Alphabet plate. "Aesop's Fables: The Shepherd's Boy.", 1840

Item — Box: CFC Tableware Box 4

Identifier: CFC2020.0055.1

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

The Carlson Fable Collection is a gathering of primary fable materials at Reinert Alumni Memorial Library at Creighton University. It grew out of the personal collection of fable materials gathered by Rev. Gregory Carlson, S.J. and was given to the Creighton Libraries in 1996. There are more than 10,000 books and approximately 8,000 artifacts in the collection.

From plates to stamps, from cards to whiskey decanters, from toys to posters, you'll find just about anything you can imagine here. Please explore all that is to offer here in my fables Catalogue of Objects.

This is the largest online catalog of fable related objects on the internet. Many are from Aesop's Fables but you will find La Fontaine, Velazquez and Krylov also represented in this collection.

Dates

1840

Extent

1 Plates ; 5" in diameter

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Three features of this plate are remarkable. First, it is to me unclear whether the fable being pictured here is, as I suspect, BW. A wolf is making off with a sheep as a young shepherd pursues him with a staff. Secondly, this is a smaller plate than other alphabet plates I have seen – and the other alphabet plates in this collection. Thirdly, I have learned that alphabet plates were often given to a family upon the birth of a child. That custom fits with the message written on the verso of this plate: ""Grandma Talin's (?) when she was little. Nov 24, 1842 – June 10, 1924." Thank you to whoever wrote that helpful bit of history!