Abstract These lively photographs bring back happy memories of a few days on the French Riviera and one very short evening and night in Nice. In good carnival fashion, regular old human beings are on these floats along with the bigger-than-life figures central to each fable. FG tends to be a bit on the racy side. Notice that the photographs were taken generally in front of the "Casino Municipal." A close look at the "main float" will show that characters from many fables have made their way onto that...

Abstract The human story is utterly consistent with the fable, as a child sees bakery in the tray on the baker's head and flatters him to get some of the bakery. As in the "Croissant" version of TH, there is a portion of each card's picture given to a colored rendition of the original fable, the first of them announcing the title. These three cards present the first nine lines of La Fontaine's fable, and thus I have labelled them Cards #1 through #3 of the set. Are these cards hand-tinted? The...

Abstract This set of five photographic postcards, like some – but not all -- others in the "Croissant" family, has some unusual features. One is the inserted painted portion of each card giving a phase of the La Fontaine fable. Another is that the first of these gives an explicit title and identifies it as a fable of La Fontaine. The coloring is very well done! The female actress here has a gift for gesture! The key in this telling of the story is Card III. At first it seems that this young man...

Abstract The story here follows La Fontaine but stresses the emotional experience of the cicada. It is hard to be sure of the order of the cards. I presume the sequence runs like this: (1) The lovely cicada sings before the ant requesting food. (2) With trembling hand, she then asks out of her poverty for charity and compassion. (3) But asking this neighbor is useless. (4) "You have sung well, but you have not amassed things as I have. You will have to dance." (5) Poor cicada, abandoned! How...

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#6 is a remarkable card! I take it that her mode of dress marks the musical girl as a gypsy, while the mother wears a cross around her neck. The photographer caught one of the children at a great moment of crying! Otherwise, if there ever were posed scenes, here they are! Postmarked and dated in handwriting 1905 and 1904, respectively. The Cocq cards are all in very good condition. I am wondering if there are two cards filling in the text between our 3rd card here and the last.

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My hero in this gathering of fable characters is the frog physician holding a bottle of his elixir in the center of the picture. My, how I would love to get to Castell Coch myself to enjoy the Drawing Room!

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This card is an official souvenir of the festival. The cancellation design is the same as the three-color design on the recto of the card: fox and crow appear to be contending over a round of cheese. Fables show up in many places! I checked the fair out on the web. It looks like just the sort of thing we Wisconsinites would love!

Abstract This is an unusual set in that it takes its own tangent off of La Fontaine's famous fable. As I understand the text, Perrette – first named in the fourth of five cards -- a "fermière, séduisante et coquette," is on her way to market with a large pot of milk on her head. On the way she dreams of a "corsage" that will be paid for by the milk she will sell. Alas, a false step destroys her charming projects! Perrette is weeping when a young, good looking man comes up and consoles her. As...

Abstract This portrayal of La Fontaine's fable follows the traditional interpretation but not, I would say, the original story. La Fontaine's fable is of two deeply befriended birds, one of whom feels the need to travel. That bird does so, but undergoes frightening experiences and a good deal of suffering before returning to the welcoming bird-friend. This portrayal links two human lovers with two nearby birds but contents itself with simple lines matching the photographs. "Two doves love each...

Abstract Many levels of interpretation are at play in the presentation of this fable. La Fontaine writes this story about two male doves, one of whom has wanderlust and, against the urgings of his dear friend, goes off to experience the world so that, as he sees it, he can return and relate to his dear friend his adventures abroad. The trip turns out to be uncomfortable and dangerous, and the traveler returns wounded. The two are happy to be reunited. La Fontaine himself reflects then, at the age...

Abstract These cards are consistent with the S.I.P. series on TMCM. The whole verso is, both cases, dedicated to the addressee. Is a series like this something of a "French girly" card offering an excuse to present an attractive woman in less than usual clothing? Was a headdress like that fashionable at the time of the photograph? I had written after finding two cards from the set "Let's see if we can find some more photos from this series!" Good work, Bertrand! The whole set! I include as an...

Abstract This is one of the liveliest sets of illustrations of La Fontaine's fables that I have encountered. Card after card has surprises! The ass who has crossed the river with salt holds onto a bush with a fingered hand in #2. In #9, the angler is wondering about the small fish he has caught just as a huge Jaws-like shark is ready to break the surface just below him! In "Acorn and Pumpkin" (#15), La Fontaine is walking away from and looking back at the bumpkin about to get hit on the nose by a...

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The six numbered photographic postcards show the cast at six moments in the presentation, marked by a portion of text from La Fontaine's fable. The scenes show summertime singing, wintertime hunger, pleading for food, declaration by the grasshopper of singing for the pleasure of any listener, rejection by the ant, and "Choeur Final." Blank versoes.

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The image for IV 5 gives a clear sense that the three are pulling in different directions (up, down, and sideways); thus at least the former two cancel each other out. The industrious bear is trying to make bowed carriage harnesses in one action; the point is that this sort of work needs patience. Other great images here include the envelope's strong composite image, "The Cat and the Cook" (III 8), and "A Train of Carts" (II 20).

Abstract Lovely full-color work showing four of Krylov's most popular fables: FC (I 1), "A Quartet" (IV 1), "A String of Carts" (also called "A Train of Carts," (II 20) and--in slightly different format--"The Wolf in the Kennel" (II 8). The latter card has no English translation included. Its color printing is especially effective. Notice for example the red nose on the lone human in the scene. The more access I find to Russian goods, the more I see that the Russians love their Krylov the way the...

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The quality of both painting and photograph are extremely high. As the studio says, "Highest quality." I agree!

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The quality of photograph is extremely high. As the studio says, "Highest quality." I agree!

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This shop surprised me as I was on my way elsewhere. I have not seen this set anywhere else. Each scene is differently conceived, with some featuring medallions on the side, others including two scenes or as many as five scenes. The engraving work seems particularly fine. Among the best, I believe, are MSA and "The Child and the Schoolmaster." The latter is flanked by contrasting scenes from FS. Percier conceived the designs, and Girardet executed them.

Abstract It can be hard to understand the interpretation and the sequencing of this story as it is presented here. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that, on one card, the stamp covers the card's numbering. The other three cards are all in Series 175 and are numbered 1, 3, and 4, respectively. A major clue toward resolving some of the quandary comes in recognizing that this card changes La Fontaine's text at a crucial point. La Fontaine starts his fable with the promythium that the argument...

Abstract Various series of photographic postcard presentations of GA have flirted with the presentation of the grasshopper as a human pinup girl. This series may go furthest in the direction of conflating a set of fable cards with notorious French picture postcards of nude women. This series, rare and larger than the usual series of five or six cards, has an unusual feature of using a one-noun description of each of the phases of the story. Wanting to give a sense of the cards we have without...

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Visually attractive and witty cards offering alternative versions of each fable if only "Laines du Marin" had been involved.

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This an unusual pose and setting for the cicada! Despite the cold weather and her scant clothing, she seems more like a pinup girl than a starving artist! The chromolithographic presentation of color and gestalt is good. The card may be datable by the fact that the recto shares picture and message room, while the entire verso – in German -- is for the addressee and address. This card was never posted.

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The expressions on both characters' faces are appropriate for La Fontaine's fable of the fox and the goat, especially the goat's surprise at being left behind. I do not understand the reference to the fox as "capitaine." I do not yet understand "allait de compagnie." Perhaps "was traveling through the countryside" or maybe "was leaving the company of someone"?

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The artist brings together red, green, and black effectively in these lively cards. Among the strongest are "Wolf and Horse" (#7), "Bear and Gardener" (#17), and OF (#19). The colors are unfortunately poorly aligned on "Heron" (#14). Now to find the other six (?) cards!

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#6 is a remarkable card! I take it that her mode of dress marks the musical girl as a gypsy, while the mother wears a cross around her neck. The photographer caught one of the children at a great moment of crying! Otherwise, if there ever were posed scenes, here they are! Postmarked and dated in handwriting 1905 and 1904, respectively. The Cocq cards are all in very good condition. I am wondering if there are two cards filling in the text between our 3rd card here and the last.