I.A. Krilov: Basni

Abstract

This is a classy large-format pamphlet of 32 unnumbered pages, unusually tall: almost 11½ with a width of 7¾. It shows the recent improvement in quality of Russian publications. Its front cover offers a slick illustration of a rat and a mouse looking upwards in pleasant green and orange colors. Inside one finds a two-page spread for each of thirteen fables with simple illustrations in green and black. Twelve of the thirteen represent Krilov favorites that seem to reappear in publication after publication: FC; Monkey and Mirror; Elephant and Pug; Quartet; Crane, Lobster, and Pike; GA; FG; Monkey and Spectacles; Sow and Crow; Cock and Cuckoo; Bullfinch and Pigeon; and WC. New to me and delightful is Mouse and Rat: the rat, because she fears the cat so thoroughly, figures that the cat will defeat the lion. If I the rat am so afraid of him, the lion must have to fear him too is the illogic that Krylov here ridicules. Perhaps best of the illustrations is Crane, Lobster, and Pike; it places the three well apart from each other on the two-page spread and thus underscores the point of the fable. The lobster has eight lines to eight different legs.