Cacao Van Houten, 1920

File — Box: CFC Trade Cards Box 3

Identifier: CFC2018.0422

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

1920

Extent

12 Cards : Twelve unusually sturdy cards folded over to make a small brochure advertising Cacao Van Houten (or on FG in English "Van Houten's Cocoa"). 3½" x 5½" closed or 7" x 5½" opened. The cover of each displays a strong colored image of the fable, while the back cover has a uniform art deco picture of a woman in Egyptian dress serving a tray of Van Houten's cocoa. Inside is the text of La Fontaine's fable in French (or, for FC, in English). The back figure of a woman serving cocoa seems to be an art deco piece. The English text inside FC is Wright's rhyming 1841 translation, unacknowledged. ; 3½" x 5½" closed or 7" x 5½" opened.

Language of Materials

French

English

Additional Description

Abstract

This may be the only folding trade card I have found. The advertisement-illustration itself is engaging. When the printing is carefully done, as in GA and MM, the illustrations are excellent! Others, like FG and FC, seem less well executed. Who knows how many cards were in these sets, and how many different language sets were produced! The fables represented here include FC, FG, FS, GA, GGE, MM, TH, TMCM, and WC.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

€56 for the eight French brochures from Brie Comte Robert at the Paris Post Card Exhibition, Jan., '05. $8.50 for the English FC from Lonnieonthelake through eBay, Dec., '03. Three last cards for $15 each from Giorgio Mariotti, Torino, IL, March, '15.