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Clamaron Blue MM

1890? 5 cards beginning a set presenting La Fontaine's MM. The cards follow the fable's text up to a natural break preceding a reflection ("Do not all of us daydream?") by La Fontaine. Perhaps there is another card or two in the series. Paris: Imp. Clamaron, Rue St. Jacques. $20 for the five from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne-Ricouart, France, Nov., '00. Extra copy, cropped, of Card 3 for 40 Francs from Annick Tilly, Clignancourt, August, '99.

The pictures are monochromatic blue-and-white, with five or six lines per card at the bottom. The text and picture are not coordinated. In the text, for example, Perette is still thinking about cows when the picture already shows the milk fallen. The whole series ends with the line "They call it 'The Pot of Milk.'" Half the backs feature advertising for Mouchonnet's Teinturerie in Paris and half Sedille's Chaussures in Rouen. I take it that the backs were printed by firms other than Clamaron. The former three were printed by Pelluard (also in the Rue St. Jacques), while the latter three show this curious phrase: "Imp. P. H berer & Cie." Apparently, a letter or two has eroded between the "H" and the "b."