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Blédine

1930? Six large (5½" x 8⅜") colored advertisements for Blédine nutriments offering an illustration and a text for a fable of La Fontaine. $48 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne Ricouart, France, Sept., '18. Twelve further advertisements for €21.25 through Ebay from Eric Leneuf, Talant, France, July, ’21, including “The Fish and the Shepherd Playing the Flute”; “The Crow Wanting to Imitate the Eagle”; “The Woodcutter and Mercury”; “The Robbers and the Ass”; “The Cook and the Swan”; and “The Lion Subdued by the Man.”  Four extras for €11.77 from bill2100 through Ebay, March, ’21.  Six extras for €12.41 from chromosetcollections through Ebay, Jan., ’21.  Three more extras for €8.75 from maconlection through Ebay, Oct., '22.

Blédine seems to have offered the right food for infants after mother's milk, perhaps something like cream of wheat. They also produced Blécao. These are very nicely colored illustrations. As so often, the French seem to want children to act out their fables, even if they lose some of their meaning in the process. I wonder, for example, if the TB fable does not lose its significance when the "bear" surprising the travelers is a costumed child. The text on some of these pages overflows onto the verso among the advertising. These are not really "cards," either in size or paper stock, but they are closer to trade cards than they are to most advertisements.

TB (+2)

MM (+2)

Oyster & Litigants (+2)

Astrologer & Well (+3)

Wolf Turned Shepherd (+2)

Man Running after Luck (+ 1)

Crow Imitating Eagle (+2)

Fish and Flautist Shepherd (+1)

Lion Subdued by a Man (+1)

Robbers and Ass

Swan and Cook

Woodman and Mercury

Typical Verso