Fables de Florian
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Authors
Florian
Issue Date
1840
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Abstract
This small (3½" x 5¾") book is a second copy in our collection, but with different binding and different placement of the five pages of illustrations. As I noted about this first copy, this book matches in all its particulars Bodemann #293.1, including the notation that the book does not show a date. The book appeared at a time when Florian's appeal seems to have been at a peak. These publishers or artists did Florian fable books about this time: Comynet (1830, 1832); Ledentu (1832); Victor Adam (1838); Tastu (1841); Mame (1841); and Grandville (1842). Besides the five pages with two illustrations each in this book, there is also an illustration ("Truth and Fable") on the title-page. The frontispiece features "Le Grillon," in which a cricket sees a butterfly loved by everyone and sees himself not paid attention to. Then some kids come and capture the butterfly. Aha, says the cricket, let's live the quiet, concealed life! Then in "L’Enfant et le Miroir," we learn "Smile, and the world will smile back at you. Menace, and you'll find the world menacing," as a kind mother shows her distraught child. Next up is the illustration for "The Two Travellers" (5), about the wallet found on the road, and that for "The Coquette and the Bee." The bee flatters the coquette he has just stung -- "I thought her lips were a rose" – and the coquette forgives the bee. On 64, King Alphonse hears "Don't look for the man in the moon. Look for the poor man on your doorstep." I gave up on “Le Dervis, la Corneille et le Faucon." Too long for me! On 79, in "Le Savant et le Fermier," the old farmer answers the philosopher that he has not learned from Pythagoras or Plato but from nature, and these learnings have served him well. In “Le Pacha et le Dervis,” a prize of jewels goes to the maddest man on earth. The dervish seeks and finds a fellow who commands silly tasks on sacred documents. Winner! On 112, in "Le Paysan et le Riviere," we learn that if you want to accomplish something, cross the river now. It will keep flowing! Then Jupiter asks Minos what corrupts so many. Is it selfishness? Answer: No, father: idleness. This copy is in good condition. The covers are pink and gold.
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Publisher
J. Langlumé et Peltier
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Identifier
12192 (Access ID)