Creighton University Archives and Special Collections

Carlson Fable Collection

Item Set

Items

• Press Photo of Texas Mime Theatre Members in Production of "Aesop's Fables"
  1994 Press Photo of Texas Mime Theatre Members in Production of "Aesop's Fables," July 22, 194, at Heinen Theater. Houston Chronicle, July 22, 1994. Photo by Alvin Gee. $10 from Historic Images, Nov., '16. This show had already run two days, apparently. One cannot tell much about the fable presentation from these costumes!
• Photo Print Reproduction of Adriaan Van Stalbemt, "Landscape with Fables," 1620.
  2000? Photo Print Reproduction of Adriaan Van Stalbemt, "Landscape with Fables," 1620. Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp: oil on panel. Photo £2.50 from J. Williams, Essex, UK, through BidStart, Nov., '17. This detailed landscape invites a search for known fables. I can identify the eagle who has flown off with a lamb in the upper left and the frogs desiring a king in the right foreground. I am not sure what animal is biting into an object in the left foreground. I am surprised not to find more fables. Are there more hidden here?
• Photo Print Reproduction of Aesop's Fable of the Fox and Crow
  2000? Photo Print Reproduction of Aesop's Fable of the Fox and Crow. Wallpaper? £2.50 from J. Williams, Essex, UK, through BidStart, Nov., '17. This is a curious image of FC in the midst of a pleasing geometric design. The arrangement reminds me of walls in Pompeii. I wonder where this segment (?) might be.
• The Kenmore Mantelpiece
  Over a mantel in the dining room of Kenmore, the estate of George Washington's sister Betty and Fielding Lewis, is a chimney piece known as "The Aesop's Fable" mantelpiece or chimneypiece. A booklet, postcard, photos, and brochures, gifts of Margaret Carlson Lytton, Nov., '92 and April, '97, present the delightful plaster work, done by a stucco worker whose identity is one of the great questions of American design history. Further, professional photographer Dan Fitzpatrick has taken some high-density photographs to help in investigating the visual history of the overmantel's motifs. Legend says that it was George Washington himself who ordered the subject of Aesop's fables for the chimney piece and even that it was he who insisted on the inclusion of FC as a reminder to his young nieces and nephews to beware of flattery. In fact, FC is the clearest fable at the center of the piece.
• La Tapisserie de Bayeux
  1980? La Tapisserie de Bayeux. Edition Ville de Bayeux. Originally 50 F in France. Bought for $10 at Paul Rohe and Son, Chicago, Dec., '92. A complete reproduction of the Bayeux Tapestry in one-seventh of its original size. The original is 70 meters long and 50 centimeters high. I was delighted to find it still available three months after I had first seen it in this shop. The owner had at first insisted that I also buy The Bayeux Tapestry (which I already had for $29.95) for a combined price of $85. The chief value of this reproduction is that it is continuous--by my calculations some 28 feet long. Use this excellent reproduction with The Bayeux Tapestry (1985) and Les fables antiques de la broderie de Bayeux (1964).
• Tissage Imagé
  1900? Tissage Imagé. Six completed woven paper images and two not yet completed. About 7" square. CFC 2020.0148.1.1. F.N. Paris. Unknown source. About six months ago, I catalogued an extraordinary and delicate single piece presenting TH found by Bertrand Cocq, a woven paper picture puzzle formed by weaving twelve strips of paper through a perforated sheet to create a picture. Now six months later, I discover that I had a set of eight of them that I had purchased sometime earlier – who knows where and for how much? – beautifully boxed and called “Tissage Imagé.” I have left the overhanging paper strips on FG so that you can sense how these puzzles work. I also present both the the lovely original box and a sample of what the two portions of "The Horse and the Ass" look like before the second is cut into strips. Seven of the eight fables are from La Fontaine. “The Blind Man and the Lame,” known as a story in antiquity, is best known to the French from Florian’s presentation. I will be so hoping that I can locate the record of when and where I got this set!
• The Little Fish and the Angler Paper Puzzle
  1900? Paper puzzle woven from strips of paper. “The Little Fish and the Angler. F.N. Paris. $30 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne Ricouart, France, Sept., '20. This individual tissage is particularly well done, and it comes to the collection thoroughly intact.
• Tortoise and Hare Paper Puzzle
  1900? Paper puzzle woven from strips of paper. TH. "(I?)RIS." $30 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne Ricouart, France, Sept., '18. Here is another lovely surprise! I do not think I have before encountered this kind of picture, constructed of a frame and then perhaps 6 horizontal and 6 vertical strips, carefully calibrated to fit together and cover each other to create an exact full-color image of TH. The scene, I presume, has the two near the end of the race as the hare tries to make up for lost ground. I have learned in my minimal handling of this highly delicate object that horizontal strips can easily "droop" a bit and open up white spaces. It is a delicate but rewarding task to bring them back up to their proper position! I can guess that it took significant time and care to weave this picture so well! I wish I knew more about its producer and circumstances!
• Paper Pad
  2022? Paper pad 8" x 8". Twelve double-sided papers, many featuring Aesop's fables. Italy: Ciao Bella Paper. Card stock. $10.95 from ASC Supplies through Etsy, July, '22. One extra set. Here is again something new to me: I am not sue what one is to do with these sheets, bout they are beautifully produced! Cards present the six scenes pictured below, as well as FC. There is also FC and a page of fable characters. Versos and one card feature old, slightly deteriorated wallpaper.
• Velazquez' portrait of Aesop
  Velazquez' portrait of Aesop (large format) from the Prado. From the Milwaukee Antique Center, Jan., '88. Who would ever think that someone would make a poster of Aesop!
• Sogang University Notebook
  1988 Sogang University notebook with two phrases on its cover. "Slow and steady wins the race" stands just after "Life is half spent before we know what it is." Gift of Margaret Carlson Lytton, Spring, '88. One might well ask if these two morals fit together.
• Verminck Graph-Paper Notebooks
  1935? Four graph-ruled 16-page notebooks offered by "Etablissements Verminck," a major producer of products from peanuts, some edible and some not, like soap, as the advertisements suggest. Orange and black, including on each cover an image and quotation from a La Fontaine fable. Artist: Paul Igert. $5 each from Mme Denise Debuigne, Rennes, France, Feb., '05. The notebook with the WC cover is filled with computations and titled as notebook for vacation duties at the beginning of the "2eme." To my surprise, it is dated 1969! I would have presumed that these booklets were printed in the 1930's. Paul Igert signs all but the "Bear and the Gardener." He seems to have been born in 1899. In the 1890's, the Verminck family may have been the most powerful influence in Marseilles, the port through which the raw materials for their industry came.
• Musical Score for TMCM
  1920? Musical Score for TMCM. Set against an illustration. Unknown source for $10, 2017. This seems to be a copy of the page from "Chansons de France pour les Petits Francais" pasted onto a blank white background. I am a little surprised that one can tell the whole tale in such a short song! Could this illustration be by Boutet de Monvel?
• Fable Friends Magic Pad
  1976 Fable Friends Magic Pad. "Just scribble over the pages with a pencil. Like magic -- pictures will appear." ©1962 and 1976. Printed in Canada. Alex Wilson Publications, Ltd. Dryden, Ontario, Canada. $3.82 from A.J. Gaudette, Fall River, MA, through Ebay, Feb., '00. I thought I had seen it all! I do not remember pads like this from my youth. One scribbles over the surface of this special paper with a pencil or marker, and an image appears. I tried it, and got a rocking horse! Perhaps you will ask with me what "Fable Friends" means at the top of the pad. I have not the slightest idea!
• "Parade des Vitrines" by Amélie Anderson
  1949 Two-page article (from Illustration Magazine?) "Parade des Vitrines" by Amélie Anderson. Pages 662-663. 1949. €5.99 from saintemariefrance through Ebay, July, '20. Apparently the stores and shops in the Faubourg St. Honore and its adjacent streets at this point in history put on grand shows of coordinated windrow dressing. In June, 1949 that effort focused on the fables of La Fontaine. The pre-title of this article is "La Grande Saison de Paris." This is one of the few objects in the collection that has been harmed since it came to us. There is water damage that hurts the images, but -- happily -- not the text. I have sought for a replacement, but so far in vain. Apparently the shops focused on culture at the time of La Fontaine, including furniture, books. Each window focused on one fable of La Fontaine that had something to do with the objects offered by that vendor. A corset-maker focused on OR! "Bend, do not break!" A specialist in tricots took Perrette from MM. A frame-maker chose "The Lion and Artist" and "A Man and His Image." Photos from the actual windows contribute well to this article. Where is another copy?
• "Le Meunier, son Fils et l'Ane, d'apres M. Lejeune."
  1879 "Le Meunier, son Fils et l'Ane, d'apres M. Lejeune." L'Illustration Europeenne, November 1, 1879. 9th year, Number 52. Front cover. 10¼" x 14". €10 at Clignancourt, July, '19. This rendition of MSA seems very familiar. A group of women criticize the adult miller for making his son walk beside his mount. The son is here propped up with a stick. The following page quotes a 16th century version of the fable, concluding with "Ne nous en chaille, mais faisons toujours ce qui'il est bon de faire." The article then asks "Ne trouvez-vous pas cette conclusion superior a celle de La Fontaine?" La Fontaine's miller decides to please himself.
• "Le Satyre et le Passant."
  1863 "Le Satyre et le Passant." (Jean) Pastelot. L'Illustrateur des Dames: Journal des Soirees de Famille." 3rd year, No. 43. October 25, 1863. Front cover. 10¼" x 14". €10 at Clignancourt, July, '19. This rendition of the fable is more active than some others. The satyr is actively dispelling the visitor or, perhaps more accurately, warding him off from his children and wife. The attractive woman balances the male satyr nicely. I cannot tell whether we are in a cave or a woods: perhaps that is the point!
• Ten French Lottery Tickets
  1970 Ten French lottery tickets. "Les Gueules Cassées" ("broken mouths," i.e., wounded WWI veterans). Each with a different tax stamp illustrating a fable of La Fontaine. $5 each from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne Ricouart, France, Sept., '20. What a fascinating curiosity to add to the collection! Who would have known that the lottery used fables fifty years ago. Good find, Bertrand! Search for "French Lottery Tickets" brings up lots and lots of hits, but none about fables. As with postage stamps, the printing is admirable!
• "The Crab and His Mother" Linocut Print
  2015? Signed, numbered linocut block print of Aesop's Fable "The Crab and His Mother" in black and white by Jillian E. Jenkins of jumpjackstudio, Baltimore, MD, on Etsy. "Live by Example." #2 of 10. 8" x 10". $48.16, July, '20. This is a bold, strong, delightful presentation. It gives the mother a hat secured under her chin by a bow, along with an umbrella in her claw. She dwarfs her little child as the two look straight at each other. The going straight is the issue here! "Live by example" indeed! The artist writes "I love making art that helps other people to see the world a little differently." That happens well here!
• Six advertising leaflets for Le Sirop de Gaïarsol
  1930? Six advertising leaflets for Le Sirop de Gaïarsol by Laboratoires Bouty in Paris. Benjamin Rabier colored illustration on the left and the same image as a line drawing on the right. Série D. "Une Fable de la fontaine -- Laquelle?" €4.50 each from mathilde9662 through Ebay, Oct.,'21. These leaflets are a curious reiteration of the series "Le Sirop de Gaïarsol" among non-stock series of trade cards. On those portrait-formatted cards a small colored version gave the color clues for coloring the larger line drawings. Here in leaflets the colored version is the same size as the version to be colored. The illustrations in this series are identical with those in that series.
• Hidden Pictures Series 2
  1987 Hidden Pictures Series 2. Highlights for Children, Columbus. A reusable screen-folder encloses sixteen two-sided pictures, with hidden images contained in them. Among the pictures are "The Fisherman and His Fish," FC, MM, and "The Big Race" (with other contestants besides the tortoise and the hare). These pen-and-ink drawings are by various artists.
• Six pages of Florian “devinettes"
  1930? Six pages of Florian “devinettes,” sets of four hidden picture fable illustrations. $6 each from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne-Ricouart, France, Sept., ’20. These pages have the look of pages taken from a magazine, though they do not have page numbers. The verso of each presents a cartoon strip of a children’s story. Two of them are “Les Aventures de Nanette.” Bertrand sent along a sample solution, pictured just below. I find some of the pictures hard to solve!
• Lion and Mouse Hangable Picture
  2015? A heavy cardboard hangable print of a painting of LM "On a souvent besoin d'un plus petit que soi." Scarabéan. $12 from Marie Gervais, St.-Urbain-Premier, Quebec, Canada, through eBay, August, '18. I apologize for the choice of category for this unusual object. The painting is dramatic, as a mouse reaches toward the lion trapped in a net suspended from the branch of a tree. On the back of this stiff cardboard a little over 8½" square, there is a flap for mounting the piece on a nail. The paper presenting the printed picture is carefully pasted over very stiff cardboard. I have been able to find nothing on or from Scarabéan.
• Gift Certificates
  1982? "Mr. Fables Family Restaurants" gift certificates. Grand Rapids, MI. $16 from anythingeverythingandmo through Ebay, Oct., '22. There are five packets here. Two each contain three $W1 gift certificates. Three contain ten $1 gift certificates. The back of each booklet lists the eleven locations of Mr. Fables Family Restaurants. See also our Mr Fables travel mug.
• Christmas Tree Garlands
  1950? Russian Christmas Tree Garland of ten double-sided colored paper pictures of fairy tales and fables. Produced by Consumer goods of the production associat4ion" Polygraphist," Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg), Russia. $30 from Svetlykms, Belarus, through Ebay, Dec., '22. Now here is an ephemeral rarity! I recognize four of these twenty images as at least potentially illustrating fables. Two fit well with Krylov's "Quartet." One is unmistakably FC. There could be many stories for the fox carrying away the rooster. It may be the old "Chanticleer" story that we know best from Chaucer. This is certainly a competitor for the "most unusual" object in the collection. I for one have never experienced a Christmas garland. I think I heard of popcorn strung up on a Christmas tree. Even the package has survived!