Fables No. 2

Abstract

Sixteen large-format (10 x 13) pages plus four full-page chromolithographs. Apparently this is the second in a planned series of eight folios on fables. It includes pages 16-32. The cover's description includes this: Quarto size; compiled from Aesop, LaFontaine, and the Russian of the celebrated Kriloff. Some of these are old and favored acquaintances, while others are here publsihed for the first time in this country. Embellished with handsome full-page illustrations, printed in colors, from characteristic designs by Stephens and others. Illuminated cover. Issued in 8 numbers, each number complete in itself. Nos. 1 and 2 now ready. Price per No. 50 cents. I am not sure what the illuminated cover entails. The front flyleaf includes To Florrie from her teacher. Tina J. Tillon. 1872. The back cover is missing. The four chromolithographs are ambitious but flawed: the various colors are not exactly enough placed, and the resulting impression is blurred. These include The Lark and Her Young Ones (17); FG (24); The Wolf Turned Shepherd (27); and The Fox and the Sick Lion (30). I am surprised to find a bulldog with a gun in FG! The Lark and Her Young Ones and The Wolf Turned Shepherd are colored versions of Dore. Two of the first four texts in this booklet come from Croxall. I take this to be a large, worthy early experiment in chromolithography. The front cover advertises Little Workers by J.C. Beard, in preparation and shortly to be issued. The Library of Congress dates this book of Beard's to 1871. Thus I have guessed at a date of 1870 for this publication.