on the more general Albemarle page. These blotters predate the area-code era of telephone calling. Now I need to hunt for the other seven in this set! As I mentioned in regard to the other set, these blotters present good evidence that Aesop shows up anywhere and everywhere. Notice the effect of using two colors on blotters like BF and "The Fox and the Ass."
• Albemarle Blotters 3.5 x 5.87
  1950? Series of 12 Aesop's Fables. Two blotters 3½" x 5 7/8" including the text "One of a Series of 12 Aesop's Fables." TH, a sample of Albemarle Verigood Blotting, from Bermingham & Prosser Company, Paper Merchants, Kansas City, Missouri. $3 from Connie Burtis, Sedalia, MO, through Ebay, Feb., '01. CP, a sample of Albemarle Halftone Blotting, from John C. Streibich Company, Peoria 2, Illinois. $1 from Joel Cotton, West Monroe, LA, through Ebay, Dec., '00. Three blotters -- CP, "Horse and Stag," and "Bald Knight" -- from Shaugnessy-Kniep-Hawe Paper Company, St. Louis, for $4.95 each Roberta Bull, Murphy, NC, through eBay, Feb., 08. Here is simply more evidence that Aesop shows up anywhere and everywhere. Of course, the fact that I have found four of the twelve blotters in this series means that I have to look for another ten!
• Epinal Devinettes Page
  1982 Print of four Pellerin of Epinal Devinettes (Brain Teasers, or Hidden Object Puzzles). Gift of UneMadeleineDeProust through Etsy, Oct., '22. I had encountered one of these before; it is on this page: https://www.creighton.edu/aesop/artifacts/cards/hiddenpicturecards/. Other such brain teasers are in this collection at https://www.creighton.edu/aesop/artifacts/desktop/blotters/claveriepuzzleblotters/ and https://www.creighton.edu/aesop/artifacts/otherprintedmaterials/hiddenpicturesalbums/. Click on the illustration to see a larger version. You can again click on that larger version to see solutions and click again there on the identified portion for upright views of the hidden objects.
• Daniel et Lilli Prints
  1750? Three prints of La Fontaine fables CXCIV, CXCVII, and CCXXXVI, matted. Prints or separated pages? With margins about 4" x 7". Illustrations alone 3" x 4¾". €14, 18, and 19 from "Daniel et Lilli," Marche Dauphine, St.-Ouen, France, June, '19. There are two mysteries about these three well-worn images. First, are they prints, pages, or perhaps plates removed from pages? Secondly, who created them when? One clue is that they are not following La Fontaine's system of "books" but rather a numbering system that presents individual pieces up to #236 at least. I will keep an eye out for identical illustrations. Do not miss the serving girl pouring wine expertly into the shepherd's cup in CXCIV and the utter lack of interaction in CXCVII. Of these three, "The English Fox" (CCXXXVI; 12.23) gets my prize. The English fox was finally cornered by the dogs and hung himself up with other prey as though he were dead. The trick worked – once, but not twice.
• Coleth FC Print
  1930? Pochoir gouache of FC by Coleth. Matted. €20 from chez.Daniela through Ebay, Sept., '21. The stencil technique, gouache coloring, and art deco style come together wonderfully here for Coleth. "Maitre du Corbeau" is the tipoff here. The stylish young woman is the fox getting something out of the not-so-beautiful old gentleman. From what I could find on Coleth, this figure seems utterly typical of the artist's work. I find the illustration visually captivating
• Carter Hare and Tortoise
  1909 Black-and-white print of F.A. Carter's "The Hare and the Tortoise." Framed. 9" x 7". $4.99 from Joe Lockhart, Easton, ME, through eBay, Dec., '03. This scene had perhaps already become an old joke by the time this print appeared. The dashing horse-and-buggy glides by the stalled automobile. The frustrated driver of the latter has already removed his coat and is holding a dilapidated innertube in his hand, while the woman holds a pump ready for action. The outer tire lies on the road with some tools. Good fun!
• Bilby A6 Prints
  2022? Original prints from Bilby Boutique, Glasgow. A6. BW and "The Wolf and the Kid." €3.08 each from Bilby Boutique through Etsy, July, '22. I am delighted any time I see artists turn to fables for their subject matter. Here each print brings a good sense of whimsy to its dangerous scene: through the musical score and the kid's dance in one and through the wolf's ears floating in space behind the laughing boy in the other. The first print was presented on my Etsy -- which strangely wants to deal with me in German -- as "The Wolf and the Child." I suspect that "kid" was translated into German poorly (probably as "Kind", and then was translated back into English quite literally as "Child." Strange!
• “Place de la Fontaine” menu
  1975 “Place de la Fontaine” menu from the Château Frontenac in Québec. 6.5” x 12”. Two copies. This menu from the famous restaurant in the Hotel Château Frontenac in Québec features a cover cartoon illustration of “Le Renard et le Corbeau” with the caption “Never listen to flattery”. The back of the menu shows cartoons representing TH, GA, FG and FS. A caption reads, “Jean de La Fontaine wrote many fables, each with a definite moral. Do you remember the moral of each of the four fables illustrated on this page?” The morals are listed on the inside of the menu. Interestingly, the fable “The Tortoise and the Hare” is an Aesop fable, yet the menu credits it to Jean de La Fontaine. The menu is in both French and English. I presume that there is a play on words here. The "Place" would have been named originally as the site of a community fountain. Clever managers of the chateau have tied that name to the great author of fables and exploited it for the enjoyment of their patrons.
• Place de la Fontaine Quebec City Dinner Menu
  1955? Place de la Fontaine Quebec City Dinner Menu. 9½" x 14½". $7.71 from thejumpingfrog through Ebay, May, '08. Despite my best hopes, I believe that this menu has nothing to do with fables but only with a lovely fountain I Quebec City. But since I have it and can never be sure, I will include it here. A steak cost $21 Canadian at that time. I bet that the price has gone up since then.
• Bénédictine D.O.M.
  1910? Two colored menu forms for Hôtel du Maine, Angers. FS and WL. Printed by and for Bénédictine D.O.M., "Liqueur préferée des gourmets." $14 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonee Ricouart, France, Sept., '18. The detailed color work on these menu forms is outstanding! There is plenty of room on the page for "Goussé," the host at the Hôtel du Maine, to write the day's menu on the page. Both menus offer a short quotation from La Fontaine's text under the image, like the wolf's snarling retort "If it wasn't you, it was your brother!" Earlier I had found two menus without the extra local printing for the Hôtel du Maine in Angers. €8 each.
• Drake Wiltshire Fable Menu
  1938 Drake-Wiltshire Hotel Fable Menu. Friday, September 23, 1938. Jo Mora Fable Murals. $9.99 from Michael Kopperman, Toronto, Ontario, through eBay, July, '03. Unfold the menu and you find a nice panorama of two of the Drake-Wiltshire's fable murals. As with the fable postcards displayed elsewhere, the murals seem not to depend on any traditional fables for the match-ups among the animals. The filet mignon dinner cost $1.25!
• Restaurant Francais, Chicago
  1950? Menu: Restaurant Francais. 2442 North Clark Street, Chicago. "Fables de La Fontaine." 9" x 14". $4.99 through Ebay, May, '19. When was a complete dinner $9.95?! The offerings look delectable. The front cover features a drawing of FC, and the back cover offers La Fontaine's text of the fable. I could find no information online about when this institution went out of business. There is a seven-digit phone number, and those seem to have started in the 50's, while area codes seem to have been added in the 60's.
• Holland-America Line Menu
  1967 Holland-America Line Menu. Monday, July 17, 1967. S.S. Statendam. Detail of the Ceramic Frieze Picturing Scenes from the Fables of La Fontaine. Nico Nagler. Delft: De Porceleyne Fles. La Fontaine Dining Room of S.S. "Rotterdam." Printed by Jan Lavics, Holland. $9.25 from Tilly's Treasure Chest through Ebay, Jan., '16. This strongly pictured fable scene makes me wonder what other scenes might have been in the "La Fontaine Dining Room" of the Rotterdam. Some researching online revealed that the Rotterdam still exists as a hotel.
• Compagnie Générale Transatlantique
  1956 41 different menus illustrating eight different fables with La Fontaine's text printed for the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique French Line. For use on transatlantic voyages between December, 1956 and July 11, 1959 on ships "Liberté," "Flandre," and "Ile de France" and at a dinner and dance at the Elks Club January 19, 1957 sponsored by the Women's Auxiliary for the benefit of Saranac Lake General Hospital (in the Adirondacks in New York State). Images by Jean A. Mercier. The menus cost between $3.66 and $30 each. While I did not keep track carefully of where I found all 41, aligning the dates of the menus showed distinct groupings and helped me match some menus with sellers. Those curious can find the list of fables, dates, ships, and sellers here. These are not only menu jackets but menus themselves, with a fable text on the back cover and a fable image and title on the front cover. We used one of them – "The Coach and the Fly" – in the Joslyn exhibit because of its clever trompe-l'oeil use of a fly right on the menu itself. I find the images delightful. Lovely pastels work together effectively in these light-hearted pictures. To judge from the splashes on the "dinner and dance" menus, it must have been some party! The fables and numbers of copies are The Coach and the Fly (8); The Little Fish and the Angler (5); FC (4); MM (4); The Monkey and the Dolphin (6); The Ass and the Lapdog (3); The Wolf Become Shepherd (6); WL (5).
• Air France Menus
  1990? Set of eight menu jackets edited by Service Publicité d'Air France and used by Air France on dinner flights. Art by Willy Aractingi. Texts of La Fontaine as translated by Walter Thornbury. Gift of Nicole Dodier of Air France Publicité in answer to my request, Jan., '92. Extra copy first sent me by Terry Maguire from a Boston-Paris flight. Extras of MM, TMCM, and "The Pig, the Goat, and the Sheep" from teal1 through eBay, August, '02. Two more -- WL and LM -- found for €6 in Paris, June, '19. Three further menu jackets from Outremont, Canada. "The Heron" for $9.95 from Michael Burlew, Forked River, NJ, through Ebay, Dec., '07. TT for €10 from alexis13_123 through Ebay, Sept., '23. Each jacket includes a cover picture of the fable and a back-cover featuring, in two columns, the French and the English text (Thornbury's translation) of a La Fontaine fable. The art is oil on canvas done by Willy Aractingi. Sent by Nicole Dodier of Air France Publicité in answer to my request. An extra copy of the first menu jacket was brought to me by Terry Maguire; it contains a specific menu used on a Boston-Paris flight. My favorite among them is "The Frog and the Rat." The fables presented include: FC; FM; TMCM; 2P; MM; "The Cock and the Fox"; "The Pig, the Goat, and the Sheep"; TT; and "The Eagle and the Owl."
• Lithographs
  1818? 35 Lithographs by LeComte, Vernet, Engelmann and Mauraisse from about 1817 through 1820. Mostare 14½" x 10½". $80 from jordanb2011 through Ebay, Jan., '21. Engelmann seems to be the engraver for many of these. I have assigned him authorship for those not signed by LeComte or Vernet. These seem to be pages from a book in our collection, "Fables choisies De La Fontaine ornees de figures lithographiques" from 1818, published by Engelmann.
• Handbill with nine panels illustrating "The Fox and the Goat."
  1950? Handbill with nine panels illustrating "The Fox and the Goat." Extensive advertising on verso. Laboratoires Valda. Signed "Robichon." 7⅜" x 9⅜". $5 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne-Ricouart, France, Sept., '20. Valda seems to be offering liquid, paste, and tablets, especially for ailments of the throat. The texts accompanying the nine panels are literally La Fontaine's version, but without acknowledgement. I find such presumption surprising! I notice that La Fontaine's version is different from many in this respect: the two jump in together."En toute chose il faut considérer la fin." The illustrations are heavy on red, brown, orange, and green. The narrow left margin shows some sloppy handling by the printer.
• Two identical handbills featuring AD and “Les Deux Voyageurs.”
  1935 Two identical handbills featuring AD and “Les Deux Voyageurs.” Three colored panels with the two fable texts. “Le Printemps est l’ami des enfants.” No. 116bis. Liege: Éditions Gordinne. Printed by George Lang. About 10½” x 8”. $5 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne-Ricouart, France, Sept., '20. On the first two illustrations the colors do not quite match the lines. Is it unusual to have a fable from La Fontaine paired with one from Florian? I presume that the “Printemps” in question here is the department store. On the web, I find posters advertising their delivery service but I find no handbills.
• Handbill offering La Fontaine's "The Thieves and the Ass" in four panels
  1930? Handbill offering La Fontaine's "The Thieves and the Ass" in four panels. Gaze Unita. Printed by Delrieu in Paris. 5¼" x 7½". €10 from wickedthing through Ebay, Oct., '23. This is a lively presentation of La Fontaine's I 13 by "Unita Gauze" with its advertising for medicinal uses. The artist signs the last panel with something like "RJ." The size of a handbill like this makes me wonder how it would have been used and distributed.
• Colored handbill displaying DW with La Fontaine's text
  1930? Colored handbill displaying DW with La Fontaine's text. #9. Verso is an advertisement for Léon Tisserand dealer of shoes, Dijon. 5½" x 8". Printed by Imageries Réunies de Jarville-Nancy. €3.45 from croquette999 on Ebay, Sept., '23. This is a lovely rendering of the DW scene, nicely conceived and well colored. The pudgy guard-dog tells an alluring story to the starving wolf, who listens at leisure.
• Vermifuge Lune, Marie-Rose, Galet, Pastilles Liberia
  1930? Six handbills offering fable texts and illustrations with advertising on the verso. Three advertise Vermifuge Lune: WC (#13), “Oyster and Litigants” (#22) and MM (#24. $5 each from Mme Denise Debuigne, Rennes, France, May, '05. One, including an extra copy, presents FC (#12) and advertises Marie-Rose, a “Lotion Végétale Parfumée.” Two present GA (#10) and “The Worker and His Children” (#30) and advertise “La Lessive Galet” and “L’Eau de Javel à L’Ancre.” These three for $6 each from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne-Ricouart, France, Sept., 20. Printed by Imageries Réunies de Jarville-Nancy. Three (#5, 13, 15) printed for Pastilles Liberia for £20 each from amgarchive through Ebay, May, '22. I had not known that "worms" were such a fear for mothers in 1930. Lune seems to have had a long run, to judge from Pinterest exemplars of their two and three dimensional advertisements. WC may be the most engaging of the three Lune illustrations, with its monkey servants. It is this handbill asks for 5, not 6, francs per box of Lune. Dewormers, detergents, and nit-removers! Fables take us into a very concrete human world! See other Marie-Rose handbills here. Notice the contrasting color work on the two versions of #13, WC.