Aesop's Fables
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1896
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Abstract
This book almost duplicates another in the collection found 26 years ago in Clearwater. Three things mark this fragile gift copy from Tom Joyce in Chicago as different. First, the heavily browned paper seems cheaper than in that nicer copy. Secondly, the red cloth cover is simpler, offering only a title inside a meander pattern around the edge. The nicer copy has elaborate gold embossing on its front cover. Thirdly, the verso of the title-page here has only a wreath enclosing a human image, perhaps Cupid. The nicer copy has "Copyright 1896, Donohue, Henneberry & Co." and, further down the page, "Chicago: Donohue, Henneberry, Printers & Binders." As I wrote there, this large-format book may be the best example in my collection of eclecticism and "borrowing" of established illustrations in late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century book publishing. At least three great Aesopic artists are represented here, and the only clue to them lies in the occasional signature within a plate. (Note that many of the Tenniels here are signed by the engraver, Howland). The full-page illustrations are not printed on the back, though both front and back count as pages. Delierre is the originator at least of 127's view of MSA; Tenniel and Griset's work on the same fable is mixed together on 129. The text appears in two columns. New to me is "The Ant and the Chrysalis" (141). Index on 160.
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Donohue, Henneberry, and Co.