Abstract The eight scenes are TH, LM, FM, WL, "The Dog and His Master's Lunch," "The Heron," "The Eagle, the Lamb, and the Crow," and "The Rat and the Frog." Tom Beckman has written about finding the set of twelve, in his case distributed by the L.G. Williams shoe store in Malden, MA. The cards are characterized by an unusual combination of green ink and tan background. Some have fable texts--but no more--on the back. The Beckman FS card, imprinted by J. A. Parker Job Printing, is unusual in that it...

Abstract

These cards of "The Two Dogs" and "The Dog and His Master's Dinner" include a prose text of the fable on the back side. I believe that the two cards did not come from the same printing, since they use different typeface for "Reward of Merit" and since their ink's hue tends to green and to blue, respectively.

The Dog and His Master's Dinner

The Two Dogs

Abstract

This card, like the two above, includes a prose text of the fable on the back side. The color printing here may be among the best for Wemple and Kronheim cards. Here, as there, "Reward of Merit" tends to have some filigree work around it. It has the fancy "R" found in the card depicting "The Dog and His Master's Dinner."

Abstract

These cards of "The Eagle, the Lamb, and the Crow" and "The Heron" again include a prose text of the fable on the back side. Both the physical overstamping and the double function (reward of merit and advertisement) seem gauche to me.

The Eagle, the Lamb, and the Crow

The Heron

Abstract The cards come off as garish because of the color! See references nearby to other Wemple & Kronheim cards in this series, though not with these colors! Did the printer really want them to come out this way? I think it may be rare to find so many from one old advertising source. Each card has some remains of an old scrapbook on its otherwise blank back. The eight fables here are:The Two GoatsThe Eagle, the Lamb, and the CrowFCFS...

Abstract Several years ago I found a full set of Wemple/Kronheim cards with green backgrounds after struggling to find eight individual cards. They bear no markings besides the fable's name in French. The card lacking from the second set is FM. The gold background invites scratches. Some of the printing here is not exact. The versos are all blank. Two GoatsEagle and CrowFCFrog and MouseHare and FrogsLMFS...

Abstract The Lowell card pictures "Le Lièvre et les Grenouilles." Its back side gives dates for the season from 1880 through 1884, the proprietor's name, and the post office address. It mentions "Billiards, Bowling, Boating and other amusements that are usually found at summer resorts." Why would a resort like this hand out cards with a title in French? The Bousquin card, "Les deux Chèvres," praises its children's food products and gives the numbers for its address in Galerie Vivienne both before and...

Abstract

Several years ago I found a full set of Wemple/Kronheim cards with green backgrounds after struggling to find eight individual cards. They bear no markings besides the fable's name in French. The card lacking from the second set is FM. The gold background invites scratches. Some of the printing here is not exact. The versos are all blank.

Abstract CP. The design is taken from that used on the Coats (1885?) card in the apparent series of eight. In fact, it may be the same design, cropped to a narrower card (3"x4") and less well printed. There is a text on the reverse. On the front, Wheeler & Wilson have a nice logo of two red W's on a blue circle.CP. The design is exactly the same as in the Cheadle and Hanson cards (1900?, above), but both card and image are scaled down--from 3"x4" to 2½"x3½". The image is also more...

Abstract

The illustration is Harrison Weir's (unacknowledged). I suspect that the card's date is date of a general printing permit rather than this card; if it is for this card, it would be some of Weir's earliest work, I believe. The text is not taken from the thirty I have catalogued to date.

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

This is a strong image, apparently of a bully holding something away from another child. The picture is framed in gold, with a block-print title at the lower right. See "Royal Windsor" stock series cards for a less confined view of this stock scene.

Abstract

The card seems to have all the earmarks of the set I have labeled "L'Agence Général Standard/Delorme-Gauthier." It seizes a dramatic human moment, for example, and uses block letters. It does not, however, place the block letters in a circle or in an unusual place on the picture. The verso is blank.

Abstract

This card presents in smaller format exactly the same picture found on a postcard displayed under "Single Postcards" and dated to "1950?" Apparently, Lervilles Moka du Docteur and Chicorée du Docteur were made near Cambrai.

Abstract

The Lervilles verso is similar to but not identical with the verso of a card I have listed under "1890?" picturing FC and offering a signature of La Fontaine. This card is also slightly larger. Whatever the printing technique used on this card, it makes a scanner go crazy at high resolutions. Weird things come out of the attempt to scan it!

Abstract

A monkey apparently holds a dog with one paw while presenting with the other a mouse right before the dog's nose. A small insert in the left lower corner says simply "OVER." The scene is similar to that on a Coat card, where the monkey dangles a fish before a cat.

Abstract

At the top of the picture side of this card is "Choix de Fables." It is extremely similar to a postcard in the series Collection Charier. Indeed, the verso of this card reads "Bons Points Instructifs: Collection C. Charier" above the text of La Fontaine's fable. The image here, as in Collection Charier, includes a tombstone-like tableau for listing both "Fables de La Fontaine" and the fable's title.

Abstract

Here, as elsewhere, the hare rides the tortoise as a rider rides a horse. Grasshoppers look on. Is this kind of representation supposed to recall Aesop's TH?

Abstract

The pretty woman with brightly striped clothing and matching headdress is apparently weeping while spilt milk lies on the ground. "Il est parti." The verso has a listing of days of the month and week in "Septem" and Octobre with matching letters and names. For what? In what year? And am I right in assuming that the milk is "departed" and this is La Fontaine's milkmaid?

Abstract The golden background distinguishes this card, which has been cropped, bent, and is in only fair condition. The choice of a girl to complement the rooster in the illustration is surprising. What might she have to do with the fable's story? The text is in fact James' version verbatim, where no particular human being is mentioned. That version is unusual because it actually ends up contradicting the fable: "The Cock was a sensible Cock; but there are many silly people who despise what is...

Abstract

A colorful scene of the finish line, approached by the hare while the tortoise is beyond it. Nothing on the reverse. The front promises: "Donnell's healing salve cures cuts, sores, boils, burns, frosted ears and feet. Cures bruises, burns, boils, sores, scalds, ulcers, carbuncles, chilblains, bites of insects, cuts and wounds." What does it not do?

Abstract

I doubt that this is really a fable card. It is a hidden-picture card, with a fox to be found by the clever observer. The back makes an offer "Mail us 10 for Comic Pictures, Mail us 25 for Beautiful Pictures." I take it this is one of the former, cheaper variety! Browns and reds. A small symbol at the lower right of the picture says "N 718."

Abstract

This card was billed as a fable on eBay, and it may be that, but I do not yet recognize which fable. It cannot be "The Frogs and the Bulls," since there is only one bull here, and he is not fighting. I will keep it in the collection in the hope that something will turn up to clarify whether this card represents a fable.

Abstract

Lively presentation of the two women. In this case, the ant personage is as attractive and young as the grasshopper figure. Snow is visible around the two characters. "Specialitè de cafès."