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Semaine Nationale

1965? "Semaine Nationale de l'enfance." Nine different French postcards (plus extras of FC and "Animals Sick with the Plague") with black-green-and-red colored pictures of La Fontaine's fables on one side and room for a message and address on the other. Just over 3½" x 5½". The visual works are signed "F. LeSourt/Le But." (MSA, "Animals in the Plague," "The Coach and the Fly," and MM are signed by only the former.) "Semaine Nationale de l'enfance" appears above each image and the title of the fable below it. Comité National de l'Enfance, Paris. Paris: S.F.E.I. $17.50 for three (FC, FS, and TH) from Alexandre Przopior, April, '00. 40 Francs for WL from Annick Tilly, Clignancourt, August, '01. 105 Francs for "Les deux taureaux et la grenouille," MSA, and an extra copy of FC from P. Bresch, Clignancourt, August, '01. Two more cards for €5 apiece from ABC de la C.P.A., Lyon, at the Paris Post Card Exhibition, Jan., '05. Three more cards for €5 apiece from Serge Ferry at the Paris Post Card Exhibition, Jan., '05 and two including TT for €4 apiece from Brie Comte Robert at the same exhibition. One last card for €5 at St. Ouen, August, '13.  "Coach and Fly" and "Animals Sick of the Plague" as a gift of Bertrand Cocq, Calonne-Ricouart, August, '15.  Further copies of WL, TT, and FC from Dominique Delage, Saint-Ouen, August, '15.  The final missing card in the series, MM, for $7 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne Ricouart, France, Sept., '18.  Five extras for €15 from Recto-Verso, Strasbourg, July, '19.  

"Les deux taureaux et la grenouille," FC (with a less well printed extra), FS, MSA, TH, TT, and WL. Only FC, MSA, and WL have a clean back. MSA and "Les deux taureaux" seem to have been printed on thicker cardboard stock, and MSA has turned darker over time. My favorites are MSA and FS. In the former the donkey is curled up as though on a litter. In the latter an insect looks on at the chagrined fox. Very nice color combinations! Bertrand seems to indicate that we now have the full set.  Mission accomplished!

Click on any card to see it full-size.