Creighton University

1926 Milwaukee Dairy Supply Mfg. Co. Milwaukee Filler and Cappers. $9 from John Huckeby, New Castle, IN, through Ebay, Dec., '99.

July, 1926 calendar, about 4½" x 10", signed by Milo Winter and showing a proud dog sitting in a sweater on a house-step, perhaps about to be attacked by the dog in a rough collar approaching unseen. Under the illustration we read: "Pride goes before a fall -- Aesop." Perhaps the first Milwaukee material in the collection! The reverse shows a picture of the Type L "Big New Filler" for milk bottles. For me several things are not certain: whether the attribution to Aesop is warranted, what fable it might have come from, or how it applies to the scene pictured here. Click on the calendar for a full-size view.

1927 Theo. S. Buerger & Son, Inc. Wholesale hosiery, knit goods, underwear, and ready-to-wear. Buffalo. Gift of Thomas Beckman, Nov., '94.

April, 1927 calendar titled "Aesop's Fables," with a good, round-top illustration of John Rae's "The Dog and His Image" and the moral "Never risk a certainty for an uncertainty." The illustration may have appeared first in Fables in Rhyme for Little Folks (Adapted from the French of La Fontaine. Written by W.T. Larned. Illustrated by John Rae. Chicago: P.F. Volland Co. 1918). See my reprints of the book under 1918/35? and 1918/50.

1933 Ein Kalender für das Jahr 1933. Mit Fabeln nach Aesop und Anderen (Cover: Klingspor Kalendar für das Jahr 1933). Gedruckt und herausgegeben von Gebr. Klingspor. Holzstiche von Willi Harwerth. Hardbound. Offenbach am Main. $49.50 from Lee Jay Stoltzfus, Lititz, PA, through eBay, May, '04.

This is one of the happiest finds of my twenty-five years of collecting. I first knew of this book from Anne Stevenson Hobbs' book on books in the Victoria and Albert Museum. I had it in my hands when I visited the museum. I presumed that I would never have a chance at finding a copy for the collection. Germany after 1933 was not a good place for preserving ephemera like a calendar. I was amazed when the book came up on eBay and more amazed when no one bid against me! This hardbound book about 4" x 7" begins with a page for each month (2-13). Each page has a bird illustration at the top appropriate to the season. What follows is the liturgical calendar of saints and Sundays, with the Sundays printed in red, and phases of the moon noted. There follow then nineteen pages of fables, about one to a page, each with an illustration (14-32). Hobbs chooses well when she selects the woodcuts of "Der schöpfende Hirsch" (16) and "Der Fuchs und die Schwalbe" (23) for her book. They are exquisite. Her version of the former is colored, while none of the woodcuts here are colored. FC (18) and FK (26) are presented with figures situated at the top and bottom of the page, respectively, with text in between. BF (22) is another excellent woodcut. The woodcut for "Der Bauch und die Glieder" (29) is appropriately macabre. What a treasure! Formerly in the collection of Carl and Margaret Rollins.

1973 The Golden 1973 Aesop's Fables Calendar. Pictures by Mel Crawford. A Golden Calendar. NY: Western Publishing Co., Inc. $6.99 from Leah Fowler, Edgewood, MD, through Ebay, March, '99.

Very lively cartoon presentations of a dozen fables with surprisingly good morals. Thus in DS we learn "The greedy man cheats himself" and in CJ "A thing is good only if it is good for you." FM is unusual in having the fox frightened by the mask because it "looked so real." The moral here is "There is nothing emptier than an empty head." After the months, we have another page of fables titled "Animal Antics." There is also an account of the story of Aesop's life.