Aesop's Fables  >  Aesop's Artifacts >...> 1995 French LaF  >  Documentation Folder

Documentation Folder

1995 One four-page documentation folder on the series of La Fontaine stamps issued in 1995. "Collection Historique du Timbre-Poste Français." €9.99 from Philatelicpassion, Paris, through eBay, Oct., '06.

This is a large (8¼" x 11¾") folder done in full color on its front and back. The front makes La Fontaine's scarf into a stage curtain over the two characters of TMCM. Surrounding his portrait are animals from the most famous fables, rendered in the distinctive style that R. and C. Sabatier bring to the stamps. Underneath one finds his own description of what he presents: "Une ample Comédie aux cent actes divers et dont la Scène est l'Univers…." Above LaFontaine's head is another fine description of his work from the dedication to the Dauphin: "Everything speaks in my work, even the fish. What they say addresses all of us, whoever we are. I use animals to instruct people." The back cover presents a lovely view of Château-Thierry from under a tree that happens to have a cheese falling from its branches! This page also features the embossed stamp "Controle Imprimérie Timbres-Poste." The interior has a pasted-in set of the stamps, a life of La Fontaine, and a few lines of the appropriate fable for each of the six stamps. I am surprised that there is not something about the artists.