Dobutsu Guwa-Shu (Animal Fable Collection).

Abstract

My travels have yielded this book now in four forms: besides this Japanese edition, I have one in English, The Big Book of Animal Fables (1965), one published in Germany by Deutscher Bücherbund in Stuttgart and Hamburg (1965?), and the original published in Vienna (1965?). I am confused by the copyright (1974) that this book gives to Ueberreuter's edition-surprised because of the earlier date (1965) noted above for the English (and German?) editions. I count ninety-nine fables. As I wrote of the English version, Grabiansky's art combines some one-colored and some excellent multi-colored watercolors. Everything about this book is solid and first-class, from the printing of the art to the paper to the binding. This time I enjoyed the chicks and the farmer's feet (38-9), the two arrangements for Krylov's Quartet (77-78), and the fox and wolf in buckets (161).