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Collection Tante Laura by Pellerin

1959 Fables de La Fontaine No. 1. Imagerie Pellerin. Hardbound. Épinal: Collection Tante Laura, Épi #70: Imagerie Pellerin. $14.75 from ArtWorkInternational, Inc., Santa Fe, NM, through eBay, July, '12.

This is an unusual series of four books within the larger series "Collection Tante Laura." Each book is about 7" square. The covers are stiff; at first I thought that each book was meant to house a 45 rpm record. Six fables are presented on 16 pages. After an introduction, this first volume presents TH; MM; OR; "Le Coche et la Mouche"; "Le Héron"; and "Le Lion et le Moucheron." The cover here pictures MM with a whole brood of chicks around a mother hen. The back cover has a colorful TH illustration. Internally there is a full-page picture for each of the six fables, the first three on the left-hand and the last three on the right-hand page. They tend to excerpt classic Pellerin presentations. Thus the illustration here for TH shows the bunny running desperately out of the reeds in the direction of a far off tortoise waving a handkerchief and using a walking stick. I recognize the larger illustration from which this illustration is selected because that larger illustration appears on a dinner plate in this collection. As always with Pellerin, the colors are exquisite. There are various styles within Pellerin's approach to illustration. There is a T of C at the back.

1959 Fables de La Fontaine No. 2. Imagerie Pellerin. Hardbound. Épinal: Collection Tante Laura, Épi #71: Imagerie Pellerin. $14.75 from ArtWorkInternational, Inc., Santa Fe, NM, through eBay, July, '12.

This is an unusual series of four books within the larger series "Collection Tante Laura." Each book is about 7" square. The covers are stiff; at first I thought that each book was meant to house a 45 rpm record. As in the first volume, six fables are presented on the first 15 pages. After an introduction, this second volume presents OF; DW; WL; FC; "Les Animaux malades de la peste"; and "Le Charretier Embourbé." These six are listed on the front cover. In a surprise move, the final page presents "La Mort et le Malherureux" where the first volume had a list of the volume's fables. The cover here pictures FC in a scene I recognize from Pellerin elsewhere; this same scene is presented again inside the book in larger format. This illustration and WL may be the strongest in this volume. The back cover has a colorful WL illustration. Internally there is a full-page picture for each of the first six fables, the first three on the left-hand and the last three on the right-hand page. They tend to excerpt classic Pellerin presentations. As always with Pellerin, the colors are exquisite. There are various styles within Pellerin's approach to illustration.

1960 Fables de La Fontaine No. 3. Imagerie Pellerin. Hardbound. Épinal: Collection Tante Laura, Épi #71: Imagerie Pellerin. $14.75 from ArtWorkInternational, Inc., Santa Fe, NM, through eBay, July, '12.

This is an unusual series of four books within the larger series "Collection Tante Laura." Each book is about 7" square. The covers are stiff; at first I thought that each book was meant to house a 45 rpm record. In this third volume one finds eight fables on twelve pages; they are listed on the front cover. The first fable -- "The Hare and the Frogs" -- has its illustrations only on the front cover; "The Monkey and the Leopard" has its illustration on the back cover. "The Pig, the Goat, and the Lamb" has no illustration at all. The other five receive illustrations: "The Farmer and the Serpent"; FG (integrated with its text on one page); "La Besace"; BC; and GGE. This last remains a strong illustration, picturing frustration and disappointment. As in the two earlier volumes, both published in 1959, illustrations in the first half of the book occur on left-hand pages, and those in the second half occur on right-hand pages. As always with Pellerin, the colors are exquisite. There are various styles within Pellerin's approach to illustration.

1961 Fables de La Fontaine No. 4. Imagerie Pellerin. Hardbound. Épinal: Collection Tante Laura, Épi #87: Imagerie Pellerin. $14.75 from ArtWorkInternational, Inc., Santa Fe, NM, through eBay, July, '12.

This is an unusual series of four books within the larger series "Collection Tante Laura." Each book is about 7" square. The covers are stiff; at first I thought that each book was meant to house a 45 rpm record. In this fourth volume one finds five fables in twelve pages; they are listed on the front cover. The first fable, GA, is pictured in color on the cover and then given two black-and-white drawings inside the booklet. "Parole de Socrate" is mistakenly made into a plural in the listing of fables on the cover. After "The Worker and His Children," which features an insert on La Fontaine in the illustration, MSA is offered with a full-page colored illustration of the father and son carrying the beast on a pole. The back cover contains a second fine colored illustration of the two being criticized for both riding the ass. "The Animals Sick of the Plague" has another full page of colored illustration, as does "Death and the Dying Man." As in the earlier volumes, published in 1959 and 1960, colored illustrations in the first half of the book occur on left-hand pages, and those in the second half occur on right-hand pages. As always with Pellerin, the colors are exquisite. There are various styles within Pellerin's approach to illustration. There is a curious black-and-white illustration of a colporteur on the inside front-cover, with a wicker-basket on his back.