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Henri Mirande, 1935

 File — Box: CFC Postcards Box 2
Identifier: CFC2018.0352

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

  • 1935

Extent

17 Cards : Jean de La Fontaine. Nine landscape format postcards by Henri Mirande. "Etendard" Petrole and "Touriste" Essence Spéciale. E. D. Paris.

Language of Materials

French

Abstract

I am surprised that I have not before run into any members of this strong set of cards. Of the six listed in French Wikipédia, only "Le Milan et le Rossignol" is not included among these nine. Might it have been a set of ten? The artistry is strong on caricature, and the style might best be characterized as "cartoon." Each image makes room for the handwritten fable or important portions of it. Fables are visually transposed, where necessary, into human terms. Thus the tale of the two mules becomes that of the rich man robbed, while the poor man is untouched. A rich judge holds moneybags where the one contestant has empty pockets and the other wears a nightshirt. A policeman chases the shadow of the gunman who is behind him. A rustic man leaves the groaning table behind but, like the weasel, cannot exit by the door through which he entered. A dinner jacket is not enough to get a street person into a high-society party (BF). A paraplegic rolls on ahead of a wrecked car (TH). A child cannot reach the dried raisins on the shelf. Is that a doctor carting off all the possessions of the man sick in bed? These cards are highly enjoyable! Are they really advertisements for gasoline? Now, with the second set, I have eleven different cards and wonder how many may have been in the set originally. The back of the Zenith cards transforms the first lines of La Fontaine's FC and has a design of the crow holding a Zenith watch in his beak. The last card, bringing the total to twelve, may complete the set.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

€8 each from Dominique Delage, St. Ouen, August, '13. Then eight cards from the same series but as "Edition de Montre Zenith," including both LM and "Le Milan et le Rossignol." A last card picture "The Little Fish and the Angler" for $7 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne Ricouart, France, Sept., '18. Extra of that card for €5 from Simon Rodrigues, June, '22.

Repository Details

Part of the Creighton University Libraries, Archives & Special Collections Repository

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