Aisopos: Fables Told in Type and Ornament

Abstract

Here is a lovely book done under the direction of Gloria Kondrup and Heidrun Mumper-Drumm. The preface by Bruce Whiteman of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. Hand-bound by Alice Vaughan. Unpaginated. There are thirty-three pairs of pages, the first a nearly transparent page with the name of the student who did the design of the fable itself, which is on the second, underlying page. Many of the fable texts are straightforward. Several are not. Among those apart from the tradition is the third selection by Sarah Cathcart: I am Aesop, Gabriel, a Liar. I'll build my wings with paper, glue, and wire. I'll catch an updraft in the city tonight. I gotta be ready. You don't fuck around with flight. So there! D. Reagan Marshall gets the swirls of the 2 in the title 2 Crabs to represent the sideways walking of the two crabs. Soyoung Leah Kim's title The Fox with the Cropped Tail is itself cropped on the edge of the page. Clever! Dyna Kau does lovely work with designs and colors in a version of GA called Summertime. Emily Liu works with several highly expressive designs for her version of WC. A standard feature of the pages is a rectangular section in the upper left that usually contains the text of the story. Other things like the title and moral often fall outside this rectangle. Another favorite of mine is The Scorpion and the Frog by Christine Marie Montgomery. Ellen Wong's fable is new to me and very strong. I quote it without attending to its poetic form. Cartier a richman bought his wife a Cartier necklace every month. (Just for being beautiful) he said. One day, she observed a wrinkle above her right eye and decided to go under the knife. (For sure he will reward me wth an extra diamond) she thought. But with 1 cut of inexperience her face now sits lop-sided. And her husband now sits with another. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder (of the knife). I am so delighted to have found a copy of this book!