Creighton University

"300 pieces and a 14" x 22" Picture!" proclaims the cover, which is slit in one place and bowed, as the picture shows.  I have not yet tried the puzzle, whose picture on the cover is true to the Disney cartoon of GA.  The series contains TH as well as "The Ugly Duckling" and "Pinnochio."  Characters from other Disney favorites, like "Snow White," as well as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck grace the cover outside the picture of the puzzle.

This picture has the Tommy on a bicycle upending Moe with bowling pins flying before a large human crowd and a clown.  All the pieces are there!

Now this is surprising.  Recently I bought a picture puzzle, complete and boxed, of TH.  It is the item just above.  I soon realized that it was the same picture as a picture puzzle that I had found earlier, but missing two pieces and having no box.  It is indeed the same picture, but slightly different in size, with a different border, and -- most remarkable to me -- with differently cut pieces.  That is why I provide a small sample and a signature in addition to the overview of this puzzle.  

This is perhaps the sturdiest pair of puzzles in the collection.  Complete in the box.  Jourgin was doing movie posters in 1937.  The only other Jouets Veza product I can find is a set of puzzles displaying propeller drive airplanes and jets at Nice's airport.  Click on the box to see the two puzzles.

Here is a different approach to fable puzzles.  Each fable image has a frame with room inside for 23 hexagonal pieces, each numbered on its verso.  All except TMCM have a matching image that can help to solve the puzzle.  I am surprised by the good condition of these puzzles.  The pieces still fit!  FS has a surprising but consistent misalignment.  Other puzzles are FS, CP, and "The Monkey and the Cat."

These are spirited illustrations of fables. The animals about which Perrette dreams are sitting or standing along the path. Both grasshopper and ant are curious mixtures of human and animal. The tortoise is apparently crawling or flopping over the ribbon marking the finish line. The sturdy cardboard puzzles, about 6¾" x 9½", are in excellent condition, perhaps never taken apart. The box itself has suffered more wear. Included are same-sized images of the puzzles' scenes. Since there are four puzzles involved and their pictures are unusual, I have made a separate page for this set, to be found by clicking on the cover image.

Three strong and simple images.  The fox's mouth is visibly watering as he flatters the crow.  Both GA and the wolf in WL seem to me to have been "borrowed" from Felix Lorioux or perhaps another popular French artist.  The packaging of these nice puzzles is a little unusual: envelopes inside of a thin cardboard package.  The puzzles themselves seem untouched.  It was relatively easy to get them out of and back into their envelopes. Click on the package to see the puzzles.

This is a difficult puzzle!  Some of the difficult factors include the circular frame, the many images involved, and particularly the lightness of the pieces, which easily become dislodged after being correctly placed.  The attractiveness of fables for picture puzzles is one of the many surprises for this collector!  And this puzzle was a worthy challenge!

This puzzle fits together very tightly.  I learned how difficult it is to put a puzzle inside its frame onto a flatbed scanner!  There is also a puzzle of TMCM in the same series of six puzzles for ages 4 to 6.  Hmmmm.....

I needed to see how many pieces were missing, so I did the puzzle myself.  The artist seems to be "Aliki."  And now I wonder: Are there more fable puzzles in this series?  And now, one day later, I have found one of the two missing pieces!  Maybe I'll still find the other one!

This is about as elaborate a start of the TH race as I have seen!  What a huge cast of characters!  The trappings of the race along with the large congregation of animals make for a good puzzle.  It was not easy!  I had never thought of checkered pants for the hare.  The top hats of two of the birds are among the best touches.

In this artist's conception, the hare is just awakening under a tree as the tortoise -- with his old football helmet? -- is reaching the finish line.  There a mouse has a golden trophy cup to give him.

The cover of this puzzle asks "Can you find all your favorite fables?"  I can find twenty, cleverly worked into one picture.  I am unsure of several of the images, particularly the farmer with a pitcher and the animal tumbling into the well.  Cleverly done!  I can remember being frustrated that I bought this same puzzle twice within a short time, but I cannot yet establish when and from whom.

"With this book of six puzzles, learn to read while having fun."  This "livre-puzzle" offers three Aesopic fables related through pages six of which are picture puzzles.  Under the "puzzle" section of this catalogue, I offer pictures of the cover, featuring GA, and of one scene from "The Two Asses."  Other fables here are "The Weasel and the Chickens" and "The Dog and His Master."  It is curious that the fables pictured on the two covers, GA and TMCM, do not appear in the book. The book itself is sturdy and well made.  It is of course rare to see the French featuring Aesop for fables.  I list this book among both books and puzzles.

The two pots in the foreground echo the scene in the background: the poor man pays while the rich man rides off without paying.  A little research suggests that this printer did a series of La Fontaine puzzles in 2015, including at least TMCM.  Will I be able to find more of them?  

What a different sort of book!  What one notices first about this 12" x 11" book is its heaviness.  Take off the wrapper, and it is clear that we have five heavy-stock picture puzzle pages inside with about 56 pieces each.  The simple designs are pleasant and help make for easier rather than harder placement of the pieces.  I recognize the artistic approach from the seven other other Vestita books from White Star in the collection.  This is an impressive piece of book engineering!  I am not sure I have seen the likes of it before.  I will cross-reference it among puzzles under "Toys.