La Fontaine: Fables. (Outside title: le Loup et l'Agneau

Abstract

Two fables are announced on the title-page of this kids' book: WL and MSA. The La Fontaine text is unchanged. As with all of Simon's work, the illustrations are simple and lively. The book thus takes up two of the four fables presented in the 1953/56 edition in our collection. The final picture of the wolf sleeping soundly at the base of a tree with a distended belly is appropriate to the text, I believe. Images particularly well done in MSA include the two on 14 and 15, as the anger of onlookers is reflected in the anger of the riding miller. The final image of all three smiling – miller, ass, and son – is also the perfect finish for La Fontaine's version of this traditional story. I am coming close to having the full set of "Les Albums Roses." This copy was printed in 1972 but copyrighted in 1967.