120 research outputs found
Nursery Tales by Aunt Lucille
No full textThere are eight fairy tales here, listed on the inside of the front cover. The last of them is Renard the cunning fox. This tale starts with Renard boasting. Soon we are in the fable of FC, but the deciding moment in this version of the fable is not when the crow sings but when he dances. A typical Van Hunnik illustration depicts this scene. Reynard next meets a big dog and they go off together to catch the hen that lays golden eggs. Reynard indeed captures her with the same flattery. The dog goes away disappointed. The farmer who had owned the hen that laid golden eggs appears and kills Reynard. He also kills Reynard the Second. That farmer and the hen that lays golden eggs are the subjects of a fine Van Hunnk picture. I have not had time to investigate whether the pictures here are to some extent those used from Van Hunnik in other Mulder volumes. This is a curious rendition of the Reynard story. The Dutch editors had a lapse. On the last page we read Farmer Tulip realised wat a stroke of luck this was….This is a hardbound book (hard cover)Aunt Lucill
The Raven and the Fox: Fable by Jean de la Fontaine
No full textHere is the English version of a booklet I already have in French from the same publisher and artist and similarly listed under 1955? Like the other books in this series, this book builds off of a fascinating concept: a second, longer story echoes the lesson of the fable. A tinker exploits a rich man who wants to learn to sing. The tinker promises to teach him, but for a steep price. When the rich man is finally poor from his useless singing lessons, the tinker disappears. The art is cute but sometimes anatomically off. The arm of the fox facing the actual fable seems bent in the wrong direction. Mulder on the cover of this version is Mulder & Zoon on the title-page here. Hunnik is not mentioned, but his signature is on each of the four full-page colored illustrations inside the booklet.With an explanatory Story by Ann Lewis and Paerl (sic) Peter
The Hare and the Tortoise: Fable by Jean de la Fontaine
No full textHere is a parallel to a number of books I have in both English and Dutch. All come from the same publisher and use the same artist. I have listed them all under 1955? The booklets build off of a fascinating concept: a second, longer story echoes the lesson of the fable. Here the mayor commissions two painters, Speedy and Slowcoach, to paint the façade of a house each. The two painters are friends and bet on who will finish first. Speedy dawdles in bed and is amazed to get up to find Slowcoach finishing. In this version, Speedy at least is old enough to have a wife who tries to get him out of bed early enough to compete. I like particularly the pictures of Slowcoach's last client admiring his yellow wall and of Speedy seeing Slowcoach's finished façade. Mulder on the cover of this version is Mulder & Zoon on the title-page here. Hunnik is not mentioned, but his signature is on the title-page and each of the four full-page colored illustrations inside the booklet.With an explanatory Story by Ann Lewis and Paerl (sic) Peter
The Cricket and the Ant: Fable by Jean de la Fontaine
No full textHere is the English version of a booklet I already have in French from the same publisher and artist and similarly listed under 1955? There Tante Tsylla et Frédérique Laurant were acknowledged as the writers of the explanatory story; here Ann Lewis and Paerl (sic) Peters get the credit. Perhaps the latter are translators of the work of the former. The polychrome illustrations are not printed as carefully here as there. The illustrations in this large pamphlet (8¾ x 9 3/8) are all proportionally identical with the illustrations in the smaller Eight Fables by La Fontaine but the polychrome image for the fable GA itself is strangely not the same as the GA illustration in the larger book. That is, I have just noticed for perhaps the first time that the smaller version (which this booklet follows) and the larger version of Eight Fables by La Fontaine are not identical in their GA illustration, though they are identical in all the illustrations for the explanatory companion story. Strange! Like all of these Mulder publications, this book builds off of a fascinating concept: a second, longer story echoes in human terms the lesson of the fable. Here the fairy Elvira is sad over enjoy now Pixie Redbeard, angry with him, and deaf to his request. I could not disagree more with the philosophy of this application. This is the first English copy I have found of the eight booklets in the English series. Mulder on the cover of the French booklet and of this version is also Mulder & Zoon on the title-page here. The title-page there offered only Albums du Gai Moulin, of which there is no mention here.With an explanatory Story by Ann Lewis and Paerl (sic) Peter
1245 A
No full textHere is a fellow member of the Brown Watson series apparently labeled 1245 A. It seems to consist of the stories and illustrations that appeared in Eight Fables by La Fontaine, published by Mulder, perhaps in 1955. I do not have, as I do have for GA, the larger individual pamphlet from Mulder. Like all of the Mulder publications, this booklet builds off of a fascinating concept: a second, longer story echoes in human terms the lesson of the fable. Here the story seems to follow Jean Pointu et le Forgeron in Mulder's French version, Le Rat de Ville et le Rat des Champs: Fable de La Fontaine, for which I have also guessed a date of 1955. Sam Spikeyhat wears a pointed cap and works as an apprentice at a pastry shop. He is good but he brags. His blacksmith friend Bill Sparky is just the opposite. Sam invites Bill to dinner in the shop, using his master's utensils and food, but dinner is interrupted, so Sam thinks, by the unexpected return of his master. It turns out to be a false alarm, but for Bill the evening is already spoiled. He invites Sam to his place the next day. There is a great last detail illustration of the two mice in fear. There seem to be six booklets in the series
Albums du Gai Moulin
No full textLike the other books in the Gai Moulin series, this book builds off of a fascinating concept: a second, longer story echoes the lesson of the fable. Here that story is Jean Pointu et le Forgeron. Jean Pointu wears a pointed cap and works as an apprentice at a pastry shop. He is good but he brags. His blacksmith friend Tapenclume is just the opposite. Pointu invites Tapenclume to dinner in the shop, using his master's utensils and food, but dinner is interrupted, so Pointu thinks, by the unexpected return of his master. It turns out to be a false alarm, but for Tapenclume the evening is already spoiled. He invites Pointu to his place the next day. There is a great last detail illustration of the two mice in fear. Mulder appears nowhere in the booklet, but it is on both the front and the back cover. The cover is crimped.Language note: FrenchLa Fontaine; avec un conte explicatif par Tante Tsylla et Frédérique Lauran
No. 1424H
No full text"Smart Renard the Fox." This is a twelve-page two-staple pamphlet offering four full-page colored illustrations and numerous black-and-white designs with the text. FC has good "before" and "after" full-page illustrations. From what I can pick up, a dog alerts Renard to the gold-egg-laying chicken, but Renard double-crosses the dog by eating the chicken. He also disappoints the farmer, who calls to the chicken in Renard's belly and gets an answer. The farmer cuts Renard open and kills him. Various animals duped by Renard dance for joy. The third colored picture has Renard with the chicken, and the fourth pictures the farmer admiring a golden egg. In between there is a lovely image in black-and-white of Renard with a distended tummy. I knew that there were variations in the Renard story, but this one surprises me! We just became the fifth library around the world to have this booklet!Language note: DutchLucille Desparois (Tante Lucille
Albums du Gai Moulin
No full textLike the other books in the Gai Moulin series, this book builds off of a fascinating concept: a second, longer story echoes the lesson of the fable. Here that story is La Mesaventure du Lutin Jaunet. The miserly elf Jaunet invites Propret to dinner, saying Come at seven if you can. When Propret arrives, Jaunet claims to have lost the key to his house's door, and the window is barred. He recalls his invitation --if you can-- and explains that Propret cannot come in to dine with him at seven. Propret invites him a few days later, apparently forgetting the whole incident. He has some slices of roast meat hung up in a tree. Propret bids Jaunet to come up with him and enjoy them. Jaunet suffers from acrophobia and leaves quietly. There is a good last detail picture of Propret frustrated by being locked out. Mulder appears nowhere in the booklet, but it is on both the front and the back cover.Language note: FrenchLa Fontaine; avec un conte explicatif par Tante Tsylla et Frédérique Lauran
Eight Fables by La Fontaine
No full textThis large-format unpaginated book in pictured boards has a special claim on being noticed. For each of its eight La Fontaine fables (WL, TMCM, OF, FC, LM, TH, FS, and GA) there is a parallel story (often a fairy tale) based on the moral of the original French Fable. Thus for WL, there is The King and the General. There is a repeated illustration presenting the title of each fable, and there are frequent colored illustrations for both the fables and the stories. The moral for both is delivered within the last lines of the modern story. The fables are only loosely based on La Fontaine's fables. The frog in OF fell down deed (sic). The modern stories seem to me labored. Thus OF is turned into a story of two friends, one a giant and one a dwarf. Suddenly the dwarf became jealous when the giant jumped from a tower during a fair; he also jumped and hurt himself. Fairly accurate, I would say, but not inspired. The gesture of the fox in FC and on the cover seems to me anatomically impossible. The raven becomes a rich man desperate to be known as a great singer; the tinker praises him and offers to train him into a great singer for a large fee, which he keeps exacting…. LM is told unusually in that there is no phase of catching and then freeing the errant mouse. There is only a general reference that the rat had once done the lion a very great service. TH is faithful to La Fontaine in having the tortoise nap before he starts the race. The parallel of TH, The Two Painters, may be the best of the modern stories. The editor tends to forget the second pair of quotation marks. Both GA and its parallel are entirely on the side of the ant.This is a hardbound book (hard cover)Related by Ann Lewi
Albums du Gai Moulin
No full textHere is the French original of a recent acquisition, Eight Fables by La Fontaine, published by Mulder & Zoon and listed under 1955? See my comments there. I knew I had seen this book before, and the fox's gesture on the cover is the clue! The fables appear here in the form of La Fontaine's verse. The same fables are handled (WL, TMCM, OF, FC, LM, TH, FS, and GA), with what seem to be the same illustrations. The concept is also the same: after each verse fable, there is a parallel story (often a fairy tale) again illustrating its moral. The question remains where the English translator got the surprising adaptations of the fables, e.g., in LM. The title-page is detached. Paper boards and a deteriorating spine.This is a hardbound book (hard cover)Language note: FrenchAdapté par Tante Tsyll
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