Creighton University

1935? "The Game of Aesop." Seventeen pairs of cards (text and illustration, respectively), lettered alike A through Q, and one odd card with a picture of Aesop (right). Artcraft? $27 from Karen Kropas, Weymouth, MA, through Ebay, Jan., '00.

The text-cards have plain light backing, while the picture-cards have a brown backing. The illustrations are simple and enjoyable. The human face of the lion on "D" is a clue that the illustrations are done after the work of an early artist. The fox on "M" only looks at the grapes. A text card explaining the game is the companion to the card bearing Aesop's portrait. The texts do not seem to come from a version I am aware of. The point of the game is for each contestant to get the most matches between text and picture. The image of "I" has a corner torn off, and the texts of "O" and "Q" show a crease. The cards came with a standard deck of Artcraft cards in an Artcraft box. Who knows whether they are really from Artcraft?!

To view the cards, click on the Aesop card.

1940? "The Game of Aesop." Boxed as "Aesop" from Milton Bradley Company. Seventeen pairs of cards (text and illustration, respectively), lettered alike A through Q, and one odd card with a picture of Aesop. Springfield, MA: Milton Bradley Co. $31 from Eclectibles, Tolland, CT, through Ebay, Oct., '00.

These cards are identical in print and image with those from the Artcraft (?) "The Game of Aesop" with several modifications. Here the backing of each card is orange-brown, and the ink used for both text and image is brown. And this set comes in a beautiful, if very well used, box giving the game the simpler name "Aesop."

To view the cards (the same as above), click on the box.