Fables Choisies de la Fontaine et Florian

Abstract

Large-format children's book containing twenty-five fables. The book is reminiscent of two I have listed under 1936?, which were also produced in Belgium. Like those, this book combines eight colored full-page illustrations with seventeen black-and-white. Like those, the artists here (unnamed, and apparently without signatures in the illustrations) rely very heavily on the tradition, including Rabier. I enjoy the cartoon-like illustration of the last fable (50), in which two almost-bald older men fight over a comb. Downright eerie is the illustration of the blind man, wearing only shorts, carrying the lame man on his back while the latter guides his hand (45). Do not the goose-killer on 5 and the exploding frog on 39 come from Rabier? Both GA (29) and FG (33) are strong, simple statements in color of traditional motifs.