Abstract

Here is Rayev's delightful encounter with ten of Saltykov-Schedrin's fables illustrations. For now, I have matched them up as well as I can with what I know of Saltykov-Schedrin's fables, but the identifications are far from reliable.

Abstract The cards have a consistent pattern: an art deco scene in soft pastels covers 85% of the card and includes an open scroll showing the title. Somewhere in the image is an artist's mark in block letters "Maggie Salzedo." Beneath the image is a segment of the fable consisting of two or three verses. Underneath it all is "Ed. Bernard, Paris." The milk-carrier in MM seems so graceful that it is hard to believe that she would spill her milk! The effect of the art is in many cases simply striking,...

Abstract The cards have a consistent pattern: an art deco scene in soft pastels covers 85% of the card and includes an open scroll showing the title. Somewhere in the image is an artist's mark in block letters "Maggie Salzedo." Beneath the image is a segment of the fable consisting of two or three verses. Underneath it all is "Ed. Bernard, Paris." The milk-carrier in MM seems so graceful that it is hard to believe that she would spill her milk! The effect of the art is in many cases simply striking,...

Abstract

The art is not exceptional, but the size of these postcards is! The fact that there are post cards of Aesop was first announced to me with this splendid gift. I wrote the company to find out more, but never received an answer. The verso of each card contains a long version of its fable.

BF The Cat and Two Sparrows CP The Kite and the Pigeons LM The Camel and the Rat

Abstract "Les deux taureaux et la grenouille," FC (with a less well printed extra), FS, MSA, TH, TT, and WL. Only FC, MSA, and WL have a clean back. MSA and "Les deux taureaux" seem to have been printed on thicker cardboard stock, and MSA has turned darker over time. My favorites are MSA and FS. In the former the donkey is curled up as though on a litter. In the latter an insect looks on at the chagrined fox. Very nice color combinations! Bertrand seems to indicate that we now have the full set. ...

Abstract "Les deux taureaux et la grenouille," FC (with a less well printed extra), FS, MSA, TH, TT, and WL. Only FC, MSA, and WL have a clean back. MSA and "Les deux taureaux" seem to have been printed on thicker cardboard stock, and MSA has turned darker over time. My favorites are MSA and FS. In the former the donkey is curled up as though on a litter. In the latter an insect looks on at the chagrined fox. Very nice color combinations! Bertrand seems to indicate that we now have the full set. ...

Abstract Cards #2, #3, and #5 show scenes in which two distinctively clad women -- with significant décolletage -- present scenes from TMCM. In the first, the country woman is pouring wine for the woman in a sophisticated dress. In the second, both are alarmed by something offstage. In the third the country woman is bidding the courtly woman adieu. Each card's front quotes four not necessarily continuous lines from La Fontaine's fable. There seems to have been a certain fascination with...

Abstract The text of the fable takes up most of the message-space on the verso of the cards. Under the picture is "Fables de la Fontaine" in Italics at he lower left and a block-print title at the lower right. The modes of translating the fables into children's life are fascinating here. The emphasis is not on simple "cuteness." The children can play the fable straight, as in "L'Huitre et les Plaideurs" and GGE. FC is thus about one child stealing a ball while another sits up a tree and watches his...

Abstract The text of the fable takes up most of the message-space on the verso of the cards. Under the picture is "Fables de la Fontaine" in Italics at he lower left and a block-print title at the lower right. The modes of translating the fables into children's life are fascinating here. The emphasis is not on simple "cuteness." The children can play the fable straight, as in "L'Huitre et les Plaideurs" and GGE. FC is thus about one child stealing a ball while another sits up a tree and watches his...

Abstract

Most of the four animal figures on these cards are clothed. For some reason, the stork offering food to the fox in tall vases is not clothed. The fox has his hands on his hips in a fine gesture of disappointment and even dudgeon. In TH, the hare hurries so quickly toward the finishing line that he loses his hat. In FC, the fox holding an umbrella with one hand reaches the other hand out to catch the fallling cheese. It is hard for me to see what the gray sparkles add to these pictures.

Abstract

Most of the four animal figures on these cards are clothed. For some reason, the stork offering food to the fox in tall vases is not clothed. The fox has his hands on his hips in a fine gesture of disappointment and even dudgeon. In TH, the hare hurries so quickly toward the finishing line that he loses his hat. In FC, the fox holding an umbrella with one hand reaches the other hand out to catch the fallling cheese. It is hard for me to see what the gray sparkles add to these pictures.

Abstract

The art is delightful, as in the fuller versions of the same images. The verso of each card fills the message section with a cursive version of the La Fontaine fable. At about the same time, Barré and Doyez also published a collection using children to illustrate La Fontaine's fables. Sadly many of the cards here are poorly cut. I like Starling's visual approach. See also a collection of larger prints using these same images.

Abstract Series #3046 is five cards on the cicada's revenge on the niggardly ant. The story follows up on Series #3045, "La Cigale et la Fourmi." The cicada character is the same in all cards of both sets. Here the rejected cicada finds a fairy godmother who trains her musically. The cicada, now rich, returns to the ant, who has been thrown out of her home and needs to sell everything. The ant is the same actress as in the other set, and the venue is the same, except for the "For Sale" sign...

Abstract

The illustration here may be somewhat simple and disappointing, but the border around it is very clever. Its top is formed by two storks' heads (no pun with the publisher!) holding bones in their beaks. Follow down either side, and you will find the stork's legs. Are those perhaps bones lying on the contract at the lower right of the frame? The writer of this card put a message onto its picture side.

Abstract

The illustration here is unusual in that it has the stork standing on top of the table holding the meal. The elongation of the image helps to reinforce the point of the fable. The fox's legs seem to have become quite human in their pose. The frame of the image includes heads of both principal figures. This card is stamped "Offert par le Grand Bazar de l'Hotel de Ville, Lyon-Terreaux." I guess you could use the card to write home about the glories of this hotel.

Abstract

This card is like another illustrated here, the parody of FC that I have guessed was published around 1932, in that it uses all of one side for an address and takes up almost all of the other side for its illustration and image. The illustration in this case dresses the fox as a gentleman and gives him eyeglasses on a cord. The figure of the crow looms as large as the figure of the fox. There is no writing at all on this card.

Abstract "La Cornacchia Superba" contrasts the crow's black feathers with the green and yellow peacock feathers stuck into his tail. A nice visual composition."Il Lupo e l'Agnello" puts us at the wolf's back looking out on the small lamb on green-and-yellow grass."Il Lupo e il Cane" shows the wolf running away from the dog chained to his doghouse."I Muli e i Ladroni" shows a mule down on the ground with his saddle off while another with a green-and-yellow load...

Abstract

The card is arranged in this case to allow for an advertising strip at its top. Again, it pays to watch the frame of the rather standard picture of the man and his children at his bedside. Arranged around the picture we find wheat, grapes, vines, and finally a bag of coins. Roussier and Sarret add another design on the blue verso. A female figure of abundance pours out candy for eager children to enjoy. This design is so nice that I include it here.

Abstract In MM, successive animals seem to leap out of the pitcher of milk resting on the walking milkmaid's head--until the calf says "adieu" and the pitcher slips off of her head. In FC, the second and third panels are cleverly interrelated: what the crow lets go in #2 falls into the fox's hand in #3, so that in #4 we see only the fox holding the cheese. In FS, notice the parallel vertical lines in pictures #1 and #3 and the parallel diagonal lines in #4, including the chagrined fox heading home...

Abstract In MM, successive animals seem to leap out of the pitcher of milk resting on the walking milkmaid's head--until the calf says "adieu" and the pitcher slips off of her head. In FC, the second and third panels are cleverly interrelated: what the crow lets go in #2 falls into the fox's hand in #3, so that in #4 we see only the fox holding the cheese. In FS, notice the parallel vertical lines in pictures #1 and #3 and the parallel diagonal lines in #4, including the chagrined fox heading home...

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...

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...

Abstract C1. "The Tortoise and the Eagle." This parody of "The Eagle and the Turtle," is explained well by the card itself: "Bulgaria, having let herself be dragged into the war by Germany, will have to pay the penalty for her own rash ambition." Series title: "Aesop's Fables Up to Date."C2. "De Schildpad en de Arend." A parody of "The Eagle and the Turtle." See the adjacent English printing for the card's political application. Series title: "De Lessen van Aesopus op Onzen tijd...

Abstract D1. "The Wolf and the Stork." In this parody of WC, A wolf dressed in a German officer's great coat with spurs and sword menaces a Turkish stork, who holds a bone in his hand. The card's own explanation is "It seems that Turkey, and the other friends of Germany, have to be content with very little gratitude for the help they have given." Series title: "Aesop's Fables Up to Date."D2. "De Wolf en de Ooievaar." Series title: "De Lessen van Aesopus op Onzen tijd Toegepast."...

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...