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Mutinet Set of 5 La Fontaine Cards

1883   Set of 5 trade cards of La Fontaine fables.  "Honorée d'une Souscription du Ministère de l'Instruction Publique."  Printed by D. Hutinet in Paris.  €100 from Albert van den Bosch, Antwerp, through the kindness of Johan Thibaut and the Jesuit office in Antwerp, Feb., '25.

Several things are noteworthy about this set of five cards.  First there is the exceptional quality of the printing and even the artwork.  FS, for example, manages to get the earlier scene of the fox's meal onto the tablecloth while the fox struggles to make something of the stork's meal.  This was perhaps Albert's last sale as he goes into retirement, and the sale was handled in unusual fashion through his kindness and that of John Thibaut and the Jesuits in Antwerp. Several references on the web point to "A la Poire d'Or" in Reims in conjunction with these cards, but I am not sure of the connection.  Albert refers to "hand press stone printing"; again I am unsure what that phrase means.  The verso of each card contains La Fontaine's title and text.

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