Aesop's Fables
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Authors
Lord, John Vernon
Michie, James
Issue Date
1989
Type
Book, Whole
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Abstract
A great find on my first afternoon in Glasgow! Apparently this book is for sale only in the United Kingdom--unfortunately for the rest of us. The dust jacket is right: Lord's 100+ illustrations are exquisitely detailed. They are strong and sharp, with the texture of scrimshaw, right from the dust jacket cover on. Among the best illustrations: the fox in the well (27); the cat and the cock (33); the wolf, the fox, and the ape (48-9); the mouse, the frog, and the hawk (94); and FG (115). The illustrations are deliberately put into the twentieth century urban setting of Ditchling, Sussex. The illustrator rules this book: Lord invited Michie to translate certain fables. This book represents Michie's first Aesop. DS (13) gives a good sense of the strength and weakness of Michie's verse. Less successful is LS (11). Though he feels free to expand, Michie offers generally well contained, pithy stories with good rhythms in irregular rhyme schemes. This book will always be worth consulting for a contemporary version of a fable. There are 200+ fables here. Check the preface for Lord and Michie's position against morals, the acknowledgements for dates and numbers of fables in the major editions, the excellent short bibliography (155-6), and the index of fable titles (157-60).
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Citation
Publisher
Jonathan Cape