1950 to 1954

1950

1950 A Book of Children's Literature. Selected and edited by Lillian Hollowell. Third edition. NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. See 1939/50/66.

1950 Achtzig Fabeln. Federzeichnungen von George Walter Roessner. Paperbound. Cologne: Blaue Bändchen #161: Hermann Schaffstein Verlag. DM 20 from Kunstantiquariat Joachim Lührs, Fleetinsel, Hamburg, May, '94.

This booklet seems to me typical of and instructive for post-war Western Germany. "Genehmigt für den Gebrauch in Schulen durch Control Commission for Germany" stands on the verso of the title-page here. This 72-page booklet has plain brown paper wraps featuring a proud tuxedoed frog on the cover. It is not easy to get eighty fables into seventy-two small pages! The ending T of C gives a good historical overview of the German fable, starting from Steinhöwel and concluding with Kleukens. A random sampling of the subjects treated does not bring up any surprises in most of the fables. The most recent are the most novel in subject, concluding with the booklet's last fable, "Der Gummiball." The rubber ball wanted to get away and to get higher than he had yet gone. He got away over the hedge. He rolled into the ditch next to the road, and is lying there still. The printing is sometimes uneven here. The print used for both the T of C and the recognition of sources is very small! This book once belonged to Volkschule BÖBS.

1950 Aesop's Fables. Retold, Illustrated with Woodcuts, and Printed by Elfriede Abbe. Woodcuts printed directly from the original blocks. Text printed from hand-set type. #311 of 500 copies, signed. Ithaca, NY. $131.50 from Greg Williams, Dec., '95.

The woodcuts are strong, even if the art is not in the style that I would favor. 122 fables. There are 43 illustrations of varying size and configuration, including some that spread across the center page-division (2-3) and others that are split above and below text (18 and 24). The best illustrations are GGE (6), "The Old Woman and the Wine-Jug" (7), "The Geese and the Cranes" (11), FM (15), and "The Kid and the Wolf" (38). There is a nice statement "No More of Aesop's Fables" after the last fable on 70. The printer seems to have had troubles getting the numbers aligned in the T of C (71). I first saw this book in the library of Holy Names College twenty years earlier. I am delighted at last to have found a copy!

1950 Aesop's Fables. Preface (and translation?) by Gordon Home. With Eight Page Illustrations in Colour by Charles Folkard. Hardbound. London: Adam & Charles Black. See 1912/50.

1950 Aisopeia.  Bruno H. Vandenberghe, O.P.  Illustrations from the Ulm Aesop.  Paperbound.  Printed in Brussels.  Brussels: Uitgeverij Electa.  $11.49 from Librairie Rita De Maere, Namur, Belgium, through ABE, June, '03.  

The bulk of this book is a set of 150 Aesopic fables done into Dutch verse.  The fables are divided into these subsets: stories from mythology, animals (alone or with people), humans (alone or with gods), nature, and anecdotes.  I am surprised that they do not seem tied to the Greek or Latin editions or their numbering systems.  The fables are adorned by sixteen small Steinhoewel illustrations; Steinhoewel's figure of Aesop is on the cover.  The illustrations are well reproduced.  Before the fables there is an 88-page introduction covering, e.g., the definition, types, and history of fables.  After the fables, there are a bibliography, a T of C, a list of illustrations, and an AI.  I am surprised that I had not known of this book earlier.

1950 Better Homes and Gardens Story Book. Favorite stories and poems from children's literature, with illustrations from famous editions. Selected by Betty O'Connor. Dust jacket. Des Moines: Meredith Publishing Co. $4 at Biermaier's, July, '94. Extra copy for $3, Summer, '89.

LM, GA, and BC, with illustrations for the first two and text for all three from the The Aesop for Children (Rand McNally, 1919). Otherwise a lovely book in good condition. There are selections from Lear, Milne, Stevenson, Caldecott, Rossetti, Kipling, Potter, et al.

1950 Bouyant Billions, Farfetched Fables, & Shakes Versus Shav. By Bernard Shaw. Hardbound. London: Constable and Company. $23.35 from The Internet Bookshop UK Limited, Nov., '02. 

"Farfetched Fables" forms the center of three works brought together here. It was first published in 1948. It begins with a long political and ideological preface (63-99). Six fables follow. The first is a discussion of nuclear war. A young woman gives an aggressive and entrepreneurial young man an idea in the midst of discussion and then deserts him because he wants to profit from it, even though it may destroy the human race. The second fable features political and military British leaders talking about poison gas and their respective mistakes in dealing with it. In the third, futuristic categorizers of people encounter a "nincompoop who thinks he's a genius and a genius who thinks that he is a nincompoop" (43). A scientist in the fourth dictates a chapter on living on air and water. The fifth is a futuristic discussion on how to generate the perfect human being, including how to release him from the body. The last is an advanced class discussion on what causes a new thought. Might a new thought be a visitation from dead spirits?

1950 Bravo Tortue. Images de Romain Simon. récit de R. Simon et P. François. (c)1950 Ernest Flammarion. Albums du Père Castor. France: Flammarion. $7.95 at Cliff's Books in Pasadena, Feb., '97.

The delightful story of Pousette and Vif.. Much is added: the names, a provocation, character descriptions, fans on both sides, a description of the night before, the goal, and some activities along the way. For a direct copy, see The Hare and the tortoise by Golden Press in 1950/66. Cliff's main claim to fame seems to be that it is open until midnight.

1950 Children's Stories. Selected by the Child Study Association of America. Illustrated by Theresa Kalab. Racine: Whitman. $8 at Claudette's in Brookdale Lodge, CA, Aug., '89.

A vintage 50's big book on cheap paper. The selections are generally good. Three fables: SW, LM, and "Androclus and the Lion."

1950 Dix Fables de la Fontaine. #2643. Paperbound. Printed in Switzerland. Doxa. $30 from Peter Bichsel, Zurich, April, '09.

An anniversary memento from a Swiss firm that makes watches. The outside and inside cover proclaim "1889-1949." The approach to the ten fables is whimsical. The illustrations are all light hearted and brightly colored. My prizes go to WL (11) and Le Héron (25). The tortoise carries an enshrined hourglass on his multi-colored back (23). The moral to each fable says something about Doxa. Thus for TH it is "Rien ne sert de courir, il faut partir á temps--et pour partir á temps, avoir une Doxa"! There is an appendix, titled "Als Schlussfolgerung," in German. It gives a three-page history of the Doxa firm and climaxes in the claim "Pünktlichkeit ist Edelheit" (Punctuality is nobility). Stiff paper wraps, folded over to form a pocket in the back cover. I had wondered about that pocket earlier. Now I have been lucky enough to find a copy that puts six "Creations Doxa" advertisements into that folded pocket.

1950 Dix Fables de la Fontaine. #3463. Paperbound. Printed in Switzerland. Doxa. €20 from Antiquariat Richart Kulbach, Heidelberg, August, '07.

Here is a second copy of a lovely booklet. This one is numbered #3463. Let me repeat comments from the original copy. This booklet is an anniversary memento from a Swiss firm that makes watches. The outside and inside cover proclaim "1889-1949." The approach to the ten fables is whimsical. The illustrations are all light hearted and brightly colored. My prizes go to WL (11) and Le Héron (25). The tortoise carries an enshrined hourglass on his multi-colored back (23). The moral to each fable says something about Doxa. Thus for TH it is "Rien ne sert de courir, il faut partir á temps--et pour partir á temps, avoir une Doxa"! There is an appendix, titled "Als Schlussfolgerung," in German. It gives a three-page history of the Doxa firm and climaxes in the claim "Pünktlichkeit ist Edelheit" (Punctuality is nobility). Stiff paper wraps, folded over to form a pocket in the back cover. I had wondered about that pocket earlier. Now I have been lucky enough to find a copy that puts six "Creations Doxa" advertisements into that folded pocket. I will keep those advertisements in the first copy with the Doxa number 2643. 

1950 Dix Fables de la Fontaine. #14508. Paperbound. Printed in Switzerland. Doxa. $27 from Alibris, Nov., '00.

Here is a third copy of a lovely booklet. This one is numbered #14508. Let me repeat comments from the original copy with the Doxa number 2643. This booklet is an anniversary memento from a Swiss firm that makes watches. The outside and inside cover proclaim "1889-1949." The approach to the ten fables is whimsical. The illustrations are all light hearted and brightly colored. My prizes go to WL (11) and Le Héron (25). The tortoise carries an enshrined hourglass on his multi-colored back (23). The moral to each fable says something about Doxa. Thus for TH it is "Rien ne sert de courir, il faut partir á temps--et pour partir á temps, avoir une Doxa"! There is an appendix, titled "Als Schlussfolgerung," in German. It gives a three-page history of the Doxa firm and climaxes in the claim "Pünktlichkeit ist Edelheit" (Punctuality is nobility). Stiff paper wraps, folded over to form a pocket in the back cover. I had wondered about that pocket earlier. Now I have been lucky enough to find a copy that puts six "Creations Doxa" advertisements into that folded pocket. I will keep those advertisements in the first copy with the Doxa number 2643.

1950 Dreissig Tierfabeln.  Ausgewählt fur Schule und Haus von Viktor Fadrus.  Bilder von Erich Dichtl.  Paperbound.  Vienna: Osterreichischer Bundesverlag: Verlag für Jugend und Volk.  €20 from Bücher Ernst, Vienna, July, '19.

This fascinating little school pamphlet reproduces a more substantial book of 1931.  The board cover becomes paper, lightens its green color, reverses the insect image, and expands the old cover title "Tierfabeln" to the correct interior title, "Dreissig Tierfabeln."  The inside updates to 1950, changes the old Gothic script to Roman, and adds an Austrian publisher, but otherwise keeps the book intact.  As I wrote there, the book offers thirty fables chosen from Aesop, Phaedrus, and a wide collection of German authors.  Authors are listed in the closing numbered T of C but not with the fable texts themselves.  The texts include both verse and prose.  The black-and-white illustrations are large, varied in size, and simple.  My award for a great short fable goes to Lessing's "Der Affe und der Fuchs" (8).  The monkey boasts, "Name me an animal whom I cannot imitate!"  The fox answers "And name me an animal so insignificant that it would occur to him to imitate you!"  On the next page Gellert's proud coachhorse raises his legs and asks the plowhorse when he can prompt such great respect.  The plowhorse answers "Quiet.  If I my industriousness did not plow the field, you wouldn't have the nourishment that makes your legs so proud."

1950 Fables de La Fontaine: Le Renard et la Cigogne: Animees!  Jean de La Fontaine.  Mixi-Berel.  Hardbound.  Paris: Éditions Varenne.  €14 from biytheartpt through Ebay, July, ’21.  

This is a precious book seventy years later.  Its two mechanical illustrations inside the two covers still function.  The first has the stork lifting the top of a pot on the stove while the hungry fox moves several body parts.  The second has the weasel confronting the rabbit who wants his home back; both move their heads and a paw.  In between is LM.  It is rare to see a mechanical book like this preserved!

1950 Fables de la Fontaine.  Illustrations de Guy Sabran.  Hardbound.  Paris: Éditions G. P.  $12.50 from a Boston flea market, July, '16.

I had found this book earlier on eBay in a poorer copy.  Here is a cleaner copy.  I wrote back then that I have two later booklets depicting La Fontaine's fables by Sabran, both in "La Bibliothèque Rouge et Bleue" from this same publisher.  I like Sabran's work!  Here there is some overlap in the twelve fables illustrated in his work of the same title from 1960.  The booklets are of the same size: 10½" x 7¾".  This booklet has 28 pages, as against the 36 there.  This booklet offers one to four lively, colorful, expressive illustrations for each of its twelve fables: GA, "Le Héron," TH, BF, "Le Coche et la Mouche," "Le Lion et le Moucheron," FG, WL, FS, FC, LM, and GGE.  Some illustrations are duochrome and some polychrome.  Among my favorites here are the title-page illustration of GA; the heron as fisherman (5, also on the cover); the trumpeting mosquito (16); and the greedy collector of golden eggs (28).  Keeping vigilant on eBay and getting to flea markets both pay off!

1950 Fables de la Fontaine.  Notes et Commentaires de Fortunat Strowski.  Illustrations de Jacques Ferrand.  Hardbound.  Tours: Mame.  $11.95 from Powell's, Portland, July, '13.

I have known and admired the work of Jacques Ferrand from three copies with different covers which I have of an oversized book of select fables of La Fontaine done in this very same year by the same publisher.  This book is different.  It is a small format book with the complete fables of La Fontaine and one faint black-and-white sketch per book.  These sketches seem in no case to be the same as the black-and-white sketches in those larger books.  Among the best of these sketches here may be "Le Singe et le Dauphin" at the beginning of Book IV and "Le Singe et le Chat" at the beginning of IX.  There are no colored illustrations here.  Ferrand is not mentioned in Hobbs.

1950 Fables de La Fontaine.  Paperbound.  Paris: Éditions Bias.  €5 from a Buchinist, Paris, August, '14.  

This sixteen-page oversize pamphlet has internally exactly the same elements that one finds in a Bias pamphlet of the same title from 1952.  Here the cover is not of a horse laden with the ass's burden and the ass's skin but rather of FC.  The order of the fables and illustrations has changed.  While the number "361" still appears, the back cover here has "Imp. H. Fournier - Paris"  whereas that copy In 1952 will have "Imp. Delattre - Paris."  Each of eight fables has a full-page colored illustration.  Text and illustration are matched by being on opposite sides of the same page.  We thus start with a picture, then read two verse texts, then see two pictures, and so on.  The eight fables are now in this order: GA, "Les Oreilles du Lievre," "Le Renard et le Bouc," "Le Loup devenu Berger," "Le Cochon, la Chevre et le Mouton," FS, "Le Cheval et l'Ane," and OF.  I remember the expressive illustration of "Le Cheval et l'Ane" distinctly but do not know where I saw it.  OF is also a very good illustration; the frog seems off-balance with its increased size.  Even the illustration of the crying pig is well done, particularly for a cheap and simple children's edition.  My sense is that there were many such simple editions of La Fontaine around in France in the post-war years.  Check under Gordinne and especially Liege to find more of them.

1950 Fables de La Fontaine, Tome I. Illustrées d'Eaux-Fortes originales de Gaston Barret. #1576 of 2200. Paperbound. Paris: Aux Éditions Arc-en-Ciel. €42.50 from Librairie S. Thomas, Paris, July, '12.

Printed on Vélin de Chiffon des Vosges. The pages are collected in a portfolio. As Metzner comments in Bodemann, the animals are humanized in clothing and posture. Humans are "puppenähnlich." In the frontispiece of OF, the proud about-to-explode female frog is pregnant. That is what she is so proud of! Metzner says that the illustrations are hand-colored. If so, the coloring agents generally add only one or two colors, often green and brown. Metzner counts twenty-two illustrations in all in the two volumes. Further illustrations here include OR (12); BC (15) with a tight-rope walker; FC (42), where the fox wears an eye-patch; LM (83), which uses more red with its yellows; FS (94), which wins my prize; "The Wolf and the Fox in Court Before the Monkey" (127) with a pin-striped wolf that is extraordinary; TMCM (138), which features a country-rat with an eye-piece who manages to steal a chicken as he flees; MSA (171), with the miller riding in front of three beautiful young women; "Death and the Woodman" (182), which has the woodman lying on his wood on the ground; WL (217), another favorite, which has the wolf perched on a branch coming out of the water as he prepares to beat the lamb with a long stick; and "The Cat, the Weasel and the Little Rabbit" (224), which puts the scene in the cat's bedroom. FS has a supercilious female stork looking down on the sheepish fox as he leaves the table with its tall vase. The "Justification" is at the beginning of this volume, giving the number of this copy along with the details concerning the levels of the edition of 2200 copies.

1950 Fables de La Fontaine, Tome I.  Illustrées d'Eaux-Fortes originales de Gaston Barret.  #1345 of 2200.  Portfolio.  Paris: Aux Éditions Arc-en-Ciel.  €22.50 from Peter Everaers, Hulst, Netherlands, Dec., '21.

In 2012 I found the whole five volume work by Barret, including three volumes of Contes, at Librairie S. Thomas in Paris.  I am delighted now to add second copies of the two volumes of fables.  This copy is #1345 of 2200, whereas that is #1576.  A fascinating project someday would be to compare the coloring of our two copies, since Metzner says that the illustrations are hand-colored.  I can add at this point in 2200 that two of Barret's illustrations were stars in the collection's exhibit at the Joslyn Museum, including the frontispiece of OF mentioned below.  As I wrote of the first copy, these volumes are printed on Vélin de Chiffon des Vosges.  The pages are collected in a portfolio.  As Metzner comments in Bodemann, the animals are humanized in clothing and posture.  Humans are "puppenähnlich."  In the frontispiece of OF, the proud about-to-explode female frog is pregnant.  That is what she is so proud of!  Metzner counts twenty-two illustrations in all in the two volumes.  Further illustrations here include OR (12); BC (15) with a tight-rope walker; FC (42), where the fox wears an eye-patch; LM (83), which uses more red with its yellows; FS (94), which wins my prize; "The Wolf and the Fox in Court Before the Monkey" (127) with a pin-striped wolf that is extraordinary; TMCM (138), which features a country-rat with an eye-piece who manages to steal a chicken as he flees; MSA (171), with the miller riding in front of three beautiful young women; "Death and the Woodman" (182), which has the woodman lying on his wood on the ground; WL (217), another favorite, which has the wolf perched on a branch coming out of the water as he prepares to beat the lamb with a long stick; and "The Cat, the Weasel and the Little Rabbit" (224), which puts the scene in the cat's bedroom.  FS has a supercilious female stork looking down on the sheepish fox as he leaves the table with its tall vase.  The "Justification" is at the beginning of this volume, giving the number of this copy along with the details concerning the levels of the edition of 2200 copies.

1950 Fables de La Fontaine.  Illustrées d'Eaux-Fortes originales de Gaston Barret.  Paperbound.  Paris: Aux Éditions Arc-en-Ciel.  $30 from Commonwealth Books, Boston, June, '16.

Four years ago I found a five volume work of the fables and stories of La Fontaine with excellent illustrations by Gaston Barret.  It is a limited edition of some 2200 numbered copies.  Fables make up the first two volumes of the five.  Now I have found a single volume that curiously repeats the first volume there with specific changes.  The pages are again collected in a portfolio.  Here are the changes I have noted.  There is no indication of other volumes in the series.  What happened, one wonders, to the other half of La Fontaine's fables?  The texts are given and paginated exactly as in the first volume of fables.  This is not a numbered copy, and there is no indication that it is a limited edition.  The eight pictures here are identical with eight of the twelve there, but they are not necessarily placed with their stories, as they were there.  The eight here are OF (frontispiece); OR (12); FC (110, though the text is on 42); FS (103, though the text is on 94); MSA (171); TMCM (183, though the text is on 138); WL (217); and "The Cat, the Weasel and the Little Rabbit" (224).  As Metzner comments of the fuller work in Bodemann, the animals are humanized in clothing and posture.  Humans are "puppenähnlich."  In the frontispiece of OF, the proud about-to-explode female frog is pregnant.  That is what she is so proud of!  Metzner says that the illustrations are hand-colored.  If so, the coloring agents generally add only one or two colors, often green and brown.  In FC the fox wears an eye-patch.  FS wins my prize.  A supercilious female stork looks down on the sheepish fox as he leaves the table with its tall vase.  TMCM features a country-rat with an eye-piece who manages to steal a chicken as he flees.  MSA has the miller riding in front of three beautiful young women.  WL has the wolf perched on a branch coming out of the water as he prepares to beat the lamb with a long stick.  "The Cat, the Weasel and the Little Rabbit" puts the scene in the cat's bedroom.

1950 Fables de La Fontaine en Images Lumineuses. Par Pierre Belvès. Paperbound. Paris: Albums du Père Castor: Flammarion, Éditeur. AUD 53.10 from Mark Russell, Cooma, Australia, through eBay, Sept., '09.

I have a partial copy of a predecessor of this work in poorer condition from 1935. Apparently Flammarion renewed the copyright, refashioned and republished the work after the war in 1950. The cover has changed to show both the heron and the crow with a piece of cheese against a black background. This time the work looks integral and complete, including the transparent papers used to create the book's particular effect. There are now ten silhouette images of fable scenes from La Fontaine, whereas there had been twelve in the earlier publication. Seven of the subjects are the same but their silhouettes are done anew: FC, LM, WC, FG, TH, MM, WL, TT, and "The Heron." FS has apparently been developed anew. Dropped have been "The Cat and the Monkey"; "The Weasel, the Hare, and the Cat"; and "Two Goats." The new scenes have become more complex, and the sampling of seven of them on the back cover shows a greater complexity in the colors used with each. Now several colors are used in one field, e.g. for a sunset. There are colored sheets of translucent paper at the front and back of the pamphlet. One is to cut out sections of these to fill in various portions of the white spaces of each illustration. What a clever idea! The effect, I imagine, is like that of seeing stained glass.

1950 Fables in Rhyme for Little Folks Adapted from the French of La Fontaine. Combined with Reynard the Fox and other fables from France. Retold by W.T. Larned. Pictured by John Rae. NY: Wise Book Co. See 1918/50.

1950 Fables: Jean de la Fontaine. Illustrations de Jacques Ferrand. Hardbound. Printed in France. Tours: Maison Mame. $7.50 at In and Out of Print Books, San Francisco, June, '89.

Twelve excellent colored illustrations (somewhat in the tradition of Hellé) on separate pages; the best are FC (I), WC (IV), and FG (V). Also nice black-and-white drawings, e.g., of the lion and the mosquito (21). The end papers contain lovely drawings distinct from those in the text. Ferrand is not mentioned in Hobbs.

1950 Fables: Jean de la Fontaine. Illustrations de Jacques Ferrand. Dust jacket. Hardbound. Printed in France. Tours: Mame. $10.73 from Tim Waller, Greenville, SC, through Ebay, Feb., '03.

I wrote extensively on this book already, only now to find a copy of it with a dust jacket, indeed, a dust jacket sewn onto the book. Since there is no way to see the cover here and no dust jacket there, I will keep both books in the collection under separate numbers. The dust jacket has a large and lively illustration of the two mice enjoying wine and dessert at the city meal. The back cover shows frogs using lily pods as parasols. See my comments on the copy without dust jacket.

1950 Fables: Jean de la Fontaine ("Fox and Crow" cover). Illustrations de Jacques Ferrand. Hardbound. Printed in France. Tours: Mame. $26 from Erik Charter, Cambridge, Iowa, through Ebay, Oct., '00.

There is a small chapter in publishing history hidden in this book. Interiorly it is almost identical with the copy of this book that I had found during June, 1989 at "In and Out of Print Books" in San Francisco. See my comments there on the book. It is noteworthy for the twelve beautiful full-page colored Ferrand illustrations, listed on 123. I will here list the differences that this copy shows from that copy. That copy had a green back-cover, black spine, and fully colored front-cover with a lively design including a fox, a figure with a mask, a rooster with a book, and a small figure riding the rooster. This copy has the same cream-colored material throughout the cover and spine. FC is pictured on a 4¾" x 5¼" plate pasted onto the front-cover. That copy had green end-papers with a two-page panorama of fable figures. This copy has blank end-papers. There the pre-title-page had "Fables" near its center. Here the pre-title-page has "Fables" at its top; it is preceded by a page with "1 FABLES" and "ALBUM D" near its bottom. The "Tout droits" and copyright statements facing the title-page are differently typeset, as is all of the information on the title-page itself. There the title-page had at its bottom "Tours/Maison Mame/Agence á Paris 6, Rue Madame, VIe." Here it has simply "MAME." This copy lacks the foxing of that copy. Might its paper also be of different quality? After 126, following "Imprimé en France" that copy had "1390-1950" at the start of its printing statement. This copy has instead "1677-1952." I hope that information someday helps some bibliographers or historians! I can find no evidence that either of the copies belongs to the numbered sets announced at the books' beginnings.

1950 Fables - 1950. J.S. Lawson. Dust jacket. NY: Exposition Press. $2.40 at Lord Randall, Marshfield, MA, April, '89.

A strange collection of thirty-three original, contemporary fables. Very few are about animals. The best are "Two Mice" and "Pidgin." Others to note include "Mr. Prete," "Jonquil," and "Chartin." The tales tend to be violent, heavy-handed, and sardonic.

1950 Favorite Folktales and Fables for Boys and Girls. By Joanna Strong. With illustrations by Hubert Whatley. Hardbound. NY: Happy Hour Books: Hart Publishing Company. $6.51 from Harold Jones, Petersburgh, NY, through eBay, Feb., '04. 

Fifteen Aesopic fables are mixed in here with various folktales. There is a good black-and-white-and-green illustration of a broken bridge and the fallen donkey (53); other illustrations are of LM (61) and WC (64). Also included in the fifteen is what is identified as an old Hebrew fable: "The Wise Bird and the Hunter," with an illustration (72). There is a T of C at the front. I suspect that this book's fable materials are virtually identical with those in Hart's publication of a year later, A Treasury of the World's Great Myths and Legends for Boys and Girls. This edition may add color that is lacking there.

1950 Favorite Folktales and Fables for Boys and Girls.  By Joanna Strong.  With illustrations by Hubert Whatley.  Hardbound.  NY: Happy Hour Books:  Hart Publishing Company.  $2 from Second Story Warehouse, Rockville, MD, Nov., '19.

Here is a second copy of this book.  Though it is identical internally, this copy has a green cover with more information: "A Happy Hour Book" and "For boys and girls from 7 to 12."  This copy lacks the pleasant endpapers in the red-covered copy.  As I wrote there, this book has fifteen Aesopic fables mixed in with various folktales.  There is a good black-and-white-and-green illustration of a broken bridge and the fallen donkey (53); other illustrations are of LM (61) and WC (64).  Also included in the fifteen is what is identified as an old Hebrew fable: "The Wise Bird and the Hunter," with an illustration (72).  There is a T of C at the front.  I suspect that this book's fable materials are virtually identical with those in Hart's publication of a year later, "A Treasury of the World's Great Myths and Legends for Boys and Girls."  This edition may add color that is lacking there.

1950 First Fairy Tales. Retold by Mildred L. Kerr and Frances Ross. Illustrated by Mary Sherwood Jones and Ray Evans, Jr. Columbus: Charles E. Merrill Co. See 1946/50.

1950 Fôves du Baron d' Fleȗru.  Henri Pétrez.  Illustrations de Benjamin Rabier.  3me Recueil.  Paperbound.  Charleroi: Imprimerie de Charleroi.  €100 from Thierry Corcelle, Paris, June, '19.

Here is a paperback book with thirteen bilingual texts, French and Walloon.  The first is a conversation with Jean de La Fontaine.  The others are new fables.  Along the way, there are delightful cartoons from none other than Benjamin Rabier.  I do not believe that any of the fables are direct takeovers from La Fontaine.  As far as I can understand the first text, La Fontaine reveals to Baron de Fleurus several things.  For example, he has "blackened" people.  He admits that there are exceptions – like a hair in soup – but to discover them, one has to pay attention.  But do not put them under the microscope!  And be sure to examine your own conscience!  Follow my advice and you have a chance of being listened to.  I tried  the first fable, "The Dog and the Mole."  The picture is great, but I cannot catch the fable.  Alas!  There is reference on the verso of the title-page to 15 lettered and then 100 numbered copies.  This copy is neither letter nor numbered.  The volume begins with a picture and short bio of Henri Pétrez.  This book gives the fable lover a short immersion into another cultural interface that has enjoyed the gift of Aesop!

1950 Fun Krylows Meszolim (Basnie). Paperbound. Warsaw: Idisz Buch, przy CKZwP. $35 from Henry Hollander, Bookseller, San Francisco, Nov., '02. Extra copy for $20 from the same source, May, '01. 

Here is a book that one would not easily find in circulation! Paperbound books from Warsaw in 1950 might not have had a long life expectancy! This book contains some 120 of Krylov's 200 fables on 224 pages, followed by a T of C. There is an assortment of illustrations, not very well printed; many are modeled after well-known illustrations of Krylov's work. Since they may be difficult to find, I will list the illustrations here: FC (21), WL (35), "The Wolf in the Kennel" (55), "The Cat and the Pike" (66), "Geese" (95), "Quartet" (105), "Trishkin's Kaftan" (113), "The Bear and the Hermit" (116), "Demianov's Fish Soup" (127), "The Wolf and the Shepherds" (151), "The Industrious Bear" (172), "Pig under the Oak" (175), "The Officers (?)" (194), and "The Cock and the Cuckoo" (207).

1950 I.A. Krylov Basni.  Illustrations by A. Laptyev.  Hardbound.  Moscow/Leningrad: Detgiz: Governmental Publishing Office for Children's Literature/Ministry of Education/Enlightment USSR.  $14.40 from Calvello Books through Biblio, April, '23.

This book stands between two already in the collection.  Except for several specific changes at beginning and end, it is identical with a volume dated to 1951.  Indeed, it shares that date on its identical cover.  But this title-page has "1950" where that has "1951," and the colophon on the last page is different; even the price went up in the one year's difference!  We do have a book with identical data as this copy, but it lacks crucial pages and is in very poor condition.  This volume thus fits nicely between the two.  As I wrote of the 1951 copy, FC is on the title-page, across from the frontispiece portrait of Krylov.  The book seems a standard presentation of Krylov's fables, with a rich assortment of A. Laptyev's 1947 illustrations.  It has an AI of titles at the end before the T of C, which lists seventy-eight fables on the book's 147 pages.  The illustrations are full-page black-and-white presentations, and I count eighteen of them here plus the title-page's nineteenth.  The book has five lovely silhouettes on its front cover and a canvas binding.

1950 I.A. Krylov Basni.  Illustrations by A. Laptyev.  Canvas bound.  Moscow/Leningrad:  Detgiz: Governmental Publishing Office for Children's Literature/Ministry of Education/Enlightment USSR.  $20 from olegdps through Ebay, Dec., '21.

I include this book as a testimony to someone's love of a book.  It is in wretched condition but has been worked over and resown.  Someone wanted this book to survive!  At the end of the book it is missing two leaves and an endpaper.  At the beginning it is missing the frontispiece portrait of Krylov and pages 7-10 and 20-21.  Page 5 is pasted in backwards between 14 and 15!  I can tell all this because it is otherwise an identical copy of a book we have from 1951, with only the title-page date changed to 1950.  As I mentioned of that 1950 copy, this book is very similar to a pair of copies with the same bibliographical information but dated to 1948.  The typesetting seems different.  The first illustration, FC, has moved onto the title-page.  As I wrote of those copies, this book seems a standard presentation of Krylov's fables, with a rich assortment of A. Laptyev's 1947 illustrations.  This edition adds an AI of titles at the end before the (only partial here) T of C.  The illustrations are full-page black-and-white presentations, and I count eighteen of them here plus the title-page's nineteenth by contrast with the twenty illustrations in those other two copies.  This book has five silhouettes on its front cover, two of them partially covered here by tape pasted over the canvas binding.

1950 I.A. Krylov: Basni.  Translated into Ukrainian by Pavlo Tychyna and Mykola Tereshchenko.  Hardbound.  Kiev: State Publishing House of Artistic Literature.  $20 from an unknown source, August, '20.

This book was a surprise as it fell into my hands from our shelves of books awaiting library cataloguing after I had done my cataloguing.  I was looking for several copies of Krylov.  I took a look at this and found neither of the usual slips generated by my cataloguing.  I access it now and produce those slips fearing that somehow the book has already been accessed!  This Ukrainian translation of Krylov is longer than most Russian versions.  It is graced by 15 full-page illustrations nicely listed on 356 of this 361 page book, just before the T of C.  The best of those illustrations for me are FC (19) by V. Lytvynenko; WC (231) by the familiar O. Laptev; BF (289) by D. Modra; and best of all "Demian's Soup" (177) by B. Dekhtyaryova.  There is also a small cameo at the start of each book.  The illustrations are unbacked, and every new fable starts a new page.  The preface of this book turns by its second paragraph to Lenin and Stalin's love for fables, with of course a highly negative mention of Hitler.

1950 I. A. Krilov: His Representation in Russian Folk Illustration. (Russian). Vladimir Bouch-Bruyevich. Essay by S. Klepikov. Limited edition of 1000. Canvas-bound. Printed in Moscow. Moscow: State Literary Museum. $8 from Thomas Noe, South Bend, IN, through Ebay, Sept., '01.

This is a wonderful treasure. It is a canvas-bound book of some eighty pages with a wealth of black-and-white photoreproductions of illustrations of Krilov's work. A foreword includes several illustrations of fables from Russian books--or more likely manuscripts--before Krilov's time: FS, "Death and the Woodcutter," and FG. Then comes an extensive bibliography, apparently of thirty-one individual fables and their illustrations. The dates here for the illustrations seem to range from 1856 to 1902; the fables themselves are dated chronologically from 1806 to 1830. Those dates fit with all that I have learned from Quinnam, Stepanov, and Ralston. There follow in the next chapter thirty-six pages of photoreproductions. As far as I can tell, these are a selection of the items listed in the preceding chapter. Thus the first illustration here, FC on 37, relates to the one listing under Item II on 14 in the bibliography chapter. Other illustrations that I can recognize present "The Old Man and Three Youths," "The Box," "Death and the Woodman," "Elephant and Pug," "The Rich Man and the Cobbler," "The Cat and the Cook," "The Soup of Master John," "The Swan, the Pike, and the Crab," "The Pig and the Oak," "The Three Townies," and two great collections (frontispiece and 72). "The Pig and the Oak" on 69 seems to satirize the Germans in 1914. After these photoreproductions, there follow an AI of fables, an AI of proper names, a list of illustrations, and a T of C.

1950 Jam with My Bread.  John Lyth.  Decorations by Richard E. Clarke.  Foreword by F. Heathcote Briant.  Inscribed by John Lyth.  Hardbound.  Dust jacket.  York: Herald Printing Works.  $24 from Hoffman Books, Columbus, OH, Feb., '16.

The title continues "being ventures in story and verse together with 14 paraphrases (by permission) of James Thurber's Fables for Our Time."  John Lyth is identified on the title-page as a postal servant.  It was frankly not easy to find the Thurber paraphrases as I paged through this book of 168 pages.  On perhaps the third try, I began to catch on that "Hands across the Atlantic" is the appropriate section, beginning with a "decoration" picturing an elderly man seated among flowers and flanked by a bird and a rabbit.  The titles of these fourteen poems do not match Thurber's.  They are the kind of poetry that thrives on rhyme and irregular word order.  An example might be the last stanza of the story of a hen who preferred to walk across the road, rejecting the duck who flew hens to the other side: "the hen who aviation scorned,/With those who marched her flag beneath,/Run over were and died unmourned/For none survived to lay a wreath" (47).  TMCM -- here "Impatience Is No Virtue" (46) -- remains a favorite of mine.  However, my prize goes to "Dignity and Impudence" (49).  Young turkey and old come to blows, but before they can settle their deeply felt dispute, the farmer kills both for Christmas dinner!  The moral here for TH is "Book-writers don't know everything!" (51).  Little Red Riding Hood again shoots the wolf in granny's bed.  Lyth is true to Thurber's fresh insight couched in story form.  The last Thurberesque poem, "Apocalypse" (61), hits as hard as ever!

1950 Jumbo book of favorite stories. 90 tales, stories, rhymes. No author or illustrator acknowledged. Chicago: Wilcox & Follett Co. $6 at Red Bridge, Kansas City, May, '93.

An oversized book on cheap paper with some very nice colored illustrations. These vary from section to section of the book, from black-and-white through monochrome and duotone to five-color images. Five fables occur in a black-and-white section, from 133-40. Now, here is a surprise: these very five texts and their illustrations occur on the same pages of (More than 30 of) American Childhood's Best Books (1942) from the American Crayon Company. ("The Fox and the Little Red Hen" and "As I Was Going to St. Ives" are interspersed in both cases. The images for the former are changed here.) Otherwise what we have here is a nice collection of kids' material of all sorts. Some crayoning on the title page.

1950 La Fontaine: Fables, Tome I.  Gravures sur Cuivre Originales de Lucien Boucher.  #183 of 964.  Hardbound.  Paris and Nice: Éditions de la Vieille France.  $39.57 from Librairie Remy, Nancy, France, through abe, Nov., '13.  

Here is a new star in the collection!  The engravings on copper are lovely, if sometimes a little risque.  This first volume of three covers Books 1 through 5.  I count sixteen illustrations here, as one might expect.  Loveliest among them may be FC (58), CW (128), "Rats and Weasels" (186) and "The Miser and His Treasure" (216).  On the risque side are FC, "Man and His Image" (65), "The Thieves and the Ass" (80), CW, FG (161), and "The Lion in Love" (176).  Other fables illustrated here are "The Pedant and the Swimmer" (88), BC (100), "The Bird Wounded with an Arrow" (106), AD (116), MSA (136), "The Eagle, Cat, and Boar" (152), "Philomela and Procne" (164), and FM (196).  Too bad that the book is somewhat undersized, about 4" x 6½".  I am so happy to have found this little book!  Strangely, it is not in Bodemann.

1950 La Fontaine: Fables, Tome II.  Jean de La Fontaine.  Gravures sur Cuivre Originales de Lucien Boucher.  #183 of 964.  Hardbound.  Paris and Nice: Éditions de la Vieille France.  $39.57 from Librairie Remy, Nancy, France, through abe, Nov., '13.

Here is a new star in the collection!  The engravings on copper are lovely, if sometimes a little risque.  This second volume of three covers the rest of Book 5 through the first part of Book 10.  Among the best illustrations are "The Old Man and the Ass" (28), "The Horse and the Ass" (42, my favorite here), "The Cobbler and the Banker" (110), "The Rat and the Elephant" (138), and "The Sun's Marriage" (216).  Among the risqué illustrations here is, surprisingly, "The Heron," who is picky about mermaids (68)!  Others of this sort here are "The Wolf and the  Hunter" (168) and "The Two Pigeons" (174).  Still other illustrations include "The Stag and Vine" (8), TH (32), "The Wagon Driver and the Breakdown" (44), MM (82), "The Animal on the Moon" (102), and "Nothing in Excess" (198).  "The Horse and the Wolf" seems the likeliest fable for the illustration on 144, near VIII 16, but a long way from its fable, V 8.  Might the printer have mistaken this horse and wolf for the characters in "The Ass and the Dog"?  Again, is the illustration on 234 here not appropriate to either one of the two fables about death and the woodman from Book 1?  Here it is near the middle of Book 10.  Too bad that the book is somewhat undersized, about 4" x 6½".  I am so happy to have found this little book!  Strangely, it is not in Bodemann.

1950 La Fontaine: Fables, Tome III.  Jean de La Fontaine.  Gravures sur Cuivre Originales de Lucien Boucher.  #183 of 964.  Hardbound.  Paris and Nice:  Éditions de la Vieille France.  $39.57 from Librairie Remy, Nancy, France, through abe, Nov., '13.  

Here is a new star in the collection!  The engravings on copper are lovely, if sometimes a little risque.  This third volume of three covers the rest of Book 10 through the end of La Fontaine's fables.  Among the best illustrations are "The Shepherd and the King" (8) and "The Merchant, the Noble, the Shepherd, and the King's Son" (24).  Among the risqué illustrations here is "The Companions of Ulysses" (64).  Still other illustrations include "The Wolf and the Fox" (42), "The Sick Stag" (76), "The Eagle and the Magpie" (88), "The Gazelle, the Crow, the Turtle, and the Rat" (102), and "The Elephant and Jupiter's Monkey" (114).  There are some seven additional illustrations in "La Poème du Quinquina" and "Le Songe de Vaux." Too bad that the book is somewhat undersized, about 4" x 6½".  I am so happy to have found this little book!  Strangely, it is not in Bodemann.

1950 La Fontaine Vingt Fables. Illustrées de lithgraphie originales et d'ornaments par Jean Lurçat. Portfolio. Printed in Switzerland. Lausanne: André Gonin. $1,350 from Gemini Fine Books & Arts, Hinsdale, IL, by mail, August, '99.

Bodemann 467.1. Bassy #56. Mentioned (30) by Hobbs. One of the stars of this collection! For each fable, there is a large lithograph on the third (or right-inside) page of a four-page folio made by folding a large sheet once; the back of the lithograph-page is always blank. (The exception to this rule comes in the frontispiece, OF, which is on the fourth page of its folio and thus faces the title-page, first in its folio.) There is a slip-sheet for each lithograph. The fable text precedes (and if necessary follows) the illustration. Bodemann's succinct criticism is helpful: "Grossflächige Gestaltung, kräftige Farbakzente, surrealistische Inhalte. Fabelthemen z.T. drastisch verfremdet. Reduktion der Fabelhandlung auf einige plakative interpretationsbedürftige Symbole." The illustrations typically add two or three colors to black and white. Bassy lists the twenty subjects. There are some wild creations here! For me the wildest are "L'Astrologue qui se laisse tomber dans un Puits" (23); "Le Lion abattu par l'Homme" (27); and FG (39). In this last illustration the vine grows directly out of a mountain-top. The best of the illustrations for me are: "L'Oiseau blessé d'une Flèche" (19); "Le Rat et le Huitre" (55); "Le Cerf malade" (59); "Le Soleil et les Grenouilles" (75); and TT (79). There are also ornamental black-and-white vignettes after eight of the fable texts. There is a T of C at the beginning. The copy is signed by Gonin and Lurçat and numbered #150 of 250 (+25).

1950 Le Fauteuil de Grand-Père: Fantaisies sur des fables de La Fontaine.  Yves Lenoir.  Illustrations by Martine Hebbelynck.  Hardbound.  Courtrai, Belgium: Zonnewende S.A.  €20 from parchemin77 through Ebay, Feb., ‘21.  

Here is a lovely landscape-formatted book of 60 pages, followed by a T of C.  “Grandpa’s Armchair” is the title of both the book and the first story.  These stories come together to form a chatty account of grandpa’s storytelling to his sometimes ill-behaved grandchildren.  The six stories, each with an excellent full-page illustration, are OF; Heron; FC; FS: TT; and GA.  The stories’ titles are much cleverer than those acronyms, and the illustrations strike me in their simplicity as simply beautiful.  Their color has lasted well over these 70 plus years!

1950 Ledebur Fabel Fibel: Ein Buch für Kinder von 8 bis 80 Jahren.  Eugen Ledebur.  Illustrations by C. Angerer & Göschl.  Hardbound.  Vienna & Munich: Manutius Presse.  €19.92 from Antiquariat Gallenberger, Wildsteig, Germany, Feb., '22.

I have often searched German "Fibel" books hoping that there were some fables in them.  Generally, the answer has been "No."  Now here is a book that treats every letter as though it contains a fable.  Sometimes, even though there is a moral, there is not really a fable, as when "G" gets us into the legend of the geese that saved Rome.  There are, however, some clear and well-known fables that appear here.  Among them are "Lion and Fox"; "Lion and Mosquito"; OF; FC; and WL.  The color work, already brilliant on the front cover, is well sustained in the book.  A good example is the first illustration of OF under "O."  Was Eugen Ledebur so well known that they never acknowledge his full name in this book?

1950 Mishle Kdumim (Hebrew "Ancient Fables"). Jacob Cohen. Illustrations by Jacob Schwerin. Hardbound. Tel Aviv: Joshua Chachik Publishing House. Gift of Meir Biezunski, Haifa, Israel, Nov., '06.

This is described by Mr. Biezunski as a collection of about eighty biblical fables, arranged by periods. I find only two illustrations: two women near a well and a young flute player enchanting the animals of the forest. This book apparently presents bible stories. I would love to pursue the question of whether these stories are fables. 

1950 Mythoi Tou Aisopou. Helenes Konstantopoulou. Illustrated by Eirenes Tzougkrou. Modern Greek, with English vocabulary. NY: D.C. Divry. $1 at Vassar Book Sale, DC, May, '92.

See my comments on the 1950/70 edition. By contrast with it, this thinner book lacks the Greek-English vocabulary at the end. This title page shows several curious differences. This edition does not add a parenthetical "Aesop's Fables" to the title. It speaks of being for the second and third grades of schools in America, where the later edition will speak of those in the diaspora. Once one arrives at the T of C on 3, the books are the same, though this edition shows page numbers four digits lower for each story. The binding identifies this as the "new second edition," whereas the later book is listed simply as "second edition." That I have trouble explaining!

1950 On S'Fend La Pipe.  Par Marcus.  Pamphlet.  Paris: Editions Marcus.  $6.66 from Alex Leiderman, Rishon LeZion, Israel, through Ebay, Dec., '20.

"120 blagues amusantes."  This pamphlet of 12 pages comes into this collection on the flimsiest of excuses: it advertises on its back cover, just above the advertisement for Marcus Accordion School, three Marcus fable pamphlets that we have!  Part of the reason, I admit, is that I could not see throwing away this pamphlet that came with two Marcus "Fables en Argot" pamphlets through Ebay.  I presume that if one looked hard enough through the 120 jokes, one could also find an allusion somewhere to La Fontaine.  This copy is dated 1950.  I saw one with the same open-bloused young woman on the cover, but with red where this copy has blue, from Marcus in 1948.  The jokes start at the top of the inside front cover and end on the bottom of the inside back cover.

1950 Otras Fabulillas. V.M. Perez Perozo. Ilustraciones de Germán Pérez Ch. Inscribed by V.M. Perez Perozo. Paperbound. Madrid: Afrodisio Aguado S.A. Trade with Claire Leeper, who paid $12.50 for it, July, '96.

Here are some 100 verse fables on 189 pages. This book is remarkable for its simple but lovely colored front and back cover. The spine has deteriorated. Each fable gets a clever black-and-white cartoon. Perez Perozo was a proficient creator of fables. His books mentioned at the end of this book include Fabulillas and Nuevas Fabulillas. I notice online that he also published 250 Fabulillas in 1956! This copy is inscribed "To Mr. H.P. Hill, in remembrace of the trip we made together, cordially, V.M. Perez Perozo, New York, May 3, 1951." One of the Spanish book dealers offering a copy of this book mentions that it is "encuadernado en rústica, diseño editorial." I think he is referring to the folded paper covers. I need to think now about ordering those other books of his online. 

1950 Phèdre et ses fables. Léon Herrmann. Hardbound. Leiden: E.J. Brill. $15.64 from abe, Nov., '12.

What a lovely find! Here is Herrmann's book of Phaedrus. Cloth hardcover. Herrmann's text is of course in French and includes prose translations of the Latin fables. Bound in light grey cloth with green lettering on the front and side. The cover is lightly soiled and worn. The binding is strong. Textblock is solid, tinted green on top. The pages are clean and intact. This copy was owned by Ohio State but apparently never taken out; it was apparently their second copy. A first half of the book covers the life and genius of Phaedrus. The second half is a careful presentation of Phaedrus' text and related texts. The last two appendices present the traditional numbering of Phaedrus' fables and Herrmann's reconstruction of Phaedrus' four books with forty fables in each. 

1950 Picture Story. 8 little stories. No author or illustrator acknowledged. Chicago: Merrill Company. $10 at Blake, June, '93.

A large-format pamphlet picking up on many of the stories contained in Merrill's Tuck-in Tales (1946). One of the repeaters is the last of the eight stories here, "Tommy Turtle," a faithful version of Kalila & Dimna's TT story. Students of book history will be interested to compare the job that this book's editor has done on the text in Tuck-in Tales. The story may be half as long! The illustration is the same, but has been cropped on both sides and has lost its extension down around the text. Tommy wears a big hat with a feather and says "Yoo hoo" unprovoked when he sees some children below.

1950 Recueil de fables : Französische Lehrdichtungen, Erster Teil.  Henning Kaufmann.  Pamphlet.  Leverkusen, Germany: Neusprachliche Lese- und Übungshefte: Gottschalksche Verlagsbuchhandlung.  €4.80 from Versandantiquariat Ottomar Köhler, Hanau, Germany, Feb., '22. 

This is a standard German school pamphlet presenting 30 French animal fables on 80 pages.  About 5" x 7½".  The general approach is to present a French fable and then to offer significant commentary, perhaps including a German version.  At the back of the pamphlet is an extensive vocabulary for each fable.  An adapted version of Fénelon's "Le loup et le jeune mouton" (16) is the third fable presented, followed immediately by La Fontaine's WL.  Sometimes, as in #5, a discussion of a tradition seems to precede the presentation of a French fable in the following number.  La Fontaine has by far the majority of texts presented here.  Other authors here include Marie de France, Mironneau, Florian, Renard, and Noel.  One method employed here is "Nachdichtung" (43-44), a cherished memory of mine from the Goethe-Institut.

1950 Recueil de fables : Französische Lehrdichtungen, Zweiter Teil.  Henning Kaufmann.  Pamphlet.  Leverkusen, Germany: Neusprachliche Lese- und Übungshefte: Gottschalksche Verlagsbuchhandlung.  €4.80 from Versandantiquariat Ottomar Köhler, Hanau, Germany, Feb., '22. 

This pamphlet is a second part of a standard German school text presenting some 22 French fables on 84 pages.  About 5" x 7½".  The fables are divided into "plants," "objects," and "people."  The general approach is to present a French fable and then to offer significant commentary, perhaps including a German version or other fables for comparison.  At the back of the pamphlet is an extensive vocabulary for each fable.  La Fontaine has by far the majority of texts presented here.  Other authors here include Lachambeaudie, Dupuis, Joliveau, Florian, Molière, and de Vigneulles.  I was happy to notice a French imitation of Pfeffel in "Les épis vides" (13) by Ratisbonne.  As in the first volume, a method employed here is "Nachdichtung" (9), a cherished memory of mine from the Goethe-Institut.  This volume adds some pages on La Fontaine, other French fabulists, and French versification.

1950 Story Time of My Book House. Edited by Olive Beaupré Miller. Volume 2 of twelve volumes. Chicago: The Book House for Children. See 1937/50/54.

1950 Storytime Tales. A Treasury of 67 Favorite Stories, Poems, and Songs, Old and New. Pictures by Corinne Malvern. A Big Golden Book. NY: Simon and Schuster. $14 at Your Choice Antiques, Gretna, NE, March., '93.

A pleasing large-format children's book including five fables: GGE (32), BC (82), GA (107), FG (116), and FC (150). The book is in surprisingly good condition, and its colored illustration work on thirsty paper is well controlled. A very nice find in the country! As so often, the page of acknowledgements here (2) accounts for every story in the book except the fables.

1950 Storytime Tales. A Treasury of 42 Favorite Stories, Poems, and Songs, Old and New. Pictures by Corinne Malvern. A Big Golden Book. NY: Simon and Schuster. $7.50 at The Bookery, Iowa City, April, '93.  Extra copy for $5 from the Toy and Doll Show, State Fair Grounds, West Allis, Oct., '99.

Now here is a surprise. I thought I was picking up an extra copy of this pleasing book that I first found a month ago in Gretna. It turns out to be an alternate version that stops flat at 128 where the fuller version goes on to 208. Of the fuller version's five fables, four thus survive the cut: GGE (32), BC (82), GA (107), FG (116). This copy is also in surprisingly good condition, and its colored illustration work on thirsty paper is well controlled.

1950 The Fables of Aesop. Selected, told anew and their history traced by Joseph Jacobs. Illustrated by Kurt Wiese. Dust jacket. NY: MacMillan. $6 from Dan Behnke, Chicago, Sept., '90. Extra copy of the 1962 eighth printing for $12 from Gloria Timmel, July, '87.

A handy volume in great shape. There are two aquatints per story in the familiar Jacobs version: some show good wit, like the tree/stake for "Young Thief and Mother" on 87. There is a slightly different version and picture for "Venus and the Cat" on 151. Do not miss "The Laborer and the Nightingale" and "The Ass' Brains."

1950 The Fables of Esope: from Jane Grabhorn's typographic laboratory in San Francisco. Text from William Caxton. Illustrations from the Antwerp 1486 edition by Gerard Leeu. Brochure. San Francisco: Grabhorn Press. $16 from Serendipity Books, Berkeley, CA, June, '01.

This is an eight-page brochure presenting four fables, each with an illustration. The texts come from Caxton in 1483. The illustrations "are from the Latin edition of Aesop printed by Gerard Leeu at Antwerp in 1486" (i.e., Bodemann, #11.1). These woodcuts are clearly in the Steinhöwel tradition. Was this brochure a trial or prospectus for a projected but never accomplished work of the Grabhorn Press? Or perhaps just a little project of Jane Grabhorn's? Serendipity's helpful people seemed to suggest the latter.

1950 The Nun's Priest's Tale of Chaucer.  Newly rendered into modern English by Nevill Coghill.  Wood engravings by Lynton Lamb.  Limited edition of 1000 copies.  Hardbound.  Allen and Richard Lane.  $40 from Powell's, Portland, July, '15.

This is a beautiful limited edition book.  It impresses me particularly for its title-page art: a glorious presentation of the two main characters in red, gold, and black.  The flutter of feathers around the title is perfect for this story.  There is also a good presentation, in black-and-white, of the fox lying in wait on 27.  A sampling of the rhyming verse of the translation finds it tight and accurate.  It is a pleasure to be able to include a book like this one in the collection! 

1950/54 Wolf in CHEF'S Clothing. The picture cook and drink book for men. Robert H. Loeb, Jr. Illustrated by Jim Newhall. Dust jacket. Fifth Printing. Chicago: Wilcox & Follett Company. Gift of Linda Schlafer from Alkahest, Evanston, Sept., '91. Extra copy of, apparently, the first printing with a stained cover and no dust jacket for $5 from an antiques mall in Hannibal, Oct., '94.

This book has almost no redeeming Aesopic value except for the delightful title and the nice picture facing the title page: the wolf-chef puts on an apron while a sheep's skin hangs on the coat-rack. Quick and easy picture-recipes for the man who has never cooked. Typical of the 50's and very sexist.

1950/58 The NEW Wolf in CHEF'S Clothing. The picture cook and drink book for men. Robert H. Loeb, Jr. Illustrated by Jim Newhall. Dust jacket. Chicago: Follett Publishing Company. Gift of Linda Schlafer from P.R. Schwan at DePaul Book Fair, March, '93.

See my comments on Wolf in CHEF'S Clothing (1950/54). This revision reduces page size and changes some of the colors. Outdoor cooking and drinks get more attention now. Oatmeal, farina, pancakes, and casserole chien chaud (franks and beans) are dropped. A revolution of rising expectations? The same great picture is there facing the title page. A great find!

1950/62 The Fables of Aesop. Joseph Jacobs. Illustrated by Kurt Wiese. Hardbound. NY: MacMillan. $12 from Gloria Timmel, Chicago, July, '87.

I have an apparent first printing in the collection. Here is an eighth printing twelve years later. A handy volume in great shape. There are two aquatints per story in the familiar Jacobs version: some show good wit, like the tree/stake for "Young Thief and Mother" on 87. There is a slightly different version and picture for "Venus and the Cat" on 151. Do not miss "The Laborer and the Nightingale" and "The Ass' Brains." 

1950/63 The Fables of Aesop. Joseph Jacobs. Illustrated by Kurt Wiese. Ninth printing. Hardbound. NY: MacMillan. $3 from an unknown source, August, '89.

I have an apparent first printing in the collection and an eighth. Here is a ninth printing one year later than the eighth. The aquatints have changed color from the eighth to this ninth printing! There are two aquatints per story in the familiar Jacobs version: some show good wit, like the tree/stake for "Young Thief and Mother" on 87. There is a slightly different version and picture for "Venus and the Cat" on 151. Do not miss "The Laborer and the Nightingale" and "The Ass' Brains." 

1950/64 Selected Works of La Fontaine. Edited by Philip A. Wadsworth. No illustrations. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. Arcturus Books paperback: 1964. $1 at Biermaier's, Minneapolis, July, '89.

A college textbook for Americans with a representative sampling of LaFontaine in several genres. About forty fables are included, with helpful brief notes under the texts and a short glossary of unusual words at the back. There are good short introductions to each section. Here is a book worth consulting when I look at any fable LaFontaine has done.

1950/66 Better Homes and Gardens Story Book. Favorite stories and poems for children with original illustrations from famous editions. Selected and edited by Betty O'Connor. Ninth Printing: 1966. NY/Des Moines: Meredith Press. $2.25 at Universal Video (!) in Seaside, OR, Aug., '87.

There are fascinating changes in this later printing. The paper is shinier. A poem from Belloc is added on dedicating a gift to a child (hint!). The pieces dropped are: "Ten Little Indians," "Little Black Sambo," "Meeting the Easter Bunny," and "All Through the Night." One can observe some social history by comparing the two printings.

1950/66 The Hare and the Tortoise. A Père Castor Book. By R. Simon and P. François. Illustrated by Romain Simon. Translated by Constance Hirsch. (c)1950 by Flammarion. NY: Golden Press. $4.95 at Children's BookAdoption Agency, Kensington, MD, Sept., '91. Extra copy for $1 at Pageturners in Omaha, Jan., '89.

The delightful story of Prudence and Flash. Much is added: the names, a provocation, character descriptions, fans on both sides, a description of the night before, the goal, and some activities along the way. Apparently a direct copy of Bravo Tortue, published by Flammarion in France and listed here under 1950.

1950/70 Mythoi Tou Aisopou (Aesop's Fables). Helenes Konstantopoulou. Illustrated by Eirenes Tzougkrou. Modern Greek, with English vocabulary. NY: D.C. Divry. $4.50 at Cardijn, '86. Extra copy for $4 from Dundee, Nov., '92.

The Greek makes for fun reading, and the verse morals are cute, but I am afraid there is not much here more than evidence that Greeks still relish the stories (and that they are good for teaching!). The illustrations are quite simple. T of C with indications of illustrations. Now you can also use a workbook together with this reader: Biblion Askeseon (1976) by Helen Kardamakis Dorizas.

1950/75 Better Homes and Gardens Story Book. Betty O'Connor. Fourteenth printing. Hardbound. NY/Des Moines: Better Homes and Gardens Books. $4 from Walnut, Iowa, May, '12.

I commented earlier on the 1966 ninth printing of this book that first appeared in 1950. Now here is a 1975 fourteenth printing. The publisher has changed from Meredith Press to Better Homes and Gardens Books. The acknowledgements on the last page have dropped. Otherwise the book seems identical with the 1966 ninth printing. 

1950? A Book of Fables. Adapted from Aesop by Sheila Hawkins. Harlequin Books: edited and produced by Noel Carrington. London: Royle Publications. £10 at Ballantyne & Date, London, July, '92. Extra copy for £1.80 at Ripping Yarns, London, May, '97.

A sideways pamphlet of fifteen fables alternating black-and-white and colored pairs of pages. Some fascinating and different details: A boy scout chides the son for riding the donkey. The old man tips the donkey into a duck pond and goes home without it. The happy donkey has a good splash and trots away to the fields. The cow swallows the frog by accident. The hedgehog's arrival forces the fox to declare the grapes sour. New to me: "The Cowardly Pig." The best illustration is of the proud bull frog. The good copy has some crayoning on the cover and some painting inside; the extra copy has some creases in its first and last pages.

1950? A Froggy Fable. Paperbound. London: Juvenile Productions, Ltd #1713. $8.00 from Franklin Haus, Candor, NY, Dec., '02. 

This 12-page pamphlet combines four lovely full-page colored illustrations with two identical colored covers and six pages of text with black-and-white illustrations. The definition of "fable" may be stretched in the telling of this tale. A lonely cobbler frog accepts a pair of worn shoes from an old frog and repairs them as requested, but the wearer never returns to pick them up. So the cobbler frog wears them and not only has some luck, but he also makes contact with people. I enjoy the colored pictures especially, like the final picture of the frog cobbler with his new friend on the way to "rambling" together.

1950? Aesop's Fables. Based on the texts of L'Estrange and Croxall. Paperback. Printed in USA. NY: Giant Junior Classics: Books, Inc. $5 from Bollix Books, Peoria, IL, through Ebay, June, '00. Extra copy in slightly poorer condition for $5.50 from Elizabeth East, Joplin, MO, through Ebay, May, '00.

This book is nearly identical with the hardbound "The Fables of Aesop" which I have listed under "1925?" After the title-page, they are done from the very same plates. Test for example the chip off of the "9" on 79. The series changes from "The World's Popular Classics" there to "Giant Junior Classics" here. See my comments there. This cover depicts a camel dancing in the midst of the animals. The good copy is in very good condition. This must among the early paperback editions! As has happened so often, I had not known of this book's existence for years, and then I found two copies in very short order.

1950? Aesop's Fables. No author, illustrator, or publisher acknowledged. Pamphlet. $5.00 from Pam Craig, Watertown, NY, through Ebay, May, '99. Extra copy from an unknown source at an unknown time.

I do not remember when I have had to fill in so many "not acknowledged" answers about a book! This is a 4 x 3.5" pamphlet with a total of twelve pages. Perhaps its most interesting feature is the variety of spacing and even fonts that the printer used on the various fables. Included are TH, TMCM, WL, "The Fox and the Lion" (for which the moral is "Familiarity breeds contempt"), "The Cat and the Mice" (with perhaps the smallest print I have ever seen in a book), and "The Fox in The Well." The hare deliberately naps. The moral for TMCM is unusual: "Rich people often have more care and trouble than poor people." In "The Cat and the Mice" the cat hoped "that the mice would mistake her for a bag, or for a dead cat at the least…." The story features the line, "Many a bag have I seen in my time, but never one with a cat's head" and the moral "Old birds are not to be caught with chaff." The wolf sighs and walks away from the fox in the well, and the fox dies. The moral here--not enclosed in quotation marks as the others are--is "An ounce of help is worth a pound of pity."

1950? Aesop's Fables for Young People. Illustrated in line by R.F. White. And with five colour plates by Gil Dyer. No editor acknowledged. Foulsham's Boy and Girl Fiction Library. London: W. Foulsham & Co., Ltd. $4.75 from Abbey Antiquarian Books, June, '98.  Extra copy with missing first blank page a gift of Bonnie Schuman from Pageturners, Jan., '95.

The text is identical with that in Foulsham's 1945? edition with the same title. See my comments there. This edition adds five colored illustrations, several of which occur rarely: "Aesop plays with the Children" (frontispiece), "The Boy and the Thief" (33), and "The Porcupine and the Serpents" (96). I find "The Fox and the Mask" illustration (48) particularly successful. The story of "The Boy and the Thief" (22) misses the ironic turn found elsewhere. The boy is at first perplexed: how will he defend himself against the approaching thief? Then the idea occurs to him to outfox the fox.... This edition adds lists of the two kinds of illustrations. There is some internal foxing. And someone put a staple or a fork through the front cover and the first twenty pages!

1950? Aesop's Fables: The Wolf and the Dog. From William Caxton's Translation of the French. Edna Johnson. Illustrations by Anyon Cook. Pamphlet. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. £1 ($1.80) from Abbey Antiquarian Books, Winchcombe, July, '98.

A simple sixteen-page pamphlet with spined paper wraps. The telling of the fable is straightforward and very effective. The illustrations, colored and black-and-white, are simple and serve the story well. Might there be others in a series with this booklet?

1950? Children's Favourite Stories in Pictures. No author or illustrator acknowledged. Sydney: Consolidated Press Ltd. $2.70 somewhere in Colorado, March, '94.

This large-format book is unusual in a number of respects. First, it is one of the very few books I have from Australia. Second, it includes an unusually broad range of material, from Greek myths to Australian aboriginal folklore. Aesop is given two three-page sections: 23-25 and 87-89. Three fables are presented on each page with text and illustration equal in size and alternating columns with each other. On 89, the fables switch finally to color. The illustrations of the second set (87-89) seem to me superior in their artistry; they remind one of Boris Artzybasheff.

1950? Children's Stories. No author, illustrator, or publisher acknowledged. $1.50 at Renaissance Airport, Jan., '90.

The ultimate in cheap books! TH is the last story, with a nice one-colored picture of the hare sleeping in his overalls. Aesop shows up when people put together a simple book for kids. The title on the page tops is Favorite Story Book.

1950? Choix de Fables de la Fontaine 1. Présenté par Béatrice Mallet. Paperbound. Editions Chagor. $19.99 from Jennifer Carden through eBay, Dec., '02. 

This is a memorable squarish book, just over 8" and just less than 8" wide. Mallet's work is unique, and that quality makes the book memorable. In its 24 pages, six fables are illustrated, with GA, OF, and LM all receiving one illustration; OR receiving two; "Le Lion et le Moucheron" receiving three; and "Le Savetier and le Financier" receiving four. The illustrations are full-page and in color. Both covers also present full-page colored illustrations. Maybe the best of all these is the back cover's meeting at the doorway of cicada and ant. Of course I notice that there are three other members of the series that this booklet belongs to!

1950? Choix de Fables de la Fontaine 2. Présenté par Béatrice Mallet. Paperbound. Liége, Belgium: Editions Chagor. €38.50 from Abraxas-Libris, Bécherel, France, March, '09.

This second booklet in the series of four is another memorable squarish book, just over 8" and just less than 8" wide. Mallet's work is unique, and that quality makes the book memorable. In its 24 pages, five fables are illustrated: MM (3 illustrations); FM (3 illustrations); FS (2 illustrations); "Le Coach and the Fly" (2 illustrations); and "The Fox and the Goat" (2 illustrations). The back cover is a bonus illustration of the milkmaid dreaming of cows and pigs. The cover seems to be a melange of fables, including some beyond this book's contents. The illustrations are again full-page and in color. Maybe the best of all these are the climactic scene of FS (15) and the last scene of "The Fox and the Goat" (23). Is the fox thumbing his nose at the goat as he walks away and leaves him stranded? The frog here seems to have the rat caught with a fishing pole's line, not with a line tied to the legs of both characters.

1950? Choix de Fables de la Fontaine 3. Présenté par Béatrice Mallet. Paperbound. Liége, Belgium: Editions Chagor. €38.50 from Abraxas-Libris, Bécherel, France, March, '09.

This third booklet in the series of four is another memorable squarish book, just over 8" and just less than 8" wide. Mallet's work is unique, and that quality makes the book memorable. In its 24 pages, seven fables are illustrated: WL (2 illustrations); "Acorn and Pumpkin" (3 illustrations); DS (1 illustration); DW (3 illustrations); TB (1 illustration); FG (1 illustration); and CJ (1 illustration). The first and last views in DW balance each other beautifully to show the turning of tables in this fable. The back cover is a fine bonus illustration of the fox at the top of a ladder salivating and smelling the grapes which he cannot reach. The cover has the wolf confronting a crying lamb. The illustrations are again full-page and in color.

1950? Choix de Fables de la Fontaine 4. Présenté par Béatrice Mallet. Paperbound. Liége, Belgium: Editions Chagor. €38.50 from Abraxas-Libris, Bécherel, France, March, '09.

This fourth booklet in the series of four is another memorable squarish book, just over 8" and just less than 8" wide. Mallet's work is unique, and that quality makes the book memorable. In its 24 pages, six fables are illustrated: TH (3 illustrations plus the front cover); FC (1 illustration plus the back cover); "Le Laboreur et ses Enfants" (2 illustrations); TMCM (2 illustrations); TT (3 illustrations); and GGE (1 illustration). The illustrations are again full-page and in color. The front cover's illustration may be the best defined. The two illustrations for TMCM work very well together: the welcome to the city meal and the quick escape from the meal.

1950? Damals Sprachen die Tiere. Fabeln aus Bidpai, dem Buch der Weisheit, mit Holzschnitten aus dem Mittelalter. Für Kinder herausgegeben von Johanna Zimmermann. Munich: Parabel Verlag. $21.50 from David Morrison, Portland, July, '93.

A splendid find! Colored (fifteen) and black-and-white (fourteen) woodcuts alternate as the text works through twelve major fables. I think the colored woodcuts are wonderful! One of the twelve, "The Monkey and the Turtle" (10), includes another fable, "The Lion, the Fox, and the Ass." Two of the twelve each include two others: "The Hostility of the Animals" (30) includes both "The Bird, the Rabbit, and the Cat" and "The Snake and the Frog," while "The Crow and the Snake" (56) includes "The Bird and the Crab" and "The Bird, the Fish, the Dog, and the Snake." Different: other turtles call out to the flying turtle (28), and a clever bird tells the crab of the "danger" to the fish, and the crab relays the message to the fish themselves (58). Why should the deer be wounded in the woodcut on 51 for the story "The Friendship of the Animals" (42)? T of C on 5. Buch der Weisheit is from Lienhart Hollen in Ulm in 1483, according to the "Nachwort" on 64.

1950? Damals Sprachen die Tiere. Johanna Zimmermann. Illustrations taken from Buch der Weisheit. Hardbound. Berlin: Der Kinderbuchverlag. DM 29 from Berlin?, 08/01.

Here is the East German version of a book I had found earlier from Parabel Verlag in Munich. I will repeat what I wrote there. A splendid find! Colored (fifteen) and black-and-white (fourteen) woodcuts alternate as the text works through twelve major fables. I think the colored woodcuts are wonderful! One of the twelve, "The Monkey and the Turtle" (10), includes another fable, "The Lion, the Fox, and the Ass." Two of the twelve each include two others: "The Hostility of the Animals" (30) includes both "The Bird, the Rabbit, and the Cat" and "The Snake and the Frog," while "The Crow and the Snake" (56) includes "The Bird and the Crab" and "The Bird, the Fish, the Dog, and the Snake." Different: other turtles call out to the flying turtle (28), and a clever bird tells the crab of the "danger" to the fish, and the crab relays the message to the fish themselves (58). Why should the deer be wounded in the woodcut on 51 for the story "The Friendship of the Animals" (42)? T of C on 5. Buch der Weisheit is from Lienhart Hollen in Ulm in 1483, according to the "Nachwort" on 64.

1950? Deutsche Fabeln aus dem 16. und 18. Jahrhundert von Luther und Lessing. Bearbeitet und Herausgegeben von Dr. Jakob Szliska. Mit Bildern von Max Teschemacher. Hardbound. Kaiserslautern, Germany: Alfo Kunstdruck Verlag. DM 35 from Versand Antiquariat, Wörthsee, Germany, August, '00. 

Here is one of three books in uniform format from Alfo. The other two are Fabeln von La Fontaine and Fabeln nach Äsop. All have a canvas binding, colored paper covers with a colored illustration at the center, and 32 pages. Here a T of C at the beginning announces fourteen fables. Each fable has a two-page spread. On the left page is a fable from either Luther or Lessing, with a separate, highlighted moral at the end. For Lessing, this highlighted moral is a part of the fable itself. On the right is a frame of black-and-white designs above and below a colored illustration of the fable. The frames here play with the story in the manner of Rabier, as they do in the La Fontaine volume. I cannot understand the application under FM (7); is one man being invited in two different directions? For LS (8), Luther uses the proverb "Don't eat cherries with your masters; they throw the pits at you." The drawing underneath the picture shows the bringer of cherries being dismissed by the lord who eats them. I only now become aware of Lessing's development of the fable of the dying lion. The horse refuses to take revenge on an enemy that can no longer hurt him (12). I am also delighted with Lessing's development of the fable of the robbed miser. It is not just that he is poorer, but that someone else is that much richer (24)! The image for this fable is particularly well done.

1950? Deutsche Fabeln aus dem 16. und 18. Jahrhundert von Luther und Lessing. Bearbeitet und Herausgegeben von Dr. Jakob Szliska. Mit Bildern von Max Teschemacher. Hardbound. €7 from Antiquariat Heureka, Bad Staffelstein, Germany, Sept., '12.

Here is a curiosity. This book is exactly identical with another in the collection except for three differences. First, this copy has no title -- and in fact no words at all -- on its cover. Secondly, its title-page does not mention a publisher. Thirdly, the printer, Klinke, has moved from Mettlach to Saarbrücken. The volume to which it is so similar is in a series, and this book shares the characterisics of that series: a canvas binding, colored paper covers with a colored illustration at the center, and 32 pages. Here a T of C at the beginning announces fourteen fables. Each fable has a two-page spread. On the left page is a fable from either Luther or Lessing, with a separate, highlighted moral at the end. For Lessing, this highlighted moral is a part of the fable itself. On the right is a frame of black-and-white designs above and below a colored illustration of the fable. The frames here play with the story in the manner of Rabier, as they do in the La Fontaine volume. I cannot understand the application under FM (7); is one man being invited in two different directions? For LS (8), Luther uses the proverb "Don't eat cherries with your masters; they throw the pits at you." The drawing underneath the picture shows the bringer of cherries being dismissed by the lord who eats them. I only now become aware of Lessing's development of the fable of the dying lion. The horse refuses to take revenge on an enemy that can no longer hurt him (12). I am also delighted with Lessing's development of the fable of the robbed miser. It is not just that he is poorer, but that someone else is that much richer (24)! The image for this fable is particularly well done. 

1950? Douze Fables de Jean de la Fontaine Peintures dan la Salle à Manger du M.S. "Dalerdijk". Paperbound. Holland-America Line. $23.50 from info1b3u, Holland, through eBay, Sept., '09.

I thought I recognized this booklet when I found it. It turns out that I have it in English, not French, under the title The Twelve de la Fontaine Fables as Painted in the Dining Saloon M.V. "Dalerdijk." Let me adapt my comments from there: This pamphlet (4½" x 6½") contains a black-and-white illustration and a La Fontaine text in French for each of twelve fables. They include: FC, "Death and the Woodcutter," "The Two Bulls and the Frog," UP, "The Horse Seeking Vengeance on the Stag," GGE, MM, "The Two Cocks," "The Women and the Secret," "The Two Doves," "The Acorn and the Gourd," and 2W. The last illustration may be among the best. The illustrations are done in a late art deco style, like much of post-WWII Eastern European art.

1950? Douze Fables de la Fontaine (cover: Fables de la Fontaine).  Choisies et racontée aux petits par Berthe Renard.  Hardbound.  Paris: Collection du Jeune Age No. 1: Editions Etranco.  $10 from Donna Mungo, Tarpon Springs, FL, through Ebay, Nov., '17.

Here is a copy of a book already in the collection, but with one clear difference.  In this copy it is No. 1 in the series "Collection du Jeune Age," and the series has four members noted on the inside front-cover.  In that other copy, the series has nine members.  We have here then an earlier copy.  A portion of this booklet has lost its connection with the spine.  As I wrote of that later copy, I am tempted to date this book ten years earlier because of the French-German connection of a French publisher printing books in Germany.  The cover presents an engaging image of smiling animals grouped around King Lion.  Every other page is a strong colored illustration with a line or two of moral.  This is one of very few prose editions of La Fontaine's fables that I have seen.  Among the best illustrations are those showing the plaid sox of the fox in FC (7).  WL (9) sets the contrast well between the big hunter with pistol and knife in his belt and the skirted lamb with a bouquet in her hands.  The fox in fine jacket and vest in FG (21) only stands and looks up.

1950? Douze Fables de la Fontaine (Cover: Fables de la Fontaine). Choisies et racontée aux petits par Berthe Renard. Large pamphlet-format. Printed in Nuremberg. Paris: Collection du Jeune Age No. 1: Editions Etranco. $39.50 from Lee Stoltzfus, Lititz, PA, through Ebay, Sept., '99.

I am tempted to date this book ten years earlier because of the French-German connection of a French publisher printing books in Germany. The cover presents an engaging image of smiling animals grouped around King Lion. Every other page is a strong colored illustration with a line or two of moral. This is one of very few prose editions of La Fontaine's fables that I have seen. Among the best illustrations are those showing the plaid sox of the fox in FC (7). WL (9) sets the contrast well between the big hunter with pistol and knife in his belt and the skirted lamb with a bouquet in her hands. The fox in fine jacket and vest in FG (21) only stands and looks up. The book was originally sold by Joseph Gibert on the Boulevard St. Michel. A high price for a pamphlet book, but the illustrations make it worth it. They are lovely and well preserved.

1950? Einhundert Fabeln: Von der Antike bus zur Gegenwart. Bearbeitet von Karl Wilhelm Künz. Pamphlet. Hamburg: Hamburger Leseheft #118: Hamburger Lesehefte Verlag. DM 8,50 from Antiquariat Richart Kulbach, Heidelberg, July, '01.

This 72-page pamphlet is a jewel. It focusses very well on presenting one hundred fable texts for classroom study. Pages 68-69 give a bit of information about each fabulist, and 70-72 offer a very brief overview of fable. Other than the beginning T of C, this booklet then is all fables. They are very well chosen! They come from around the world but especially from Germany. I enjoyed trying five new fables. Poggio's #36 tells of a man who wanted to get out of the custom that, when one slaughters a pig in winter, he holds a feast for the whole town. He goes to an old man and asks him how to do it. The man answers "Just claim tomorrow morning that your pig has been stolen." That night the old man steals the fellow's pig. The next morning, the robbed man comes to the old man and tells him that he has been robbed. The old man congratulates him on making the claim well. The more urgently the fellow tries to tell the truth, the more the old fellow congratulates him on lying well. Greed and lying punish themselves. Lessing's #58 asks what one should say to poets whose texts seem to fly way over the heads of most of their readers. Perhaps we should say what the nightingale once said to the lark: "Do you fly so high in order not to be heard?" Seidel's #77 presents the toad who looks at a mole hill and says proudly "My, how huge the great wide world is!" Etzel's #83 presents a gnat who is about to bite a stag when the stag takes off in a hurry. The gnat, proud to be so feared, pursues the stag but does not notice the lion behind him pursuing the stag too. When the stag finally is caught in the branches of the forest and the lion pounces on him, the gnat tells the lion that he has the gnat to thank for this booty. The lion does not even glance at him. "The mighty know no gratefulness" the gnat says, and promises never again to hunt a stag. In Kafka's #85, a mouse has run into walls and then complains about the walls coming together in a corner where there is a trap. "Just change the direction in which you run" says a cat and eats her. Do not miss the seventeen versions of GA in #100.

1950? Esope, Le Bossu Phrygien.  Paperbound.  Paris: Damour, Mokalux.  $3.49 from libryon through Ebay, Sept., '20.   

This is a miniature (1¼" x 1¾") offering events from the life of Aesop.  The events are his purchase, his serving of tongue for all the courses at two dinners in a row, and his clever solution when his drunken master Xanthus bragged that he could drink the whole sea.  In his purchase, he followed a huge slave who answered to the question "What can you do?" by saying "Everything."  Aesop's answer to the same question was "Nothing!"  Asked why he said that, he responded that his fellow slave had already claimed everything, and so there was nothing left for Aesop.  The human tongue is the source of all that is finest and all that is worst.  At the harbor Aesop helped his master by pointing out that he claimed only to drink the sea, not all the rivers that poured into it.  The booklet is not only a "paperback."  It is such a weak-spined paperback that it has become virtually a set of loose pages!  These booklets were apparently giveaways offered by the several coffee-makers listed on the back cover.  Aesop gets around!

1950? Fabeln Asiatischer-Afrikanischer und Nordamerikanischer Völker. Bearbeitet und Herausgegeben von Dr. Jakob Szliska. Mit Bildern von Horst Kühnel. Hardbound. Saarbrücken, Germany: Band 9: Offsetdruckerei und Verlag Klinke & Co., GMBH. €5 from Antiquariat Heureka, Bad Staffelstein, Germany, Sept., '12.

This book is uniform in series with several others I have but they seem to have different bibliographical data, including publisher: Alfo Kunstdruck Verlag in Kaiserslautern. This book has the same canvas binding and the same striped cover format with a picture at the center. Like them, it has 32 pages. There is a beginning T of C with titles for the fourteen fables. Sources are given on the book's last page. The color work for the fables here is simple and pleasing. Each fable's text is on the left-hand page with a colored illustration on the right-hand page. Above and below the colored illustration are engaging and even humorous sketches of different phases of the fable. Familiar to me among these engaging tales are "Der kranke Löwe" (12); "Der stolze Schmetterling" (18); and "Der Hahn" (22). The illustration for the latter is typically well done: the rooster teaches the jackal to pray. When the former gets the latter to shut his eyes, he flies away. "Der Waldwolf und der Steppenwolf" (28) is an American Indian tale describing how the wolf and dog parted ways as enemy and friend of human beings. 

1950? Fabeln aus Spanien-Italien und Russland. Bearbeitet und Herausgegeben von Dr. Jakob Szliska. Mit Bildern von Elsa Schnell-Dittmann. Hardbound. Saarbrücken, Germany: Band 7: Offsetdruckerei und Verlag Klinke & Co., GMBH. €9 from Wirtwein, Heidelberg, August, '12.

This book belongs to one series that seems a variation of another series. This series is published by Klinke and I now have volumes 6 through 10. This series includes Neuere Deutsche Fabeln and others. The other series is published by Alfo Kunstdruck Verlag in Kaiserslautern and includes Deutsche Fabeln aus dem 16. und 18. Jahrhundert von Luther und Lessing and others. There is even a third series of two books identical with Alfo editions but lacking notice of a publisher. All three types have the same canvas binding and the same striped cover format with a picture at the center. Volumes in all have 32 pages and fourteen fables. The editor remains the same for all, but illustrators vary within and among the series. In fact, this copy has a gray band apparently pasted on its pink cover; the band announces "Mit Bildern von Elsa Schnell-Dittmann." She is not mentioned inside the volume. Might this band be covering indication of a different illustrator? There is a T of C at the beginning. The color work for the fourteen fables here is simple and pleasing. Each fable's text is on the left-hand page with a colored illustration on the right-hand page. Below each colored illustration is a simple sketch of a different phase of the fable. The cover illustration, repeated on 21, may be among the best. It presents Leonardo's "The Rock." A rock works itself loose from its cliff in order to find the big world down on the road. There it gets stepped upon and ridden over -- and begins to long to be back where it was. Thus many leave the pleasant life of the countryside to live in the city. A table at the book's end reveals the authors of each fable. Two come from Juan Manuel, three from Felix Maria de Samaniego, two from Tomas Iriarte, one from Ramon de Campoamor, and one each from Leonardo da Vinci, Clemente Bondi, Aurelio de Giorg Bertola, Gherardo de Rossi, Ivan Krylov, and Ivan Turgenev. Rossi's "The Horse and the Fox" is new to me. The horse beats the bull in a race, and everyone except the fox praises the horse. "I will wait until he beats the stag." 

1950? Fabeln der Orientalischen Völker. Bearbeitet und herausgegeben von Dr. Jakob Szliska. Mit Bildern von Horst Kühnel. Hardbound. Saarbrücken, Germany: Band 8: Offsetdruckerei und Verlag Klinke & Co., GMBH. €7 from Antiquariat Heureka, Bad Staffelstein, Germany, Sept., '12.

This book is uniform in series with several others I have but they seem to have different bibliographical data, including publisher: Alfo Kunstdruck Verlag in Kaiserslautern. This book has the same canvas binding and the same striped cover format with a picture at the center. Like them, it has 32 pages. There is a beginning T of C with titles for the fourteen fables. Sources are given on the book's last page: Hitopadesa, midrash of Qoheleth, KD, Lokman, and Saadi. The color work for the fables here is simple and pleasing. Each fable's text is on the left-hand page with a colored illustration on the right-hand page. Above and below the colored illustration are engaging and even humorous sketches of different phases of the fable. New to me and delightful is "Krähe und Flamingo" (6). Familiar Panchatantra fables include "Löwe und Hase" (4) and TT (16). Lokman's fables are standard Aesopic tales. Here a Black, named "Ein Mohr," tries to make himself white with snow (20). The moral: an evil person can seduce a good one, but a good person cannot change an evil person. "Vom Leichtsinnigen Affen" (10) tells the story of "the lower part of his body" of an ape who removed a wedge from freshly divided wood. The illustration interprets this expression more broadly than the text would demand, I believe. Do not miss the sketch below of the dead ape being carried away by weeping Red Cross apes. The story of the lion, cat, and mouse (12) illustrates well that the servant should not remove the issues that bother his master. For the cat kept the mane-eating mouse away from the lion; once the mouse died, the lion let the cat die too. Both of Saadi's stories condemn the pursuit of wealth.

1950? Fabeln nach Äsop. Bearbeitet und Herausgegeben von Dr. Jakob Szliska. Mit Bildern von Max Teschemacher. Hardbound. Kaiserslautern, Germany: Alfo Kunstdruck Verlag. DM 35 from Versand Antiquariat, Wörthsee, Germany, August, '00. 

Here is one of three books in uniform format from Alfo. The other two are Fabeln von La Fontaine and Deutsche Fabeln aus dem 16. und 18. Jahrhundert. All have a canvas binding, colored paper covers with a colored illustration at the center, and 32 pages. Here a T of C at the beginning announces fourteen fables. Each fable has a two-page spread. On the left page is a prose fable after Aesop, with a separate, highlighted moral at the end. On the right is a frame of black-and-white designs above and below a colored illustration of the fable. The frames here play less than they do in "Fabeln von La Fontaine," but they are still engaging and delightful. Often they present "before or after" material, as on 19, where an eagle carries off a lamb above and children play with a crow below. This page also presents an excellent coordination of the black-and-white mountain tops with their lower sections in the colored picture. The colored pictures here may be more engaging than those in the La Fontaine volume. The distressed owner being "charmed" by the ass on 5 is well depicted. The illustration for "The Lion and the Man" here shows a drastic result. The lion invited the man to an open place to show him the answer to the tombstone depicting a man overcoming a lion. What we see is the lion standing over a dead and bloody man (13). The full complement of three pictures is well done for the "Chanticleer" story on 17.

1950? Fabeln nach Äsop. Bearbeitet und Herausgegeben von Dr. Jakob Szliska. Mit Bildern von Max Teschemacher. Hardbound. €7 from Antiquariat Heureka, Bad Staffelstein, Germany, Sept., '12.

Here is a curiosity. This book is perfectly identical with another in the collection except for two differences. First, this copy does not stipulate "Alfo Kunstdruck Verlag" on its title-page. That is particularly curious because no publisher is stipulated anywhere. Like the books in the Alfo Kunstdruck Verlag, this book has a canvas binding, colored paper covers with a colored illustration at the center, and 32 pages. Secondly, this copy lacks pagination. From here on, I will repeat my description of that book. A T of C at the beginning announces fourteen fables. Each fable has a two-page spread. On the left page is a prose fable after Aesop, with a separate, highlighted moral at the end. On the right is a frame of black-and-white designs above and below a colored illustration of the fable. The frames here play less than they do in "Fabeln von La Fontaine," but they are still engaging and delightful. Often they present "before or after" material, as on 19, where an eagle carries off a lamb above and children play with a crow below. This page also presents an excellent coordination of the black-and-white mountain tops with their lower sections in the colored picture. The colored pictures here may be more engaging than those in the La Fontaine volume. The distressed owner being "charmed" by the ass on 5 is well depicted. The illustration for "The Lion and the Man" here shows a drastic result. The lion invited the man to an open place to show him the answer to the tombstone depicting a man overcoming a lion. What we see is the lion standing over a dead and bloody man (13). The full complement of three pictures is well done for the "Chanticleer" story on 17. 

1950? Fabeln von La Fontaine. Mit Bildern von Max Teschemacher. Hardbound. Kaiserslautern, Germany: Alfo Kunstdruck Verlag. DM 20 from Christoph Eger, Geisenheim, Germany, through eBay, September, '00. 

Here is one of three books in uniform format from Alfo. The other two are Fabeln nach Äsop and Deutsche Fabeln aus dem 16. und 18. Jahrhundert. All have a canvas binding, colored paper covers with a colored illustration at the center, and 32 pages. Here a T of C at the beginning announces fourteen fables. Each fable has a two-page spread. On the left page is a verse rendition of La Fontaine. On the right is a frame of black-and-white designs above and below a colored illustration of the fable. The frame material above and below is like the work of Benjamin Rabier: playful, distorted, funny. Thus for the "acorn and pumpkin" philosopher of the first fable, we find a huge pumpkin virtually burying his face. We find rain coming down on the dog forced out of his home, but no rain coming down on the bitch who dispossessed him with her brood (11). For SS, we find two beasts and their owner all streaming water down onto the ground (29). The ox laughing at the frog on 31 looks like he has been copied straight out of Rabier. The colored pictures insides the frames are good but less spirited. Perhaps the best of them shows the horse kicking the "doctor" wolf who was going to heal his hoof (21).

1950? Fables. Devised by Powell Perry. Illustrated by Robert P. Hymers. Paperbound. A Perry Colour Book: $37.70 from Polsue Books, Cornwall, UK, through ABE, June, '05.

This is a large (8½" x 7¼") pamphlet of 12 pages offering nine fables with a distinctive set of illustrations. The cover image of two mice walking along gives a good example. The images seem to work with four colors: orange black, green, and blue. Notice how they work in the title on the cover. Only TMCM gets more than a page. It is at the centerfold, in fact, and it offers several good images of the contrasting mice first pictured on the cover. I find almost no information about the background of this book.

1950? Fables (Hebrew). Compiler: Z. Beharav. Illustrator: Helen Zar. Hardbound. Tel Aviv: Izrael Publishing House Ltd.. $35.99 from C. Karlinsky, Jerusalem, through eBay, Sept., '05.

Here is a curiosity. This book has 128 pages that seem close to mimeograph quality in their mix of cartoon characters and contemporary Hebrew texts. Interspersed with these numbered pages are full-page sepia illustrations. The covers are marbled brown boards, with a canvas spine. I count some one-hundred-and-ten fables. The full-page sepia illustrations include "The Elephant and the Pug" (4; the text seems to be on 16); BF (32); "The Hares and the Frogs" (48); "The Porcupine and the Snakes" (64); "The Fox and the Eagle" (80); BW (96); "The Woodcutter Asking the Forest for an Axe-Handle" (104); and "The Ass and the Ox" (112). Plenty of familiar fables are recognizable from the illustrations, like FC (7); MSA (11); "The Swan, the Pike, and the Lobster" (15); TH (18-19); and "The Blind Men and the Elephant (40-41. In fact, there are only a few fables here that are not readily recognizable. I enjoy particularly the figure that retrieves the woodcutter's axe from the river on 23: is this a god, a whirlwind, or a dervish? Another good set of illustrations shows the malicious cat gossiping with the eagle on 42 and with the pig on 43. Again here, as in another recent book of Jewish fables, the stork or crane is matched not with a wolf but with a lion (52). Here is a rare find, presumably from the beginnings of publishing in post-World War II Israel.

1950? Fables choisies de Florian et d'Esope. Hardbound. $9.16 from Les Chants de Maldoror, Romedenne, Belgium, through abe, Nov., '05. 

This book is largely internally identical with another, which I have listed under "1950?" as "Fables de Florian." It was published by Vias, Protin & Vuidar in Spain. This copy has a fox and a dog on its cover, and it acknowledges both Florian and Aesop on the cover. This is a puzzling publication because it combines two books with minimal integration. That minimum lies in the cover that announces both. One opens to "Fables de Florian." After a number of pages, there is an abrupt "Fables d'Esope." Often enough here, each fable gets its own page. The titles of the fables are done in a a kind of script that seems partially italic and partially handwritten. It also has something against capital letters. Every few pages there is a full-page illustration that uses several colors. I am increasingly sure that I have seen these illustrations before. Most dramatic of the colored illustrations for Florian is the monkey hawking his circus act before the animals. The act will be with the magic lantern. One of the most pleasing illustrations is the full-page polychrome illustration of Renard preaching, with spectacles and all. The "Imprimé en Belgique" notice stands at the end of both books. The title-page for "Fables d'Esope" has a hedgehog playing something like a clarinet as he is carried on the back of a rooster. It sometimes happens in either book that an illustration will just precede its story. The book has a canvas binding.

1950? Fables Choisies de La Fontaine. Illustrations apparently by F. Zaucher. Paperbound. Chatellerault, France: Les Éditions René Touret. €7 from Librairie Bailly, Marché Dauphine, Paris, Dec., '04. 

This is a brochure of ten pages, starting from the front inside-cover and reaching to the back inside-cover. As with Zaucher's other work, Recueil de Fables de La Fontaine (1950?), there is a curious alternation of colored pages roughly in the style of Rabier and of duochrome pages using orange and black pigments. Here the cover presents a good compilation of stories, including MM, TH, OF; the whole is marred slightly by some white crayoning. Is this the same composite picture I noted in that other edition? Inside we find TH, "Le Loup devenu Berger," MM, BF, GGE, OF, and GA. The first full-color illustration goes to TH and features pictures of a seated bunny pulling petals off of a flower and of a tortoise standing expectantly with an arm around the finishing pole marked by two radishes. Further full-color illustrations include a two-page spread for MM and one page for OF. There is one last smaller image of MM on the back cover. I think I will be finding more of these heavy-paper, large-format pamphlets of La Fontaine every time I get back to Paris. A number of them seem to have been done by Touret. This one has a small mark at the lower left on the front cover: "Série 21 No. 4 G."

1950? Fables de Florian. Paperbound. Liège: Editions Bias; Protin & Vuidar, s.a. €20 from a bouquiniste along the Seine, Paris, Dec., '04. 

This is actually two 32-page books put together, each with its own pagination. The binding seems to be staples and canvas. The fables of Florian are presented in a surprising manner, in that a reader is never quite sure what is coming next; it may be a simple text, a full-page illustration, or a design. Pagination begins with the title-page, which includes a simple illustration of a rabbit and a duck. One of the first full-page illustrations, which includes several colors, occurs before its story, so that one needs to turn the page to find the story. This is "The Blind Man and the Paralytic" (13-15). Next comes a two-page illustration for "Magic Lantern," followed by its text. The first volume ends with "The Cat and the Rats," first text and then, on a new page facing the beginning of Volume II, a full-page illustration of several colors. The two-page illustration at the center of the second volume is "The Two Lions." The illustration for "The Leopard and the Squirrel" (23) is the final page (32)! If I were more excited about the fables of Florian, I might be more excited about the simple illustrations here. The best of them is perhaps the cover's scene of handing out bags of money. I presume that it fits with "Le bonhomme et le trésor" (2 in the second volume). The back cover labels this as "Editions Bias No. 4850."

1950? Fables de Florian.  Paperbound.  Paris: Editions Bias.  €15 from Van der Elst, Brussels, August, '19.

This 32-page pamphlet is identical with the first half of a book of the same title already in the collection published by Bias and Protin et Vuidar in Liège.  It is hard to tie the front cover's illustration to a particular fable in this booklet.  It features a mule, cow, and horse in the foreground and three travelling men in the background.  As in the larger book, whose cover shows the handing out of money, the fables of Florian are presented in a surprising manner, in that a reader is never quite sure what is coming next; it may be a simple text, a full-page illustration, or a design.  Pagination begins with the title-page, which includes a simple illustration of a rabbit and a duck.  One of the first full-page illustrations, which includes several colors, occurs before its story, so that one needs to turn the page to find the story.  This is "The Blind Man and the Paralytic" (13-15).  Next comes a two-page illustration for "Magic Lantern," followed by its text.  The first volume ends with "The Cat and the Rats," first text and then, on the last page, a full-page illustration of this fable using several colors.  The back cover labels this as " No. 581" and lists Protin et Vuidar in Liege as the printers, not the publishers.

1950? Fables de La Fontaine. Avec des gravures sur bois de Virgil Solis. Pandora. Leipzig: Insel-Verlag. Gift of Anthony Garnett priced at $7.50, March, '95.

Three things distinguish this collection of fables: (1) their organization into eighteen categories (and two "intermèdes") by animal groupings; (2) the eight small but lovely Solis woodcuts (6, 51, 57, 58, 73, 84, 90, 92); and (3) the publication of French language fables in Germany. There is a T of C after 97.

1950? Fables de La Fontaine.  Virgil Solis.  Leipzig: Pandora: Insel-Verlag.  €11.90 from Behnkebuch, Neu Kaliss, Germany, April, '20.

Here is a curiosity.  This book is identical with the one I bought 25 years earlier -- except that the design of the cover is different.  Did the publisher run out of one pattern and substitute another?  As I wrote there, three things distinguish this collection of fables:  (1) their organization into eighteen categories (and two "intermèdes") by animal groupings; (2) the eight small but lovely Solis woodcuts (6, 51, 57, 58, 73, 84, 90, 92); and (3) the publication of French language fables in Germany.  There is a T of C after 97.

1950? Fables de La Fontaine. Illustrations de Béatrice Mallet. Printed in Belgium. Liège: S.I.R.E.C. £8.5 from Christine Stone, Lasarde, Bourlens, France, August, '03.

This is a large-format pamphlet of twenty-four pages. For the nine fables that are here, there are eight black-and-white illustrations and two colored illustrations. They are playful children's illustrations. Perhaps the best two are the colored illustrations for "Le Savetier et le Financier" (12-13). I recognize Mallet from the two "Keur van Fabels van La Fontaine" volumes I have listed under "1948?".

1950? Fables de la Fontaine. Paperbound. € 8.50 from Samuel Princelle, France, through eBay, Dec., '05. 

Here is a quintessentially ephemeral pamphlet! It is crumbling in my hand. Its cover pictures a donkey weeping. Does it ever become clear why he is weeping? This large-format book admits no illustrator, date, place, or publisher. Its spine is giving way, and the covers are torn. Many of the pages inside have monochrome illustrations. Some reader has added his or her own colorings at various points and with various levels of skill. One of the major glories of this collection is to snatch objects like this from destruction! On the title-page, the unsuspecting hare and weasel approach the happy cat. Every page has the same pair of border-columns displaying nine animals each. Sometimes these columns are colored in monochrome, sometimes not. The order of fables seems to be hopelessly confused here. "Les Voleurs et l'Ane" seems to be interrupted by MSA and then to continue. MSA is announced and begun only some pages later. FK suffers the same fate of being split up into pieces. It may, however, provide the most dramatic illustration, namely of the stork devouring a frog. Another strong illustration features the crow rejected by crows after he has tried to be a peacock. The final image, of the cat capturing the two litigants pictured on the title-page, is very dramatic.

1950? Fables de La Fontaine.  Illustrators: LeRallic, Thomen, F. Zaucher.  Softbound.  Liege: Série 22 - Fables:  Imprimerie Gordinne?  $25 from Penny Allsop, London, Oct., '06.

This is one of several publications probably stemming from Gordinne, a publication house that existed between 1935 and 1950.  I would enjoy sometime looking through them all together.  For this publication, I have learned that an illustrator whose signature I have earlier misunderstood is really Etienne LeRallic.  In this 10" x 12½" publication with a deteriorating canvas binding, there are four 12-page segments with a regular format: first page with a multi-story image inside a colored frame and a last page with a single colored image.  Inside are several stories including multiple illustrations.  Some of them, surprisingly, are fully colored.  Others are duochrome.  The cover of the whole booklet is a bonanza of colored images brought together: FG; FC; MSA; "Wolf as Shepherd"; "Cobbler and Financier"; TH; "Heron"; and FS.  The back cover is plain.  The four "title-pages" combine a number of images.  The first two booklets are illustrated entirely by Etienne LeRallic.   The third segment is completely the work of "THomen" or perhaps "Theomen."  I can find no clue to this artist.  The fourth segment is entirely by a J. Zaucher (?), again not mentioned in the Gordinne article on Wikipedia.fr.  This fourth "title-page" is subtler, but various fables are still to be found around the dominating figure of the milkmaid.  This book has a number of similarities with others in the family of Gordinne.  I am lucky to have found so many publications in this one family.  This book belongs to "Série 22 - Fables."

1950? Fables de La Fontaine.  Illustrated by (Raoul) Thomen.  Paperbound.  Liege: Série No 21 3 G:  Les Éditions René Touret.  $15 from Paris, August, '17.

This large-format (10" x 12¾") pamphlet of twelve pages -- with two staples in the middle pages -- is exactly the third of four segments in the larger work of the same size by Gordinne (?) about the same time titled "Fables Choisies de La Fontaine.".  The surprise here is that the publisher is not Gordinne but Les Éditions René Touret.  As I wrote there, I would love to have a chance to gather the various similar and related publications of fables around 1950 in the same family.  As I wrote there, the illustrations here are the work of, I believe, Raoul Thomen, who died in 1950.  A collective image on the cover presents the lion harassed by a mosquito, FG, MSA, TMCM, and perhaps a combined image of a hare and an ass.  It closes with a dramatic image on the back cover of FG.  Inside is a combination of duochrome and colored images for "The Animals Sick from the Plague"; two pages of duochrome images for MSA; a two-page spread of a colored image for "The Lion and the Mosquito," two pages of duochrome for FG and TMCM, a colored page for "The Worker and His Sons," and a duochrome page for LM.

1950? Fables de La Fontaine (cover: La Fontaine: Choix de Fables).  Illustrations by Romain Simon.  Hardbound.  Paris: Librairie Gedalge.  $28 from Walnut Valley Books/Books by White, Winfield, KS, through Abe, May, '20.

Our collection already contains 32 versions of books illustrated by Romain Simon.  When I saw this book advertised, I checked twice, thinking "We must already have it."  We did not.  Perhaps it is rather rare.  The only copy I could find on the web is the copy we just bought!  It presents 44 fables on some 93 pages, with a T of C at the end.  Every fable has at least one black-and-white illustration.  The size of these illustrations varies.  Besides, there are six full-page colored illustrations.  They include "La Fontaine Among the Animals" (frontispiece); TB (facing 28); "Lion, Wolf, and Fox" (facing 42); "Ass and Dog" (facing 56); TH (facing 61); and "Wolf as Shepherd" (facing 88).  The visual presentation of TB is unusual.  One companion holding a gun is running away from the bear.  The other, in the black-and-white illustration, is propping himself up on the ground.  Not in Bodemann.  One title-page contains the note "17e Série."  As the dealer notes, "Tan toned boards and spine with gilt lettering on spine and brown picture of fox on front board. Marbled end papers."

1950? Fables de La Fontaine (cover: La Fontaine: Choix de Fables).  Romain Simon.  Hardbound.  Paris: Librairie Gedalge.  $22.40 from Belle lurette through Ebay, May, '23.

Our collection already contains 33 versions of books illustrated by Romain Simon.  When I saw this book advertised, I checked twice, thinking "We must already have it."  We did have it, but I did not remember this cover.  Our previous copy has a design of a fox on its cream-colored board cover.  That book seems better put together.  This copy has for its front cover embossed red boards with a picture of the ass climbing on its owner.  I will include remarks made on the earlier copy.  It presents 44 fables on some 93 pages, with a T of C at the end.  Every fable has at least one black-and-white illustration.  The size of these illustrations varies.  This copy lacks the six full-page colored illustrations; it looks as though they were systematically removed.  Not in Bodemann.  One title-page contains the note "17e Série."

1950? Fables de La Fontaine: Le Lion et Le Rat.  Jean de La Fontaine.  Illustrations de J. Liozu.  Paperbound.  Paris: Librairie Gründ.  $23.76 from le-livre, Baron, France, through abe, July, '14. 

Here is an oversized (9½" x 11¾ ") two-staple pamphlet of sixteen pages offering eight fables: LM; AD; "The Wolf and the Fox and the Well"; "Two Goats"; TT; FK; "The Wolf and the Fox Pleading Before the Monkey"; and "The Old Man and His Children."  The pamphlet belongs to a genre that I associate with the name of the publisher Gordinne in Belgium.  Among Liozu's illustrations, I would give the prize to the colored cover illustration of "Two Goats."  AD and TT get full-page black-and-white illustrations, the latter of people fearing the falling tortoise.  There are also partial-page line-drawings for LM, TT, and FK.  There is significant water damage along the spine.  Liozu seems to have been active as an artist for ephemeral books between 1945 and 1950.  I am happy that this collection can save a fragile ephemeral object like this pamphlet!

1950? Fables de La Fontaine: 2me Série.  Canvas bound.  Paris/Tournai: Éditions Casterman.  €5$ from Evasion, Strasbourg, July, '19.

Six fables on fourteen pages enclosed by canvas and illustrated boards.  FG is on both covers: colored on the front and blue monochrome on the back.  Inside the distinguishing characteristic of this illustration style is the light lime-colored background for the six monochrome designs.  Of these, the FG design matches that on the back cover, while the front cover's fox rests his paws on a fence beneath the grapes.  The face of the lion on 13 is less than successful.  Of course "2me Série" makes me want to find the first series.  Trying to find data on the date of this publication can take a researcher on a long trip through Casterman's history, which began in 1790.  Casterman has published a number of fine La Fontaine editions over the past few generations.

1950? Fables from Aesop And Others. Translation of Sir Roger L'Estrange. Blackie's English Texts, Edited by W.H.D. Rouse. London: Blackie & Son. Gift of Jim Ciletti, Aamstar Books, Colorado Springs, May, '94.

A small book with oilcloth covers, with a green and gray pastoral illustration on the front cover. Otherwise unillustrated. The life of Aesop, which takes up the first forty pages, seems only slightly revised and expurgated. Some 155 of L'Estrange's fables are chosen; to judge from my best L'Estrange source, Gooden (1992), the fable renditions are faithful to L'Estrange, except that they do not present morals or reflections. What a wonderful little gift!

1950? Fábulas en Verso Castellano para las Escuelas de Instruccion Primaria. Por Félix María Samaniego. Cover illustration signed "Fortunato Julian." Canvas bound. Burgos: Hijos de Santiago Rodríguez. £3.50 from Quinto, London, June, '02.

This is a tidy little canvas-bound primary school book of 172 pages. A T of C at the end indicates the fables here in nine books. There are occasional designs before and after the fables. The lively cover in gold, red, blue, and green features a butterfly, snail, and rose. It at least is signed by Fortunato Julian, who may also have done the interior designs.

1950? Fábulas Escogidas de Esopo.  Illustrations by José Langoria.  Canvas-bound.  Barcelona: Editorial Maucci.  $34 from girlbookseller75 on Ebay, July, '23.

46 pages.  6½ " x 9¼".  Each fable has at least one duochrome illustration in black and tan.  Each also has a capitalized moral at the end.  One or two fables per page.  The illustrations seem to me to be reflective of the texts.  Among the best might be CP (24); DS (27); "El Toro y el Raton" (31), in which the rat waves a smaller version of a bullfighter's cape; and "De los Cuatro Buyes" (46), usually told of a lion dividing a group of bulls.  There are also beautiful endpapers, showing a silhouette of Aesop walking with a large gathering of animals.

1950? Fábulas: Esopo, Fedro, Samaniego, Iriarte.  Illustrated by C(arlos) Becquer.  Paperbound.  Barcelona: Editorial Miguel A. Salvatella.  €60 from St. Andre flea market, Barcelona, July, '24.

Fable books were hard to find in Barcelona.  I was surprised to come across this at the Sunday morning flea market -- and even more surprised to see the €60 price tag!  This is a dust-jacketed paperbound book of some 121 pages with a T of C at the end.  It is divided into segments for Aesop, Phaedrus, Samaniego, and Iriarte.  Each page features a block of yellow and black.  Print and image are included in the block, with illustrations well arranged around the text.  Every fable starts a new page.  Samaniego offers "La Hermosa y el Espejo" (84-85).  A beautiful woman cannot stand what the mirror reveals to her.  If you look to your friends only to commend your good qualities, who will show you what you need to correct?  Iriarte, as expected, is mostly answering critics and competitors.  In "La Rana y la Galllina" (104), he has this good moral: "He who makes something may be silent about it; he who makes nothing has to be silent."  Perhaps the strongest illustration is of the cat-like bride seizing the mouse on 67.  Also good is the monkey hanging in the butcher's shop (38).  I think the vendor knew how desperate I was to find worthy things in Spanish.  The book is marked €30 on its title page, but it was wrapped in cellophane that said clearly "€60."  I think I just found a copy online for €9!  6" x 8½". 

1950? Goldie the Goose That Laid the Golden Egg. Story by Edith Berbach. Drawings by M. Smith. Pop-up. Cincinnati: An Action Book: Artcraft Paper Products. $35 from Antique Junction Mall, Pacific Junction, IA, July, '98. Extra copies for $35 from Snowbound Books, Norridgewock, ME, at Rosslyn Book Fair, March, '92, and for $7.50, April, '96.

Mother Goose tells her goslings the story of Auntie Goldie and Farmer Brown. Though the art has him throwing away the hatchet, the written version has him killing her. A nice simple pop-up book, in the same series as The Lion and the Mouse Join the Circus (1950?). The original price was $.35.

1950? Hundert Fabeln für Kinder. Stories by W. Hey, not acknowledged. In Bildern Gezeichnet von Otto Speckter. 2.--11. Tausend. Hardbound. Braunschweig/Berlin/Hamburg: Georg Westermann. DM 24 from Bücherwurm Antiquariat, Heidelberg, August, '01. 

This is a stripped-down edition of the Hey/Speckter tradition. Hey is not mentioned. After a simple title-page, a single page lists all one hundred fables in two columns. "Rabe" then begins on 1, and "Kalb und Hund" finishes on 100. The texts seem to be the standard Hey texts throughout. The illustrations seem identical with those in the "1920?" Insel edition. Thus the crow of the first fable looks right but the image has a less extensive background than that found, e.g., in the Perthes Schul-Ausgabe under "1845?". The snowman on 3 stands up straight and is attacked by three children, but he has less of a scowl and more of a belt than the snowman in that Perthes edition. The script is Roman throughout. The book has marbled covers with a canvas binding. The paper is quite brittle. Not in Bodemann.

1950? Hundert Fabeln für Kinder. Wilhelm Hey. In Bildern Gezeichnet von Otto Speckter. 12.-67. Tausend. Paperbound. Braunschweig/Berlin/Hamburg: Georg Westermann. DM 6 from Talstrasse, Leipzig, August, '99. 

This is almost exactly a paperbound version of the hardbound, canvas-spined book I have listed under the same year by the same publisher. I find only four differences between the two books. The first difference is that between hardbound and paperback. The second lies in this edition's mention of Wilhelm Hey as author on the title-page, although he is not mentioned on the book's cover. The third difference lies in the clarity of the illustrations, which is far inferior in this edition. The illustrations here are over-inked, dark, and heavy. Might that have to do with the number of books printed? For the fourth difference lies in the notice that this printing started after eleven thousand books had been printed and went until sixty-seven thousand were printed, whereas the hardbound book is among the first eleven thousand. Let me mention at least some of my comments from that edition. After a simple title-page, a single page lists all one hundred fables in two columns. "Rabe" then begins on 1, and "Kalb und Hund" finishes on 100. The texts seem to be the standard Hey texts throughout. These illustrations seem identical with those in the "1920?" Insel edition. Thus the crow of the first fable looks right but the image has a less extensive background than that found, e.g., in the Perthes Schul-Ausgabe under "1845?". The snowman on 3 stands up straight and is attacked by three children, but he has less of a scowl and more of a belt than the snowman in that Perthes edition. The script is Roman throughout. Not in Bodemann.

1950? Jean de La Fontaine présente...Maitre Corbeau.  Paris: Edition de L'Office Central de l'Imagerie.  $10 from Nicholas Gulotta, Sharon, WI, through eBay, June, '14.  

Here is an ingenious piece of ephemera.  One opens a brochure somewhat smaller than 10" x 4".  As one opens, scenes open and succeed each other, each with a portion of La Fontaine's "Fox and Crow" on a facing text page.  There are two double panels, five single panels, and a final double panel.  The first double panel opens a curtain on a crow with a piece of cheese perched in a tree.  The second double panel first shows a fox approaching and then, as one opens further, shows him beneath the crow.  The first single panel has the crow holding the cheese high.  In the next, the cheese is out of the crow's beak, and the tongue is out of the fox's mouth!  The next panel shows tears -- or saliva? -- falling from the crow.  One more panel shows the fox holding the cheese below an expressionless crow.  In the final single panel, the fox is exiting, and the crow seems to be reading a bible on his branch.  The last double panel provides a curtain call for the two characters.  The fun lies in folding open one panel at a time and finding the appropriate verses and scene.  Lovely use of red, brown, black, and green.  I am not sure whether to list this lovely piece as a book or a brochure, so I will do both!

1950? La Fontaine: Fables. Notes by Edmond Pilon & Fernand Dauphin. Hardbound. Paris: Éditions Garnier Frères. $5 from Miriam Barnett, Rose Valley, PA, June, '03.

This sturdy hardbound book is about as standard as it gets. The pleasant additions here to the usual book of La Fontaine's fables include a reproduction of Chauveau's WC on the orange cloth cover and eight full-page black-and-white illustrations before the frontispiece and title-page. There are of course notes at the back, a life of La Fontaine, and an Avant-Propos. I am not sure as I write when or why I bought this book.

1950? La Fontaine: Fables Choisies, Volume I. Paperbound. Great Neck, NY: Graded Recorded Aids with Texts for More Effective Teaching and Learning: Goldsmith's Music Shop Language Department. $.49 from BargainsOutlet, Brooklyn, NY, through eBay, Oct., '06.

Here is the simplest of materials: a 21-page pamphlet, 5½" x 8½" in size, containing twenty-five of La Fontaine's fables. The pages are typewritten and apparently mimeographed or offset. The back cover advertises the other three volumes in the series of La Fontaine's fables. There are no surprises here, at least none that I can uncover.

1950? Le Renard et le Corbeau.  Paperbound.  Paris: 5me Série: Ancienne Maison Quantin.  €10 from St. Ouen flea market, Paris, August, '15.

This 4¾" x 6½" pamphlet is a song version of FC with a one-page musical score, followed by alternating pairs of pages.  The first, third and fifth pair present colored full-page illustrations of the chronology of the story.  The second and fourth pair present text of the following verses of the song, which runs on to a thirteenth verse.  The last page presents a moral.  In this version of the story, the crow keeps climbing higher up, branch to branch.  I cannot understand how the crow can talk extensively with the cheese in his beak before singing and thus losing the cheese.  The moral is "Don't love cheese too much or talk while you are eating"!  Quantin advertises on the last page seven full series of booklets like this one.  This present volume is the only fable in the whole group.

1950? Le singe et Le chat.  Jean de La Fontaine.  Paperbound.  $25 from Sedlak, Haifa, Israel, Dec., '08.

Here is a curious find rediscovered eight years after I purchased it.  I do not know if it should be considered a book.  On a stiff board cover one finds a drawing -- hand drawing or printed? -- of a cat sitting angrily near a fireplace with a monkey seated nearby on a table enjoying a chestnut.  Inside is, on one page,  a carefully written text of La Fontaine's fable in French cursive, along with the attribution to La Fontaine.  I wish I could discover more and may still as I go through old notes and receipts.

1950? Les Fables de Florian. Illustrées par J.A. Dupuich. Canvas bound. Tourcoing: Editions Enfantines: Artima. €25 from Russian woman at St.-Ouen Book Flea Market, July, '09.

I tried a quick search to see when Artima flourished. Apparently in 1952 it became a major publisher of comics, "Bandes Dessinées." J.A. Dupuich even did some art work for at least one of these. I am guessing that this volume comes from the earlier years, between Artima's founding in 1943 and its comics years. This is a particularly clean large-format book of 32 pages. The title-page, like the cover, gives a visualization of the fables that appear here. The fables include: "Flying Fish"; "The Monkey and the Magic Lantern"; "The Young Man and the Old Man"; "The Dog and the Cat"; "The Child and the Mirror"; "The Nightingale and the Prince"; ""Ape, Monkey, and Nut"; "Le Vacher et le Garde-Chasse"; "The Cricket"; "The Two Cats"; "The Blind and the Lame"; "The White Elephant"; "The Cat and the Rats"; and "The Two Travellers." Good selection of fables and spirited illustrations. The illustrations for "Dog and Cat" are a good, lively example of the enjoyable illustrations here (10-11). Canvas binding.

1950? Les Fables de Florian.  Illustrées par J.A. Dupuich.  Canvas bound.  Tourcoing: Editions Enfantines: Artima.  €5 from Librairie van Elst, Brussels, August, '19.

Here is a second and slightly better copy of a book already in the collection; in fact, there is already a duplicate copy in the duplicate collection.  The spine in particular is in better condition than in the copy found at St.-Ouen in 2009.  As I wrote about that copy, I tried a quick search to see when Artima flourished.  Apparently in 1952 it became a major publisher of comics, "Bandes Dessinées."  J.A. Dupuich even did some art work for at least one of these.  I am guessing that this volume comes from the earlier years, between Artima's founding in 1943 and its comics years.  This is a particularly clean large-format book of 32 pages.  The title-page, like the cover, gives a visualization of the fables that appear here.  The fables include: "Flying Fish"; "The Monkey and the Magic Lantern"; "The Young Man and the Old Man"; "The Dog and the Cat"; "The Child and the Mirror"; "The Nightingale and the Prince"; ""Ape, Monkey, and Nut";  "Le Vacher et le Garde-Chasse"; "The Cricket"; "The Two Cats"; "The Blind and the Lame"; "The White Elephant"; "The Cat and the Rats"; and "The Two Travellers."  Good selection of fables and spirited illustrations.  The illustrations for "Dog and Cat" are a good, lively example of the enjoyable illustrations here (10-11).  Canvas binding.

1950? Les Fables de La Fontaine: Collection des Vignettes du Chocolat-Menier, Vignettes Nos 1 a 90.  Hardbound.  Paris/Noisiel, France: Chocolat-Menier.  €17.50 from Librairie de l'Avénue, St. Ouen, Paris, August, '14.  

The good luck of finding a complete two-volume set of these albums has led me to include this set among the books of the collection, while another complete set remains among the objects. Here ninety numbered cards are pasted in around La Fontaine's text. Each fable has six colored cartoon-cards, except for the centerpiece, "Les Animaux Malades de la Peste," which has twelve cards. The animals are dressed and playful. The exploding frog makes a "pouf" sound (#29). The fish rejected by the picky heron wear women's hats (#68)! The inside of the back cover gives a history of chocolate. Of course, in this history Jean-Antoine Brutus Menier stands out.  This album's cover gathers many fable characters in a park setting, with pond and bridge.  This album is in fair condition.

1950? Les Fables de La Fontaine: Collection des Vignettes du Chocolat-Menier, Vignettes Nos 1 a 90.  Hardbound.  Paris/Noisiel, France: Chocolat-Menier.  $8.26 from Carlinotte, Aude, France, through Ebay, July, '20.

This album replicates one already in the collection under books as well as one with the cards.  This album may be in better condition than the one kept among the books.  Here again ninety numbered cards are pasted in around La Fontaine's text. Each fable has six colored cartoon-cards, except for the centerpiece, "Les Animaux Malades de la Peste," which has twelve cards. The animals are dressed and playful. The exploding frog makes a "pouf" sound (#29). The fish rejected by the picky heron wear women's hats (#68)! The inside of the back cover gives a history of chocolate. Of course, in this history Jean-Antoine Brutus Menier stands out.  This album's cover gathers many fable characters in a park setting, with pond and bridge.  This album is in good condition, and the collector has pasted the vignettes carefully and accurately.  A bargain!

1950? Les Fables de La Fontaine: Collection des Vignettes du Chocolat-Menier, Vignettes Nos 91 a 222.  Hardbound.  Paris/Noisiel, France: Chocolat-Menier.  €17.50 from Librairie de l'Avénue, St. Ouen, Paris, August, '14.  

The good luck of finding a complete two-volume set of these albums has led me to include this set among the books of the collection, while another complete set remains among the objects. Here 132 numbered cards are pasted in around La Fontaine's text.  The cartoons remain delightfully Disneyesque. I enjoy the fat weasel who cannot get back out through the hole through which she entered (#108-12). In this book, the number of cards per fable and their sizes vary from presentation to presentation. The images of the beetle hammering eggs and throwing eggs out of the nest (#180) are wonderful! The pages here have subtle images of the appropriate fable done in light brown ink behind the black ink of the text.  The front cover of the work features a bear watching TT and a coach and fly.  A fox, rabbit, and tree are fellow spectators.  The back cover has many animals either carrying Menier chcolate products or admiring a young woman painting a bilboard for Menier chocolates.  On the last page, one reads how to get cards from the Menier Company. One gets a desired card by sending in three others!  With this system, Menier could have gone on forever sending people the cards they needed!  A laid-in paper announces "Conditions d'Échanges" and mentions a special Paris office for Chocolat-Menier vignettes.  This album is in fair condition.

1950? Les Fables d'Esope: Facsimile Reproductions of Steel Engravings and Hand-Cut Type from a 1659 Printing, With Translations from the Medieval French. Translated from the French by Catherine E. Cronemiller. Created, Designed and Executed by Homer H. Boelter. Original engravings by Aegidius Sadeler. Essay by Rupert Hughes. Pamphlet. Hollywood, CA: Homer H. Boelter Lithography. $20 from an unknown source, July, '98.

This volume presents fourteen two-page spreads with the same elements in each spread. Underneath distinct headers for both pages (English on the left page and French on the right), there is first on the left a short prose text with a tan-and-black initial. Each sentence end is marked by either of two small tan floral symbols. At the bottom of the left page is a moral in tan. On the right page is a large reproduction of the original engraving, with the original French version of the moral beneath it. The English moral on the left turns out to be a translation of this French moral. The fables thus presented include: BF; "The Lion and the Boar"; LS; "The Birds, the Beasts, and the Bat": "The Request for an Axe-Handle"; CJ; "The Blacksmith's Dog"; "The Horse and the Ass"; "The Phoenix"; "The Dog, the Fox, and the Hare"; FK; "The Elk and the Epileptic"; TMCM; and "The Leopard and the Hare." "The Dog, the Fox, and the Hare" is new to me. The fox, being pursued, convinces the dog that the hare will make a better meal. Also new are "The Elk and the Epileptic" and "The Leopard and the Hare." In the former, the animal refuses the man the leg he requests, since his health is the most important thing in his life. In the latter, the hare runs through the fence to escape the leopard, who promptly jumps over the fence and devours him. The moral for FK is especially good: "Ceux qui ne peuvent s'accommoder de la liberté, meritent une dure servitude." There is an opening essay "The Eternal Aesop" by Rupert Hughes. The 1659 original was done at the printing shop of Claude Cramoisy. Do not miss the pre-title-page reproduction, perhaps from the original title-page? Bodemann #59.2 comments "weitere frz. Ausgaben der Emblemfabeln Sadelers erschienen 1659 [Paris, Bibliothèque National Yb. 453] und 1743." Sadeler's original work, "Theatrum morum," appeared in 1608. The illustrations seem to rely heavily, to Sadeler's credit, on De Dene and Gheeraerts. For this fancy a product, the research and the credits are poorly done. For example, would the French of 1659 have been "medieval"? Some indication of the artist would have been called for. One can find Sadeler's own mark on the bottom of the pre-title-page.

1950? Les Fables du Sanglier. Charles Sanglier. Paperbound. Paris: Éditions d'Art du Sabot. 150 Francs from Chanut, Paris, April, '97.

Here are forty-three lively fables, each with a full-page black-and-white illustration. Most of them seemed to be based on La Fontaine's fables but then to take the cartoonist/journalist's own twisted path. Thus in FC, the old crow kills itself and drops down dead trying to live up to the fox's praise (8-9). The fox helped up a tree by the goat gets left there in a fork of the branches (16-18). The old cat is fooling the mice by claiming blindness--until a dog shows up and everybody escapes quickly (20-21). I enjoy the wit here. I cannot find a way to date this book.

1950? Les Meilleures Fables de Florian. Illustrations de R. Perrette. Paperbound. Paris: La Technique du Livre. €20 from Librairie La Poussière du Temps, Dec., '04.

I regret that it has taken me two-and-a-half years to catalogue this lovely pamphlet. Its 32 pages contain some fifteen fables. Every fable has an illustration. All but two of these are delightful polychromatics. Two near the beginning and two near the end are black-and-white. The monkey with his lantern is in many colors in a paste-down illustration on the cover. The same picture is rendered in black-and-white on the title-page. Then on the pamphlet's last page the monkey bids us farewell. His fable appears with yet another colored illustration near the middle of the pamphlet. The paper is heavy and the polychromatic illustrations have the consistency of our old "transfer" images. After the cover illustration, the illustration for "Le Crocodile et l'Esturgeon" may be the most successful. Notice the uneven paper cutting at the bottom of the text page facing this illustration.

1950? Les Meilleures Fables de Jean de La Fontaine. La Fontaine. Aquarelles de R. Perrette. Paris: La Technique du Livre. $5.50 from Brenda Dorion, Bangor, ME through Ebay, March, '00.

This large (10¾" x 7¼") pamphlet has fifteen lovely aquarelles, one of which (GA) is repeated on the cover, and two black-and-white designs--the latter for the "fin" page and for the last fable, "Le Coche et la Mouche." Fables included are FS, OF, FC, MSA, GA, "L'Ours et l'Amateur de Jardins," "L'Huitre et les Plaideurs," "Le Laboureur et ses Enfants," OR, WL, "Les Animaux Malades de la Peste," TH, "Le Petit Poisson et le Pecheur," MM, and "Le Chat, la Belette et le Petit Lapin." The bear letting go of the huge stone above the gardener may make for the best illustration. Verse texts from La Fontaine. I am grateful for Ebay; otherwise I am not sure how I would find a pretty book like this that must be rare in the United States!

1950? Little Stories from Aesop. Harry Rountree. Paperbound. Printed in Great Britain. London & Glasgow: Wm. Collins Sons & Co., Ltd. $29.76 from March House, Dorset, through EBay, Sept., '03.

This booklet presents eight fables, seven of them each illustrated by a full-color page and by one-to-several other black-and-white designs. The fables presented include BC; TH; "The Ass and the Frogs"; "The Leopard and the Fox" (unillustrated); FS; "The Fox and the Lion"; "The Eagle and the Fox"; and "The Cat and the Fox." 6¼" x 5". As far as I can tell without the other Rountree editions at hand, the illustrations here come from the Children's Press tradition rather than from the Ward and Lock tradition. To my knowledge, none of the illustrations is new. The booklet may have been published up to twenty-eight years earlier than my estimate.

1950? Little Tales from Aesop. Paperbound. Printed in Australia. London: Bairns Books Ltd. £ 4.19 from J. Groves, London, through Ebay, Nov., '03.

This is a large sixteen-page landscape-formatted pamphlet with various kinds of illustrations for its thirteen fables. The most exciting are the full-page colored illustrations for FS (front cover), DLS, "The Cat and the Birds," WS, TH, BW, "The Boastful Frog," and TH again. There is a strange monochrome illustration of GA in the second half of the pamphlet. This booklet is fragile! I had never seen it before.

1950? My First Book of Fables. Illustrated by Arthur Mansbridge. London: Collins. $3.95 at Powell's Kids, Beaverton, March, '96.

The sharpest illustration in this book is that of GGE on the title page. The others tend to lack sharpness. Ten fables, many in verse, with explicit morals marked as such. Each page is framed with a colored edge in one of three patterns with designs in either black or white. There are some unusual--and mostly disappointing--features in the versions here. In CP, can the "tiniest drop" get "up to the brink"? In GGE, the intervention comes, at the wife's insistence, after only one egg has been produced. In TH, the hare takes a nap (as in La Fontaine) before he starts the race. The illustrations for "The Bundle of Sticks" are placed in China. In FC, the crow speaks once with the cheese in his beak before he breaks forth in song and loses it; how can that happen? In TB, one illustration shows the man (carrying a lute for some reason) standing face-to-face with the bear. Another has the bear still in sight after the tree-climber has come back down, in direct contradiction to the text. Did Mansbridge read the story? Despite all of that, the pictures give the book a charm of its own.

1950? My Picture Book of Aesop's Fables. Stories Retold and Illustrated by Violet M. Williams. London: Dean & Son. $10 through Bibliofind from Avid Reader, Chapel Hill, August, '97.

Large-format children's book with identical covers of paper over boards. The characters here are universally cute and cuddly. The animals are dressed in human garb. The characters are named (e.g., Dandy and Mr. Beef in DS) and the versions longer than in most versions. TH, GA, TMCM, FS, "Billy Bat and the Battle," LM, and FG. In MSA a mouse carries the donkey's tail while father and son carry him on the pole. In "The Clever Little Fish," Johnny Jenkins, the fishing boy, actually does throw the fish back in!

1950? Neuere Deutsche Fabeln. Bearbeitet und Herausgegeben von Dr. Jakob Szliska. Mit Bildern von Elsa Schnell-Dittmann. Hardbound. Saarbrücken, Germany: Band 6: Offsetdruckerei und Verlag Klinke & Co., GMBH. €8 from Sabine Piechutta, Krefeld, Germany, through eBay, July, '07.

This book is uniform in series with several others I have but they seem to have different bibliographical data, including publisher: Alfo Kunstdruck Verlag in Kaiserslautern. From them I have Fabeln von La Fontaine, Fabeln nach Äsop, and Deutsche Fabeln aus dem 16. und 18. Jahrhundert von Luther und Lessing. This book has the same canvas binding and the same striped cover format with a picture at the center. Like them, it has 32 pages. The colors of the cover-picture here are not calibrated: blue/green stands to the right of the other colors instead of reinforcing them. The editor remains the same. The illustrator changes. The title-page declares that this is "Band 6" but I am not sure yet what series it belongs to. There is a T of C with titles but no authors at the beginning. The color work for the fourteen fables here is simple and very pleasing. Each fable's text is on the left-hand page with a colored illustration on the right-hand page and underneath it a simple sketch, often of a different phase of the fable. The best of the illustrations may be "Der Esel und die Dohle" on 7; it is the illustration that is less successful on the cover. Fabulists included here are Hagedorn, Lichtwer, Gleim, Zachariä, Wilamow, Pfeffel, Herder, Hey, Fröhlich, Ebner-Eschenbach, Busch, Seidel, and Leixner. The Busch poem included is Pater Leutenstorfer's favorite, "Der Volle Sack."

1950? Neueste Deutsche Fabeln. Bearbeitet und Herausgegeben von Dr. Jakob Szliska. Mit Bildern von Horst Kühnel. Hardbound. Saarbrücken, Germany: Band 10: Offsetdruckerei und Verlag Klinke & Co., GMBH. €7 from Antiquariat Heureka, Bad Staffelstein, Germany, Sept., '12.

This book belongs to one series that seems a variation of another series. This series is published by Klinke and includes "Neuere Deutsche Fabeln" and others. The other series is published by Alfo Kunstdruck Verlag in Kaiserslautern and includes "Deutsche Fabeln aus dem 16. und 18. Jahrhundert von Luther und Lessing" and others. Both series have the same canvas binding and the same striped cover format with a picture at the center. Volumes in both have 32 pages and fourteen fables. The editor remains the same for both, but illustrators vary within and between the two series. The title-page declares that this is "Band 10." There is a T of C at the beginning. The color work for the fourteen fables here is simple and pleasing. Each fable's text is on the left-hand page with a colored illustration on the right-hand page. Above and below the colored illustration are engaging and even humorous sketches of different phases of the fable. The best of the illustrations may be "Der Affe und das Pferd" (19); this illustration is also used on the cover. There is an array of German authors, several of whom died, apparently, during World War II. Since this book gives their birth date but no death date, I may have to revise by perhaps ten years my estimate that this book -- and perhaps this series -- were done in 1950. Now 1935 or 1940 seems more accurate.

1950? Nordischer Fabeln. Bearbeitet und Herausgegeben von Dr. Jakob Szliska. Illustriert von Max Teschemacher. Hardbound. Kaiserslautern, Germany: Alfo Kunstdruck Verlag. €12 from Alt-Saarbrücker Antiquariat, Saarbruecken, Sept., '12.

Here is our tenth book in uniform format, most of them from Alfo and all of them edited by Jakob Szliska. Like the others, this book has a canvas binding, a colored paper cover with a colored illustration at the center, and 32 pages. Here a T of C at the beginning announces fourteen fables. Each fable has a two-page spread. On the left page is a fable; on the right a triple illustration. Contributors here, listed on 32, include John Gay, Baron von Holberg, Hans Christian Andersen, August Strindberg, Waldemar Liungnam, Johann Larssen, Olaf Forsen, and a semi-anonymous Frau J.n, from Loartsberg. I enjoy Gay's fable of the pig which, following his master's instructions, ate not the tulips but their roots (4). The illustration here is typical, with a good colored picture balanced above by a black-and-white drawing of the pig and master on good terms and, below, of the master beating the pig, which still has a plant in its mouth. The black-and-white designs above the colored pictures often give a before and those below an after for the central scene pictured in color. Also good is Baron von Holberg's fable of the sick wolf who hired an ass doctor, deteriorated, and sued the ass. The court rejected his suit, since he was silly enough to employ a doctor who was an ass (14). Again, a hare seeks a post with King Lion and asks his friends, the goose and the fox, to offer recommendations. The goose recommends him for his understanding and the fox for his honesty. The lion rejects the hare, saying he would have accepted him if the source of each recommendation had been reversed (18). Nice, since, I suppose, geese have no idea of understanding and foxes none of honesty. One fox prophet outdoes another by prophesying that his competitor would die of poison in the fourth month of the coming year. The prophet fox in question is so afraid that he eats and drinks nothing -- and dies (20). The semi-anonymous fable is the old Aesopic story of the farmer saying "no" about the pursued fox but nodding in his direction. This illustration is among the best (28).

1950? Nursery Tales by Aunt Lucille.  Illustrations by J.C. Van Hunnik.  Hardbound.  Amsterdam: Mulder & Zoon.  $20 in Berkeley, July, '13.

There are eight fairy tales here, listed on the inside of the front cover.  The last of them is "Renard the cunning fox."  This tale starts with Renard boasting.  Soon we are in the fable of FC, but the deciding moment in this version of the fable is not when the crow sings but when he dances.  A typical Van Hunnik illustration depicts this scene.  Reynard next meets a big dog and they go off together to catch the hen that lays golden eggs.  Reynard indeed captures her with the same flattery.  The dog goes away disappointed.  The farmer who had owned the hen that laid golden eggs appears and kills Reynard.  He also kills "Reynard the Second."  That farmer and the hen that lays golden eggs are the subjects of a fine Van Hunnk picture.  I have not had time to investigate whether the pictures here are to some extent those used from Van Hunnik in other Mulder volumes.  This is a curious rendition of the Reynard story.  The Dutch editors had a lapse.  On the last page we read "Farmer Tulip realized what a stroke of luck this was.."

1950? Persian Fables. Retold by Jan Vladislav. Translated (from the Czech?) by George Theiner. Miniatures from the Imperial Library in Teheran selected and photographed by W. and B. Forman. Printed in Czechoslovakia. Damaged dust jacket. Designed and produced by Artia. London: Spring Books: Spring House. $7.45 at the Yesteryear Shoppe, Nampa, Idaho, March, '96. Extra copy without dust jacket for $25 at Westport Bookstore, Kansas City, May, '93.

This sideways book contains a short introductory narrative, thirty-three fables, a note on the history of the texts and illustrations, T of C, and a very short bibliography. The introductory narrative has a new king surveying personnel ask the story-teller what use he is. He responds immediately by recalling Dabzhelim's mistaken rejection of Bidpai. The typical fable-introducing scheme involves a statement "You are just like . . . in the fable" followed by the question "What fable?" The connecting narrative (in gray as opposed to the fables' black) is thin, and there are no fables within fables. Story #9 is funny and gory. Many fables here are told in different fashion from the one I have known. Thus the jackal in #3 leads King Lion to the mirroring well, and a jackal gets crushed between two charging boars in #5. #12 substitutes a jackal for the fox and a donkey for the deer in the story of "The Deer Without Brains." It substitutes a she-donkey for the "attempted embrace" explanation to bring the donkey back a second time. I am surprised to find "The Gardener and the Bear" (#15) here. #18 uses a quail and a hare for the litigants devoured by the cat-judge. #21 has one unnamed jackal, not Kalila and Dimna. The guilty jackal replaces the dead bull without punishment. #29 presents a goose who sees the moon's reflection in the water, thinks it a fish, gets frustrated trying to catch the fish, and gives up all fishing. In #30, it is a she-monkey's tail that is caught in the now wedgeless log. In #31 a jackal gets the lion hiding in his cave to answer as the cave and so to reveal his presence. "A wise man asks even the cave." Slight water-staining on lower and outer edge of the extra copy.

1950? Petites Fables à l'usage des Grands Fumeurs.  Roger Dacosta (Rodac).  Illustrated by Zarta.  Paperbound.  Service d'Exploitation Industrielle des Tabacs et des Allumettes.  €14.40 from Librairie Gil-Artgil Sarl, Rodez, France, through ZVAB, May, '19.

Lovely colored cartoons grace this twelve-page booklet, 5½" x 7¼", that encourages smoking.  Each of ten rhyming verse stories tells the glories of one of either three kinds of cigar tobacco or seven kinds of cigarette tobacco.  Two of these kinds face each other just past the center.  For the first, "L'Homme hereuux," a solitary man lying on an island is enjoying Naja, "les moins chères des cigarettes en tabac d'Orient."  Across from that story and cartoon are "La Gitane et le Vizir."  A svelte woman in harem pants plays a tambourine in front of a seated man wearing a turban.  "Gitanes-Vizir. - Tabac d'Orient, doux et aromatique."  Balto has a "goût américain," while Week-End has a "goût anglais."

1950? Recueil des Fables de La Fontaine. Le Taille, F. Zaucher? Canvas-bound. Printed in Belgium. Liege: Imprimerie Gordinne? 220 Francs from Annick Tilly, Clignancourt Flea Market, Paris, August, '99. Extra copy in poorer condition for FF 150 from a Seine Bouquiniste, August, '01.

Perhaps 100 pages presenting fifty-six fables inside colored boards, with a cloth spine. Stamped in many places around the book is the name "Braley." There is no title page and no indication that there ever was one! The pagination twice goes up to "10" and then moves, with some skips, to "25," which is at least close. I enjoy particularly the full-color illustrations. The book follows a rhythm. For each of six sections there is an introductory full page of color bringing together characters from some of the fables of that section. Thus around 11 there is a picture including elements of MM, TH, OF, and "The Wolf as Shepherd." The best of these summary illustrations may be on 57. What follows each of these introductory pages is a mixture of black-and-white, two-color, and full-color pages, often following the format also found in Rabier of putting several scenes of one fable into various parts of a full-page picture. Often at the end of a section there is a final page, like the last tribute to MM just before the page marked "25." It seems as though the artist--either Le Taille or F. Zaucher (?)--stays the same within each section. A favorite individual illustration is the two-page spread on "Le Coche et la Mouche" at about 61. On 94 the illustration presents a strange conception of CW; the cat who has become a woman is chasing rats with a broom! There is a T of C on the last page, but without page numbers. The extra copy is surprising in that it frequently changes the colors of the monochrome illustrations and even of some of the texts. For that reason, I will keep it in the collection.

1950? Recueil des Fables de La Fontaine (Cover:"Fables Choisies de La Fontaine").  Pamphlet.  Paris: Editions René Touret.  €10 from a buchinist, Paris, July, '22.

This is a large format book typical of René Touret editions, 9½" x 12¼", with a cover of DW strong in orange and brown coloring.  Inside there are texts with wide margins and four colored pages with blank versoes:  WC; "Schoolmaster and Drowning Pupil"; "Cook and Swan"; and DW.  The cover illustration may be confusing.  Is that dog carrying a bag?  Before the trip to Paris, I had noticed this book as being offered by L'Isle Enchantée, but I was not sure that I would get to see Françoise this trip.  When I noticed this copy of the same publication at one of the buchinists, I snapped it up.  It presents me with the usual questions.  Who might have been the artist here?  Is this post WWII or pre-war?  There are clues on the back cover: "32 pages No 711" and "Héliogravure Sadag, Bellegarde" and "Editions René Touret Paris - La Chatre."  Like other such large pamphlets, the internal title is "Recueil des Fables de La Fontaine" while the cover has "Fables Choisies de La Fontaine.

1950? Recueil des Fables de La Fontaine (Cover:"Fables Choisies de La Fontaine").  Pamphlet.  Paris: Editions René Touret.  €22.50 from la_brocante_d_augustin, May, '22.

Here is a second copy of this large format book typical of René Touret editions, 9½" x 12¼", with a cover of DW strong in orange and brown coloring.  This copy came along with a strange relative.  This strange relative has the same interior and then a second similar interior, a different cover image, and the surprising number not of 711 but of 712.  This copy came along with that.  As I prepared to separate it off as an "extra," I noticed how different is the execution of its internal images from our original 711.  One can see little shading in the tree supporting the wolf in the first image, whereas the first copy's tree has clearly delineated ridges.  It is as though the kitchen's lights are off in this copy but turned on there as the cook prepares to kill the swan.  So I am keeping it in the collection.  As I wrote then, there are texts with wide margins and four colored pages with blank versoes:  WC; "Schoolmaster and Drowning Pupil"; "Cook and Swan"; and DW.  The cover illustration may be confusing.  Is that dog carrying a bag?  I mentioned then that the booklet raises questions.  Who might have been the artist here?  Is this post WWII or pre-war?  There are clues on the back cover: "32 pages No 711" and "Héliogravure Sadag, Bellegarde" and "Editions René Touret Paris - La Chatre."  Like other such large pamphlets, the internal title is "Recueil des Fables de La Fontaine" while the cover has "Fables Choisies de La Fontaine.

1950? Recueil des Fables de La Fontaine (Cover:"Fables Choisies de La Fontaine").  Paperbound.  Paris: Editions René Touret.  €22.50 from la_brocante_d_augustin, May, '22.

I found a large 32-page pamphlet in Paris a month ago, published by René Touret in Paris and Chatre and numbered 711.  The picture style differed from other Touret work, which is richly represented in our collection.  Now I have received a year's worth of orders through Bertrand Cocq, and I see that I ordered two Touret publications, one of which seems to be a duplicate of that 711.  This other is 712; it is twice as long -- 64 pages -- and its first half is a duplicate of 711.  Its second half is similar in that it has strongly orange full-page illustrations at four places: "Lion and Hunter" (41); "Sick Lion Visited by Fox" (47, also on the front cover); "Monkey and Dolphin" (48); and FC (56).  The second half may have existed as a solo publication; many pages have duplicate numbers, like 8 and 40 or 14 and 46.  As I mentioned about the shorter 711, this book presents me with questions.  Who might have been the artist here?  Is this post WWII or pre-war?  There are similar clues on the back cover: "64 pages No 712" and "Héliogravure Sadag, Bellegarde" and "Editions René Touret Paris - La Chatre."  Like other such large pamphlets, the internal title is "Recueil des Fables de La Fontaine" while the cover has "Fables Choisies de La Fontaine.  9½" x 12¼"

1950? Schweizer Fabeln nach Boner und von Pestalozzi. Bearbeitet und Herausgegeben von Dr. Jakob Szliska. Illustriert von Max Teschemacher. Hardbound. Kaiserslautern, Germany: Alfo Kunstdruck Verlag. €10 from Versandatiquariat K.-H. Klein, Nidda, Germany, Sept., '12.

Here is another book in uniform format from Alfo. Like the several others, it has a canvas binding, a colored paper cover with a colored illustration at the center, and 32 pages. Here a T of C at the beginning announces fourteen fables. Each fable has a two-page spread. On the left page is a fable either after Boner or from Pestalozzi, with a separate, highlighted moral at the end. I am delighted to see a book using six of Boner's fables. They are taken from an 1810 book -- an anthology perhaps? -- and do not seem very close to the fables I studied recently. They all, I believe, have to do somehow with cruelty and thanklessness. When the dog drags the lamb into court, his punishment is death, which of course the dog's friends and witnesses carry out (4). The wolf, the vulture, and the harrier consume the poor lamb. The crow talks the eagle into dropping the snail on a rock, and the lesson is that the snail would have survived the eagle had it not been for the crow (8). The illustration here is typical, with a good colored picture balanced by a black-and-white drawing above of the snail moving along in peace and, below, of the crow eating the snail alone, as the eagle approaches in the background. Pestalozzi's fables are sometimes new to me, as when sheep who experience rich pastures with predators ask their shepherd to lead them rather to the more barren pastures without the predators (46). His fables sometimes have long and overly explanatory morals, as for "Der Löwe und der Hund" (24). Pestalozzi also offers traditional fables like TMCM (26); "Cold and Warm from One Mouth" (28); and OR (30). The country mouse is in a strange position in the illustration for TMCM. "Cold and Warm" is done with a human Waldmann rather than a Satyr. The black-and-white designs above the colored pictures often give a before and after for the central scene pictured in color. 

1950? Tales from Far and Near/Tales of Long Ago. History Stories of Other Lands. Edited by Arthur Guy Terry. No place named: printed by arrangement with Blackie and Sons. $1.35 at Twice Sold Tales, Nampa, March, '96.

This is a pair of books in one spiral-bound volume, with the second beginning after 122. Both sections have pronunciation lists at the end. The accent in the selections seems to be on what is British. At 23 in the second volume, there is a well-told version of AL with a good engraving at its beginning and an engraving of the Coliseum at its end.

1950? The Constructional Book of Selected Fables. Paperbound. $6.54 from Lesley Dunn, Maidstone, Kent, through EBay, Sept., '03.

This book is unusual in my collection in that it has no information--at least that I can find--about the publisher, place, author, or date. It is a sixteen-page stapled pamphlet with each of thirteen pages devoted to one fable; the other three pages are covers and explanation. Each story-page, about 7¼" x 9½", includes an inner section about 5" across. In this section there is a text, including an elaborate initial, and an illustration of one key moment in the fable. Alternating pairs of pages present the initial and the illustration in color. On those using color, the outer portion, about 2" across, includes two or three cut-outs to color and mount, supported by a twig, on a piece of wood. Typically these cut-outs are the two major characters in the fable. On the non-colored pairs of pages, the outside sections say "For Cutting & Painting Instructions see page 2 of cover." I presume that, for these, one can cut out, paint, and mount the larger "key moment" illustration itself. I have not seen a booklet like this before. My presumption is that its distribution was limited to Great Britain. The texts do not seem to be from any classic fable edition. In TH, the hare seems never to have awakened! The stork asked the fox a day in advance, at the fox's joking meal, if he would like mincemeat. In FG, it may have been the presence of onlookers that occasioned the "sour grapes" comment.

1950? The Lion and the Mouse Join the Circus. Willa Beall. Illustrated by Laura V. Schmeing. An Action Book. Cincinnati: Artcraft Paper Products. $25 from Yoffees, Jan., '92.  Extra copy in equally good condition for $16.50 from Shirley Korobkin, Old Orchard Beach, ME, Feb., '00.

In the same series as Goldie the Goose That Laid the Golden Egg (1950?). In slight disrepair. Another nice, simple pop-up. After the traditional story, Mister Mouse says to Lancelot: "Why don't you get away from all this?" He promises that "your might and my mind" will take them far. After they find a circus conveniently nearby, Mister Mouse pulls the circus wagon containing Lancelot. In the show, Lancelot laughs instead of roaring and blows out the flames on the rings before he jumps through.

1950? The Race of the Turtle and the Rabbit. With five 3 dimensional spring-ups. Illustrated by Laura V. Schmeing. Hardbound. Cincinnati: An Action Book: Artcraft Paper Products. $21.50 from Richard Baker, Haledon, NJ, through EBay, Dec., '03.

This book is in the same series with Goldie the Goose (1950?) and The Lion and the Mouse Join the Circus (1950?). The turtle is Myrtle, and the Bunny is Bert. Myrtle joins Mrs. Duck in telling Bert that he should not tease people so much. The latter has just claimed that she could beat Bert in a walking race; Myrtle then claims that she could also beat Bert. Sammy Squirrel suggests a race. The starting signal is Sammy's acorn hitting the ground. They all become friends again after Bert has learned his lesson in the race. The pop-ups are all one-dimensional tableaux. Excellent condition.

1950? The Tortoise and the Hare. Illustrations by Milt Groth. Oversized pamphlet. Printed in USA. Grinnell Lithographic Co., Inc. $3 from The Antique Poole, Dansville, NY, through Ebay, July, '00.

I am surprised to have won this oversized (almost 14" x 11") pamphlet at so reasonable a price. It has sixteen pages (including the covers), each with a full-page illustration--except for the central two-page spread in which the turtle sees a "Home Stretch" sign. This bunny is sure enough of himself to lie down intending to sleep. He almost catches up at the end, when the turtle slides home, stretches out his neck, and wins by a nose. The characters wear human dress throughout. The text is done in verse, one quatrain to a page.

1950? The Twelve de la Fontaine Fables as Painted in the Dining Saloon M.V. "Dalerdijk". Pamphlet. Printed in the Netherlands. Holland-America Line. $62 from Alibris, March, '00.

This pamphlet (4½" x 6½") contains a black-and-white illustration and an English text in rhyming couplets for each of twelve La Fontaine fables. They include: FC, "Death and the Woodcutter," "The two Bulls and the Frog," UP, "The Horse seeking vengeance on the Stag," GGE, MM, "The two Cocks," "The Women and the Secret," "The Two Doves," "The Acorn and the Gourd," and 2W. The last illustration may be among the best. The illustrations are done in a late art deco style, like much of post-WWII Eastern European art. All I know now of the texts is that they are from neither Wright nor Moore. The woodcutter says to death "Help me to load.  That's all I have to say/Just now: for soon I know you'll come again" (7). There may be a typo on 12, where "of" appears when "off" would make more sense. The booklet is in good condition.

1950? Unter dem Odongbaum: Koreanische Sagen, Märchen und Fabeln. Andre Eckardt. Dust-jacket. Hardbound. Eisenach: Im Erich Röth Verlag. Dm 7 from Leipzig, July, '95.

One of four sections of this book from the old DDR is devoted to fables: "Kwon Kerang: Der Dorfschulmeister: Koreanische Fabeln" (100-132). There is a narrative frame-story here of the poor rural schoolmaster telling his pupils stories. They are a mixture of well-known traditional Western stories and others which I read here for the first time. Thus the first, "Fox and Bear," substitutes a bear where we usually have a goat. The fox lures the bear into his pit and then uses him to get out. "Hund und Fuchs bei Gericht" has the ape weighing the supposedly unequal portions of what he is dividing for the two claimants. "Das Urteil des Hasen" (105), "Der Dumme Bär" (110), "Wie der Storch den Prozess Entscheidet" (112), and "Der Kranke Tiger" (130) are further traditional stories well known -- though often with different characters -- among Western fables. Perhaps as an interlude among the stories there are several songs (113-15). The other stories in this section seem to get into more complicated plots than are usual in fables. 

1950? Werner Jaspert erzählt die Geschichte des listenreichen Reineke Fuchs. Die Bilder dazu zeichnete Cefischer. Hardbound. Frankfurt: H. Cobet Verlag. €14 from Antiquariat Stange, Heidelberg, August, '06.

The fun in this edition of Reynard starts with the cover, which portrays a "frecher Kerl" if I ever saw one! The book's first page is unusual and makes me think that the book may have been conceived as a gift, perhaps of the publishing house. It gives some history of the Reynard story and sums up the story's point: "Stärker als Dummheit und Gewalt ist der Geist." The last lines on the page give the sort of information that is usually centered and not narrated: "Diese alte Geschichte von Reineke Fuchs wird uns von Werner Jaspert neu erzählt. Cefischer malte die Bilder dazu and verlegt wird dieses Buch vom H. Cobet Verlag, Frankfurt A.M." In the sixth chapter, the queen's nonkey-maid reminds the king and queen of one of their good experiences of Reynard, which follows the plot line of an Aesopic fable. A man freed a snake upon promise that the snake would not harm him. When the snake got hungry, he turned on the man. Reynard's solution was to go back to the original scene and to get the players into their original positions. Three fables are related and two illustrated in the seventh chapter. Reynard is flattering the lion queen by telling her of the treasured gifts he supposedly sent her with Bellin, among which was a mirror with delightful illustrations. The mirror's illustrations include "The Donkey and the Dog" (illustrated on 31), "The Fox and the Cat," and WC (illustrated on 32). In the ninth chapter, Isegrim tells the "frozen tail" story to suggest to the king how evil Reynard is. He goes on to the "pulley in the well" story, wherein Reynard entices the wolf down the well to find the great cheese supposedly there. The illustrations here seem to combine black and maroon in various shades.

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1951

1951 A Dozen from Aesop. Translated for Children by Milo and Ana Winter. Hand-made. Paperbound. (NY): Richard Schiff at the Cooper Union. $100 from Cultural Connection, Cape Coral, FL, through abe, Nov., '09.

The bookseller writes: "An entirely hand made and hand penned book transcribed by Richard Schiff at the Cooper Union February 1951. "Translated for children by Milo and Ana Winter" at the bottom of the title page. Laid paper. The body of the twelve fables are written out most expertly in long hand by Mr. Schiff in black pen, with just the first two words of each in brown pen, then the moral is written out in brown pen below. Green wrappers covered in a cellophane material Greek key design along the top of the title page and text in brown pen and along the top of the cover in black pen. Fables are untitled. Fine condition." The fables include CJ, "The Toad and the Fox," "A Boy and a Nettle," "The Crab and the Fox," "The Goat and the Goatherd," "The Dogs and the Lion's Skin," "The Lion and the Ass," "The Wolf and the Roasted Lamb," DM, "The Kid and the Wolf," "The Wolf and the Fox," and "The Stag and the Lion." There are seven lovely pen drawings in black. Are they by Schiff? The colophon includes a corrected error. Schiff wrote "The forgoing fables were transcribed by Richard Schiff at the Cooper Union -- February, 1951." He then corrected to "foregoing." Milo Winter's The Aesop for Children appeared in 1919. Winter died in 1956. Might he have been a faculty member at the Cooper Union in 1951 and Schiff have been a student who created this work in his honor or as a course requirement? The texts make curious use of the versions in Winter's edition, sometimes using them verbatim, sometimes shortening, and sometimes apparently bypassing them completely. Is the mouse on the title-page and the cover nibbling on a string of letters of the alphabet? This collection is the perfect home for this work!

1951 A Treasury of the World's Great Myths and Legends for Boys and Girls. Joanna Strong and Tom B. Leonard. Illustrated by Hubert Whatley. Dust jacket. NY: Hart. $10 at George Herget in New Orleans, June, '89. 

Fifteen Aesopic fables in a special section. Good black-and-white illustration of a broken bridge and the fallen donkey (169); other illustrations are of LM and WC. These illustrations are a throwback to an earlier style.

1951 A Treasury of the World's Great Myths and Legends for Boys and Girls. Joanna Strong and Tom B. Leonard. Illustrated by Hubert Whatley. Dust-jacket. Hardbound. NY: Hart. $5 ex libris R.F. Newman from Constant Reader, Milwaukee, Sept., '87.

There is already a copy of this book in the collection under the same date. This copy has two differences. Its cover material and design has remained the same, but the color of the cover has changed from red to black-and-orange. The front of the dust-jacket has added "for Boys and Girls from 8-13" and the front flap has added "From Eight to Thirteen" to "For Boys and Girls." Perhaps publishers just cannot leave books alone, or perhaps they cannot get all their best ideas into a hurried first printing. As I wrote about the other copy, one finds here fifteen Aesopic fables in a special section. Good black-and-white illustration of a broken bridge and the fallen donkey (169); other illustrations are of LM and WC. These illustrations are a throwback to an earlier style. 

1951 Aesop's Stories for Pleasure Reading. By Edward W. Dolch, Marguerite P. Dolch, and Beulah F. Jackson. Illustrated by Marguerite Dolch. Dust jacket. Pleasure Reading Series. Champaign, IL: Garrard Publishing Company. $7.95 at Cardijn, 1985.

This book uses the first 1000 words a child should know. I cannot see anything outstanding about either the stories or the illustrations, which are almost red crayonings of simple black-and-whites. At best an option for a simple slide on some story for contrast with other more elaborate illustrations.

1951 Aesop's Stories for Pleasure Reading. Edward W. Dolch, Marguerite P. Dolch, and Beulah F. Jackson. Illustrated by Marguerite Dolch. Hardbound. Champaign, IL: Pleasure Reading Series: Garrard. Gift of Creighton Classics Library, August, '93.

This book allows for a comparison with another, almost identical, already in the collection. That other book was printed more recently, has fresh impressions, and comes in a colorful dust-jacket. This book has a slightly different title-page, which does mentions "The Garrard Press, Champaign, Illinois." That other, more recent, copy has "Garrard" on its spine but nowhere inside the book. This book's spine has neither "Dolch" nor "Garrard" but does have, apparently, "CD" near its bottom. This book's edges have been heavily taped. It has seen significant wear. As I wrote of the other copy, this book uses the first 1000 words a child should know. I cannot see anything outstanding about either the stories or the illustrations, which are almost red crayonings of simple black-and-whites. At best an option for a simple slide on some story for contrast with other more elaborate illustrations. 

1951 Antike Fabeln.  Eingeleitet und neu Übertragen von Ludwig Mader.  Mit 97 Bildern des Ulmer Aesop von 1476.  Dust-jacket.  Hardbound.  Zurich: Artemis Verlag.  €5at Antiquariat Quadrate, Mannheim, July, '14.  

I wrote of the later reproduction of this book by Buchclub Ex Libris in 1971: "This book reproduces Mader's Artemis edition of 1951 of the same title."  Now here is that Artemis edition of 1951.  As I wrote then, it seems very similar to Irmscher's 1978 edition from the Aufbau Verlag's "Bibliothek der Antike" series.  It lists, for example, some of the same authors on its title-page.  The translations are, however, different, and this volume adds 97 Ulm woodcuts.  Mader's introduction is over thirty pages long.  There is a T of C at the end.  This volume does not have the AI that makes Irmscher's volume so helpful.  It also lacks the helpful numbering that one finds in Irmscher's edition.

1951 Basni.  Jabel Shabur.  Paperbound.  Stalinskoe Oblastnoe Izdatel'stvo: Stalin Oblast Publisher.  $5 from Valentina Kudinova, Kharkiv, Ukraine, through eBay, August., '12.  

There is little that I can write about this 49-page volume of verse fables.  They seem to be about issues and personalities of the day in 1951.  I wish particularly that I could list the visual artist, because the line drawings here are detailed and well done.  They offer a curious mix, for example, of animals and human clothing or of animals and human implements, as on the cover, where three animals are joined around a table by a pencil, shovel, telephone, and eyeglasses. Uncle Sam is a gorilla holding an atomic bomb on 13, and I can recognize "gorilla" in the fable's title.  Notice also "Colorado" in the title on 5. 

1951 Ch. H. Kleukens: Fabeln: Ein Trostbüchlein. Hardbound. Mainz: Mainzer Druck Nr. 5: Presse de Gutenberg-Museums. €23.36 from Antiquariat Querido, Düsseldorf, through abe, Oct., '02. 

This is a beautifully produced book containing some seventy fables on 65 pages. Printed in black and red on thick paper. Green boards. I learn from my favorite private collector that this is the only edition of this book. His note on it mentions that Kleukens is well-known as a type-founder; he established with his brother, Friedrich Wilhelm Kleukens, the famous Ernst-Ludwig-Presse at Darmstadt. Several fonts are named after him. He is also the co-author of an important book of fables from early in the twentieth century, "Das Buch der Fabeln," published by Insel Verlag. Is the sub-title of this little book ironic? From the first few fables, I have the distinct impression that there is a great deal of irony at work here. There is no explanatory or introductory material. The first fable, "Der Klügere" (5), gives a good taste of the book's approach. "'I bear no guilt for that,' quarreled the man with the bad luck that he had brought on himself. Complaining, he began to get rid of the debris. Meantime the ox sighed 'It was all my fault' as he took a heavy load of dung to the field." "Monolog eines Hasen" (7) is a self-proclamation of the power to endure of the rabbit. On the next page a flame exults in the beauty of creation, part of which is that a fly in a spider's net gleams like a jewel and the burning wood screams in agony. One centimeter cries out to another that they establish every measure of greatness. A horse runs along through the fields. One of his horse-shoes makes a particularly strong sound. The hoofs exult in the liveliness of the sound. The horse knows that that hoof makes this noise only because it lacks a nail! In "Esel" (16), the asses were having a very tough time, and decided to choose as god whoever offered the most. One day there was lightning and voice that said "I give you the thistles." The asses wanted to vote, but one old she-ass said: "Wait until he offers more." The same happened when a voice gave them thick skin. Finally a voice offered eternal life. They decided again to wait until he offered something better. The asses are still waiting and still have no god. "Kronen der Schöpfung" (28) is another fine piece. Lice on a hoodlum's head were proclaiming themselves the crown of creation when the hoodlum scratched his head. "Save yourselves!" cried the main louse. The world is going under!"

1951 Contes de La Fontaine, Tome I. Jean de La Fontaine. Illustrées d'Eaux-Fortes originales de Gaston Barret. #1576 of 2200. Paperbound. Paris: Aux Éditions Arc-en-Ciel. €42.50 from Librairie S. Thomas, Paris, July, '12.

Tome I and Tome II of fables appeared in 1950 and 1951, respectively. I am including these three volumes of "Contes" because they are part of the same set of five volumes. Printed on Vélin de Chiffon des Vosges. Metzner says that the illustrations are hand-colored. The pages are collected in a portfolio. I do not know La Fontaine's "Contes." What impresses me most about this particular presentation of them is the erotic character of Barret's illustrations. The illustrations can be found as frontispiece and facing 12, 55, 62, 79, 86, 119, 126, 159, 170, 207, and 214. Of these twelve, only two do not feature a woman at least partially naked. Barret's style remains humorous, here perhaps more satirical than in the playful fable illustrations. There is a new, additional justification between the two title-pages, again identifying this copy as #1576 of 2200 copies. 

1951 Contes de La Fontaine, Tome II. Jean de La Fontaine. Illustrées d'Eaux-Fortes originales de Gaston Barret. #1576 of 2200. Paperbound. Paris: Aux Éditions Arc-en-Ciel. €42.50 from Librairie S. Thomas, Paris, July, '12.

Tome I and Tome II of fables appeared in 1950 and 1951, respectively, and Tome I of Contes in 1951. I am including these three volumes of "Contes" because they are part of the same set of five volumes. Printed on Vélin de Chiffon des Vosges. Metzner says that the illustrations are hand-colored. The pages are collected in a portfolio. I do not know La Fontaine's "Contes." What impresses me most about this particular presentation of them is the erotic character of Barret's illustrations. The illustrations can be found as frontispiece and facing 20, 47, 62, 95, 110, 135, 146, 171, 178, 202, 215. Of these twelve, only two do not feature a woman at least partially naked. Barret's style remains humorous, here perhaps more satirical than in the playful fable illustrations. There is a reminder between the two title-pages that this edition includes five volumes and that only 2200 copies were printed. 

1951 Drei satirische Fabeln. Michail Saltykow-Schtschedrin and Valentin Katajew. Übertragen von Horst Wolf. Insel-Bücherei Nr. 382. Erste Auflage. Leipzig: Insel-Verlag. DM 14 at Dresdener Antiquariat, Dresden, July, '95.

Imagine my delight when I discovered that of the twenty-two fables by Shchedrin (as he is named there) in Fables (1941/76), the two I mentioned in my comment there are the very two translated into German here. "Die idealistische Karausche" presents a fundamental debate between two conflicting world-views, and gives a clear--and not very encouraging--resolution of their conflict. "Der erzgescheite Gründling" shows what a life without risk looks like, eventually even to the person who has refused risk. Katajew's "Die Perle" is a fascinating twist on the Gospel story of the pearl of great price. Karoline, a rare beauty, believes that she is growing a pearl under her flipper, and she gives her life to cultivating it. She passes up many opportunities because of this one source of riches until . . . .

1951 Esops Fabler.  Utvalt or oversatt av Hanna Wiig.  Illustrert av Reidar Johan Berle.  Dust-jacket.  Hardbound.  Stavanger, Norway: J.W. Eides Forlag.  $43.56 from Any Amount of Books, Charing Cross Road, London, through ABE, Sept., '14.  

Here is a book of wonderful art, lovingly produced!  The color work is excellent.  Among the best are these: "The Fox and Goat" (15); The Bear and Bees" (16); OR (29); WL (34); TB (51), BF (56-57); and MSA (66-67).  The illustration for FC (25) is cleverly separated by text into upper and lower sections.  The very best are DS (60) and "The Drowning Boy and the Lecturer" (101).  I am delighted to have found this treasure, surprisingly enough from a British seller, after I traveled in Norway.  There is a T of C at the beginning.  107 pages.  Might the lovely colophon at the end suggest that this is a first edition?  Pasted onto the title-page is a slip reading "'From Maurice Michael. 3-4 Fox Court, London, E.C. 1."  Might Michael have been a British distributor for Eides?

1951 Fables by La Fontaine. Edited, with introduction and notes by R.P.L. Ledesert and D.M. Ledesert. Harrap's French Classics. London and Toronto: Harrap and Co. $1.50 from Constant Reader.

A handy 110-page schoolbook with fifty or so of LaFontaine's fables in their French and fifteen of Oudry's 1783 illustrations, alas very small here. A worthwhile book for taking along to show when there is not much space.

1951 Fables de La Fontaine. Choisies et Commentées par Le Chanoine Le Meur. Illustrations by R. MV--. Hardbound. Paris: Éditions École et Collège: €7 from a buchinist along the Seine, July, '12.

Here is a 1951 edition of a book I already have in an edition for which I guessed the year 1938. What has changed? First, the publisher has changed from "Éditions École et Collège" to "Les Éditions de l'École." They have kept the same address but no longer put it onto the cover of the book. The front cover's nice illustration of FC has changed from green ink to the black ink of the rest of the cover. LeMeur is no longer given an academic position on the cover. He is presented there now not as "Le Chanoine Le Meur" but simply as "A. Le Meur." The title-page remains the same except for the change in the publisher's name. Is that a typo that remains on the title-page? "Docteur Es Lettres"? After that, the book seems to remain identical right up to the colophon on its last page, which notes that the printer is now Lahure in Paris, not Arrault in Tours. As I wrote of the earlier edition, this is a helpful school edition containing perhaps two-thirds of La Fontaine's fables. Apparently each has a black-and-white illustration, and they are well done. These would be helpful simple illustrations for handout questions when dealing with La Fontaine in a course. At the back there is first an AI of fables and then a T of C. The notes with each fable seem quite extensive. The illustrations are signed "R. MV--." 

1951 Fables de La Fontaine, Tome II. Jean de La Fontaine. Illustrées d'Eaux-Fortes originales de Gaston Barret. Paperbound. Paris: Aux Éditions Arc-en-Ciel. €42.50 from Librairie S. Thomas, Paris, July, '12.

Tome I appeared in 1950. Printed on Vélin de Chiffon des Vosges. The pages are collected in a portfolio. As Metzner comments in Bodemann, the animals are humanized in clothing and posture. Humans are "puppenähnlich." In the frontispiece of "Acorn and Pumpkin," the philosopher gazes on the pumpkin with his finger reflectively upon his lips. The colors highlight the pumpkin and his red-and-white striped shirt. Is that the acorn off near his right foot? Metzner says that the illustrations are hand-colored. If so, the coloring agents generally add only one or two colors, often green and brown. Metzner counts twenty-two illustrations in all in the two volumes. Further illustrations here include these. "The Hare and the Frogs" (12) displays frogs wearing old-time bathing suits. "The Stag and the Vine" (47) is perhaps Barret's most successful use of color. CJ (62) chooses a surprising moment and approach. A monkey in business suit with wife and child presents a jewel to a bumpkin cock with a multicolored tail. "The Worker and His Sons" (95) makes him very decrepit and them somehow disengaged, while a female figure looks on from further away. Barret has fun with MM (110): she sits in a swirl of a skirt and contemplates the spilt milk on the path. With those high heels, striped socks, lovely skirt, and low-cut neckline, she would be thinking about looking good in a new dress! "The Lion Grown Old" (143) again follows an unusual approach: the old lion with shrivelled face chats with a monkey. My prize in this volume goes to "The Fox and the Goat" (158), which presents the fox as a cavalier with huge hat and sword, who looks down confidently, even arrogantly, on the goat in the well with his eyeglasses and wondering look. GGE (183) presents a wonderfully suspicious older man as he holds a knife dripping with blood and looks on the murdered hen. Well done again! AD (198) presents the characters rather than the exact fable situation. The dove is wonderfully done up with hat and parasol. "The Thieves and the Ass" (223) shows again fine use of color, though the situation may not be thought through well. One thief displays beautifully colored -- and even matched -- stockings and shirt. The ass resists the efforts of the clever third thief: should he in the fable? "The Cobbler and the Banker" (238) is another triumph: Gregoire is burying his money in the basement and looks suspiciously to see if anyone is watching. There is a reminder between the two title-pages that this edition includes five volumes and that only 2200 copies were printed. 

1951 Fables de La Fontaine, Tome II.  Illustrées d'Eaux-Fortes originales de Gaston Barret.  #1345 of 2200.  Portfolio.  Paris: Aux Éditions Arc-en-Ciel.  €22.50 from Peter Everaers, Hulst, Netherlands, Dec., '21.

In 2012 I found the whole five volume work by Barret, including three volumes of Contes, at Librairie S. Thomas in Paris.  I am delighted now to add second copies of the two volumes of fables.  Tome I appeared in 1950.  This copy is identified in Volume I as #1345 of 2200, whereas the copy found earlier is #1576.  A fascinating project someday would be to compare the coloring of our two copies, since Metzner says that the illustrations are hand-colored.  I can add at this point in 2200 that some of Barret's illustrations were stars in the collection's exhibit at the Joslyn Museum, including "The Cobbler and the Banker" mentioned below.  As I wrote of the first copy, these volumes are printed on Vélin de Chiffon des Vosges. The pages are collected in a portfolio.  As Metzner comments in Bodemann, the animals are humanized in clothing and posture.  Humans are "puppenähnlich."  In the frontispiece of "Acorn and Pumpkin," the philosopher gazes on the pumpkin with his finger reflectively upon his lips.  The colors highlight the pumpkin and his red-and-white striped shirt.  Is that the acorn off near his right foot?  Metzner counts twenty-two illustrations in all in the two volumes.  Further illustrations here include these.  "The Hare and the Frogs" (12) displays frogs wearing old-time bathing suits.  "The Stag and the Vine" (47) is perhaps Barret's most successful use of color.  CJ (62) chooses a surprising moment and approach.  A monkey in business suit with wife and child presents a jewel to a bumpkin cock with a multicolored tail.  "The Worker and His Sons" (95) makes him very decrepit and them somehow disengaged, while a female figure looks on from further away.  Barret has fun with MM (110): she sits in a swirl of a skirt and contemplates the spilt milk on the path.  With those high heels, striped socks, lovely skirt, and low-cut neckline, she would be thinking about looking good in a new dress!  "The Lion Grown Old" (143) again follows an unusual approach: the old lion with shrivelled face chats with a monkey.  My prize in this volume goes to "The Fox and the Goat" (158), which presents the fox as a cavalier with huge hat and sword, who looks down confidently, even arrogantly, on the goat in the well with his eyeglasses and wondering look.  GGE (183) presents a wonderfully suspicious older man as he holds a knife dripping with blood and looks on the murdered hen.  Well done again!  AD (198) presents the characters rather than the exact fable situation.  The dove is wonderfully done up with hat and parasol.  "The Thieves and the Ass" (223) shows again fine use of color, though the situation may not be thought through well.  One thief displays beautifully colored -- and even matched -- stockings and shirt.  The ass resists the efforts of the clever third thief: should he in the fable?  "The Cobbler and the Banker" (238) is another triumph: Gregoire is burying his money in the basement and looks suspiciously to see if anyone is watching.  There is a reminder between the two title-pages that this edition includes five volumes and that only 2200 copies were printed.

1951 Facetten-Reeks 1: De Fabel. Dr. J. Haantjes. 's Gravenhage: B.B. Van Goor Zonen's Uitgeversmaatschappij N.V. Gift of Gert-Jan Van Dijk, Dec., '96.

This well-preserved school-book pamphlet includes all sorts of different texts valuable for a serious academic encounter with the literary fable. Besides a verse life of Aesop, there are selections in prose and poetry from eleven different authors, only a portion of which are standard expectable fables (e.g., by La Fontaine and Lessing in the original languages). There is even one strong (Dutch?) engraving (?) of OR and the traditional Ulm woodcut of Aesop himself. I will need to wait until a quiet evening together to let Gert-Jan describe the individual works to me….

1951 Five or more Fables. Clarice and Alfred E. Hamill. Paperbound. Lake Forest, IL: Centaurs. $9.99 from Blanket Hog Trading, Eureka, CA, through eBay, August '05. 

This little paperbound booklet has nine items, each with an envoy at its end. I am presuming that Clarice and Alfred E. Hamill, who sent this as their Christmas greetings in 1951, are the authors and illustrators. These are light-hearted poems with a good punch line. The first has the lion trying to rally beasts against mankind. The bear, the crocodile, and the fox walk away from his urgings. Finally he turns to a mouse, whose only response is that he cannot because he has a little cold. In the second poem, a cormorant feeds on the fish in a wonderful pond, but whatever selection method he uses, he thins the pond and fattens himself. The result is that he cannot fly farther than a chicken and is devoured by foxes. The last envoy, after a poem on an iguana, may be among the best (22): "Now the moral from this pimply/Reptile for us all, if queasy,/Can be stated very simply:/It is only--Take it easy!" There is, by the way, a beautifully colored dressed mouse on the title-page. That is the only illustration in the booklet.

1951 Holiday Magazine. March, 1951. Vol. 9, No. 3. Including two fables by Ernest Hemingway: "The Good Lion" and "The Faithful Bull." Hemingway drawings by Adriana Ivancich. Philadelphia: The Curtis Publishing Company. $7 at a flea market in Raleigh, June, '97.

I had first found these two in a German translation in 1953: Zwei Fabeln. At this flea market, I was really looking at another book sitting on top of this magazine when I saw the small note pictured as tacked onto the fence on the cover advertising these two fables. What a find! As I wrote there, these two witty stories may stretch beyond the limits I would want to put on fable. The sophisticated winged aristocratic lion from Venice learned how primitive his fellow lions in Africa were—but had he become like them? The faithful steer was faithful to fighting and to his lady, and his faithfulness impressed the matador who killed him. The stories raise good questions. I would probably put them into the category of "parable."

1951 Hundred Fables (Aesop's Fables).  Munro Leaf; translator Baruch Krupnik.  Illustrated by Robert Lawson.  Hardbound.  Tel Aviv, Israel: Joshua Chochik Publishing House.  $20 from Judaicaman: Joshua Jacobovitz, Shilo, Israel, May, '15.

Here is a Hebrew translation of Leaf and Lawson's classic edition from Heritage Press in 1941.  96 pages.  T of C at the end.  It is a pleasure to find Lawson's delightful old illustrations, even though here the blotter-like character of the pages has them appearing less distinct.  The T of C has 102 items, but there may be two items there that are not fables.

1951 I.A. Krylov Basni.  Illustrations by A. Laptyev.  Hardbound.  Moscow/Leningrad: Detgiz: Governmental Publishing Office for Children's Literature/Ministry of Education/Enlightment USSR.  $20 from Walnut Valley Books, Winfield, KS, through Biblio, Nov., '20.

This book is very similar to a pair of copies with the same bibliographical information but dated to 1948.  The typesetting seems different.  The first illustration, FC, has moved onto the title-page, across from the frontispiece portrait of Krylov.  As I wrote of those copies, this book seems a standard presentation of Krylov's fables, with a rich assortment of A. Laptyev's 1947 illustrations.  This edition adds an AI of titles at the end before the T of C, which lists seventy-eight fables on the book's 147 pages.  The illustrations are full-page black-and-white presentations, and I count eighteen of them here plus the title-page's nineteenth by contrast with the twenty illustrations in those other two copies.  This book has five lovely silhouettes on its front cover.  Canvas binding.

1951 I.A. Krylov: Basni (Selected Fables). Editor: Sv. Rakitin. Various artists. Hardbound. Sofia, Bulgaria: Narodna Prosveta. $100 from Levent Turkmen, Sofia, Bulgaria, through eBay, Oct., '10.

This book is worth the high price I paid for it. It works generally in four-page or six-page units. The first right-hand page has a title, small design, and visual artist's name. The verso of that page is a full-page illustration. Facing is the first page of the pages of text. The verso of the last page of text includes a larger repeat of the design that first appeared with the title. To guess from the indication on the final T of C, twenty-three of the twenty-five fables presented here are illustrated by G. Rajcev. The other two are illustrated by Iv. Vazov and Todor Xarmandznev. These names seem not to agree with the names given under individual titles. Perhaps the smaller designs are done by these three artists, and the full-page illustrations, which vary a great deal in style, are done by the artists listed with the titles. The explosion of the frog of OF on 11 is cataclysmic! Two of the three graphics for "Death and the Woodcutter" (19-22) are appropriately dark, and the third shows both light and footsteps leading back home. FG is a strong silhouette (28). "The Ass and the Nightingale" (37-40) includes green tint in all four of its illustrations. Other fables similarly include green and yellow tints. Is that "The Old Man and the Tree" with the touching illustrations of gardening and of ships going down (80-86)? The illustrations for BF (95-98) are as good as black-and-white illustrations can get for this fable. The canvas-covered spine of this book is breaking down. The front cover features an elephant and pug, and the title-page adds an ass and nightingale. This is an excellent Krylov edition! 

1951 Izbrannye Sochinenya (Selected Works).  Ivan Krylov.  Various.artists.  Hardbound.  Moscow: Detgiz.  $4.75 from Cup and Chaucer Books, Slate Hill, NY, through Biblio.com, Feb., '19.

Here is a typical Russian book of the 1950's.  It includes a colored frontispiece of Krylov and a number of black-and-white illustrations of historical figures in the course of the book.  There are also a few typical black-and-white illustrations of Krylov's fables, for example facing 129.  As a "collected works," the book contains several different kinds of literature created by Krylov.  I would say that this is a strange and lucky find!

1951 Les Fables de La Fontaine.  Avec planches animées de F(ernando?) Baldi.  Deuxième édition.  Canvas bound.  Florence: R. Franceschini & F..  €35 from Le Chef d'Oeuvre Inconnu, Esquelbeck, through Livre-Rare Book, Nov., '23.

This is a beautiful old book with a warm cover including MSA and MM and lovely silhouettes of WC and MM on its endpapers.  Its special feature lies in the three movable pictures among the twenty fables.  One of these is fully operative:  The fox wags his tail and the crow wags his head (8).  One is partially operative: the goose lays an egg, even though her farmer has lost his arm (34)!  The dog and wolf have lost their connections (26).  There may have been other movable pictures on heavier paper at various points in the book.  Other fables have good silhouettes, consistent with those on the endpapers.  The cracked pot on 31 is especially expressive.  41 pages.  7" x 9¾".  Canvas bound.

1951 Michail Jevgrafovic Saltykov-Shchedrin Bajky. Michail Jevgrafovic Saltykov-Shchedrin. Illustrated by Mirko Hanak. Hardbound. Prague: Statni Nakladatelstvi Detske Knihy. $7 from Zachary Cohn, Prague, Oct., '01.

Here are eleven fables, with good black-and-white illustrations for each. I recognize many from the two English translations of Saltykov-Shchedrin's work I have. They are listed under "1941/76" and "1965?" However, the spectacular feature of this book is its three colored inserts, perhaps hand-painted. The first, presumably for "Bears in Government," has a bear up in the rafters on 48. The second, presumably for "The Idealist Crucian," shows a gathering of fish on 80. The third, presumably for "Faithful Trésor," is on 89 showing a dog and his master's chain. This copy from Zachary comes complete with a photograph, which I presume to depict Saltykov-Shchedrin, perhaps from the book's one-time dust jacket.

1951 Otsar Meshalim (Hebrew "Treasure of Fables"). Z. Beharav. Illustrations by Bina Gvirtz. Hardbound. Tel Aviv: Yizra'el Publishing House. $65 from Meir Biezunski, Haifa, Israel, Nov., '06.

Some 110 fables on 130 pages. Texts come from Aesop, Krylov, La Fontaine, Shtainbarg, the Bible, and Jewish traditions. To my surprise, I can identify most of these stories with ease. The illustrations are highly playful. They can occur several to a page around the text. I enjoy, for example, the sketch of MSA on the bottom of 11 that has father and son carrying the ass. It is easy to recognize old friends like Krylov's "Lobster, Pike, and Swan" on 15 or TH on 18-19 or WL on 30-31. One of the tenderest sketches has the dove still holding the twig on which the ant crawls out of the water on 33. Do not miss "The Blind Men and the Elephant" on 40-41. The fox as soup chef as part of FS on 51-52 is superb. The crow has to be a great shot to get the pebbles into the vase on 61! Both 80 and the monochrome facing it picture "The Fox and the Eagle," and both do it well. I could go on and on; this is a delightful artistic work, even in only fair condition. There are several full-page monochrome illustrations. The best of these for me has the porcupine greeting the snakes in their lair facing 64. The canvas spine is not holding up well. 

1951 The Aesop for Children.  With Pictures by Milo Winter.  Hardbound.  Chicago: Rand McNally.  See 1919/1951.

1951 The Dove and the Ant: Aesop's Fables Retold. Illustrated by Sally Medworth. Pamphlet. Sydney & London: A Blue Wren Book: Angus & Robertson. AUD $31 from The Antique Bookshop and Curios, McMahons Point, Australia, through abe, May, '03. 

Various pages use pastels and black-and-white illustrations. The pastels are particularly charming. My favorite is the two-page spread on which the dove sweeps down to drop a twig for the struggling ant (12-13). This version has the second episode follow immediately on the first. The dove dozes beautifully in her tree (16-17) while the ant feels the ground tremble from approaching human steps. In all, there are 32 pages in this 4½" x 6" pamphlet.

1951 The Lion and the Mouse. By Miriam Blanton Huber, Frank Seely Salisbury, and Mabel O'Donnell. Illustrated by Mary Hoyt. Pamphlet. The Janet and John Story Books #27. Printed in England. Digswell Place, Welwyn, Herts: James Nisbet & Col. Ltd. £5 from Rose's Books, Tintern, Monmouthshire, UK, Dec., '01.

Copyright in the USA by Harper and Row 1951. This twenty-four-page pamphlet, 5¼" x 7¾", features a mouse who decides to run up on the lion's back. The simple art makes good use of the rope ends around the text as the men plot to lay the trap (7). This is the first time that I remember hearing the mouse tell the lion to stop roaring. There is a second story covering the second half of the pamphlet, "The Old Woman and the Fox." The fox, who has the job of watching the old woman's sheep, eats one each night but always has a story in the morning about who the culprit was. She cannot catch the fox, but she does throw her milk at him as he runs off. And so the tail of a fox has a white spot at its end. Are these illustrations some kind of pastel work?

1951 The Magazine Antiques, Vol. LX, No. 6, December, 1951. David Stockwell et al. Philadelphia, PA: The Magazine Antiques. $10 from Glaeve Gallery, Mt. Horeb, WI, Dec., '98.

This issue has an article "Aesop's Fables on Philadelphia Furniture" by David Stockwell on 522-25. The article begins from the Howe Highboy with a clear fable carving of FG on the lower center drawer. It relates the carving to early woodcuts in the Caxton tradition. Though the prose correctly speaks of the illustration as belonging to Caxton, the caption for Figure 3 unfortunately presents this Caxton illustration as occurring in an "eighteenth-century edition" in the Philadelphia Public Library. The article points out that three editions of Aesop's fables were printed in Philadelphia alone in 1777 and six others before the turn of the century. Engravings of Aesop's fables appear in some copies of the 1762 edition of Thomas Chippendale's Director. The article mentions and displays another highboy, a lowboy, a mantel frieze in the Powel Room, and the overmantel panel in the great room at Kenmore. It finds four fables pictured in this panel. Stockwell believes that "the unusual and delightful use of the carved fable motif in case furniture is a concept only of the Philadelphia school of craftsmen" (525).

1951 The Wind and the Sun: Aesop's Fables Retold. Illustrated by Margaret Horder. Signed by Margaret Horder. Paperbound. Sydney & London: A Blue Wren Book: Angus & Robertson. AUD $55 from The Antique Bookshop and Curios, McMahons Point, Australia, through abe, May, '03. 

In my experience, it is unusual that, as here, the sun starts the argument. The story's form is the poorer version: "Whichever one of us can make this poor traveller take off his coat shall be declared the stronger," suggests the Sun (10). Pastels and black-and-white illustrations alternate. Horder does a good job with both contestants as they do more and more and more. I like particularly the pictures of the man first dragging his coat (26) and then resting (28). Perhaps Horder's signature is what makes this book so expensive.

1951 Tolstoi's Aesop's Fables (Hebrew). Translated to Hebrew by Israel Zemorah. Woodcuts after Virgil Solis?. Hardbound. Tel Aviv: $9.99 from Shlomo Mizrahi, Brooklyn, through eBay, April, '10.

Here is a modest book of forty-six fables on 51 pages plus a T of C at the end. The blue-ink woodcuts are lovely; they have the look of something stamped into the book by hand. On the whole, they are very nicely done. A good exemplar is DS on 19. Are they modeled on Virgil Solis' work? Strangely, the woodcuts stop abruptly on 40. A hand-written note on the inside front-cover mentions that a copy of this same work was sold to my favorite private collector. I feel very fortunate to have found this work by chance on eBay and to have purchased it at so good a price. I would love to learn more about the interaction of Tolstoi and Aesop, not to speak of the origin of these woodcuts!

1951/62 Androcles and the Lion. An Old Fable Renovated by Bernard Shaw. (c)1913 George Bernard Shaw. Paperback. Baltimore: Penguin Books. $1.55 at Recycle, San Jose, Aug., '92.

I am delighted at last to have the opportunity to read the play. (The book contains some one hundred pages of stuff--mini-essays?--before the play starts, and a few pages of explanation after it.) Androcles is a Christian Greek tailor, known for his "sorcery" with animals, whom he loves dearly. He exists within a strong cast of characters including his wife Megaera, a "rather handsome pampered slattern"; Ferrovius, the fierce fighter; Lavinia, the beautiful, forthright, sometimes doubting believer; the Roman Captain; and the Emperor. As Shaw constructs it, the play becomes an examination of allegiances and motives around the question of imperialism. He writes here without apostrophes in his contractions. Was this book really sold once at Macy's for $.68?

1951/67 Mazoezi na Mafumbo (Swahili "Riddles and Exercises"). A(rthur) S(elwood) Walford. NA. Hardbound. Nairobi: Oxford University Press. $3 from an unknown source, June, '02.

Now, some years after receiving or finding this 60-page pamphlet with fifty texts, I cannot remember the circumstances. On the good chance that it was pointed out or given to me since it contained a fable or two, I am including it in the collection. The cover illustration itself of two mice conversing, repeated on 48, seems to suggest a fable. So do the illustrations on 24 and 27. The texts seem often to be related to a specific African culture or situation. The art depicts native life. Find me a fable in this booklet! 

1951/69 Fables from Aesop.  General Editor: Jean Forrester.  Paperbound.  Bombay: Orient Longmans' New Supplementary Readers 1: Orient Longmans.  €3.40 from Versandantiquariat Robert A. Mueller, Isernhagen, through ZVAB, June, '18.

This pamphlet of 35 pages was first printed in 1951 and was reprinted many times before this latest printing in 1969.  Ten fables are listed on a beginning T of C.  Each fable gets at least a full-page black-and-white illustration.  It is a bit surprising that the series starts with "The Cat and the Mice," in which the cat binds her two feet together and hangs herself on a peg.  She thinks that the mice will think that she is a dead cat or a bag.  "We have seen many a bag but never one with a cat's head."  There are questions after each fable.

1951/76/82 Esopo: Favole. Traduzione di Elena Ceva Valla, testo greco a fronte. With the 1491 Venetian woodcuts. Fourth edition. Milan: Rizzoli. $4.15 in Italy, Fall, '83.

A nice source. Do not miss the index of illustrations at the back. The text seems to be exactly the same as Hausrath and Perry.

1951/76/84 Esopo: Favole. Traduzione di Elena Ceva Valla, testo greco a fronte. With the 1491 Venetian woodcuts. Fifth edition. Milan: Rizzoli. Gift from Rome of Pat Donnelly, '86.

This fifth edition is identical with the fourth except for changes in the price and in the color and setup of the front and back covers.

1951? Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated. James Thurber. Dust jacket. NY: Harper and Brothers. $15 at Yesterday's Memories, Feb., '87. Extra copy without dust jacket for $4 from Second Story's Warehouse in Rockville, April, '97.

Reprint in slightly different format from Harper's original 1940 book. The printing is datable to 1950 or after, when Thurber published The Thirteen Clocks. This book is differently formatted from the Blue Ribbon editions (1943). However he is delivered, Thurber is a classic! Wonderful drawings.

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1952

1952 Aesopica. A series of texts relating to Aesop or ascribed to him or closely connected with the literary tradition that bears his name. Ben Edwin Perry. Volume One: Greek and Latin Texts. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. $45 at Black Oak Books, Berkeley, Dec., '86.

Bigger margins and thicker paper than in the Arno reprint (1952/80). Perfect condition. A real find. The standard work for textual comparison.

1952 Aesop's Fables. Illustrated by Anne Sellers Leaf. No editor acknowledged. Chicago: Rand McNally & Company. First version (#46325) for $2 at Renaissance, Summer, '89. Extra in less good condition for $1, Nov., '90, and another in better condition but with less good printing for $2.50 from Aardvark, SF, Jan., '91. Second version (#8440) for $1 at Hamburg Antique Mall, May, '94. Extra copy for $2 from Pacific Junction, Jan., '95. Third version (#1019) a gift of Mary Pat Ryan, Nov., '97. Version 3.5 is a "Tip-Top Elf Book" for $.29, like version 3, but it bears the number 8615, like version 4. It says "Edition of MCMLXI." It came from Nerman's Books, Winnipeg, Canada for $3 through Bibliofind, Oct., '98. Version 3.8 is entirely the same, except that it lacks the 1961 date on the title-page. It cost $1 at the Antiques Mall, Pacific Junction, Iowa, April, '98. Fourth version (#8615) a gift of Dee Yost, Hastings, Aug., '95. Extra copy in poor condition for $3 from Lee Temares at Baltimore Antiquarian Fair, Aug., '91.

Cuddliness is everything here. A dozen fables. I will keep at least one copy of each version in the collection. Notice the price rise from the third ($.29) to the fourth ($.59) version: over double! I may be fooled completely on the sequence of versions. I tried to work off of prices. The third version has on its title-page: "Edition of MCMLVIII." The first edition alone has a two-page spread on the opening and closing endpapers. The others present the title-page immediately after one endpaper. The four versions present an array of contrasting features, including different covers and titles: "Famous Book-Elf Books," "Famous Elf Books," "Tip-Top Elf Books," and "Elf Books." Better than the later reprints of the identical illustrations in The Rand McNally Book of Favorite Nursery Classics (1952/61).

1952 Aesop's Fables To Read and To Color. A Playtime Library Story Book. NY: Capitol Publishing Company, Inc. $2.55 from Aamstar, Colorado Springs, March, '94.

A small, almost-square pamphlet that Jim Ciletti was good enough to take from five non-fable mates. The grasshopper realizes his mistake before the ant has a chance to say anything! Fourteen fables and a last page on how to draw animals. Some small person painted and crayoned many of these animals!

1952 Aesop's Fables To Read and To Color. Irvington, NY: A Sugar Plum Story Book: Capitol Publishing Company. $20.82 from Gail Evans, New Market, VA, through Ebay, Dec., '99.

This is a 32-page pamphlet 5½" square. Its cover has a delightful full-color painting of a fox with pince-nez reading "Aesop's Fables" while other animals look on and listen. The style reminds me of Russian work being done then. Inside one finds a steady procession of two-page spreads for each fable, with text on the left and a full-page line drawing on the right. Exceptions are GA at the center of the book, which gets four pages, including a double-page illustration at the centerfold, and the last page, which offers four stages each for drawing four different animals. The best moral might be for CP: "It really works. Try it yourself sometime!" Here is another simple item that had eluded me for a long time!

1952 Animal Stories in Basic Vocabulary. By Edward W. Dolch and Marguerite P. Dolch. Illustrated by Marguerite Dolch. Hardbound. Printed in USA. Champaign, IL: Basic Vocabulary Series: Garrard. $4.50 from Stillwater Book Center, Stillwater, MN, Jan., '97. Extra copy in poorer condition for $5 from the Constant Reader, Milwaukee, '97?

This book is similar to Aesop's Stories for Pleasure Reading (1951), also by the Dolches. Almost all of the twenty stories here are fables. They include "The Camel and the Pig," "The Goat and the Wolf," "How the Rabbit Fooled the Whale and the Elephant," "The Jackal and the Camel," TT, "The Bear Says North," "The Hare and the Hedgehog," "The Duck and the Squirrel," "The Blind Men and the Elephant." "The Deer and the Lion," "The Camel and the Tent," "The Ape and the Firefly," "The Four Friends," "The Big Moose," "The Hungry Wolf," and "The Rabbit and the Monkey." After some coaching from the squirrel, Mrs. Duck now thinks that chickens fly better than she does (63); I think something went askew in this story. A deer, not a hare, tricks the lion into the well (75). The firefly gets ten apes in succession to hurt each other while trying to hurt him (83). The book uses 220 basic words and 95 of the most common nouns. That limitation contributes to the simplicity of the tellings. The illustrations, one per story, are (as in the other Dolch reader) almost crayonings of simple black-and-whites.

1952 Animal Stories in Basic Vocabulary.  By Edward W. Dolch and Marguerite P. Dolch.  Illustrated by Marguerite Dolch.  Hardbound.  Champaign, IL: Basic Vocabulary Series:  Garrard.  $-0.01 from Discarded by Reinert Alumni Library, Nov., '14. 

There is already a copy of this book in the collection.  One thing has changed in this copy.  The Basic Vocabulary Series, listed facing the title-page, now has not seven but fifteen titles.  I will repeat my comments on the other copy.  This book is similar to "Aesop's Stories for Pleasure Reading" (1951), also by the Dolches.  Almost all of the twenty stories here are fables.  They include "The Camel and the Pig," "The Goat and the Wolf," "How the Rabbit Fooled the Whale and the Elephant," "The Jackal and the Camel," TT, "The Bear Says North," "The Hare and the Hedgehog," "The Duck and the Squirrel," "The Blind Men and the Elephant." "The Deer and the Lion," "The Camel and the Tent," "The Ape and the Firefly," "The Four Friends," "The Big Moose," "The Hungry Wolf," and "The Rabbit and the Monkey."  After some coaching from the squirrel, Mrs. Duck now thinks that chickens fly better than she does (63); I think something went askew in this story.  A deer, not a hare, tricks the lion into the well (75).  The firefly gets ten apes in succession to hurt each other while trying to hurt him (83).  The book uses 220 basic words and 95 of the most common nouns.  That limitation contributes to the simplicity of the tellings.  The illustrations, one per story, are (as in the other Dolch reader) almost crayonings of simple black-and-whites.

1952 Better Homes and Gardens Second Story Book. More favorite stories and poems from world literature, with illustrations from famous editions. Selected by Betty O'Connor. Des Moines: Meredith. $4.50 at the Lost Dauphin, Oshkosh, June, '88. Extra copy for $3.50 from Don Dupley, March, '93.

Six fables, each using Jones' version and Rackham's two-colored illustrations. This book follows up on Better Homes and Gardens Story Book (1950). I think I have seen this book in this form by a different publisher, but I do not know where.

1952 Contes de La Fontaine, Tome III. Jean de La Fontaine. Illustrées d'Eaux-Fortes originales de Gaston Barret. #1576 of 2200. Paperbound. Paris: Aux Éditions Arc-en-Ciel. €42.50 from Librairie S. Thomas, Paris, July, '12.

Tome I and Tome II of fables appeared in 1950 and 1951, respectively, and Tome I and Tome II of Contes in 1951. I am including these three volumes of "Contes" because they are part of the same set of five volumes. Printed on Vélin de Chiffon des Vosges. Metzner says that the illustrations are hand-colored. The pages are collected in a portfolio. The illustrations can be found as frontispiece and facing 16, 51, 62, 95, 110, 127, 138, 155, 166, 183, and 194. These twelve illustrations seem less erotically developed than those of the first two volumes of "Contes" in this set. There is a reminder between the two title-pages that this edition includes five volumes and that only 2200 copies were printed. The paper in this volume seems sometimes slightly waffled. Did it get wet somewhere? 

1952 Der freundliche Hirt: Indische Tierfabeln frei nach Narajanas Hitopadesa. Gerhard Kahlo. Mit Federzeichnungen von Lieselotte Finke-Poser. Hardbound. Leipzig: Verlag Ernst Wunderlich. €3 from Dresden, August, '06.

This set of twenty fables begins with a narration I had not known before. The king and queen dispute whether their son should have a teacher. The king decides to have a shepherd teach him. The queen is angry and puts clever questions to the shepherd, which he answers even more cleverly. His first story for the prince is the familiar story of the flying net. In this version, the crow offers advice to the trapped flock to work together. By the way, in keeping with Indian tradition, such advice usually is delivered in verse in this book. Next, a wolf asks a wanderer to help him raise a treasure from the bottom of the pond; the wanderer wades in and the wolf attacks and overcomes him. A fox tricks a deer into eating a farmer's grass, and soon the farmer has trapped the deer. When the farmer comes to kill him, the deer plays dead, the farmer first unties him, the dear runs away, and the farmer in trying to strike him strikes instead the fox. The basic story of ox and lion from Kalila and Dimna is next. These two are here foxes, not jackals. Both are evil here, and both are demoted from keepers of the royal food, while the ox is promoted. Next is the monkey trapped in the split log. An ass brays to warn his miller master of a thief when the dog is too lazy to do it. The thief runs, and the master awakes and beats the ass. "Undank ist der Welt Lohn." A lion is bothered by a mouse in his cave; he invites a cat, who rids him of the mouse. Then the lion reflects that he cannot let this cat live and talk about his weakness. He encloses the cat and starves her. After a break for the frame narrative, there is the story of the stolen bell that people have made into a ghost. A young girl distracts monkeys with apples, gets the bell, and takes it to the ruler. An apparently embracing statue with jeweled eyes turns into a machine for capturing a thief when he tries to steal those eyes. Next is the story of the "flying necklace" used by birds to rid themselves of a snake. "Regulated Sacrifice" is next, with a wolf rather than a lion the ruler who gets duped by a clever rabbit. Then "Blue Fox" and "Talkative Tortoise." How nice to encounter old friends! A few last fables include "Der Dumme Zauberer," who keeps turning the pursued animal into a larger pursuer, until a Tiger eats him! Good line drawings, several to a fable. 

1952 Die bekehrte Schlange und siebenundzwanzig andere Fabeln.  Trilussa.  Translated by Hans von Hülsen.  Illustrations by Werner vom Scheidt.  #314 of 750.  Hardbound.  Frankfurt am Main: Trajanus-Presse.  €19.20 from Antiquariat Kamas, Düsseldorf, Dec., '18.

Trilussa remains fascinating for me.  My offhand sense is that these fables speak out of a satirical and even cynical view.  And they are highly clever.  Let me highlight several here.  "Die Dankbarkeit" is a tribute to the behavior of cat and dog after a master feeds each from his plate. The master commends the dog for staying and thanking him. The dog responds: "Sure, who knows but that you won't have chicken again tomorrow?!"  The cat declares "Freedom for Everyone!"  A mouse creeps out of its hole.  The cat laughs, declares again, but adds "Your tail has become too short.  I cannot allow that!"  And the cat eats the mouse.  "The Converted Snake" is about a snake that has lost its poison-tooth and tells the bat that she wants to go into a convent and do penance for the many sins committed with her poison-tooth.  The bat answers that a conscience crisis manages to forgive errors of understanding.  "It's just... About the poison you have sprayed about, it stays poison."  The snail climbs an obelisk out of the search for fame, looks at his trail of slime, and proclaims "I have written myself with golden letters in the Book of History!"  The full-page black-and-white illustrations are dramatic.  The one tied most closely to its narrative is that for Fable 10, "Die Freiheit des Katers."

1952 Esopo: Fabulas. Traducción Directa de Clara Campoamor. Ilustración de Victor Valdivia. First edition of 6000 copies. Hardbound. Tlacoquemecatl, Mexico: Editorial Diana, S.A.. Gift of Vera Ruotolo, August, '02.

This is a colorfully covered book of 121 pages of fables on poor and fragile paper. About every five pages there is a full-page line-drawing in black-and-white. These line-drawings are quite straightforward. The texts are short and pointed. The cover illustration is a lively rendition of DLS.

1952 Fabeln. I.A. Krilow. Nachdichtung aus dem Russischen von Martin Remané. Illustriert von sowjetischen Künstlern. Berlin: Aufbau-Verlag. DEM 19,80 at J. Kitzinger Antiquariat, Munich, August, '95. Extra copy without dust-jacket for DEM 18 at Historica Antiquariat, Dresden, July, '95.

Except for the raised bust of Krylov on the cover there, this edition seems identical with that of the SWA-Verlag in 1948. See my comments there. This book has a slightly larger format, due to bigger margins; in fact, the print here is smaller than it is there, though the illustrations seem to be the same size or slightly larger.

1952 Fabeln.  Alfred Michael Schauhuber.  Hardbound.  Dust jacket.  Vienna, Austria: Metten Verlag.  €9.60 from Versandantiquariat Liber Antiqua through ZVAB, March, '15.

I am surprised at how enjoyable these short interchanges are.  They are witty, one to a page for 58 pages.  Here are some samples: "The bear is after your life" said the ass to the lion.  "Could be, but that he would trust an ass with this admission makes it unlikely" (15).  "I love you" called the fox to the hare.  "Yes, especially at breakfast time."  With that the hare was gone (24).  An ape brags about how well he can imitate the master.  "But I imitate his speech," answers the parrot.  A cat looks on: "Poor master, who is exemplar to an ape and a parrot!" (36).  A rather high-flown introduction narrates the author's encounter with the figure of Fable, who tells him to write.  I do not think I had ever heard of Schauhuber before.  The title may actually include a whole beginning that runs this way: "Vom Löwen und Bären, Füchsen und Wölfen, Affen, Hunden, Katzen und anderem Getier und beredten Dingen."

1952 Fables. S[teve] Medvey. Printed in France. Paris: Les Petits Livres d'Or #44: Les Editions Cocorico. 25 Francs from Brancion Book Market, Paris, August, '99.

See the English-language Nursery Tales in 1952, which this small French book (6.5" x 8") reproduces. See my comments there. In "Le Chien et le Coq," the dog is presented to the fox by the rooster not as doorman but as friend--supposed by the fox to be another rooster. Do not miss the smiling tree near the end of TH. The same problem occurs here in TMCM as in the English version: the mice seem to jump from discussion behind the door to being interrupted on top of the table. Again, the cat, cook, and dogs seem to arrive together. Only "Le Loup et les Chevreaux" is not Aesopic. The colored illustrations do not rise above the average. This book has stiff boards for covers.

1952 Fables and Parables for the Mid-Century. Nym Wales. Illustrated by George Logue. Dust jacket. NY: Philosophical Library. $6 in Chicago, Sept., '92. Second copy for $6.50 at Book House in Dinkytown, March, '90.

A curious book of preachy allegories. The three poor illustrations occur on the dust-jacket cover and on both sides of the page before the title page. "The Umbrella Tree" (67-8) is untypical and good. I cannot take much of the rest. The Dinkytown version has a green cover, with upside-down printing on the spine.

1952 Fables by Aesop Minor. Osmond Beckwith. Illustrations from Harper's and other magazines circa 1850. Dust jacket. NY: The Cellar Press. $12 by mail from Thomas J. Joyce, Feb., '94.

One of the stranger text collections that I have. One text ("The Age of Confusion") mentions BC in a parenthesis at its end. Otherwise there are some creative and rather weird stories here. On my first reading I like best "Pandora's Box" and "Going to Market." The latter is quite close to an Aesopic fable. These texts raise questions, even if the question sometimes might be "What?!" The wildest of the illustrations presents a face of a locomotive coming straight at the viewer.

1952 Fables by Gilbert. By Russell Gilbert. Illustrations from paintings by Russell and Lillian Gilbert. Hardbound. Dust jacket. Printed in USA. Boston: Bruce Humphries, Inc. $15 from Zephyr Used & Rare Books, Woodland, WA, through ABE, June, '00.

This is a pleasing set of 30 rhymed fables on some 52 pages. Though they are original, they play off of traditional fable themes. Thus in the first two fables a lion makes fun of a mocking bird but promptly needs her help to remove a thorn. She then gets so proud that she does not see through the flattery of a snake. For me one of the most interesting fables gives the negative comments of parishioners against the title-character in "The Preacher Rat" (17). He resigns. Also striking is "The Family Man and the Turkey Buzzard" (19). The latter has for a defense the spewing up of rotten carrion! For something different, try "The Cobbler and the Elephant" (22). Another unusual fable is "The Bull-Dog and the Man's Family" (38). There is a last bit of fable fun in "The Rabbit and the Wolf" (49). Among many such attempts at fables, Gilbert deserves credit for creating true fables. The two illustrations (frontispiece and 6) are indifferent. Green textured boards with gilt lettering. Unfortunately, the book has the odor of being too long in a used-book store!

1952 Fables de La Fontaine. Illustrée par André Pec. Hardbound. Printed in France. Paris: Flammarion. 65 Francs from Henry Veyrier, Clignancourt, August, '99.

Here is an original of the book I first came to know in its reproduction of 1983. Good monochrome and eight excellent full-page polychrome illustrations. The best of the monochrome illustrations are "The Coach and the Fly" (70) and "The Deer and the Vine" (109). The best of the polychrome are MSA (facing 12), TB (60), and "The Fox and the Wolf" (125). Others face 29, 45, 77, 93, and 108. T of C at the rear. There is some damage here to the bottom of the spine. There are also a few markings on both covers.

1952 Fables de La Fontaine. André Pec. Dust-jacket. Hardbound. Paris: Flammarion. €45 from Deesse, Paris, July, '09.

Here is a better copy, with dust-jacket, of the 1952 original of Pec's work that I first came to know through the reproduction of 1983. As I mentioned of the first copy, without a dust-jacket, it features good monochrome and eight excellent full-page polychrome illustrations. The best of the monochrome illustrations are "The Coach and the Fly" (70) and "The Deer and the Vine" (109). The best of the polychrome are MSA (facing 12), TB (60), and "The Fox and the Wolf" (125). Others face 29, 45, 77, 93, and 108. T of C at the rear. This is one of several cases where I have two copies of a book and they seem to be part of absolutely the same run from the printers but have quite different thicknesses. This better, dust-jacketed copy is perhaps tighter and therefore thinner than the copy I had found earlier.

1952 Fables de la Fontaine. Illustrations de Guy Sabran. Hardbound. Paris: La Bibliothèque Rouge et Bleue #5: Éditions G. P. $9.99 from E. Lee Baumgarten, Martinsburg, WV, through eBay, March, '06. 

This book may be the original behind a later and shorter version done in the same page-size (10½" x 7¾") by the same publisher in 1960. That volume had only 36 pages, while this has 60. That had twelve fables, while this has twenty-two fables. A quick check suggests that all of the fables--though perhaps not all of the illustrations--of the later volume are included here. There is an AI at the end. Though the title page gives a date of 1949, the colophon page at the book's end says that it was printed in 1952 as the fifth book in the series "Bibliothèque Rouge et Bleue." This book's front cover shows a fox leaning up against a vine, thirsty for the grapes. The back cover shows a dapper crow in top-hat and scarf holding a piece of cheese. See my comments under the 1960 edition.

1952 Fables de La Fontaine. Oversize pamphlet. Printed in France. Paris: Éditions Bias. $5 from C. Soley, Barto, PA, through Ebay, Oct., '01.

Here is a sixteen-page oversize pamphlet containing eight of La Fontaine's fables with a full-page colored illustration for each. Text and illustration are matched by being on opposite sides of the same page. We thus start with a picture, then read two verse texts, then see two pictures, and so on. The eight fables are "Le Cochon, la Chevre et le Mouton," OF, "Le Renard et le Bouc," "Les Oreilles du Lievre," "Le Cheval et l'Ane," FS, GA, and "Le Loup devenu Berger." I remember the expressive illustration of "Le Cheval et l'Ane" distinctly but do not know where I saw it. OF is also a very good illustration; the frog seems off-balance with its increased size. Even the beginning illustration of the crying pig is well done, particularly for a cheap and simple children's edition. The cover shows the result of the horse's refusal to help the ass. My sense is that there were many such simple editions of La Fontaine around in France in the post-war years. Check under Gordinne and especially Liege to find more of them.

1952 Fables de La Fontaine en images.  Images de André Jourcin.  Cardboard and staple binding.  Paris: Collection La Cage aux Merveilles:  Éditions Bias.  €5 from Rabby Frederic, Tancarville, France, through eBay, Nov., '21.

Here is our seventh book by Jourcin for Bias.  It differs from the others in that, as its title suggests, it does not offer texts but rather an image and a lesson from each of fifteen fables.  Each fable gets a page.  The simple morals stated are not always in the words of La Fontaine.  Thus for FS, the statement is "Le trompeur est à son tour puni."  For TMCM, we read "La table est bien servie… mais il y a Minet!"  Several others quote La Fontaine exactly.  I am not sure whether I have ever seen a book like this; it presupposes readers who know the full fables or are learning them elsewhere.  The illustrations are typical of Jourcin and may well be repeated from his other fable books.  8½ x 11".  The printer is Fournier in Paris. The back cover has the number 809.

1952 Fabulas de Iriarte.  Illustrations by Raul Valencia.  Tercera Edicion.  Hardbound.  Buenos Aires: Colección Topacio: Nueva Biblioteca par Niños: Editorial Sopena Argentina.  $35.25 from Christian Tottino, Buenos Aires, through eBay, May, '18.

Originally copyrighted in 1943, this hardbound book is, I believe, especially valuable because Iriarte is seldom illustrated.  Here there is a black-and-white full-page illustration about every four or five pages.  There is also a smaller design of a child, book, ball, and cat on 121.  And there are colored full-page illustrations at 30, 46, 78, and 94.  I am surprised after checking online that Iriarte wrote only the sixty-eight fables offered here on 123 pages.  There is a T of C of them at the end of the book.  5¾" x 8".  This book has a colorful cover featuring a parrot with a scholar's mortarboard cap; the black-and-white line drawing for that scene is on 35.

1952 I. Krolov: Valitud Valmid (Estonian). M. Raud, J. Semper, J. Kärner, et al. Illustrated by A. Laptev. Talinn: Eesti Riiklik Kirjastus. $34.99 from Raigo Kirss, Kuressaare, Estonia, through eBay, June, '11.

This book seems closely related to a shorter book catalogued as published in 1955. That edition uses three of this book's translators and the same publisher and part of this title but is only some 20 pages long, whereas this book has 132 pages and uses A. Laptev as the artist throughout. Did the publisher take this 1952 work, make selections, and hire other artists to illustrate them? The T of C at the end gives the translators: M. Raud, J. Semper, J. Kärner -- familiar to me from the 1955 book -- and several others. Mart Raud signs the foreword. I find Laptev's full-page black-and-white illustrations -- usually signed in 1947 -- good! Among his best are WL (27); "The Young Horse" (57); "The Ass and the Nightingale" (63); "Missing the Elephant in the Museum" (93); and WC (103). The cover seems terribly familiar: four scenes are arranged in silhouette around a central silhouette of "Quartet." These illustrations are black and green on a gray background with a white title. 

1952 Itan Aroso: Fables: Yoruba. Illustrated by Joan Kiddell-Monroe. Paperbound. London: Oxford University Press: Geoffrey Cumberlege. $15 from Peter Masi Books, Montague, MA, Sept., '04. 

This 5" x 8" pamphlet contains thirteen traditional Aesopic fables in Yoruba, each with a duochrome illustration in black and blue. The illustrations are by Joan Kiddell-Monroe who would (apparently) go on to create illustrations for a 1961 edition of Aesop's fables translated by John Warrington. She is also the illustrator for James Reeves' 1954 volume of English fables and fairy stories. The most impressive of the illustrations may be the wrap-around cover illustration. It contains many of the animals and elements of nature that will appear in the stories. This is my first Yoruba fable book.

1952 La Fontaine: Fables, Vol. 1.  Marc Chagall.  Limited to 200 copies.  Loose etchings in portfolio.  Paris: Tériade Editeur.  $23,750 from Sims Reed Ltd, London, Jan., '18.

Here is the masterpiece of our collection!  This first portfolio contains 51 of Chagall's etchings, with a list of fables at the conclusion of each volume.  As in Volume 2, the cover is also an original etching.  Limited to 200 copies on vélin de Rives.  I fear that listing favorites among the etchings will have me listing almost all.  Among the best are FC (1); WL (5); "Child and Schoolmaster" (10); "Lion and Gnat" (18); SS (19) CW (25); MSA (28); WC (34); FG (35); "Cook and Swan" (36); and "Mother, Wolf, and Child" (48).

1952 La Fontaine: Fables, Vol. 2.  Marc Chagall.  Limited to 200 copies.  Loose etchings in portfolio.  Paris: Tériade Editeur.  $23,750 from Sims Reed Ltd, London, Jan., '18.

Here is the masterpiece of our collection!  This second portfolio contains 49 of Chagall's etchings, with a list of fables at the conclusion of each volume.  As in Volume 1, the cover is also an original etching.  Limited to 200 copies on vélin de Rives.  I fear that listing favorites among the etchings will have me listing almost all.  Among the best are: "Old Woman and Two Maids" (56); "Satyr and Traveler" (57); "Bear and Two Travelers" (63); "Young Widow" (72); MM (75); "Cobbler and Financier" (79); "Secret" (80); "Dog with Master's Lunch" (81); "Ass and Lapdog" (86); and "Farmer and Squeaking Pig" (92).

1952 La Fontaine's Fables. Translated into English Verse by Sir Edward Marsh. Everyman's Library No. 991. Dust jacket. London: J.M. Dent & Sons/NY: E.P. Dutton & Co. $4 from The Bookshop, Chapel Hill, NC, June, '97. Extra copy without dust jacket for $4 from Just Books, May, '93.

Dent/Dutton take over the text and preface that Marsh had published through Heinemann in 1931. It is good to have his lively tellings in this compact format without illustration. I did not know that the Everyman Library included LaFontaine. Marsh apparently published his first La Fontaine fables in 1925 (Forty-Two Fables of La Fontaine). His text was also used with Marie Angel's art in 1979 (Fables de la Fontaine, Neugebauer, 1979/81).

1952 Marc Chagall: Sculpture, Ceramics, Etchings for the Fables of La Fontaine. Catalogue. November 18-December 23, 1952. NY: Curt Valentin Gallery. $10 through Bibliofind from Art Books Only, Santa Barbara, August, '97.

This pamphlet-catalogue begins with "Anecdote and Fantasy" by Chagall. After a section on Chagall's ceramics, there are three pages on The Fables of La Fontaine, including five black-and-white photographs and Marianne Moore's translation of FC. Gaston Bachelard inverts the common dictum about La Fontaine—"he tells what he has seen"—into his dictum for Chagall: He sees what people tell him or, better, what one was about to tell him. For Bachelard, Chagall surprises the dominant moment of the story. Chagall catches the cobbler Grégoire in his final supergaiety, brought by deliverance.

1952 Meshalim/Fables: Premier Volume (Yiddish). Arn Miednik. Lithographs by M. Bahelper. #392 of 500. Hardbound. Paris: Farlag de Goldene Pave. $69 from Isaac Cohen, Rishon Lezion, Israel, through eBay, Jan., '04. 

This is a lovely book. 9½" x 11". 199 pages. High quality paper. It has absolutely no markings on its covers, front or back. The twenty full-page lithographs make this book. "The Fox in the Henhouse" (14) makes skillful use of the page-color itself to depict floating feathers. Of course these white feathers against the images's predominant green stand out. They are skillful omissions of ink. A second favorite of mine (168) shows a monkey eagerly sawing off the limb of a tree on which he is sitting! There is a T of C at the back--which is of course our front. Was there, or was there to be, a second volume?

1952 Nursery Tales. Arranged by Peter Archer. Pictures by Steve Medvey. See-Saw Books. NY: Simon and Schuster. $3 at Elder's Bookstore in Nashville, April, '96.

6" x 8" pamphlet with four stories, each five or six pages in length. Three fables: "The Dog and the Rooster," TH, and TMCM. In the latter, the cat, cook, and dogs come apparently together. In fact, some text may have been lost somewhere in this fable: the mice seem to jump from discussion behind the door to being interrupted on top of the table. Only "The Wolf and the Kids" is not Aesopic. The colored illustrations do not rise above the average. I did not realize until I found the Nashville copy that the Colorado Springs copy was coverless!

1952 Nursery Tales. Peter Archer. Pictures by Steve Medvey. Paperbound. NY: See-Saw Books: Simon and Schuster. Gift of Jim Ciletti at Aamstar, Colorado Springs, March, '94.

There is already a copy of this book in the collection. For some time, I believed that this book was simply the interior of that book lacking its covers. Now I tend to think that it is a paperback version not published with covers. Who knows! As I wrote there, this is a 6" x 8" pamphlet with four stories, each five or six pages in length. Three fables: "The Dog and the Rooster," TH, and TMCM. In the latter, the cat, cook, and dogs come apparently together. In fact, some text may have been lost somewhere in this fable: the mice seem to jump from discussion behind the door to being interrupted on top of the table. Only "The Wolf and the Kids" is not Aesopic. The colored illustrations do not rise above the average. At first I wrote that I did not realize until I found the Nashville copy that this Colorado Springs copy was coverless! 

1952 Pantschantantra: Fünf Bücher Altindischer Staatsweisheit und Lebenskunst in Fabeln und Sprüchen. Herausgegeben und übersetzt von Ludwig Alsdorf. Hardbound. Bergen II, Oberbayern: Müller & Kiepenheuer Verlag. DM 12 from J. Kitzinger, Munich, July, '96.

This little book wins a prize for the longest modern title! It seems a straightforward presentation of the Panchatantra text, complete with all the little rhyming verses. There are no illustrations. There are notes on 118-21 and a Nachwort on 122-125, followed by a T of C. The book may also win a prize for its creative cover combining block letters and simple animal pictures in maroon and blue.

1952 Quelques Fables a Colorier. Evariste. Paperbound. Paris: René Touret. €30 from Russian Woman at St.-Ouen , Paris, July, '09.

This is a large-format 32-page stapled brochure giving four pages each to OF, "Le Loup Devenu Berger," FS, "Les Oreilles du Lièvre," WL, "L'Aigle et l'Escarbot," LM, and "Les Animaux Malades de la Peste." Two special features of this lovely book are that the colored pictures are so sharp and that the pictures awaiting coloring from some young hand have been untouched. On some pages, the upper half is colored as a model for the lower half, which is to be colored in. In other places, the left-hand page is colored in as a model for coloring the right-hand page. Sometimes there are two sets of illustrations ready for coloring, one with solid and one with broken lines. The cartoon characters show plenty of attitude, not least the stork of FS leaving the fox's home and ready to get revenge on him! The wolf in WL claims that the lamb sent the dogs after the wolf. He cooks the lamb in a pot! The trapped lion in LM shouts "S.O.S." The ass who confessed eating some grass in "Les Animaux Malades de la Peste" is not murdered but rather sent to jail, where a monkey serves him prison food.

1952 Quizzle Book of Favorite Stories. Irma and George Wilde. NY: Sam'l Gabriel Sons & Co. $.50 at Argosy in NY, Jan., '90.

Ho-hum games for ages eight to twelve, published when I was just about that age. The book offers in various forms a potpourri of popular kids' culture, from the Trojan Horse and Arachne to Little Black Sambo. The one fable used, in the "Hare and Tortoise" game (40) shows how Aesop lives and gets used. Some markings.

1952 Stories of Childhood.  Esther M. Bjoland.  Hardbound.  Chicago: The Child's World.  See 1947/52.

1952 Stories That Never Grow Old. Edited by Watty Piper. Illustrated by George and Doris Hauman. NY: Platt and Munk. See 1938/52.

1952 Texte zur Geschichte der Altdeutschen Tierfabel. In Auswahl herausgegeben von Arno Schirokauer. First edition. Paperbound. Bern: Altdeutsche Übungstexte 13: A. Francke AG. Verlag. $24.94 from The Story Shop, Feb., '98.

This is 66-page booklet which happens to contain the same number of old German fables. The texts start with the ninth century C.E. and finish in the sixteenth century. The texts are well presented. Each is identified in "Nachweise" (54-65), which is followed by an AI of characters. It is a pleasure to meet old friends here, for example from Boner's "Edelstein" and from Steinhoewel. Several Latin verse and prose texts are interspersed with the German verse and prose. The series is published by Die Akademische Gesellschaft Schweizerischer Germanisten. 

1952 The Animal Story Book. Edited by Ernest Thompson-Seton. (c)1953 by Sarah M. Knapp. Chicago: Auxiliary Educational League. See 1902/38/52/53.

1952 The Animal Story Book. Edited by Ernest Thompson-Seton. (c)1955 by Sarah M. Knapp. Chicago: Auxiliary Educational League. See 1902/38/52/53/54/55.

1952 The Fables of Aesop now newly imprinted by Vincent Torre. #33 of 50. Hardbound. At The Ink-Well Press. $80 from And Books Too, Torrington, CT, through Choosebooks, Feb., '03. 

Gradually I am coming to the end of finding--and affording--the various fable works of Vincent Torre. This is another beautiful piece. This book is a surprisingly short 40 pages long and contains twenty fables. "The decoration was cut in linoleum," as the colophon reports. The brown initials were designed by Howard Glasser and cut in lineoleum by the printer. Besides the initials, there is a lovely brown printer's design repeated at the end of each fable. Each text reduces the print from 24 point to 18 point after four lines. Texts are in italics, but the morals are not. Torre's illustrations are simple and bold. Only the right-hand pages are printed. "The Rat and the Frog" here involves no cord connecting the two (16). The rat jumps on the frog's back and commands her to be off. She shakes him off in mid-water, but the hawk gets them both. In WC, the wolf utters the usual remark, but then bites off the crane's head (18)! When the jackdaw returns from the peacocks to his own kind, they peck at him harder than the peacocks had! This copy has slight water damage at the bottom of the covers, and the spine is torn at top and bottom.

1952 The Rat & the Convent Dove and other Tales & Fables. Paul Roche. Illustrated by Anne Scott. First edition. Dust jacket. Aldington, Kent: The Hand & Flower Press. $32.50 from Magnum Opus, Charlottesville, at Rosslyn Book Fair, March, '92.

The dust jacket is right: these stories are not to be swallowed in one gulp. I have many reactions. The title piece is a good put-down of the arrogant rat nicely placed in the clash of two worlds. At the other end of the book is "A Fable to End Fables": hyena learned at last to forget some wisdom and to begin again to play. So Paul Roche wrote to me in the inscription of his Aesop book: "Only one fable at a time!" On the negative side, wisdom may overwhelm the story in some cases ("The Muck-Beetle's Son" and "The Frog Who Would A-Wooing Go") or sentimentality may overwhelm it in others ("The Grateful Humming-Bird"). The best of the stories are "The Church Mice and the Pious Lady," "The Pig and the Plum Tree," and especially "The Barbary Ape." There is some straight Aesop here ("The Two Dogs," which is Aesop's DW) and some Aesop bent to new purposes ("The Tortoise and the Hare"). "The Llama's Yak" shows good insight: the more he listened to holy things, the more disagreeable he became. Many of these stories remind me of Tony DiMello. Overall, I would say that there is wisdom here but not as much cleverness as I would hope for. Scott's illustrations are curious. The best of them is on 10.

1952 The Road in Storyland. Edited by Watty Piper. Illustrated by Lucille W. and H.C. Holling. Platt and Munk. See 1932/52.

1952 Time for Fairy Tales old and new. Compiled by May Hill Arbuthnot. Various illustrators. Chicago: Scott, Foresman. Picked up long ago and found among my books in March, '88.

Ten pages (202-11) contain many fables from Aesop (in Joseph Jacobs' version) and some from Bidpai and La Fontaine. Simple, bold illustrations. The book, a good collection of children's literature, is designed especially for use in college classes in children's literature.

1952/53 Aesop's Fables. Illustrated by Anne Sellers Leaf. Hardbound. Edition of MCMLIII. Printed in USA. Chicago: Rand McNally. $1 from Doll & Toy Fair, State Fair Park, West Allis, WI, Oct., '99.

This is another hardbound version of the book I had found in many printings. See my comments there under "1952." This book makes no reference to "Tip-Top Elf Books." This book, which had lived both at the Peabody Institute in Danvers, MA, and at some Congregational Church School, has seen extensive use. It has a rather garish red and yellow cover and a library pocket-strip inside the back cover. A lot of young people learned their Aesop with this book!

1952/53 Forest Folk Tales: Fables and Parables From God's Great Outdoors. By Marian M. Schoolland. Illustrations by Reynold H. Weidenaar. Second printing. Hardbound. Printed in USA. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. $12.50 from Seattle Book Center, Seattle, July, '00.

Here are twelve stories that are not really fables. They seem rather sentimental parables meant for the very young. The named characters, like Johnny Woodchuck, learn optimism, cooperation, and good cheer. An appeal to God plays an important part in the two stories that I read. There is one black-and-white pen sketch per story. The illustrations dress the animals up in human clothing. There is a T of C at the front. Originally sold by W.W. Stirman in Waco, TX.

1952/61 The Rand McNally Book of Favorite Nursery Classics. Illustrated by Anne Sellers Leaf. Chicago: Rand McNally. (Aesop (c)1952, book apparently published in 1961.) $3.99 from Kay-Bee Toys. One extra copy.

A large-format collection. Thirty pages of Aesop's fables. All the illustrations are so "cute" that it is hard to find Aesop among these cuddlies. The fox in "The Fox and the Goat" looks like the cuddly fellow in TV advertisements that snuggles into clean wash. Not much to use here!

1952/1966 La Fontaine's Fables Translated into English Verse. Sir Edward Marsh. Dust jacket. Hardbound. Printed in Great Britain. London/NY: Everyman's Library No. 991: London: Dent/NY:Dutton. $10 Canadian from Ten Editions Bookstore, Toronto, June, '03.

This reprint enlarges the original 1952 Everyman edition in crown octavo. The margins have grown, and the paper has improved in quality. Here is what I wrote on the 1952 edition: "Dent/Dutton take over the text and preface that Marsh had published through Heinemann in 1931. It is good to have his lively tellings in this compact format without illustration. I did not know that the Everyman Library included LaFontaine. Marsh apparently published his first La Fontaine fables in 1925 (Forty-Two Fables of La Fontaine). His text was also used with Marie Angel's art in 1979 (Fables de la Fontaine, Neugebauer, 1979/81).

1952/70/82/86 Folk Tales from Korea. Third Edition, fourth printing. Collected and translated by Zong In-Sob. No illustrations. Dust jacket. Elizabeth, NJ, and Seoul: Hollym International Corp. Gift of Margaret Carlson Lytton, Summer, '88.

An excellent compendium of Korean folk literature. The fifteen-page section on fables (183-97) contains nineteen fables. "The Bald Old Man" (191) is very close to Aesop; the wife suspects a mistress and so the husband lets her pull out all the black hairs, and he is no longer attractive to the mistress. Most of these fables are stories about humans rather than animals; they are closer to our jokes than to our fables. Popular folk motifs show up: "Show me how you did it" ("The Ungrateful Tiger"); "No, X is greater than I" (which traces a circle in "The Rat's Bridegroom"); and "Give me the X who took my Y" (a young man parlays one grain into an ox in "A Grain of Millet").

1952/71 The Around-the-Year Storybook. Kathryn Jackson. Pictures by J.P. Miller. NY: Golden Press: Western Publishing Co. $2 at Royal St., New Orleans, April, '88.

A good example of a kids' book that contains only one fable among its approximately 120 stories, GA (70) with a simple watercolor illustration. The telling is nice, since it ends with the ant simply shutting the door behind him.

1952/80 Aesopica. A series of texts relating to Aesop or ascribed to him or closely connected with the literary tradition that bears his name. Ben Edwin Perry. Volume One: Greek and Latin Texts. Urbana: University of Illinois Press/NY: Arno Press. $75, ordered through Cardijn in Spring, '85.

The standard work for textual comparison. It is hard to know if it is worth $75, but at least the Arno Press version has the complete original.

1952/83 Fables de La Fontaine. Illustrées par André Pec. Paris: Flammarion. 87 F at Bouquinerie du Centre, Metz, Sept., '92: purchased by Wendy Wright.

A beautiful oversize book with good monochrome and eight excellent full-page polychrome illustrations. The best of the monochrome illustrations are "The Coach and the Fly" (70) and "The Deer and the Vine" (109). The best of the polychrome are MSA (facing 12), TB (60), and "The Fox and the Wolf" (125). Others face 29, 45, 77, 93, and 108. T of C at the rear.

1952/87 Fortellinger av Onkel Remus.  Joel Chandler Harris; Oversatt av Zinken Hopp, Sturid Sverdrup Lunden og Jon Mathisen.  Illustrert av Rune Johan Andersson.  2. utgave.  Dust-jacket.  Hardbound.  Stavanger, Norway: J.W. Eides Forlag.  69 Kroner from Oslo, July, '14.  

Found on a day when I could find virtually nothing by way of fable books in Oslo.  There are 124 pages with a lively black-and-white partial-page illustration about every four pages.  The editors wisely chose the wily fox face from 101 to appear also on the title-page.  It is among the best illustrations.  Also good are the tarbaby illustrations on 18 and 19.  The cover shows Uncle Remus with a rabbit and a fox.   This is a very nicely produced book.

1952? A Selection of Aesop's Fables. Re-written especially for children by Barbara Sanders. Illustrated by Christopher Sanders. Dust jacket. Printed in Romania. London: Castle Books: Murray. $7.50 at Cummings Books, Dinkytown, Dec., '97. Four extra copies, including one with faded dust jacket for $4 at The Old Book Corner, Racine, Oct., '94, and one for $3 at Yesterday's Memories, July, '88.

T of C. No index. Many one-colored watercolors, with some full-colored pages (listed on 9). Though simple, some of the illustrations are quite attractive. The book is typical of recent editions for kids.

1952? Colour Show Pictures of Animal Fables. Printed in England. London: Juvenile Productions, Ltd.  Unicorn Books, Middlesex, Sept., '98. Extra copy for £8 from Stella Books, Tintern, UK, August, '00.

No. 9508. A large (over 12/5" x 9.5") folio containing eight full-page stories and, for each, a corresponding full page of illustration. Most are divided up into four panels. Some unusual features of the colorful illustrations may help to identify them. The sleeping hare has a handkerchief on top of his head. The leaping fox has checkered pants. The dog dives into the water to retrieve his lost bone. Young bear gets stung so badly that his mother has to bandage him and put him in bed. The country mouse has a particularly colorful valise. Doctor Stork flies away after the wolf snarls at him; earlier the wolf had hinted at a reward. The jackdaw is driven out by hat-wearing jackdaws. The title-page illustration is a single full-page picture of FC; its story is at the pamphlet's end. Identical front and back covers show a large saddle-shoed rabbit with a small turtle.

1952? Fables de La Fontaine: 13 Fables. 5 hor-textes en couleurs et de nombreuse illustrations dans le texte. Hardbound. $15 from Wessel and Lieberman, Seattle, Feb., '11.

This is a lovely mid-size format (7¼" x 9½") book of thirteen fables with no identifying information that I can find: nothing about publisher or artist. The "numerous illustrations in the text" are line drawings with red coloring: bat and weasels on the title-page; WL; TH; TMCM; TB; and "The Donkey, the Dog, and the Wolf." The five colored pictures are simple but lovely: "The Fox and the Goat" (both on the cover and inside); FS; "The Wolf Become a Shepherd"; OF; and "The Pig, the Goat, and the Sheep." Canvas binding. The title-page is already detached. The book does not open easily.

1952? The Country Mouse and the City Mouse and Other Stories. Watty Piper NA. Lucille W. and H.C. Holling NA. Pamphlet. Platt and Munk. See "1939?/52?".

1952? The Little Turtle That Could Not Stop Talking. And how brother rabbit fooled the whale and the elephant. Watty Piper NA. Lucille W. and H.C. Holling NA. Pamphlet. Platt and Munk. See "1939?/52?".

1952?/72 A Selection of Aesop's Fables. Re-written especially for children by Barbara Sanders. Illustrated by Christopher Sanders. Printed in Romania. Castle Books: Murray: London. $8 at Idle Time Books, Sept., '91. Extra copy for $4.60 from The Yesteryear Shoppe, Nampa, Idaho, March, '96.

A colored reprint of the 1952 edition with a different cover. Another reprint in 1974 has the same cover as this book but does the illustrations only in black-and-white. The three together say something in the history of book printing. Notice that this reprint of a Romanian book was done in Poland.

1952?/74 A Selection of Aesop's Fables. Re-written especially for children by Barbara Sanders. Illustrated by Christopher Sanders. Printed in Romania. Castle Books: Murray: London. $4.50 at Erasmus, South Bend, May, '95. Extra copy for $6 on the Oregon coast, Aug., '87.

This book is the same as the previous book, except that the pictures are all done in black-and-white. This book has the rare distinction of separating the two pages of T of C to put in between a page containing only "This book belongs to...."

To top

1953

1953 A Selection of Aesop's Fables. From a New Translation for Modern Readers. Illustrated by Mary Honor Stonehouse. Dust jacket. Presented as a Memento of the Conference for Heads of Printing Departments at Tor Lodge, Wolverhampton, April, '55. Wolverhampton: Printing Department, Wolverhampton College of Art. Gift of June Clinton, June, '93.

What a beautiful gift! Sharp translations of 118 fables are accompanied by thirteen lovely black-and-white engravings and monochrome and two-color washes. My favorites among the illustrations are of the old woman and her maids (5), 2W (15), and the old woman and the doctor (19). The versions include pointed and proverbial morals. Three of my favorites are "Boast before your betters and be laughed at for a fool" for "The Lion and the Donkey" (1), "Good wishes from an enemy make the wise man nervous" for "The Hen and the Cat" (7), and "The smaller the mind the greater the conceit" for "The Gnat and the Bull" (30). As June herself commented, this is indeed a rare modern Aesop. Dust jacket signed by Charles L. Pickering, who designates himself as "Tor-Mentor." A real treasure!

1953 A Woman as Great as the World and Other Fables. By Jacquetta Hawkes. Identical with her Fables of the same year. NY: Random House. $4.95 at Avol's, Madison, WI, Aug., '90.

The stories I sampled this time bear heavily on original sin and mortality. The first evokes the "fall" in terms of destructive scientific curiosity. The garden's symbol of splendor and religious awe, the red admiral butterfly, is half-destroyed through analysis. The title story evokes woman's awakening to independence and negative emotion. Not for kids. Unresolved. Biography at the end. Neither edition mentions the other.

1953 Aesop in Modern Dress. Done In Verse By Alice C.D. Riley. Pen and ink drawings by Phyllis Bailey. (#306 in a?) Limited edition of 1000. Dust jacket. Claremont, CA: Saunders Press. $12.50 by mail from W. Trevor Blake, Portland, May, '96. Extra copy for $3 at Book City Paradise, Portland, March, '96.

I had not known of this book, found it in an unlikely paperback barn I happened upon while walking from someplace else in Portland, and then found the same virtually unknown, limited edition book being offered me again within two months! The Blake copy has "#306" written in the upper right corner of the title-page. There are eighty-three fables with seventeen illustrations. The best of the illustrations may be FG (39): the fox sits on the ground disgruntled. The rhyme of the rhyming couplets pushes the versions into some infelicities. Examples include the moral for "The Ant and the Fly" (55), the last two lines of "Jupiter and Pallas" (60), and the whole of FK (98-99). Sometimes the couplets become prosaic, as in the second moral on 51. I do not find much "modern dress"; the braggart about Rhodes has now become a golfer (58). Riley sometimes supposes that we know the story; she thus presumes that we know that the milkmaid had the milk on her head (70-71). There are some surprising differences in how the stories are presented here. Thus the donkey in MSA ran to a broken bridge and fell in (23). Both the fox and the wolf not only lost but had to pay court costs (29). The man with two wives was old (36). The mouse that nibbled itself a small hole to get into the basket now has to wait to get slim enough to get back out, but then will be eaten in any case by a weasel (54). Only one lie is enough to lose your credibility in BW (67). The dog about whom the cock tells the fox is real (100). The moral for CP is "Little by little does the trick" (105). The lion's partners in the hunt are the jackal, the wolf, and the fox (109). The hare with many friends ends up using her own swift heels to disappear (124). There are also some very good interpretations. According to the moral in GA, "The best of life must find a way/to bring together work and play" (40). "The Fox and the Cat" (87) has a good moral (even if the story itself lacks important quotation marks at the end of its second stanza): "Sometimes God's gifts to Mortal Man/Are so profuse he scarcely can/Decide which gift to cultivate,/And so wastes time until too late." Both the ending and the accompanying illustration are excellent in the book's last fable, "The Ape and Her Young" (136): "But the neglected Ape was quick and able./He managed to escape from out this Fable."

1953 Aesop's Fables. Illustrated by Anne Sellers Leaf. Hardbound. Edition of MCMLIII. Printed in USA. Chicago: Rand McNally.  See 1952/53.

1953 Belohne dich selbst: Fabeln.  Heinz Risse.  Buchausstattung von Toni Heinens.  Erste Auflage.  Hardbound.  Bremen, Germany: Carl Schünemann Verlag.  €20 from Antiquariat Bierl, Eurasburg, Germany, July, '14.  

Here are ten engaging "equations with two unknowns," as the enclosed publisher's slip declares, well crafted by the "bohrender Skeptiker" Risse.  I find very good "Leute mit Herz" (14), a play on GA.  The title-story has a snail work his way across a road into "paradise," only to be told the truth there by a lizard (18).  She explains away the snail's view as caused by his circumstances.  Several of the stories may be one idiom away from my understanding them fully, but I enjoy what I find here!

1953 Danmarks Serie: Dyrefabler.  Vilhelm Grandt?  Illustrations by Frederik Bramming.  Introduction by Kai Friis Moller.  Hardbound.  Kopenhaven: Udgivet af Aktieselskabet Kaffesurrogatfabriken Danmark.  €23 from Bartko-Reher, Berlin, July, '21.

Complete.  32 pages.  Color work seems to me to be of very high quality.  This collection seems somewhat rare on the web.  The scenes are the same as those depicted in individual cards catalogued under "fable cards," where this book and one set of stamps are illustrated.  The booklet seems identical with “Dandy Serie: Dyrefabler,” though the languages there seem to be the Belgian pair rather than the Danish here.  Very engaging artistry throughout, with plenty of humor!  Aesopic fable material includes at least these: FG; BW; FS; TMCM; DS; WL; FK; "Mice in the Cream"; and OF.  OF may be among the best illustrated.

1953 Die Letzte Blume: Eine Parabel und 27 Fabeln für unsere Zeit. Von James Thurber; Deutsch von H.M. Ledig-Rowohlt. James Thurber. Paperbound. Hamburg: Rororo Taschenbuch: Rowohlt. DM 5 from an unknown source, August, '01.

The second half of this paperback is a translation of Thurber's Fables for Our Times, complete with the illustrations. The first half is a work I did not know: "The Last Flower." It is like a children's "flip-book." One holds the book sideways, so that the left-hand page becomes the top. These top pages contain simple sentences. The lower pages are Thurber's cartoons. The story tells how World War XII destroys civilization. One flower starts a process whereby humans find life again. They build things up until there are again soldiers and conflicts. The war this time destroys everything, except one man, one woman, and a flower. The book lacks both covers and is in as tender a condition as that last flower on earth.

1953 Die schönsten Fabeln von Trilussa. Aus dem Römischen Volksdialekt übertragen von Hans von Hülsen. Werner vom Scheidt. Hardbound. Frankfurt am Main: Trajanus-Presse. €18.35 from Antiquariat Richart Kulbach, August, '09.

This booklet was given to attendants at the annual meeting of Die Gesellschaft der Bibliophilen in Munich in 1954 by the Schriftgiesserei D. Stempel in Frankfurt am Main. It offers eight fables with almost as many monochrome illustrations. "Die Dankbarkeit" is a tribute to the behavior of cat and dog after a master feeds each from his plate. The master commends the dog for staying and thanking him. The dog responds: "Sure, who knows but that you won't have chicken again tomorrow?!" The police dog with a great nose for crime lets a black-marketeer go by and explains that he has a cold. For sure he will soon be promoted to inspector! "Die fette Maus" returns to the Aesopic fable about the weasel who entered a granary thin and will have to wait until he is thin again to come out. Here the fattened mouse says that he will just remain among the great food that he loves! "Papagaien und Affen" may have the most impressive illustration: a crowned ape. In "Die nutzlosen Worte," a cat asks a parrot why he has not learned at least a few words. The parrot raises his head from his food and says that he has learned silence. This is a very nice booklet. 

1953 Die treulose Füchsin: Eine Tierfabel aus dem Spanischen. Ramón Llull, Übertragen von Joseph Solzbacher. Mit Bildern von Ludwig Maria Beck. Hardbound. Freiburg: Verlag Herder. €8 from Antiquariat Müller & Gräff, Stuttgart, August, '09.

This is really a compilation of fables along one narrative, roughly like The Roman of Renard. The fox does her best to compete in the assembly of larger, stronger animals. I read the first several sections: "The Choice of a King"; "Bull and Steed Leave the King's Court"; and "The King's Counselors." The story goes through nineteen such chapters. The illustrations are strong. I would call them artfully primitive; the style seems to have been strong in Germany in the 1950s. 

1953 Fables. By Jacquetta Hawkes. Identical with her A Woman as Great as the World and Other Fables of the same year. Dust jacket. London: The Cresset Press. $4.50, Summer, '89. Extra copy for $4.75 from Scotland or England, July, '92.

Seventeen short stories and one long one. Though some stories have talking animals and creatures, the four I tried as a sample seemed to me to be more short stories than fables. Maybe good for comparison with Aesop sometime to see how the brief fable does things the longer piece cannot.

1953 Fables and Other Little Tales. Kenneth Patchen. Paperbound. Printed in Germany. Karlsruhe/Baden: Jonathan Williams, Publisher. $150 from Seattle Book Center, Seattle, July, '00.

None of these pieces had appeared in print before. Many of them later appear in Aflame and Afun of Walking Faces (1970). By contrast with that book, there are no illustrations here. The last page adds some publication information, but I am not certain of its bearing. It speaks of a regular edition of 450 by "Verlagsdruckerei Gebr. Tron KG" in Karlsruhe-Durlach; it gives an address for Jonathan Williams in Highlands, NC; and it says that this book was designed by Williams and Patchen "as Jargon 6." That all is more than I can cope with! And exactly that remark again fits my experience with this book, as it did my experience with the 1970 volume. If I get the merest inkling of what is going on in the short pieces here, I am happy. Perhaps I just cannot keep up with all the category shifts and jumps. The closest I come to sense occurs in pieces like "He Didn't Know the Son Was Loaded" (37) and "The Number That Comes After Feve" (91), but even there I am largely unsure of what I am reading. With regret I give up after having read only part of this book.

1953 Fables de La Fontaine.  Paperbound.  Paris: Éditions Bias.  €5 from a buchinist, Paris, July, '17.

Here is a Bias eight-page oversize pamphlet with LM on its cover.  It contains four of La Fontaine's fables with a full-page colored illustration for each.  Text and illustration are matched by being on opposite sides of the same page.  In this short pamphlet, we thus have two texts facing each other at the stapled center.  The four fables here are GA; "The Horse and the Mule"; "The Ears of the Rabbit"; and OF.  This booklet relates to at least three other larger Bias pamphlets in the collection by using the same illustrations and texts.  By comparison with our 1952 copy, this booklet uses every second fable and in reverse order.  That copy, with "Horse and Mule" on its cover, has "361" on both covers.  By comparison with our 1950 copy with FC on its cover, it uses the first two and last two.  That copy has "361" on its back cover.  By comparison with a copy having GA on its cover, for which I have guessed a date of 1948, the present copy has the first two and last two.  That copy has "361 U" on its front cover.  Might it be that Bias was not careful about what it put into various editions and how it labeled them?  Do not miss the expressive illustration of "Le Cheval et l'Ane."  OF is also a very good illustration; the frog seems off-balance with its increased size.  As I wrote earlier, my sense is that there were many such simple editions of La Fontaine around in France in the post-war years.  Check under Gordinne and especially Liege to find more of them.

1953 Fables: Feng Hsueh-feng. Feng Hsueh-feng, translated by Gladys Yang. Woodcuts by Huang Yung-yu. Stated first edition. Hardbound. Peking: Foreign Languages Press. AU $2.99 from I. Gibson, Ingle Farm, Adelaide, Australia, July, '04. 

Once this book arrived, I thought it a repeat of something I already have. Closer inspection shows that I have a softbound second edition of 1955, while this is the first edition of 1953. Apparently the order of fables changed significantly in the second edition, though there are fifty-one fables here as there. As I mention there, the fables are often directly admonitory and/or of a highly political slant. Thus the author writes of skylarks "Poets like these are the true friends of the people" (6). The best of the fables, I believe, are "The Snake and the Rabbit" (42) and "The Original Rat" (61), which may also have the best illustration. Among the most overtly political are those on the imperialist weasel munching a duckling (27) and the imperialist snake against the collective bees (29). Other good fables include "The Hunter and His Wife" (12), "The Lion and the Setting Sun" (15), "The Lion and the Lamb" (34), "The Fox and the Rabbits' Farm" (39), "The Cow and Her Rope" (53), "The Curious Crow" (44), and "The Cow and Her Calf" (54). There is a T of C at the front.

1953 Fables for Foresters. Collected and edited by John D. Guthrie. Illustrated by Rudolph A. Wendelin. Washington, D.C.: Forestry Enterprises. $12.50 from Greg Williams, Nov., '95.

This book is just about what one would expect it to be: a collection of yarns about forest rangers. A typical-and good-example is "The Fable of the Indignant Denudatic" (30). The book stumbles into real fables on at least two occasions. "The Old Ranger" (19) reads just like the Aesopic fable on the old dog, and "The District Office in Labour" (39) seems to be patterned on the Aesopic "Mountain in Labor." There is an AI of authors on 63.

1953 Far East Stories for Pleasure Reading. By Edward W. Dolch, Marguerite P. Dolch, and Beulah F. Jackson. Illustrated by Marguerite Dolch. Hardbound. Dust jacket. Printed in USA. Champaign, IL: Pleasure Reading Series: Garrard Publishing Company. $4 from Carolina Bookshop, Charlotte, NC, June, '97. Extra copy a gift of Creighton Classics Library, Aug., '93.

"Far East" here includes China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Tibet, and India. There are eighteen stories, each with a simple full-page illustration featuring orange coloring. The early Chinese and Japanese stories here involve a good deal of magic, with ogres and dragons. Two of the stories are particularly touching. The first encompasses the first two selections here (1, 11). The emperor's daughter finally finds a suitor who can give her a blue rose, since she loves him so much that she declares that this white rose is blue. And the boy who paints cats draws a huge screen full of them, and they slay the ogre who has ravaged this temple (31). "The Mirror That Made Trouble" (71) has fun with a family's first experience of a mirror. The two Tibetan stories on the stone lion (81, 89) are a good comment on greed. "The Maker of Puppets" (99) is the wistful Indonesian story of a man who watches a (chess?) game and returns to find that time has passed and it is now decades later. Another Indonesian tale qualifies as a fable, I believe. It features the mouse deer who falls into a lime pit (109). He starts to announce that only those in the lime pit will be saved on this day when the world is coming to an end. And anyone who sneezes cannot be allowed in the pit. After he gets several large animals into the pit with him, he sneezes and is thrown out! "The Stone Crusher" (119), another fable, goes through a progression like that in "The Mouse's Marriage." Whatever the stone crusher wishes to be, he becomes. In succession he becomes a rajah, the sun, a cloud, the wind, and a mountain--in each case learning that the next is stronger than he. As a mountain, he learns that the stone crusher is stronger than he is. So now he is a contented stone crusher. "The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal" (127) and "The Mice That Ate the Iron Balance" (137) are traditional fables from India. This is the first time I have seen a balance made the subject of the story's controversy. The last pair of stories tell of the brave potmaker who happened, while looking for his donkey, upon a tiger who had heard an old woman proclaim in a storm that the "dripping" was attacking her worse than any elephant or tiger. In the dark, the potmaker mistook the tiger for his donkey, and the tiger mistook the potmaker for a dripping. The result: the potmaker became rich and famous for subduing a fierce tiger! Soon the potmaker was summoned to command a great army being attacked. He ends up being tied to a fierce horse, holding a tree in his hands, and riding through the enemy camp. The enemy army gives up without a fight!

1953 Fedro Favole.  Albertomario del Bianco.  Illustrated by Giulio Bertoletti.  Boxed.  Hardbound.  Milan: Edizioni Librarie Italiane.  $2.99 from joerun48, Rockland, ME, on Ebay, June, ‘21.  

By being attentive on Ebay, one sometimes finds real bargains.  Here is one of those large format (8¾” x almost 12”) books done in the years soon after WWII that are conceived and executed in the “grand style.”  The book is big, boxed, and with an embossed cover and spine.  I am surprised that I have not run into Bertoletti’s work earlier.  Here ELI presents 16 of Phaedrus’ fables with 16 full-page illustrations, unbacked except for a one-line excerpt from the prose versions offering a focus.  These illustrations alternate between fully-colored and black-and-white.  There is both a T of C and a table of illustrations at the end.  Bertoletti tends to focus on one animal in an encounter.  For example, we see the goat looking down into the well without seeing the fox already in the well (25).  This issue recurs in FK (65).  At other times, we see the crucial confrontation of a fable, e.g., in WL (31) but may wonder why this exquisite scene is rendered only in black-and-white.  One may wonder why the dramatic encounter of horse and boar – often presented elsewhere as “The Horse and the Stag” – shows a squirrel with the horse.  I have seldom seen as good an illustration of “The Clown and the Pig” (59).  The most dramatic of the illustrations may be “Il Dottore Ciabattino” (89).    I had forgotten “The Rich and Poor Suitors,” and so I particularly enjoyed the illustration, perhaps the best of those in black-and-white (115).

1953 Folk Tales and Fables. Collected by Phebean Itayemi and P. Gurrey. Paperbound. London: West African Series: Penguin Books. $5 from an unknown source, June, '98?

Unfortunately, I find no Aesopic fables here in the fifty-two stories that are offered. There is plenty of magic and incantation and trick in these stories. They are from various sources: Yoruba, Isoko, Gold Coast, and Sierra Leone. The introduction stresses that folk tales include jokes, puns, and songs. There are several propositions in the introduction that I may not easily be able to bring together, e.g., that these stories are for entertainment, not morality--but they portray a way of life and a tradition. The issues addressed by the stories include war, slavery, the separation from family that comes with war and slavery, discord in polygamy, childlessness, and famine. The closest to a fable may be #28. The tortoise fools his wife three times but not the fourth time. Another story close to a fable is #29: The tortoise steals yams in a coffin five times, but the sixth time people stop and punish him. Story #35 is really OF with an aetiological close. We learn why frogs say "Oho" and why they swell up.

1953 Forest Folk Tales: Fables and Parables From God's Great Outdoors. By Marian M. Schoolland. Illustrations by Reynold H. Weidenaar. Second printing. Hardbound. Printed in USA. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 1952/53.

1953 Fraulein Bo-Peepen and More Tales Mein Grossfader Told.  Dave Morrah.  Original edition.  Hardbound.  NY: Rinehart and Company.  $8 from Boston, June, '16.

Here is another occasion on which I thought I was getting another copy of a book I already had.  Surprise!  This is a copy of the original Rinehart publication.  Holt, Rinehart, and Winston was created in 1960.  As I wrote of the 1962 printing by that latter firm, here are eight fables near the end of the book in the familiar Morrah style.  The best of these for storytelling are WC and "The Bundle of Twigs" and for illustrations FC and WC.

1953 Just Imagine!  William S. Gray, Marion Monroe, A Sterl Artley.  Illustrated by Charlotte Becker, Jack White, et al. Hardbound.  Chicago: The New Basic Readers Curriculum Foundation Series: Scott, Foresman and Company.  $3.75 from Thrift World, Omaha, May, '19.

This school reader has two sections: "Maybe It Happened" and "It's All Make Believe."  The latter section contains both "Clever Brother Rabbit" (217) and "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" (234), identified as an "Old Tale."  The former involves three years' plantings on which Brer Rabbit outsmarts Brer Bear.  When the Bear chooses tops for his share, Brer Rabbit plants potatoes.  When he chooses bottoms, Brer Rabbit plants wheat.  When he chooses tops and bottoms, Brer Rabbit plants corn, since all the ears are in the middle.  BW includes three good colored illustrations.  The boy gets away with two false alarms.  My guess is that this is perhaps a fourth or fifth grade reader.

1953 La Fontaine. Monica Sutherland. First edition. Dust-jacket. Hardbound. London: Jonathan Cape. £8 from London, August, '94.

Here is an easily readable and engaging life of La Fontaine. Sutherland writes in her Foreword that she sought in vain for a book in English on La Fontaine and not just on his fables. How did she miss Frank Hamel's book from 1911? That book does not get mentioned here in her "Select Bibliography" (189). Her search for information on La Fontaine was all the stronger because she comes from a family named La Fontaine. "I had been looking for an ancestor.And I found a friend" (9). The book seems to show that kind of warmth throughout. My cursory overview taught me a great deal, e.g., that La Fontaine was not particularly enamored of children; that he got lots of detailed information about the specific lives of animals wrong (though he had a fine basic sense of what they might represent in humans); that he vigorously disputed the Cartesian view that animals are soulless automata; that the writing of the first six books of fables happened principally from 1660 to 1668; that the fables of Books Seven through Eleven may be better than those of the first six books; that he had one visit with the king after the publication of his first six books of fables and forgot the sack of money the king had given him under the cushion of the cab he took home! Though the fables themselves are not the focus of this book, those interested in the fables and comments on them will find information particularly in these chapters: "The Gentleman Servant"; "A New Life"; "The Candid Soul"; and "The Inimitable Legacy." There are three photographic illustrations: of La Fontaine's portrait by Rigaud; of the title-page and an opening of a fable in the first edition of 1668; and a letter from Jean to his uncle in 1656. 

1953 La Fontaine: Fables (Cover: Le Corbeau et le renard).  Imagées par Romain Simon.  Hardbound.  Librairie de Hachette.  €5 from Europe, July, '17.

Four fables are announced on the title-page of this 6.5"x 8" kids' book: TT, MM, FC, and "Le Renard et le Bouc."  They occur in the order FC, MM, TT, and "Le Renard et le Bouc."  The La Fontaine text is unchanged.  There is a long list of other booklets in the same collection, among which I notice only TH as a fable book.  The others I have in the "Les Albums Roses" series are 1953 "La Fontaine: Fables," including MSA, "Le Loup Devenu Berger," UP, and WL; 1953/56 "La Fontaine: Fables," including MSA, "Le Loup Devenu Berger," UP, and WL; 1956 "La Fontaine: Fables," including TH, TMCM, and "The Cat, Weasel, and Little Rabbit"; and 1967 "La Fontaine: Fables," including TT, MM, and "Le Renard et le Bouc."  It seems, then, that Hachette changed the present 1953 item into that 1967 item.  The Romain Simon colored illustrations are, as always, engaging.  They seem unchanged from Simon's work elsewhere.

1953 La Fontaine: Fables.  Illustrations de André Jourcin.  Hardbound.  Paris: Collection Belles Lectures:  Éditions Bias.  €5 from a Buchinist, Paris, August, '14.  

This book represents a fascinating step back from one that I already have.  That book is dated 1954/56.  This copy, in better condition and from several years earlier, has the same cover photo but quite differently colored.  One can ask here as there why it is labeled a photo.  A reader looking inside and presuming that the books are the same is surprised.  There are indeed some repeat full-page colored illustrations, particularly MM, TH, "Le Cochon, la Chèvre et le Mouton," GA, and TT.  Otherwise this book has different Jourcin colored illustrations and all sorts of various illustrations.  It has the same number on its front and back covers: 4556, and it belongs to the same series, though the members of the series, listed on the back cover, have changed slightly.  The endpapers are the same.  The title-page, signed by Jourcin, has a fox, hare, and frog holding up a sign "Nombreuses Illustrations."  The approach to text is different, and texts are framed by border strips, sometimes monochrome, duochrome, or with several colors.  Full-page colored illustrations and two-color illustrations both appear.  So do black-and-white illustrations, like that for TH near the center of the book.  "Le Cochon, la Chèvre et le Mouton" ends starkly with a two-color illustration of a ham and some sausages.  TT ends with a turtle hitting the ground hard.  Not the worst of Jourcin's work are the opening title-page and the balancing last page of the horse carrying the donkey's load and skin.  These three or four color pages are in a simpler style distinct from Jourcin's other colored work.  By contrast with the later book, "Copyright" is spelled correctly on the title-page.  My two favorite illustrations from that edition do not appear here: FG and "Les Voleurs et l'Ane."

1953 La Fontaine: Fables Complètes. Illustrations de Dandelot. #603 of 6000. Paperbound. Paris: Collection Athêna-Luxe: Éditions Athêna. £10.50 from Bookmark, Cardiff, UK, through eBay, Nov., '05.

This is a nice looking edition. It may be easiest to compare and contrast it with Dandelot's other La Fontaine edition, from Panthéon in 1961. This edition uses blue for titles and black for texts. Here, as there, no editor is acknowledged. Here, as there, I like the Dandelot water-color illustrations. They are again big, bold, and colorful. Here are the illustrations that I find: FC (cover); WL (16); LM (48); FM (64); "The Old Lion" (96); "The Lion and the Vines" (128); TH (160); "The Fox and the Wolf" (192); "The Fox and the Goat" (224)' and "The Lamb, the Goat, and the Pig" (256). The artist has fun with the illustrations, as when he has the pig in the last illustration weeping. The cover illustration may be the strongest of the whole lot: both characters have strong human expressions on their faces. This book does not have the monochrome designs found in the other volume. Notice the even spacing of the illustrations thirty-two pages apart; this "rule" is violated only once near the beginning, when there are only sixteen pages between LM (48) and FM (64). There is an AI at the back. This book is not in Bodemann or Bassy.

1953 La Fontaine: Fables Complètes.  Illustrations de Dandelot.  #1136 of 6000.  Paperbound.  Paris: Collection Athêna-Luxe: Éditions Athêna.  €20 from a bouquinist, Paris, June, '23.

Here is a second copy of this book, in much better condition.  In keeping with this collection's policy, I include it because it is a numbered copy, #1136 of 6000.  As I wrote of the copy acquired some 18 years ago, this is a nice looking edition.  It may be easiest to compare and contrast it with Dandelot's other La Fontaine edition, from Panthéon in 1961.  This edition uses blue for titles and black for texts.  Here, as there, no editor is acknowledged.  Here, as there, I like the Dandelot water-color illustrations.  They are again big, bold, and colorful.  Here are the illustrations that I find:  FC (cover); WL (16); LM (48); FM (64); "The Old Lion" (96); "The Lion and the Vines" (128); TH (160); "The Fox and the Wolf" (192); "The Fox and the Goat" (224)' and "The Lamb, the Goat, and the Pig" (256).  The artist has fun with the illustrations, as when he has the pig in the last illustration weeping.  The cover illustration may be the strongest of the whole lot: both characters have strong human expressions on their faces.  This book does not have the monochrome designs found in the other volume.  Notice the even spacing of the illustrations thirty-two pages apart; this "rule" is violated only once near the beginning, when there are only sixteen pages between LM (48) and FM (64).  There is an AI at the back.  This book is not in Bodemann or Bassy.

1953 Les Fables de La Fontaine: Livres I, II, III.  Illustrées par Jean Chièze.  #25 of 50, boxed.  Paris: Chez Pierre Bricage.  $91.83 from Librairie du Bacchanal, Pépieux, France, through abe, Feb., '16.

#25 of 50 copies printed on vélin de Rives.   This lovely set of four volumes plus a collection of the illustrations in a fifth "volume" comes with a lovely signed inscription from the illustrator Jean Chièze to Robert Raynaud.  There is also with this Volume I a separate letter from J.A. Bressy, mentioned as Chièze's collaborator in the colophon on 131 of this Volume I.  The letter is addressed to Monsieur and Madame Raynaud in Algeria.  This unbound volume consists of 131 pages in eight page segments gathered in a portfolio of boards and enclosed in a box.  Each fable begins on a new page.  The seller writes that Chièze is a modern master of wood engraving, a highly demanding art that does not admit of mistakes.  Because of its difficulty, Chièze abandoned this art form little by little.  He is one of its last exemplars.  The wood engravings, usually about 3¼" x 2", are highly dramatic.  A good example of the dynamism in Chièze's art is "Les Deux Mulets" on 13: one robber is ready to kill the treasure-carrying horse while another restrains him and a third approaches with firearms.  In the meantime, the other horse dashes off free in the distance.  "Les Voleurs et l'Ane" (32) has the same dynamism in the fight of the two thieves and the getaway of the third thief on the horse.  TMCM (24) presents a standard quiet housefront with a rounded staircase -- until we notice the rat jumping for his life to get away from this house!  The bird wounded by a feathered arrow (63) has been pinned down by the wing, not mortally wounded in his body.  Is that hare smiling over the frightened frogs on 79?  CW combines humor, nudity, and movement (87).  FK shows three frogs dangling from the new king's beak (104)!  Chièze does one of the best jobs I have seen of presenting a cat disguised in flour (128).  The format of this publication would make it ideal for something like the upcoming Joslyn exhibit, if only that the illustrations were large enough to be seen.  Not in Bodemann.

1953 Les Fables de La Fontaine: Livres IV, V, VI.  Illustrées par Jean Chièze.  Boxed.  Paris: Chez Pierre Bricage.  $91.83 from Librairie du Bacchanal, Pépieux, France, through abe, Feb., '16.

There is with this Volume II a separate card from J.A. Bressy, mentioned as Chièze's collaborator in the colophon on 131 of Volume I.  The card, presents a wood engraving of the church of St. Gervais in Paris.  Bressy writes on this New Year's greeting that the illustration was done by Chièze, "l'artiste de votre La Fontaine."  This unbound volume consists of 132 pages in eight page segments gathered in a portfolio of boards and enclosed in a box.  Each fable begins on a new page.  The frontispiece shows La Fontaine napping in the greenery near a chateau and its waters.  The very first illustration shows the lion at the feet of the woman he would marry, while a man rushes up with a pliers to remove his teeth and claws (7).  The ass is just climbing onto his master's lap, as the lord shields the lady and help comes to beat the poor envious beast (17).  FM is pictured differently here: the kite has caught the string connecting the two.  Both are flying through the air struggling (29).  "The Old Woman and the Two Servants" (66) presents a wonderful contrast and uses light admirably.  GGE might remind one of Van Gogh (78).  TB takes the woods seriously (89).  The stag seeing itself in the water is already surrounded by wonderfully curvaceous branches (109).  "The Horse and the Ass" uses contrast to make the fable's point, I think, clear from the start (122).  Not in Bodemann.

1953 Les Fables de La Fontaine: Livres VII, VIII, IX.  Illustrées par Jean Chièze.  Boxed.  Paris: Chez Pierre Bricage.  $91.83 from Librairie du Bacchanal, Pépieux, France, through abe, Feb., '16.

This unbound Volume III consists of 168 pages in eight page segments gathered in a portfolio of boards and enclosed in a box.  Each fable begins on a new page.  The frontispiece seems a fanciful view of the new world: sailing ship, monkey, parrot, butterfly, astrolabe (?), icon, and iguana.  As in Volume II, after a frontispiece and title-page there is nothing but the three fable books.  "The Coach and the Fly" is delightfully done: the fly hovers over the tonsured monk's head (27).  MM is highly expressive (29).  Chièze seems to me to picture the cobbler in the midst not of his singing but of his worrying about his hidden money (56).  The bear protecting his friend the gardener seems ready not to smash but to throw the rock (72).  The image emphasizes the scale difference between elephant and rat (85).  "The Wolf and the Hunter" presents three dead animals well (114).  Contrary to most artists, Chièze shows what it would have been like for a pumpkin rather than an acorn to fall on the "philosopher's" head (128).  The last fable offers an extra design, smaller than the others, within the text: one rat pulls another as a cart to carry an egg (166).  Delightful stuff!  Not in Bodemann.

1953 Les Fables de La Fontaine: Livres X, XI, XII.  Illustrées par Jean Chièze.  Boxed.  Paris: Chez Pierre Bricage.  $91.83 from Librairie du Bacchanal, Pépieux, France, through abe, Feb., '16.

This unbound Volume IV consists of 135 pages of fables, nine pages of a T of C, and a colophon, all in eight page segments gathered in a portfolio of boards and enclosed in a box.  Each fable begins on a new page.  The frontispiece seems to have La Fontaine being invited into the "Chambre du Sublime."  When I first opened this volume, I got a scare, since the signatures were all mixed up.  I am happy to say that the complete volume is here.  TT is dramatic (11).  "The Wolf and the Fox" is dark but dramatic (60).  The presentation of "The Companions of Ulysses" suggests well the attitude of man and of beast in this provocative fable (75).  The four characters are well integrated in "The Crow, the Gazelle, the Turtle, and the Rat" (111).  Delightful stuff!  Not in Bodemann.

1953 Les Fables de La Fontaine: Suite des Gravures.  Illustrées par Jean Chièze.  Boxed.  Paris: Chez Pierre Bricage.  $91.83 from Librairie du Bacchanal, Pépieux, France, through abe, Feb., '16.

This unbound Volume V consists of three of the wood engravings used to make the book, six original designs, and a suite of 248 wood engravings, two to a page.  These are single pages, not gathered in signatures.  All the wood engravings seem to be represented here, including the repeated title-page engraving and the frontispieces of the four volumes.  Most surprising in this collection may be the three woodblocks themselves.  They represent "The Villager and the Snake"; "The Hare and the Frogs"; and "The Eagle and the Crow."  The last of these is cracked down the center.  Also fascinating are the six "originals."  I take these to be the pencil sketches that the wood engraver worked from.  One can see in "The Wolf and the Dogs" the quadration of the field of the picture.  "The Monkey and the Treasure-Holder" is excellent; the wood engraving comes very close to this rendition.  Others are sketchier in their presentation of a scene to be carved.  Three of the six are "The Fox and the Turkey-Vultures"; "The Forest and the Woodman"; and "The Wolf and the Fox" (XII.9).  The last of these "originals" is a mystery.  It presents two ancient men talking before a circle of listeners.  I can find it nowhere in the four volumes or in the suite of engravings.  Was it perhaps an attempt of the artist that ended up not getting used?  This volume in particular would make great material to show students interested in the history of bookmaking and picture printing.  Not in Bodemann.

1953 Sämtliche Fabeln und Schwänke von Hans Sachs. In chronologischer Ordnung nach den Originalen herausgegeben von Edmund Goetze. Zweite Auflage besorgt von Hans Lothar Markschies, 1. Band. Hardbound. Halle/Saale: Nr. 110-117 Neudrucke deutscher Literaturwerke des XVI. Und XVII. Jahrhunderts: VEB Max Niemeyer Verlag. €5 from Antiquariat Revers, Berlin, August, '08.

One rarely finds a book with more material to include from its title-page! At any rate, here is a volume packed with original material. As the early T of C points out, there are exactly two hundred numbered items here; all are in verse. I checked out the first hundred items and found seven identified as fables: #3 FM; 15 WL; 21 "Frogs and Hares"; 22 DLS; 23 "Wolf and Lying Shepherd"; 24 "Greedy and Envious"; and 47 GA. There were also a number of anecdotes from the life of Aesop, which were not marked as fables. Sachs' fables are relatively easy to make out. Several things are unusual in this book. First, the T of C does not give the genre of a piece, but the individual title above the piece does. Secondly, each writing is dated by day, month, and year. Becker's anthology has helpful biographical information. Sachs was born in Nurnberg in 1494 and apprenticed as a shoemaker. He joined the Reformation early. He became a meistersinger and created a wide variety of literature, including some 6000 poetic works.

1953 The Animal Story Book. Edited by Ernest Thompson-Seton. (c)1953 by Sarah M. Knapp. Chicago: Auxiliary Educational League. See 1902/38/52/53.

1953 The Animal Story Book. Edited by Ernest Thompson-Seton. (c)1955 by Sarah M. Knapp. Chicago: Auxiliary Educational League. See 1902/38/52/53/54/55.

1953 The Fables of Leonardo da Vinci. Vincent Torre. #6 of 50. First edition. Paperbound. At The Ink-Well Press. $75 from Brick Walk Bookshop, West Hartford, CT, through Bibliofind, Dec., '98.

Gradually I am finding the various fable works of Vincent Torre. This is another beautiful piece. The booklet includes fifteen fables and seventeen entries from Leonardo's Bestiary. The fables are strong on one-upping arguments. The usual question is: Who will laugh last? Among them is a favorite of mine from Leonardo, "The Nut and the Campanile" (18). Leonardo's fables are sometimes very sad, like "The Willow & The Gourd" (9). The willow's romance turns into her destruction. "The Ant & The Grain of Millet" (15) is much happier. The grain asks the ant to let it reproduce, offering a hundredfold. The ant takes the offer. The Beaver shows up in the Bestiary as "Peace," and Leonardo tells the story often found among fables. The beaver bites off its "testacles" (sic) and leaves them for its enemies and so escapes. The mole is "Lies," since it lives as long as it remains in the dark but dies as soon as it comes into the light. The first nine fables get a delightful woodcut each. There is also a repeated design cut in wood.

1953 The Fables of Moronia. Herbert C. Holdridge. Illustrated by Daphne and Venetia Epler. Signed by author. Dust jacket. Sherman Oaks, CA: The Holdridge Foundation. $3.50 at Booknook Parnassus, Evanston, May, '89. One extra copy for $10 with author's inscription and tattered dust jacket and one copy for $2 without either, both from Book Castle, Burbank, Aug., '93. One paperback copy, signed, for $13 from The Book House on Grand, Jan., '97.

One of the weirdest books I own. Heavily political "fables" directed at the stupidity of U.S. policies. There is nothing really Aesopic here in the content. The prose is a mishmash of cliche, biblical image, King James prose, and who knows what else! Note that the author published his own book. I have tried reading it twice. Good luck!

1953 The Fastest Hound Dog in the State of Maine. By John Gould. Illustrated by F. Wenderoth Saunders. Dust jacket. NY: William Morrow and Company. $18 from Greg Williams, June, '94.

A self-proclaimed Maine story! Lots of delightful illustrations. The flyleaf begins by saying "Aesop was a good man...but his fables are somewhat removed from present-day reality." The special feature of this engaging to-be-read-at-one-sitting book is the author's tongue-in-cheek collection of scholarly notes on 67-92. There is a delightful finish worthy of the story.

1953 The Man Who Stood On His Hands: A Fable. By Harry Hoehn as told to Doris Mazon Hoehn. #199 of 250. Signed by Harry Hoehn. Hand-set and printed by the authors. Spiral bound. Printed in USA. NY: The Piper's Press. $10 from Beck's Antiques & Books, Fredericksburg, Dec., '98.

People laugh at the man who walks on his hands. A stranger offers to help him. It turns out that this stranger is an artist, and he paints a face on the man's bottom. Now the others guffaw. When pressed as to why they laugh so hard now, one responds "Because we never, NO NEVER saw a fellow with TOES on the ends of such big ears." So ends the story. There are three careful hand-corrections in this short work. Spiral bound. The covers are a speckled cream and black.

1953 The Panchatantra. Translated from the Sanskrit by Arthur W. Ryder. Paperback. Phoenix. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. See 1925/53/56/64.

1953 The Wind and the Werewolf…And Other Fables. Paul Skjervold. Illustrated by Stuart Jahnson. Signed by author and artist; #66 of 150. Paperbound. Minneapolis: Argus Publishing Company. $8.50 from an unknown source, June, '12.

The first three of the five stories here I would put among myths or legends. "The Wind and the Werewolf" is a wistful tribute to love. "How the Fox Was Filled.A Christmas Fable" presents an encounter between a fox and the boy carpenter, Jesus. Most helpful for me is "The Leopard Who Changed His Spots." After laboring to change his spots -- and succeeding! -- he finds himself rejected and ridiculed in leopard society. "In this heart-sick instant the great thought came to him: Itr seems, thought the leopard, that I am the moral of my own story, that it wasn't wrong for me to change. But it was wrong to expect to be admired for doing without that which others are proud of possessing" (15). My sense of "Prince Luap" and "The Sorceress" is that they are fairy tales with the same kind of good deep human sense that we find in the first three stories.

1953 Walt Disney's Treasury. Arranged by Steffi Fletcher and Jane Werner. Pictures by the Walt Disney Studio. Adapted by Dick Kelsey. Assisted by Dick Moores. Hardbound. Printed in USA. NY: A Giant Golden Book: Golden Press. $12 from Larchmere Antiques, Cleveland, Jan, '00.

This large-format book in typical Disney and Golden Press style contains two fables among its twenty-one stories: TH (42) and GA (98), both done in a two-page spread and both with full-color illustrations. Many other pages in the book are done in two colors (e.g., black and red). TH uses Max Hare and Toby Tortoise from the early Disney tradition. Max still has his boxer's cape. "Cocky Max Hare decided he could take time out for a nap." Most other versions do not make the nap a matter of conscious decision. The art style is updated from the earliest Disney presentations of this fable. GA is true to other Disney presentations of the fable. See The Wonderful World of Walt Disney's Fantasyland (1965), on which Kelsey and Moores also collaborated. The ants have an underground home entered through a trap-door apparently flush with the ground. The grasshopper starts out singing "Oh, the world owes me a living" and finishes singing "Oh, I owe the world a living!" As in other Disney versions, Andy Ant takes up the grasshopper's invitation to play, and the ants take him in, give him a hot bath, and order him to work by playing his fiddle for them. The book's spine is deteriorating and it shows a few stains.

1953 Zwei Fabeln: Der gute Löwe; Der treue Stier. Ernest Hemingway. Einzig autorisierte Übertragung von Annemarie Horschitz-Horst. Den Freunden des Verlages als Weihnachts- und Neujahrsgruss zugeeignet. Hamburg: Rowohlt Verlag. DM 18 from Daras, Düsseldorf, July, '95.

Two witty stories that may stretch beyond the limits I would want to put on fable. The sophisticated flying aristocratic lion from Venice learned how primitive his fellow lions in Africa were. The faithful steer was faithful to fighting and to his lady, and his faithfulness impressed the matador who killed him. The stories raise good questions. I would probably put them into the category of "parable."

1953/55 Fables. Feng Hsueh-Feng. Translated by Gladys Yang. Woodcuts by Huang Yung-yu. Second edition. Peking: Foreign Languages Press. $10 by mail from W. Trevor Blake, May, '96.

This large-format softbound booklet contains fifty-one fables, often directly admonitory and/or of a highly political slant. Thus the author writes of skylarks "Poets like these are the true friends of the people" (7). The best of the fables, I believe, are "The Snake and the Rabbit" (38) and "The Original Rat" (68), which may also have the best illustration. Among the most overtly political are those on the imperialist weasel munching a duckling (22) and the imperialist snake against the collective bees (35). Other good fables include "The Hunter and His Wife" (13), "The Lion and the Setting Sun" (19), "The Lion and the Lamb" (43), "The Fox and the Rabbits' Farm" (51), "The Cow and Her Rope" (52), "The Curious Crow" (55), and "The Cow and Her Calf" (64). I am delighted when dealers find out-of-the-way items like this one!

1953/58 John Ploughman's Talk or Plain Advice for Plain People. By C.H. Spurgeon. London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, Ltd. $1.50 at Recycle Book Store, San Jose, Aug., '92.

I admit that I have read only two pages of this book (154-5). It seems a non-stop barrage of one-liners. The author does indeed, as the cover illustration suggests, take the bull by the horns! I picked the book up because its frontispiece of Aesop's fox and crow depicts the book's insight: "The fox admires the cheese, not the raven" (154). My two pages had lots of good zingers in them, like "He who believes in promises made at elections has long ears, and may try to eat thistles." I suspect there are many more fable-related proverbs along the way in the book, but for now I will let someone else find them. This printing represents the 544th thousand.

1953/59 Shaggy Dog and other Surrealist Fables. Told by John Waller. Illlustrated by Frank Wilson. Inscribed by and with an original drawing by Waller. Second printing. Hardbound. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. $45 from Blue Mountain Books & Manuscripts, Catskill, NY, through abe, Nov., '02. 

I count about sixty-two fables on 67 pages, with five pages afterwards of notes and comments. The illustrations are humorous journalistic cartoons. Waller writes in the Preface that these stories bear comparison with the enigmatic art of Klee, the bizarre landscapes of Dali, or the haunted forests of Max Ernst. In fact, his first two paragraphs are a fine description of a surrealist fable. My impression from reading more than half of the stories is that they are more "jokes" than surrealist fables. A number are funny. I am not yet convinced that they work the way Klee, Dali, and Ernst do. Among the best for me are "The Two Farmers" (19) and "The Madman Who Was Cured" (36). "The Original Shaggy Dog Story" is excellent (28). Is it perhaps part of the book's tongue-in-cheek that there really is no "original" shaggy dog story? It strikes me that one generation's shaggy dog is the next generation's old hat. Many of these jokes might have been very strong the first time that a particular category was violated; successive category fractures are less humorous or revealing, I think. This copy is inscribed by Waller, and its first page has an original drawing by Waller.

1953/60 Folklore and Fables: Some Tales from Western and Eastern Nigeria.  J.A. Danford, S.A. Fuja, and Cyprian Ekwensi.  Paperbound.  Lagos, Nigeria: Information Division of the Ministry of Information, Lagos, Nigeria.  $8 from an unknown source, July, '15.

In the midst of many pourquoi stories, this pamphlet of 32 pages in its second edition includes several fables.  "A Trial of Strength" (18) is the old (Panchatantra?) tale of the clever tortoise pitting the elephant and hippo against each other but deceiving each to think that it was tortoise "with one hand" contesting with each.  "How the Tortoise got the Pattern on his shell" (21) is a version of TT.  "How the Dog became Domesticated" (25) is similar to TH: a bone distracts the dog from the race.  The disappointed and embarrassed dog goes to the village and gets domesticated.  A variety of sizes and styles of black-and-white art work illustrates the stories.  The booklet closes with a page of twenty common proverbs from Eastern Nigeria.

1953/62 A Critical History of Children's Literature: A Survey of Children's Books in English from Earliest Times to the Present. By Cornelia Meigs, Anne Thaxter Eaton, Elizabeth Nesbitt, and Ruth Hill Viguers. Decorations by Vera Bock. Hardbound. Printed in USA. NY: The Macmillan Company. $10 from an unknown source, July, '96.

I had decided not to include this book in the collection when I took another look at its four references to fables. While the chief emphasis on Caxton is his transmission of Arthurian material by Malory, there is a valuable reflection here on Caxton's Aesop (33-34). "Finally, he did give to the English world and its posterity perhaps the oldest and the most widely beloved of the ancient classics. People have long read Aesop who could not read the Aeneid" (34). I had not known, by the way, that Caxton finished the last of his translations the day before he died. On 89-90 there is valuable material on Lady Eleanor Fenn and on William Godwin. Fenn's sense of fable is presented with a good edge. "Fables are stories to teach children what they should do, 'by showing them what may happen to them if they do not act as they ought to do'" (89). I am happy to see something here about Godwin, who used the pen-name Edward Baldwin. He married Mary Wollstonecraft and set up with her a small publishing company which brought out children's books, including Edward Baldwin's Fables, Ancient and Modern. Charles Lamb, whose works the two published, said of Godwin, "A middle sized man, both in stature and understanding" (90)! The Lambs--but not necessarily the Godwins--stood up against the "Age of Admonition" in their literature for children. Isaiah Thomas of Worcester and Boston and Hugh Gaine of New York are discussed on 132 as following the lead of London's John Newbery. Mention is made here of Fables in Verse with the Conversations of Beasts and Birds by Woglog the Great Giant, which were published around 1762. Gay's fables are mentioned on 156 as written ostensibly for the six-year-old Duke of Cumberland. But satire rather than moral teaching is the burden of these fables, and their language is aimed more at parents than at children. "They are keener and more ungentle than the kindly tales of Aesop, while the vehicle of long-drawn-out rhyme is much less effective than the old homely prose" (156).

1953/62 Fraulein Bo-Peepen and More Tales Mein Grossfader Told. By Dave Morrah, with drawings by the author. NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. $1 at Rock Creek Bookshop, DC, Oct., '90.

Eight fables near the end of the book in the familiar Morrah style. The best of these for storytelling are WC and "The Bundle of Twigs" and for illustrations FC and WC. I paid $20 for another volume of Morrah's, so this was a real find in an unlikely old store!

1953/66 La Fontaine Fables. Images de Romain Simon. Hardbound. Paris?: Grands Albums Hachette: Hachette. $5.60 from Betty Newlin, Winchester, VA, through eBay, July, '04. 

My, Romain Simon illustrated many different books! This is a 28-page oversized (9" x 12½") children's book. There are eleven fables in all, each allotted one to three pages. At least five of them are included somehow in the endpieces at both ends of the book. The stories include GA, FC, FG, LM, TMCM, TH, MM, "The Fox and the Goat," WL, FS, and TT. Each story gets from one to three pages. Has the lively, skipping rabbit appeared in Simon's work before? The scarf and shawl on the tortoise make me think I have seen these characters before! This book once belonged to the Shelter Island Elementary School.

1953/69 La Fontaine Fables. Images de Romain Simon. Hardbound. Paris?: Grands Albums Hachette: Hachette. $10 from Colette Durand through eBay, March, '09.

I have found two other versions of this book, listed under 1953/66 and 1953/70. I keep trying to find a first edition! This may be the cleanest copy of the three, marred only by a bit of scotch-tape at the base of the spine. Like the other later printing, this book was printed in Italy. I will excerpt remarks made on the first copy I found. My, Romain Simon illustrated many different books! This is a 28-page oversized (9" x 12½") children's book. There are eleven fables in all, each allotted one to three pages. At least five of them are included somehow in the endpieces at both ends of the book. The stories include GA, FC, FG, LM, TMCM, TH, MM, "The Fox and the Goat," WL, FS, and TT. Has the lively, skipping rabbit appeared in Simon's work before? The scarf and shawl on the tortoise make me think I have seen these characters before!

1953/70 La Fontaine Fables. Images de Romain Simon. Hardbound. Paris?: Grands Albums Hachette: Hachette. $5 from James Richter, Kingston, NY, through eBay, Oct., '05. 

See my earlier version of this book, listed under 1953/66. I ordered this one through eBay because it was listed as published in 1953. I will keep trying for a first edition. Whereas that book was printed in France, this was printed in Italy. Let me repeat my remarks from there: My, Romain Simon illustrated many different books! This is a 28-page oversized (9" x 12½") children's book. There are eleven fables in all, each allotted one to three pages. At least five of them are included somehow in the endpieces at both ends of the book. The stories include GA, FC, FG, LM, TMCM, TH, MM, "The Fox and the Goat," WL, FS, and TT. Has the lively, skipping rabbit appeared in Simon's work before? The scarf and shawl on the tortoise make me think I have seen these characters before!

1953/73 La Fontaine Fables.  Images de Romain Simon.  Hardbound.  Paris?: Le Jardin des Rêves:  Hachette.  $26.65 from secretdulivre through ABE, April, ‘21.  

We have several other versions of this book.  Some belong to the series "Grands Albums Hachette."  This book is identical internally but belongs to the series "Le Jardin des Rêves" and features on its front cover a detail of the title-page's larger illustration.  In fact, we have an identical copy of this book, with the same cover and belonging to the same series, but it was printed in 1983, whereas this copy comes from 1973.  As I have written concerning the other copies, this is a 28-page oversized (9" x 12½") children's book.  There are eleven fables in all, each allotted one to three pages.  At least five of them are included somehow in the endpieces at both ends of the book.  The stories include GA, FC, FG, LM, TMCM, TH, MM, "The Fox and the Goat," WL, FS, and TT.

1953/74 Trois Braves Petits Boucs et Le Loup and les Chevreaux: Fables. Illustrations de Richard Scarry. Pamphlet. Les Petits Livres d'Argent. Printed in France. Paris: Éditions des Deux Coqs d'Or. $2 from Pierre Cantin, Montreal, Feb., '02.

What we have here is the fairytales "Three Billy Goats Gruff" and "The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats." Only the cover has the word "Fables" at all. The series is like Western's "Little Golden Books." This sixteen-page pamphlet, 6" x 7½", is published in conjunction with Western Publishing Company, Inc., Racine.

1953/83 La Fontaine Fables. Images de Romain Simon. Hardbound. Paris?: Le Jardin des Rêves: Hachette. $5.90 from Marie Gervais, St.-Urbain-Premier, Quebec, Canada, through eBay, Oct., ‘07.

I have two other versions of this book, listed under 1953/66 and 1953/70. Both belong to the series "Grands Albums Hachette." This book is identical internally but belongs to the series "Le Jardin des Rêves" and features on its front cover a detail of the title-page's larger illustration. The back cover is identical with the back cover on the other editions. As I wrote there, this is a 28-page oversized (9" x 12½") children's book. There are eleven fables in all, each allotted one to three pages. At least five of them are included somehow in the endpieces at both ends of the book. The stories include GA, FC, FG, LM, TMCM, TH, MM, "The Fox and the Goat," WL, FS, and TT. This copy once belonged to the Greek Orthodox community in Laval and its primary school named after Demosthenes.

1953? La Fontaine: Fábulas.  Translated by Bocage, Filinto Elísio, Malhão Curvo Semedo e outros poetas.  Paperbound.  Lisbon: Ceres: Editorial Minerva.  €10 from Livraria sa da Costa, Lisbon, July, '24.

This is one of the simplest books in the collection.  After an appreciation of La Fontaine, it presents Portuguese verse translations of 240 numbered fables of La Fontaine.  There is an acknowledgement of the translator with each text, but there are no other helps or notes.  At the back there is one corrigendum.  348 pages.  4½" x 6½".  Inscribed 10-5-S53.  The only other copy presently on the web was inscribed in 1953.

1953? My Book of Fables: From the Tales of La Fontaine. Enid Blyton. Illustrated by Romain Simon. London & Sydney: A Little Gift Book: Hackett's: Hachette. AUS $6.75 from Valerie Greaves, Davoren Park South, Australia, through eBay, Oct., '02. Extra copy for $20 Australian from Pioneer Books, Oaklands Park, South Australia, through ChooseBooks, Feb., '03.

It is curious that the same book showed up, after years of apparent absence from the market, twice within four months, and in both cases from Australia. Neither copy is in good shape, and so I will keep them both in the collection. The format resembles that of a Little Golden Book: the book is a little larger than 6" x 7½", with stiff board covers stapled together. There are four stories on 28 pages: FC, MM, TT, and "The Fox and the Goat." The telling of MM omits mention of dresses and dances; Perrette feels so happy thinking about her future cow and calf capering in the fields that she jumps for joy. So Blyton teaches me something; that is indeed how La Fontaine tells the story! The inside covers present mirror-images of FC. Hachette holds the copyright. Is Hackett a British subsidiary of Hachette?

1953?/59 The Arbuthnot Anthology of Children's Literature. Compiled by May Hill Arbuthnot. Illustrated by Arthur Paul, John Averill, Wade Ray, Seymour Rosofsky, Debi Sussman, and Rainey Bennett. Designed by Hal Kearney. Sixth printing? Chicago: Scott, Foresman and Company. $5.95 at Downtown Books, Milwaukee, Nov., '95.

The center section of three long sections is identical with Time for Fairy Tales (1952). It is fun to compare this first edition with the fourth edition of The Arbuthnot Anthology (1961/71/76). This has some 1006 pages to the later edition's 1088. The short fable section (200-211) includes seventeen fables of Aesop to the twelve in the later edition. This earlier edition also has two fables from Bidpai; the later edition will say that they are from the Panchatantra and offer one more fable. Both editions have the same three offerings from La Fontaine. The fable introduction undergoes some changes. T of C at the beginning. The fable section of the bibliography is on 383.

 

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1954

1954 12 Fables of Aesop. Linoleum blocks by Antonio Frasconi to illustrate Twelve Fables of Aesop newly narrated by Glenway Wescott and published by the Museum of Modern Art, NY. #152 of 975. Signed by Frasconi, Wescott, and Joseph Blumenthal of The Spiral Press. Signed with an inscription by Frasconi. Boxed, with slipcase. $85 at Old New York Book Shop, Atlanta, April, '94.

Is it just the amount I had to pay for it that makes me much more partial to Frasconi's art here than I had been to it in the smaller booklets done at the same time? The stories still seem to me to represent unfortunate compromises or attempts to find meaning in the meaningless. Wescott misses the "countdown" effect in the first fable, "The Starved Farmer and His Fat Dogs." The flattered raven has "his mouth full of something delicious." Why cannot the something be either meat or cheese? "The Fishermen with the Stone in Their Net" addresses a case of disillusionment but illogically argues that they are now more likely to catch fish tomorrow. Maybe someone else can find more point in this TH moral than I do: "Persistent ambition without talent breaks no record. Talent without character wins no race."

1954 12 Fables of Aesop. Linoleum blocks by Antonio Frasconi to illustrate Twelve Fables of Aesop newly narrated by Glenway Wescott and published by the Museum of Modern Art, NY. Hardbound for $8 from Second Chance, April, '93.

See my comments on the original and the later paperback listed under 1954/67.

1954 12 Fables of Aesop.  Glenway Wescott.  Linoleum blocks by Antonio Frasconi.  First printing, with protective orange envelope.  Paperbound.  NY:  Museum of Modern Art.  $9.50 from Powell's, Portland, July, '15.

I had had a rather dry run of looking for books in Powell's Rare Book Room, a favorite haunt.  A helpful employee had suggested that I rummage through the ephemera in boxes on top of a chest of drawers.  I think this item was the very last in the last box.  I have a number of copies of this booklet, but no first printing.  Voila!  This booklet comes with its own protective orange envelope.  I wrote of other printings and versions that the style is distinctive, but alas I do not find one good illustration (or story for that matter) that I would want to use.  People should have a chance to see this book, but so far at least I do not find in it the fantasy or nuance I find in many others.

1954 Aesop Confounded: Tales and Fables old and new. Vincent Torre. #48 of 50. NY?: At the Ink-Well Press. $28.50 from Carl Sandler Berkowitz, April, '95.

Four of the booklet's eleven stories are identified as fables. The suggestion in the title is that we have anti-fables here. Most of the stories work that way, in fact. Thus the moral to "Little Red Hen" is "Always try to get away with as little work as you can" and to "Buttercup" "Hags' bags should be knife-proof." "The Cat and the Fox" (8) works with a fox, the string of whose bag of tricks had become a tangled knot, to arrive at this moral: "Use zippers." "The Mice and the Cat" (19) proclaims at its end "The best-belled Cats are sleeping ones." "The Sparrow Whose Tongue Was Cut" (23) is strange, as the sparrow suddenly starts talking in mid-story. Perhaps I am missing something! All three of these fables have full-page illustrations. "The Camel and the Jackal" (27), unillustrated, seems to me to be told straight. Torre's moral for it is "A Camel's revenge is dangerous." "The Alligator and the Jackal" (30) seems to me not to be a fable, nor is it labelled as one. It goes through five phases and involves some preternatural events. I am amazed that Carl found this book for me!

1954    Aesop's Fables.  Selected and edited by Laura Harris.  Illustrated by Tony Palazzo.  Dust jacket.  Garden City, NY: Garden City Books.  $19 at Avenue Victor Hugo Bookshop, Boston, Oct., '97.

Large and not very impressive pastels.  I have at least three different versions of this book, based on criteria of price, dust-jacket back flaps, cover design, and binding.  This first version originally cost $2.50, whereas a later version cost $3.25.  Unfortunately, several of my "extra" copies have the price on the front dust-jacket flap cut off.  The back dust-jacket flap of this copy begins with "These observations" carrying over from the front flap.  Two other sections are titled "About the editor" and "About the artist."  Its cover material matches its dust-jacket: boxes containing each a colored image of an animal head.  There is a nice listing of morals on 92-3.  The morals with the stories are curiously explanatory:  "People say such-and-such when they mean...."  Here is a standard book that it took me a long time to find the first time!

1954    Aesop's Fables.  Selected and edited by Laura Harris.  Illustrated by Tony Palazzo.  Dust-jacket.  Hardbound.  NY: Garden City Books.  $15 from an unknown source, Oct., '99.

Large and not very impressive pastels.  I have at least three different versions of this book, based on criteria of price, dust-jacket back flaps, cover design, and binding.  This second version had an original price of $3.25, whereas the first version cost only $2.50.  Unfortunately, several of my "extra" copies have the price on the front dust-jacket flap cut off.  The back dust-jacket flap of this copy lists "Tony Palazzo's other wonderful picture books."  Its cover material matches its dust-jacket: boxes containing each a colored image of an animal head.  There is a nice listing of morals on 92-3.  The morals with the stories are curiously explanatory:  "People say such-and-such when they mean.."  Here is a standard book that it took me a long time to find the first time!

1954    Aesop's Fables.  Selected and edited by Laura Harris.  Illustrated by Tony Palazzo.  Dust-jacket.  Hardbound.  NY: Garden City Books.  $13.5 from Nicholas Potter, Santa Fe, May, '93.

Large and not very impressive pastels.  I have at least three different versions of this book, based on criteria of price, dust-jacket back flaps, cover design, and binding.  The price of this third version has been clipped off.  The back dust-jacket flap of this copy begins with "These observations" carrying over from the front flap.  Two other sections are titled "About the editor" and "About the artist."  Its cover material is simple blue cloth, which does not match its dust-jacket: boxes containing each a colored image of an animal head.  The binding of this volume is reinforced, probably for use in a school.  What had been in other versions the colorful end-papers are moved into the book to become the first and last pages.  Now there are blank endpapers next to the covers at both ends.  There is a nice listing of morals on 92-3.  The morals with the stories are curiously explanatory:  "People say such-and-such when they mean.."  Here is a standard book that it took me a long time to find the first time!

1954 Aesop's Fables (Burmese).  Translated by Min Yu Way & Ngwe Ta Yee.  Illustrated by U Ba Kyi.  Introduction by Min Thu Wun.  Canvas-bound.  $25 from Eureka Booksellers, Feb., '17.

Here is a most unusual book.  About its texts, I can say nothing except that there is a beginning T of C.  The front cover presents a congeries of animal faces in color, appropriate for Aesop's fables.  The book features full-page monochrome illustrations that are highly stylized and interpretative.  Though I cannot find out more bibliographical information about this book, including where I found it, I do know that it won a Sarpay Beikhman translation award in 1954.  Among the best of the twenty or so full-page illustrations, I would mention "The Bull and the Gnat" about halfway through the book (sorry, the pagination is in Burmese) and WL late in the book.  Apparently there are 310 pages here.  I believe that this Burmese-language book brings to 65 the total of languages represented in monolingual books in our collection.  Ngwe Ta Yee is Min Yu Way's wife, and he himself is a recognized literary creator in Myanmar.  This copy includes a pamphlet and a card in Burmese.  What a great find!

1954 Animal Stories: Tales of the Old Plantation. Joel Chandler Harris. Illustrations by Ezra Jack Keats. Hardbound. Garden City, NY: Junior Deluxe Editions. $3 from Exchange with Clare Leeper, who paid $3 for it, July, '96.

Here are fifty-four stories, each with a green title in caps. The book is in the same series out of which I have an Aesop"s Fables from 1968. The line-drawings by Ezra Jack Keats are adequate. Perhaps the best is the only colored illustration, the frontispiece of Br'er Rabbit and the Tarbaby with Br'er Fox looking on from behind a tree. I have to admit that I did not take the occasion this time to read again through these delightful stories. 

1954 Choix de Fables. Jean de la Fontaine. La Bibliothéque Précieuse. Paris: Librairie Gründ. 7 F at sidewalk bookseller in Annecy, Sept., '92: purchased by Wendy Wright.

This is your bare-bones LaFontaine! No notes, no editor, no fable numbers (but there are books!), and no introductory material. AI at the rear. Though the book is only selected fables, it seems to cover a lot of ground.

1954 Choix de Fables.  Jean de La Fontaine.  Paperbound.  Paris: La Bibliothéque Précieuse: Librairie Gründ.  €11 from Crealivres, La Fontenelle Val Couesnon through Ebay, April, '23.

Here is a paperback version of a hardbound book already in the collection.  I admit that I bought it because of its cover, a delightful portrail of MSA's scene of the boy riding and the father struggling.  I was first surprised to find out that that is the only illustration in the book.  I was next surprised to find the hardbound version already in the collection.  As I wrote 31 years ago, this is bare-bones LaFontaine!  No notes, no editor, no fable numbers (but there are books!), and no introductory material.  AI at the rear.  Though the book is only selected fables, it seems to cover a lot of ground.

1954 Der Wettlauf zwischen dem Hasen und dem Igel. Ein Märchen der Brüder Grimm. Illustrationen von Otto Schubert. Erste Auflage. Berlin: Der Kinderbuchverlag. DM 18 from Syndikat, Leipzig, July, '95.

I picked this book up largely because of the lovely old hedgehog illustrations, not the least of them showing the mother washing her two very humanlike kids in the bathtub. This version has the hare doing seventy-three laps and then dying during the seventy-fourth! And all the time he could not distinguish between one hedgehog wearing a babushka and one not wearing a babushka!

1954 Die Lust zu Fabulieren. Zusammengestellt von Erich Lobbes. Illustriert von Max Schwimmer. 1500 copies. Hardbound. Leipzig: Deutscher Buch-Export und -Import Gmbh. €1 from Seifert/Elze, Bedburg, Germany, through eBay, July, '09.

This lovely marbled-cover book about 6" square presents a fine collection of fables chosen from traditional sources mostly German but including, for example, Chinese, La Fontaine, Iriarte, and Krylov. The sketches by Max Schwimmer are delightful. The tellings are pointed. Sthis is a well-made East-German book. There are some sixty-three fables on 105 pages. There is a list of authors just before the book-closing T of C.

1954 English Fables and Fairy Stories. Retold by James Reeves. Illustrated by Joan Kiddell-Monroe. First edition. Hardbound. London: Oxford University Press. $15 from Clare Leeper, July, '96.

Here, without a dust-jacket, is a first edition of a book I had found in its third impression from 1956 with a dust-jacket. As I wrote there, I can find none of these nineteen stories that is a fable. There are eight full-page three-tone illustrations to go along with many black-and-white designs along the way. The book is apparently the first in a series, "Oxford Myths and Legends."

1954 Ezop - Lafonten Masallari.  Translated by Sami Ergun.  25 illustrations by Karaca Nusret.  Paperbound.  Ankara: Karinca Matbaasi.  $10 from The Glad Trading through Ebay, Oct., '21.

Here is one of some 38 inexpensive Turkish editions of Aesop bought together.  Among them, this book receives my prize so far because it offers 25 intriguing full-page duochrome illustrations.  CW (26) has an evocative woman arising perhaps out of a flower or fire.  FK (37) shows not a stork but a snake as the new king devouring a subject.  The wolf is in an unusual standing position for the crane's removal of the bone from his throat (98).  The cat hangs in a round bag as the two mice above discuss (117).  Most illustrations are signed "Karaca Nusret."  A T of C on 142-44 gives both the number and the page of the 100 fables.  The full-color cover has a simple image of FC.  Ergun offers a page of introduction before the first fable.

1954 Fabeln des Äsop. Erzählt und in Holz Geschnitten von Werner Gothein. #285 of 500; signed by Gothein; with a personal dedication to Marie Gutzeit. Hardbound. Schwenningen/Neckar: Hermann Kuhn KG.. €60 from Peter Bichsel Fine Books, Zurich, April, '09.

I am including a second copy of this book because I have found a copy dedicated by the artist. The other copy, #455 of 500, is identical and has Gothein's signature with the number at the book's end. This copy, #285 of 500, has the same signature but it also has this on the page between the endpaper and the title-page: "Der lieben und treuen Freundin Marie Gutzeit zum fünzigjährigen Festchen unserer Freundschaft von Ihrem Werner Gothein, Weihnachten, 1954." Let me include comments from the first copy I had found. I am surprised that I had not known of this book earlier. It presents thirty Aesopic fables in prose, each on a left-hand numbered page with a design on the facing right page. The pages are made of very heavy paper. The best of the designs have, like the front cover's design, a strong sense of line. My favorites include FG (3); "Das verliebte Wiesel" (8); "The Man and His Two Girlfriends" (18); "Unbekehrbar" (25). Gothein's retellings are good. The dying father says to his sons "What I have inherited you will find in my vineyard" (11).

1954 Fabeln des Äsop. Erzählt und in Holz Geschnitten von Werner Gothein. #455 of 500; signed by Gothein. Hardbound. Schwenningen/Neckar: Hermann Kuhn KG. €75 from Artquarium, Berlin, through eBay, August, '09.

I am surprised that I had not known of this book earlier. It presents thirty Aesopic fables in prose, each on a left-hand numbered page with a design on the facing right page. The pages are made of very heavy paper, and the binding may be giving way. The best of the designs have, like the front cover's design, a strong sense of line. My favorites include FG (3); "Das verliebte Wiesel" (8); "The Man and His Two Girlfriends" (18); "Unbekehrbar" (25). Gothein's retellings are good. The dying father says to his sons "What I have inherited you will find in my vineyard" (11). A lucky find on German eBay while I was in Germany.

1954 Fables de La Fontaine.  Illustrations by Benjamin Rabier.  Hardbound.  Paris: Jules Tallandier.  $19.99 from zassyzara, through Ebay, April, '20. 

There have been so many excellent prints and reprints of Rabier's work.  Here is one by his original publisher from 1906, now done in 1954, at a time, I believe, when French industry, and specifically publishing industry, was finding its way after World War II.  This volume has 111 pages, with a fable for each page.  All are in color, in contrast with some Tallandier reprints of Rabier, for example, those done in 1992 in this collection.  I was a little surprised that we had not already found this book.  Now I am delighted to include this very good copy into the collection!

1954 Fables de la Fontaine. Illustrations en Couleurs de Henry Blanc. Hardbound. Monte-Carlo: Collection Bleuet N. 31: Éditions Vedette. $10 from John Baxter, Paris, Dec., '04. 

Pictorial boards, the front presenting a collection of Aesopic characters and the back the thirty-five titles that had appeared to date in the Collection Bleuet. AI at the back. The book is 191 pages long and measures a little more than 7" by a little less than 5". Maybe the best of the seven colored illustrations pictures mother goat bidding farewell to her child while the wolf looks on (36). The others are the frontispiece (UP); TMCM (69); TB (100); "Le Chat, la Belette et le petit Lapin" (133); "L'Huitre et les Plaideurs" (164); and "Le Rat qui s'est retiré du Monde" (180). The last of these is a double-page and is also engaging. The art is simple and pleasantly colorful.

1954 Fables de la Fontaine. Illustrated by J. Guyot. Hardbound. Monte-Carlo: Collection Pavillon No. 29: S.A.M. Editions "Vedette". $6.50 from James Gray, Vernouillet, France, through Ebay, Sept., '02. 

As the seller points out, this book is in the style of the "Little Golden Books." It is a sturdy book 6 ¾" x almost 8" with 24 pages. It tells ten of La Fontaine's fables and illustrates them each with about two helpful colored pictures. Among my favorite illustrations are those of the dying laborer in his bed (6), the splay-legged lamb drinking in front of the wolf (8), and Grippeminaud the cat looking out of the corner of his eye at his two unsuspecting victims (17). One finds the illustrator's name only on the back cover's list of illustrators for the whole series of thirty books. This is my second book from Monte-Carlo. The first is a 1956 remake of Julien Macho's work of 1489 from Lyon.

1954 Fables of Aesop. Translated by S.A. Handford with illustrations by Brian Robb. Baltimore: Penguin. British price-lists at back. $1.75 at Bookworks in Chicago, May, '89. Extra copy of the (U.S.?) printing of 1956 for $2 at Gryphon, NY, March, '93.

The sketches are unfortunately rather primitive. The text of the fables is kept quite brief: about a half-page in almost every case. The toughest feature of the book is that stories are listed by their clever titles, and there is no index.

1954 From Long Ago and Many Lands. Stories for Children Told Anew. By Sophia L. Fahs. Illustrated by Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge. Boston: The Beacon Press. See 1948/54.

1954 Happy Times: A Basic First Reader. By Guy L. Bond, Grace A. Dorsey, Marie C. Cuddy, and Kathleen Wise. Hardbound. Printed in California. Sacramento: Developmental Reading Series. A Basic Reading Program. California State Series: California State Department of Education. $4 from Serendipity, Berkeley, Dec., '99?

This is an earlier edition of my 1962 edition published by Lyons and Carnahan. This edition still lists "©1949 Lyons and Carnahan." This first-grade reader includes one fable, "The Donkey and the Dog" (179). This version of the story has some unusual features. A bee talked with the dispirited donkey. Getting into the house was a big part of the donkey's motivation, and he had a first encounter with the man outside that gave him hope that he now might enter. The man handled the situation unusually politically correctly. As I have compared this 1954 version with the 1962 version, I see that the latter will expand on the man's more laconic remarks here: "You are not like the dog, but you are a very good donkey. The dog can not work. He is too small to work. You are big. You help me work in the fields." The donkey went away feeling good and wanting to work for his friend, the man. This version of the story goes on without a "crisis" in which the man needed to call for help. This edition has a simple blue cloth cover with a child holding two dogs on leashes. It lacks the quiz/game that one finds at the end of the later edition. The fable comes eight pages later there.

1954 I.A. Krylov: Basni (Russian). Illustrated by B.N. Chekalin. Paperbound. Alma-Ata: Shkolnayar Biblioteka glya Kazakhskikh Shkd (School Library for Kazakh Schools): Kazakh State Scientific-Pedagogical Publisher. $3 from Valentina Kudinova, Kharkiv, Ukraine, June, '12.

Here is a well-worn book. Its well-creased cover paper is so thick that it feels like cloth. The front cover features a lovely illustration of "Quartet" under the title and the branch-bending bear over it. The pamphlet offers seven well-chosen Krylov fables: "Spectacles"; "The Wood-Breaking Bear"; "The Elephant and the Pug"; "Quartet"; "The Sightseer in the Museum"; "The Wolf and the Cat"; and "The Fox" (and his frozen tail and the wolf). This pamphlet has more than its share of stains, scribbles, and tears, and is thus a testimony to being well used for almost sixty years! There is a separate vocabulary for each fable at the end. It was fun for me to figure out which fables were being presented: "The Sightseer in the Museum" had no illustration and so was difficult. I had to match size of fable and quoted material within the fable. Enjoyable sleuthing! One last entry on the title-page is Kazaxskoe Godusdarstevennoe Uyeblo-Pedagogiyeskoe Izdatelbstvo. 

1954 Just Buttons, Vol. XII, No. 11 (August, 1954).  Magazine.  Southington, CT: Sally C. Luscomb, Publisher.  $5 from an unknown source, June, '14.

"For Pleasure, Pastime and Profit."  Among the other articles and features in this 20-page magazine is a five-column article "Aesop's Fables" by Ruth W. Wilson.  The article is announced on the cover together with a monochrome image of a FS button.  There is also an illustration of a FC button inside the article.  The article itself offers a history of fable and of Aesop before telling WL, FC, TH, "The Angler and the Little Fish," WC, FS, and FG.  Each of these has a moral, several of which are surprising to me.  The moral of TH is "Up and be doing"; of FC "Fools stand in slippery places"; and of FG "Tis no use crying for the Moon."  I am surprised that there is no discussion of the fable buttons themselves!

1954 Mishle Eli'ezer Shtainbarg (Hebrew "Eliezar Shteinbarg's Fables"). Illustrations by Nachum Gutman. Hardbound. Tel Aviv: N. Tverskki. $37.50 from Meir Biezunski, Israel, Nov., '06.

This edition contains some 120 or so of Shteinbarg's fables, richly illustrated with sketches and line-drawings by Nachum Gutman. For a good sample, notice the disgruntled mouse or rat on 35. Catch also the three letters of the alphabet arguing as rabbis with each other on 225. The spine cover has separated, and this book is overall highly fragile. Its paper seems dry. For comments on the stories, see the English translation, The Jewish Book of Fables: Selected Works (2003) from Syracuse University Press. There is a pasted-in photograph of Shteinbarg as frontispiece, and the cloth front cover has an embossed picture as well. Shteinbarg died in 1932, and his works were not published until after his death. Mr. Biezunski seems to indicate that this edition may be in some sense an original Hebrew edition of Shteinbarg's fables. 

1954 Petites Suites a de Grandes Fables. André Cachera. Paperbound. Paris: Editions de la Plume d'Or. €9.60 from Chapitre.com July, '04.

I was able to find a date for this little paperback book through Google. It is a delightful book giving in each case a follow-up to what happened in La Fontaine's fable. Thus the fox that got the crow's cheese did not notice that it was laced with arsenic by a farmer trying to kill his mother-in-law (8). The mule carrying grain was surprised by a troop of famished horses who attacked him worse than anyone would have attacked a mule carrying gold (10-11)! The dog who met the free wolf turned sour on his job and finally broke free, but what did freedom mean to him? Apparently mostly meeting the wolf's four sisters (12)! When one hears a man cry against his oppressors "I want liberty," "cherchez Eve et cherchez la pomme"! The wolf that consumed the lamb died after four days of agony for ingesting a sharp bone (17). This looks like God's revenge, but did not God make the wolf a meat-eating animal? And what is a meat-eating animal supposed to do? The man with the manuscript he does not understand, mentioned in CJ, brings it to the publisher who makes him a deal. And do not all those books sit in the stalls of the buchinistes along the Seine (23-24)? The French here is a step beyond me, but the notion is fascinating. Bravo, André Cachera! 

1954 Poetry. Volume 83, Number 6. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. $10 from Turtle Island, Jan., '92.

Reprints three of Marianne Moore's translations of La Fontaine shortly before the appearance of her Viking volume of the complete poems. Poetry had published three earlier in October, 1953. The three here are GGE, DS (misidentified as 6.7 instead of 6.17), and "The Woods and the Woodman." The texts seem to be exactly the same in the two versions.

1954 Rhoda Power's Ten Minute Tales and Dialogue Stories.  With Illustrations by Gwen White.  Hardbound.  Dust jacket.  London: Evans Brothers Ltd.  $7.65 from Mad Hatter Books, Auckland, New Zealand, through ABE, March, '16.

First printed in 1942.  This book of radio transcripts has three major sections: "Nine Dialogue Stories"; "Twelve Stories to Tell or to Read"; and "Nine Fables of Aesop as Dialogue Stories."  Third third set runs from 129 through the book's end on 176.  Two of the middle section's stories are regularly recounted as fables:  "The Four Friends and the Hunter" (103) and "The Goatherd and the Goats" (114).  The former is true to the "Kalilah and Dimnah" story as I know it; the only change seems to be that the gazelle is here a goat.  It is well told.  The latter is also familiar.  The goatherd finds wild goats and treats them better than his own by giving them food in their cave, while his own hunger outside the cave.  When he returns in the morning, the wild goats have beaten down the branches holding them in the cave, and his own goats have died of hunger.  The goats do a bit of talking in this piece.  OF is the first of the fables.  Willywog and Pollywog get away from mother for the first time.  Ox steps on one but is gracious enough to lift his leg when Willywog asks,and Pollywog is still alive.  Mother cannot believe that anything is larger than she is.  She bursts.  Aesop acts as narrator, interspersed with the animal voices.  In TH, the hare stops for a snack at Duck's roadside stand.  Tortoise has a repeated rhyme: "Be sure to keep an even pace!  Slow and steady wins the race."  There are helpful black-and-white cartoons along the way.  Even the dust-jacket is well preserved.

1954 Schöne Fabeln des Altertums. Äsop/Phädrus/Babrios. Ausgewählt und übertragen von Horst Gasse. Mit zwei Vignetten von Wolfgang Lenck. Sammlung Dieterich, Band 168. Leipzig: Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. DM 6 at Historica Antiquariat, Dresden, July, '95.

Compare with the later editions under 1955/84. By contrast this edition has Anmerkungen instead of Erläuterungen and names Horst Gasse as "Dr." in the T of C (100). Though the pagination is the same, the plates are different. This edition also has a different front-cover design. Was the book recopyrighted when it took on two illustrations (apparently one year later)? It seems so, since the later printings list not 1954 but 1955 as the date of the original copyright.

1954 Story Time of My Book House. Edited by Olive Beaupré Miller. Volume 2 of twelve volumes. Chicago: The Book House for Children. See 1937/50/54.

1954 The Beacon Supplementary Readers: Book Three: The Wise Little Goat. Illustrated by Marcia Lane Foster. Sixteenth impression. Pamphlet. Printed in Great Britain. The Beacon Supplementary Readers. London: Ginn and Cmpany Ltd. See 1932/54.

1954 The Animal Story Book. Edited by Ernest Thompson-Seton. (c)1955 by Sarah M. Knapp. Chicago: Auxiliary Educational League. See 1902/38/52/53/54/55.

1954 The Contemporary Mouse: A Fable for Art Lovers. Patricia Barnard. Drawings by Constance Jean Dowling. Photographs by Edward J. Moore of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Dust jacket. NY: Coward-McCann. $4.50 at McIntyre & Moore in Cambridge, July, '88.

Wonderful imagination! Micerinus meets all sorts of friends in the MFA. Photography and drawing are combined nicely. Aesop plays on the edges of this story, especially when Micerinus meets the lions and when the lion and boar face each other. The best fun comes from the terra-cotta fox who's been trying to get a flea out of his ear since the fifth century BC!

1954 The Fables of La Fontaine. Translated by Marianne Moore. Signed numbered first edition (#335 of 400). Hardbound. NY: Viking. $24.95 from Mark Kramer at LCNG Books, Hoosick Falls, NY, through eBay, May, '04. 

I have wanted for a long time to find a signed and numbered first edition of this important book. The red cloth cover has a lovely embossed "LF" emblem. I said when I catalogued the regular first edition of this book years ago that I would like to keep coming back to the book. Well, I have! Moore has been a helpful, if sometimes rather liberal, translator for many of LaFontaine's fables. As I wrote then, this is a huge and lovely book, without illustrations, with an index of titles and first lines in both English and French. I said then that the shorter of La Fontaine's fables might be the most delightful. For example: "The Cock and the Pearl" (31); FG with a fine moral (67); GGE, with a very nicely pointed moral (111); "The Horse and the Ass" (131); and "The Old Cat and the Young Mouse" (284). Many of the pages here are uncut.

1954 The Fables of La Fontaine. Translated by Marianne Moore. NY: Viking Press. First edition. $20 at Kelmscott, Baltimore, Nov., '91.

A huge and lovely book, without illustrations, with an index of titles and first lines in both English and French. I would like to keep coming back to this book. Most of LaFontaine I find on the longish side, and so I find many of these translations long. But the shorter ones are delightful and usable. For example: "The Cock and the Pearl" (31), FG with a fine moral (67), a Hen that laid golden eggs, with a very nicely pointed moral (111), "The Horse and the Ass" (131), and "The Old Cat and the Young Mouse" (284). The paperback's pagination is identical up to the appendix.

1954 The Fables of La Fontaine. Marianne Moore. Second printing. Dust-jacket. Hardbound. NY: Viking. $9 from Allen's, Baltimore, May, '92.

Here is a copy of the second printing -- in dust-jacket -- of this huge and lovely book, without illustrations, with an index of titles and first lines in both English and French. I would like to keep coming back to this book. Most of LaFontaine I find on the longish side, and so I find many of these translations long. But the shorter ones are delightful and usable. For example: "The Cock and the Pearl" (31), FG with a fine moral (67), a Hen that laid golden eggs, with a very nicely pointed moral (111), "The Horse and the Ass" (131), and "The Old Cat and the Young Mouse" (284).

1954 The Fox and the Wolf. A Thirteenth Century Fable. Vincent Torre. #45 of 50. At The Ink-Well Press. $35 by mail from Oak Knoll, Nov., '93.

A very nice piece of work from a well known source. The fable itself seems to be a somewhat rambling conflation of several. The fox has a long and unresolved interchange with the cock before he arrives famished and thirsty at the well, where the water promptly "stinks" to him. Once in the well, he encounters the wolf. The latter descends into the "paradise" the fox has described and ultimately ends up battered by monks. This text uses ¶ instead of paragraph indentations and § instead of quotation marks. The four brown and one black illustrations are nice; they seem to have bled onto the facing pages despite the slip-sheets.

1954 The Story of Reynard the Fox. Translated by Thomas James Arnold from the original German poem Reineke Fuchs by J.W. von Goethe with a new introduction by Edward Lazare and with illustrations engraved on wood by Fritz Eichenberg. NY: The Heritage Press. $12.50 somewhere sometime before '93!

Reading this polished (and slightly archaically translated) poem is different from reading earlier Reynard material. It was a pleasure to read Goethe's poem in English while seeing both Eichenberg's and Kaulbach's (1846/57) illustrations. I like both! Among the fables mentioned in the work are these: FK (5.49), "The Wolf, the Fox, and the Horse" (8 early), "The Horse and the Stag" (10.130), "The Dog and the Ass" (10.155), "The Fox and the Cat" (10.188), WC (10.218), "The Wolf's Liver as a Cure from the Fox" (10.293), LS (10.360), and "The Wolf and the Fox in Buckets" (11.101). One of the great lines comes in Book 8, largely given to the Church, when Badger remarks that Reynard is confessing other people's sins!

1954 The Tortoise and the Hare. By Elizabeth Jenkins. Dust jacket. Hardbound. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd & The Book Society Ltd. $2 from Stephen & Sarah Nunn, Chichester, UK, through eBay, Nov., '02. 

This is a 252-page novel. I have made it so far through the first fifty pages and enjoyed it. It is after World War II in the Berkshires outside London, and a marriage is not going particularly well. In the first fifty pages, I have formed a good sense of the wife, of the man she loves, and of her husband. I am still waiting to find out who is tortoise and who is hare here. I hope to read on! So far I have not noticed a reference to the Aesopic fable.

1954 Uncle Didrick's Stories. Didrick J. Orfield. Illustrated by Marion H. Matchitt. Revised edition. Minneapolis: Minnesota Publishing Company. $6.50 at Biermaier's in Minneapolis, March, '90.

A vintage Minnesota book. Simple, bright pictures with very simple poetry. "The Boys and the Frog" (44) is Aesopic, and there is a touch of Aesop in "The Cocky Rooster" (72). A boy goes to school to learn to speak English (12); a welcome song is put to a Norwegian tune (78).

1954 Zehn Fabeln des Aesop. Haide Kiesel. Paperbound. Essen?, Germany: Folkwang-Offizin. DEM 60 from Buchhandlung am Goethehaus, Frankfurt am Main, July, '95.

Each of the ten fables here has one, two, or three small woodcuts colored in green and black. Most are about 2" square. The best of them include TB, FC, and "Fabel vom Pfau und der Göttin." "Pferd, Rind, Hund und Mensch" has three smaller woodcuts, one for each of the animals from whom humans have a period of their lives. Unusual fables here include "The Man and the Cicada" and "Lycurgos on the Power of Education." Even FS gets a context in a banquet in which philosophers and commoners bore each other with their conversations. Numbered and signed by the artist. This book appears, from the colophon at the book's end, to be a student's work done to close an art apprenticeship. I was very lucky to find this copy.

1954 Wolf in CHEF'S Clothing. The picture cook and drink book for men. Robert H. Loeb, Jr. Illustrated by Jim Newhall. Dust jacket. Chicago: Wilcox & Follett Company. See 1950/54.

1954 50 Fables de La Fontaine. François Ricard. Illustrations Nouvelles de M. Bonamy. Hardbound. Paris: J. De Gigord. $0.01 from Jean-Marc Houle, Ville-Marie, Quebec, through eBay, Sept., '06.

Here is a second copy of a book I was already given in one form. That copy is listed under 1933. It was labeled a sixth edition of the 1933 original. This copy, internally identical, is dated 1954 without apparent reference to earlier printings or editions. The title-page identifies it as "Édition Canadienne." I will repeat some of my comments from there. Here is a lively student textbook from Canada. There are plenty of footnotes with help on difficult vocabulary along the way. After each fable, there is an extended commentary in sections specifically given to the words, the ideas, and the grammar. There are then some questions to answer. From 173 to 184 one finds "Notre Ménagerie," with pictures and descriptions of the birds and animals in the fables. At the end there are three indices to locate fables. The illustrations are livelier than one would expect in a textbook. Notice the dynamic illustration of the eagle, frog, and mouse on 101, for example. In this copy, a student has sketched in a woman to watch this dramatic scene!

1954/56 English Fables and Fairy Stories. Retold by James Reeves. Illustrated by Joan Kiddell-Monroe. Third impression. Dust jacket. London: Oxford University Press. $3 from The Lantern, Washington, D.C., Spring, 1992.

I can find none of these nineteen stories that is a fable. There are eight full-page three-tone illustrations to go along with many black-and-white designs along the way. The book is apparently the first in a series, "Oxford Myths and Legends."

1954/56 La Fontaine: Fables. Illustrations de André Jourcin. Hardbound. Paris: Collection Belles Lectures: Éditions Bias. $0.99 from Oswald Orozco, Jackson Heights, NY, March, '13.

This book is in a line of reprintings with two others in the collection, listed under 195April, '60 and 195April, '62. I take this to be an earlier copy later developed by the same publisher. Except for the varying dates of publication at the bottom of the last page, I find the three copies internally identical. All three have the error I notice only now: "Copyrigth" at the bottom of the title-page. Externally this copy in poor condition shows abundant tape around the outside of the spine, and a look at the book's interior confirms that the spine is deteriorating. This cover, by contrast with the two other printings, shows FC, but there are two curious things about this cover illustration. First, it is different from Jourcin's signed internal illustration of FC, and, secondly, one finds on the cover "Photo A. Jourcin." Photo? The name of the series, "Collection Belles Lectures," is the same as in the 1960 reprinting; the name of the series will change in the 1962 printing. Here members of the series are listed on the back cover rather than pictured there, and they overlap only in part with those pictured there. As I wrote about the other two printings, this is a standard children's edition of La Fontaine, containing twenty-six fables. The illustrations, all taking just part of the page, range from monochrome to duochrome to full color. The best of them might be that showing the escaping thief in "Les Voleurs et l'Ane." Another favorite of mine is FG: the turned-up nose of the fox is perfect! 

1954/60 La Fontaine: Fables. Illustrations de André Jourcin. Hardbound. Paris: Collection Belles Lectures: Éditions Bias. $9.99 from Matterezzi, St. Louis, through eBay, Feb., '02.

This is a standard children's edition of La Fontaine, containing twenty-six fables. The illustrations, all taking just part of page, range from monochrome to duochrome to full color. The best of them might be that showing the escaping thief in "Les Voleurs et l'Ane." Another favorite of mine is FG: the turned-up nose of the fox is perfect! I previously had not noticed the 1960 date for this printing. See now other printings of this book under 1954/56 and 1954/62.

1954/62 La Fontaine: Fables. Illustrations de André Jourcin. Hardbound. Paris: Premières Belles Lectures: Éditions Bias. €3 from Librairie de l'Avenue, Saint-Ouen, July, '12.

This book is almost identical with another in the collection, listed simply under "1954." Where that was a 1960 printing, this is a 1962 printing, as is clear at the bottom of the book's last page. Several things have shifted. Now the front cover has "4556" under the Bias logo, and where the earlier copy had "4556" on its back cover, this book's back cover has instead "3556." That back cover had some twelve editions pictured. Only two of those remain here, with just two others added. The series name there was "Collection Belles Lectures," but now it is "Premières Belles Lectures." As I wrote then, this is a pretty standard children's edition of La Fontaine, containing twenty-six fables. The illustrations, all taking just part of the page, range from monochrome to duochrome to full color. The best of them might be that showing the escaping thief in "Les Voleurs et l'Ane." Another favorite of mine is FG: the turned-up nose of the fox is perfect! 

1954/64 Fables of Aesop. Translated by S.A. Handford with illustrations by Brian Robb. New Edition (but note the error that has crept into the Latin heading of Story #96: for expelles we now have expells). Baltimore: Penguin. $.90. Two extra copies.

The text seems otherwise unchanged from the 1954 first printing. There is a new cover. Note that the reference to Rieu on the very first page has changed. This newer book was cheaper than the older one!

1954/64 Fables of Aesop. Translated by S.A. Handford. Illustrations by Brian Robb. Nineteenth printing. Paperbound. NY: Penguin. $4.95 from Clare Leeper, July, '96.

This paperback from Clare Leeper presents a transition between two copies of the Penguin paperback I already had. The simplest way to find the chain of changes is to watch the new retail price marked on the book. My earlier 1954/64 copy had $1.25 on the front-cover. This new nineteenth printing of that edition makes changes to the cover layout and has a price on the back-cover of $4.95. Inflation! The changes to the cover layout include replacing the black background of the front and back covers -- but not of the spine -- with a cream background. The black spine picks up a purple stripe across the top. The next edition in the chain will increase the size of the book from 4¼" x 7" to 5" x 7¾", and the price will go from $4.95 to $5.95. The cover layout will stay the same. The text and illustrations seem unchanged. I do find two interior changes. The very first page no longer makes any reference to Rieu or to the present editors of the series. It offers rather a two-page blurb on Aesop and Handford. Penguin no longer associates itself with Baltimore. The error in #96 remains.

1954/64 The Fables of La Fontaine. Translated by Marianne Moore. NY: Compass Books: Viking Press. First edition. Paperback. $4, June, '87. Extra copy for $8.50 from Calliope Books, San Carlos, CA, through Bibliofind, Oct., '98.

See my comments on the hardbound edition of 1954.

1954/64 12 Fables of Aesop.  Glenway Wescott.  Antonio Frasconi.  Second printing.  Paperbound.  NY: Museum of Modern Art.  $6.50 from an unknown source, April, '99.

There is already in the collection a signed third printing of this book.  Here is a second printing.  As I wrote there, the style is distinctive, but alas I do not find one good illustration (or story for that matter) that I would want to use.  People should have a chance to see this book, but so far at least I do not find in it the fantasy or nuance I find in many others.

1954/64/91? Fables of Aesop. Translated by S.A. Handford with illustrations by Brian Robb. New Edition (but the error still remains in the Latin heading of Story #96: for expelles we still have expells). London: Penguin. Gift of Robert Heaney from Swindon, Hong Kong, March, '93.

This book is larger than the 1954/64 edition I know in this country. The print itself has grown, and thus this printing is easier to read than earlier printings. This may be a printing restricted from distribution in the U.S. The text seems unchanged from the 1964 printing. The cover illustration here of an Ionian cup in the Louvre reverses the photograph from 1964: the runner is going in the opposite direction. Mention of E.V. Rieu (or any general editor) on the very first page has disappeared completely. Even Swindon's bag mentions Aesop! Of course, it mentions several hundred other people too.

1954/67 12 Fables of Aesop. Linoleum blocks by Antonio Frasconi to illustrate Twelve Fables of Aesop newly narrated by Glenway Wescott and published by the Museum of Modern Art, NY.  Paperbacks of the 1967 Third Printing: signed by Wescott, for $4.95 at Skyline, NY, April, '97; for $2.50 from In and Out of Print Books, San Francisco; and for $2 from Powell's, Portland.

The style is distinctive, but alas I do not find one good illustration (or story for that matter) that I would want to use. People should have a chance to see this book, but so far at least I do not find in it the fantasy or nuance I find in many others.

1954/69 Fables of Aesop. Translated by S.A. Handford with illustrations by Brian Robb. Hammondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin. $6 at the Sebastopol Antique Mall, Nov., '98.

This is the only hardbound Penguin edition that I think I have ever seen! It looks from several indications as though it were printed for some country in Asia. It has some Oriental (?) characters on the verso of the title page, and has a chop stamp ("Fitting") on the very first page. The paper is thinner than the paper I am used to in Penguin editions. My, what a person finds! See my comments on the 1954/64 edition. Note the error which I have noted in some earlier editions. The error crept into the Latin heading of Story #96: for expelles we now have expells.

1954/85 English Children's Books 1600 to 1900. Percy Muir. Various artists. Dust-jacket. Hardbound. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. $14.94 from Atlanta Book Exchange, April, '94.

I debated whether to include this book in this fable collection. Upon reflection, it is such a good source with such good perspective and comprehensive coverage that its contributions on fable make it worthwhile. In its brief comments, it touches upon Caxton, Ogilby, La Fontaine, Locke, l'Estrange, Croxall, Richardson, Newbury, Fenn, Baldwin, and Robinson. Wow! I take the book to be a classic and am happy to have it at hand. Just after cataloguing this book, I found notes I took on it many years ago. Those notes point out that Puritans were really tough on children. Their anti-tracts show that there were books for children that they thought needed to be countered with their strict religious doctrine and discipline. Chap books were not just for children. The late eighteenth century saw a spate of prolific women writers, including Lady Eleanor Fenn. Muir can be outspokenly critical as he is of them: "There is a nauseating fascination about these arch and insipid anecdotes that tempts one to quote them. But they are all very much of a piece.. ." (84).

1954? Der Löwe und der Hase: Fabeln von Sergej Michalkow. Nachdichtungen aus dem Russischen von Martin Remané. Ausstattung und Illustrationen von Werner Klemke. Dust jacket. Hardbound. Printed in Germany. Berlin: Alfred Holz Verlag. DEM 12 from Dresdener Antiquariat, Dresden, July, '01. Extra copy without dust jacket for DEM 26 from Antiquariat Richart Kulbach, Heidelberg, July, '96.

Here is another German translation of all but two of the fables one finds in Ausgewählten Fabeln, translated by Bruno Tutenberg and published by Verlag Kultur und Fortschritt in Berlin in 1955. As far as I can tell, only "Eine Einfache Auskunft" and "Solang Man Glück Hat" are there but not here. In many cases, the second translation clears up the fable considerably; in others, I am glad to see my hard-won interpretations confirmed! A T of C at the back lists the twenty fables here. Among the new pieces here are "Die Kleine Schraube" (8), which shows that a little screw can screw up a big wheel; "Die Wassermelone" (27), which shows that the biggest often has nothing but a big outside to offer; "Der Kuckuck und der Star" (37), which demonstrates that there is power in collectivity and a special joy in raising one's own family; and "Der Affe und die Kokosnuß" (43), which suggests, I believe, that there is always something bigger in someone else's yard, and so one had better not be overly proud when one has a particularly large coconut. By comparison with the Tutenberg translation, in "Der Löwe und die Fliege" (13) it is clear here that the fly even takes over the lion's power. "Zwei Hunde" (15) is clearer here than "Polkan und Schawka" there, especially in showing no sympathy for the coward Schawka. Renamé's translation "Die Ratte und die Maus" (17) may see, I think, the difference between local and foreign food differently than Tutenberg's translation. There the sense seems to have been "Whatever prize possessions we bring in from foreign countries--and however much we despise our local artifacts--when it comes to the important act of eating, we choose what is local." Here at least some of the sense seems to be "You cannot get anything tasteful to eat here; you are reduced to bread and bacon." Or is that only the view of the small-minded rat in the fable, while the fabulist sees the irony represented already by Tutenberg's translation? Apparently, it was terrible for the fat fellow from the schwitzbad to be known as a mere major, while the thin fellow was a general (26). Iwan Iwanytsch (33) finds health and life when his high-perks job is taken away from him; now he takes walks with the family he had had no time for earlier. "Der Schneider auf den Lorbeeren" (35) has an even clearer point now: "Applause is not healthy for many people, especially when it is exaggerated." The fable is followed by a tail-piece of a dog with raised leg marking its territory. The tone of Michalkow's work is well given in the epimythium to "Die Vorsichtigen Vögel." In this fable, a bear's abscess is finally broken by a chance bee-sting while doctors keep pushing off decision and adding consultants. Michalkow writes "I write this poem for those who refuse responsibility, but I do not advise you to hope to be saved by bees" (20). "Der Waschbär Hat Sich Sehr Verändert" (29), the fifth new fable here, deals with the surprising change in the raccoon once he takes over the ministry for animals' homes; he cannot be found and makes no decisions. Michalkow is pointed in his epimythium: "I wrote this fable, in order to exercise patience, in the waiting room of the Stadtsowjet." The titles are incorporated into pleasing designs for each fable. Most fables also offer tail-pieces.

1954? Der Wettlauf zwischen dem Hasen und dem Igel. Frei nach einer alten Fabel von Maria Massa Georgi; Als Singspiel bearbeitet von Helmut Sadler. Zeichnungen von Lilo Jacob-Roscher. Pamphlet. Stuttgart: Ernst Klett Verlag. DM 30 from Antiquariat Richart Kulbach, Heidelberg, June, '95. 

That this is a popular story is attested to by the fact that this is the second independent publication of it I have found. The other, from 1954, has the same title and was done by the Kinderbuchverlag in East Berlin. Like that work, this one has lively hedgehog illustrations. Here they remind one of Steiff's great hedgehog characters. Neither the text nor the illustrations run into the problems caused in the other version by allowing the wife hedgehog wife to wear a distinguishing babushka when she is supposed to look exactly like her husband! In fact, a particular picture is given on the upper right of 3 to show how alike the two are. The strategy of the race is clear to the reader from the start in this version, and the repeated hedgehog-line has its effect: "Ich bin schon da!" In this version the hare does seventy-four laps, and then "his pride brings him death." Apparently Sadler's musical version first appeared in a publication from the Mannheim Musikverlag.

1954? Fables de la Fontaine, 4me Série N°1. Paperbound. Epinal: Imagerie Pellerin à Épinal. €22.5 from Chez Libraires Associés, Clignancourt, June, '07.

Here is a third version of the same work and, by all indications, the earliest. I have it as done in 1978 and 1982. Though this copy bears no date, someone has handwritten in pencil "5-8-55 135 fr. A Wetterwald." I take it that this is perhaps a 1954 edition or thereabouts. This edition has a yellow paper cover featuring the rooster and the fox. The same illustration appears again on 17. The mention of a "4me Série" is new, though the "#1" fits with the other two versions. (I have the 1982 but not the 1978 version of #2.) The best-colored illustrations in this set include the cover illustration, WL (2), "Les Voleurs et l'Ane" (10), and "Le Cerf se voyant dans l'Eau" (23). I will include several comments I made about the later volumes. This 32-page booklet offers seventeen well-chosen fables of La Fontaine. The first fable, GA, is illustrated with a black-and-white tableau; the last, "La Guenon, le Singe & la Noix," has an inky black-and-white illustration. The fifteen in between have each a strong full-page colored illustration typical of Epinal work, with large areas of bright simple colors. I take it that these are all reprints by Epinal of an earlier work of its own.

1954? Fables de la Fontaine, 4me Série N°2. Paperbound. Epinal: 4me Série N°1: Imagerie Pellerin à Épinal. €22.50 from Chez Libraires Associés, Clignancourt, June, '07.

Here is a second version of the same work and, by all indications, the earlier. I have it as done in 1982. (I also have the first copy of "No 1" for both times, and the "No 1" of a 1978 printing.) Though this copy bears no date, someone has handwritten in pencil "5-8-55 135 fr. A Wetterwald." I take it that this is perhaps a 1954 edition or thereabouts. This edition has a yellow paper cover featuring the goat and the fox. The same illustration appears again on 6. The mention of a "4me Série" is new, though the "#2" fits with the other version. The best-colored illustrations in this set include "Le Corbeau Voulant Imiter l'Aigle" (17), "Le Lion Malade et le Renard" (21), and "L'Oiseleur, l'Autour & l'Alouette" (31). This 32-page booklet offers seventeen well-chosen fables of La Fontaine. Again two black-and-white illustrations bracket fifteen full-page colored illustrations. The special attraction of Pellerin illustrations has something to do, I believe, with large areas of strong, bright, simple colors. I take it that these are all reprints by Epinal of an earlier work of its own.

1954? La Fontaine: Fables Choisies II. Livres 7-12. Adrien Cart et Mademoiselle G. Fournier. Paris: Classiques Larousse. $5 at Adams Avenue Book Store, Aug., '93.

A typical pamphlet for French secondary students. There are no illustrations except for the frontispiece. Does not contain all the fables of the first six books. Did Larousse start with these pamphlets (perhaps after the war?) and then grow into larger paperbacks with pictures?

 

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