Abstract This is one of the most dramatic trade cards I have. The lion is bound up with threads, and the mouse sits perched on a spool of J. & P. Coats Best Six Cord thread. The other side of the card gives the fable and a long application, both apparently taken verbatim from Croxall. The card's picture is in a style different from all other Coats cards I have found, especially when it inserts three colored boxes to give information: "Spool cotton," "For hand and machine," and "See the other side...

Abstract Beautifully colored cards with the full text of the fable on the back. The bright colors, including yellows, pinks, and oranges, bring a new kind of life to Doré's somber illustrations. Beneath the text of cards in the "P" format is a standard pitch for Solution Pautauberge, which cures old and new rheumatism and all forms of bronchitis. It also prevents tuberculosis. On the back of the cards in the "K" format mention of anything but the fable is gone. Imagine my surprise at finding one...

Abstract

The illustration is Harrison Weir's (unacknowledged). I suspect that the card's date is date of a general printing permit rather than this card; if it is for this card, it would be some of Weir's earliest work, I believe. The text is not taken from the thirty I have catalogued to date.