Aesop's Fables > Books of Fables > Series Books > Hachette Mini-Livres

Hachette Mini-Livres

Members of the series "Hachette Mini-Livres" have been a challenge to me.  I have found four different members, ordered a fifth, and learned of two others.  However, it may be that there are really only two booklets at issue here.  What has caused the seven different items then?  I believe that there are two reasons for this confusing multiplicity.  One is that numbering systems changed at least once.  Thus the two pamphlets titled "Quatre Fables" are the same but have a different number in the lower right corner of the title-page -- and were published in different years: #27 in 1964 AND #144 in 1967.  The second source of confusion is that the same booklet was published with four fables (1967) and then with three (1971).  For some reason, "The Fox and the Goat" drops out of the 1971 version, even though the goat still appears on the title-page!  I have ordered another copy of the latter book, with a different number (#143, not #29).  I am aware of a #189, which seems identical with #240, and of both #165 and #241, which seem identical with #144.  My, how confusing!

1953/64 Quatre Fables de La Fontaine.  Paperbound.  Printed in Holland.  Paris: Hachette Mini-Livres #27:  Hachette.  $5.99 from John Reid, North Brunswick, NJ, through eBay, Nov., '14.  

I had catalogued an almost identical book earlier but noted that its number in the series seemed to have changed.  Here is a copy in which, though the booklet is not an original 1953 printing, the number has not yet changed from #27 to #144.  Here is what I had written of that 1967 copy with the changed number: "Apparently a fellow member in the same series as 'Trois Fables de La Fontaine,' which I have listed under '1953/64.'  The numbering has changed, however.  That pamphlet was #29 but now seems to be #143.  This pamphlet was perhaps #27 and is now #144.  As in that case, there are exceptionally sharp colored illustrations in this small pamphlet.  FC, MM, TT, and 'The Fox and the Goat.'  Maybe the best of the designs is of Perrette skipping; the milk pail is already tipping."  My statement of "perhaps #27" is confirmed!  Though this copy is in less good condition, what I wrote then of the illustrations still applies here.  My, what one finds when one stays at it!

1953/67 Quatre Fables de La Fontaine. Paperbound. Paris: Hachette Mini-Livres #144: Hachette. $10 from The Bookshop, Grand Junction, CO, through Choosebooks.com, Feb., '03. 

Apparently a fellow member in the same series as "Trois Fables de La Fontaine," which I have listed under "1953/64." The numbering has changed, however. That pamphlet was #29 but now seems to be #143. This pamphlet was perhaps #27 and is now #144. As in that case, there are exceptionally sharp colored illustrations in this small pamphlet. FC, MM, TT, and "The Fox and the Goat." Maybe the best of the designs is of Perrette skipping; the milk pail is already tipping.

1953/1971 Trois Fables de La Fontaine.  Paperbound.  Paris: Hachette Mini-Livres #240:  Hachette.  $7.95 from Ronald Franz, Roseville, MI, through Ebay, Sept., '19.

This surprising find has led me to reorganize our holdings of Hachette Mini-Livres presenting fables.  Exceptionally sharp colored illustrations in this small pamphlet of FC, MM, and TT.  Perrette was dancing when she lost the pitcher of milk.  The tortoise in TT was carrying two pieces of luggage.  The cover picture, which occurs again at the end of FC, gets my top prize.  The jubilant smiling fox runs off with t he cheese.  The anomaly here is that the pamphlet is identical with two others in the series, dated 1953/64 and 1953/67 except for the number in the series and the exclusion here of "The Fox and the Goat," even though the goat still appears on the title-page here!  That is how "Quatre Fables de La Fontaine" became in this case "Trois Fables de La Fontaine."  The content is utterly different from the other "Trois Fables de La Fontaine" in this series.

 

1953/64 Trois Fables de La Fontaine. Hachette Mini-Livres #29. Printed in Holland. Paris: Hachette. $15 from Kelmscott, June, '95.

Exceptionally sharp colored illustrations in this small pamphlet of WL, "le Loup devenu berger," and MSA. At the end of the latter, the illustration has the miller, son, and ass dancing together. I would love now to get #27 in the series, "Quatre Fables de La Fontaine."

1953/69 Trois Fables de La Fontaine.  Paperbound.  Paris: Hachette Mini-Livres #165:  Hachette.  €2.70 from Rakuten.fr, Oct., '19.

Here is a copy of a pamphlet already in the collection with the number 29 from 1964.  This otherwise identical copy has a date of 1969 and the number 165.  Postage for this little booklet cost three times the cost of the booklet!  As I wrote of the earlier copy, there are here exceptionally sharp colored illustrations in this small pamphlet of WL, "le Loup devenu berger," and MSA.  At the end of the latter, the illustration has the miller, son, and ass dancing together.

 


 

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