Fables in Verse

Abstract

"Twenty-six years ago I bought a first copy of this book at Renaissance in Milwaukee. Here is a second copy in poorer condition. It has the same printer's error listed below. I keep it in the collection because it is a good example of the publisher's practice of taking whatever cloth he had and using it for the cover. In this case, that cover is red. Then it was blue. As I wrote then, the book's squarish page-format and short verse fables mark it off from other books. Each of the thirty-two fables (128 pages) receives one or two illustrations; many tail-pieces seem only vaguely related to the fable. The tellings seem to me at first glance to place it squarely in the tradition of Phaedrus. In many ways it is a classic book, even in its choice of fables to present. They include: WL, FK, BF, DS, LS, WC, "The Ass & Lion," OF, FS, "The Fly & Horse," DW, CJ, "The Man & Serpent," 2P, "The Lark & Her Young," "The Crab & Her Daughter," "The Mountain in Labor," SW, "The Satyr & Traveller," "Hercules & the Carter," GA, "The Ape & Her Young," DLS, DM, "The Stag & Vine," "The Mischievous Dog," "The Boys & the Frogs," "The Farmer & His Sons," "The Old Woman & Her Maids," "The Eagle & Crow," and "The Ass & Master." The printer and editor made a mistake: Fables 15-17 come after Fable 19, though the pagination works correctly."