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Hirata 2 in 1 Tales by Modern Unisystems

 

1994 Aesop's Fables. 2 in 1 Tales. "The Hare and the Tortoise"/"The Travelers and the Bear." Illustrations by Shogo Hirata. Pamphlet. Printed in USA. NY: Modern Publishing: Unisystems, Inc. $0.75 from Valuebin.com, through Ebay, August, '00.

Here is the first printing of a pamphlet whose republication I have listed under 1995 from the same publisher. Books in this edition and this year cost $2.50. When reprinted a year later, they cost $2.95. See my comments there.

1994 Aesop's Fables. 2 in 1 Tales. "The Lion and the Mouse"/"The Wind and the Sun.". Illustrations by Shogo Hirata. Pamphlet. Printed in USA. Honey Bear Books. NY: Modern Publishing: Unisystems, Inc. $1 from Valuebin.com through Ebay, August, '00.

Here is a new presentation of the same art that Hirata used in 1989 for his Joie set. The art here is certainly superior in presentation to the Peter Haddock series (1989?). It is darker than Joie's art, sometimes stronger and sometimes less exact. This series is advertised to contain four booklets, and this is the fourth one. They came from four different sources. This series does not pair the same stories together as Joie or Haddock. The text of SW (called "The North Wind and the Sun" in other Hirata versions) is different from the text in other Hirata versions. It tells this story in the poorer way: "I'm so strong, I'll bet that I can get him to take off his hat and jacket," the wind boasts. The text of LM ("A Mouse's Gratitude" in other Hirata versions) is also different from that in Joie or Haddock. Here the story is traditional. There it involved the mouse's seven children. Here the same images depict the mice's friends. It is so nice to be able to complete the set!

1994 Aesop's Fables. 2 in 1 Tales. "The Miller and His Donkey"/"The Greedy Dog." Illustrations by Shogo Hirata. Pamphlet. 2 in 1 Tales. Printed in USA. NY: Modern Publishing: Unisystems, Inc. $0.75 from Valuebin.com, through Ebay, August, '00.

Here is the first printing of a pamphlet whose republication I have listed under 1995 from the same publisher. Books in this edition and this year cost $2.50. When reprinted a year later, they cost $2.95. See my comments there.

1994 Aesop's Fables. 2 in 1 Tales. "The Town Mouse & the Country Mouse"/"The Boy Who Cried Wolf." Illustrations by Shogo Hirata. NY: Modern Publishing: Unisystems, Inc. Gift of Mabel Leider, Dec., '96.

Here is a new presentation of the same art that Hirata used in 1989 for his Joie set. The art here is certainly superior in presentation to the Peter Haddock series (1989?). It is darker than Joie's art, sometimes stronger and sometimes less exact. This series, advertised to contain four booklets, does not pair the same stories together as Joie or Haddock. It also arranges the small symbols differently, sometimes grouping them together on a pair of facing pages. The texts are not the same as in Joie or Haddock. In TMCM, the town mouse came to the country intending to stay a week. The next week the country mouse travelled to visit him. In BW, the workers walked away from the boy and laughed the third time that he tried to fool them.