The Constructional Book of Selected Fables

Abstract

This book is unusual in my collection in that it has no information--at least that I can find--about the publisher, place, author, or date. It is a sixteen-page stapled pamphlet with each of thirteen pages devoted to one fable; the other three pages are covers and explanation. Each story-page, about 7¼ x 9½, includes an inner section about 5 across. In this section there is a text, including an elaborate initial, and an illustration of one key moment in the fable. Alternating pairs of pages present the initial and the illustration in color. On those using color, the outer portion, about 2 across, includes two or three cut-outs to color and mount, supported by a twig, on a piece of wood. Typically these cut-outs are the two major characters in the fable. On the non-colored pairs of pages, the outside sections say For Cutting & Painting Instructions see page 2 of cover. I presume that, for these, one can cut out, paint, and mount the larger key moment illustration itself. I have not seen a booklet like this before. My presumption is that its distribution was limited to Great Britain. The texts do not seem to be from any classic fable edition. In TH, the hare seems never to have awakened! The stork asked the fox a day in advance, at the fox's joking meal, if he would like mincemeat. In FG, it may have been the presence of onlookers that occasioned the sour grapes comment.