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1926-1927 Brown and Bigelow Calendar Series

1926 and 1927    Various calendars quoting Aesop by Brown and Bigelow, individual calendars for July and September of 1926; five calendars from November, 1926 through December, 1927; and a similar calendar not mentioning Aesop from October, 1927.    

1926:  Aesop's Fable Calendars for July and September

1926 Milwaukee Dairy Supply Mfg. Co.  Calendar designed by Milo Winter and quoting Aesop.  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 from the side of the house.  Underneath the illustration we read:  "Pride goes before a fall -- Aesop."  This may be the first printed Milwaukee material that I have in the collection!  The reverse shows a picture of the Type L "Big New Filler" for milk bottles.  If it is from Milwaukee, I suppose it should have to do with either beer or milk!  For me several things are not certain:  that the attribution to Aesop is warranted, what fable it might have come from, or how it applies to the scene pictured here.

 

 

1926 Bank of Palmyra, Palmyra, Missouri.  Milo Winter.  6" x 11".  Calendar for September, 1926.  Framed behind glass.  Gift of Susan Carlson, Dec., '24.

This great find by Susan relates to the calendar above.  They are in the same style.  They quote Aesop similarly, with two of the same resulting questions, whether the attribution to Aesop is warranted and what fable it might have come from.  A third question above is answered in this case.  The bear cub is lying about how big the fish was that he almost caught.  Of course I am now determined to find the other ten in the series?  And does this find indicate that there was also a set in 1927?

1926-27:  Aesop's Fable Calendar Series

1926-27  Watco Paints and Varnishes.  Five calendars from November, 1926 through December 1927 quoting Aesop.  Designed by Milo Winter.  $60 from snydersjunkyard, Pennsburg, PA, through Ebay, Dec., ’24.

These five calendars are well weathered.  One is missing its lower right corner.  Those in this group raise the question “What constitutes a series for these calendars?”  I ask the question because these five span 14 months from November, 1926 to December, 1927 (with January, May, and October as the other months here).  It is easy to recognize LM as a fable in the first of these.  In the others, the scene itself suggests a fable, not necessarily among the traditional Aesopic stories.  The fox on January is hiding a chicken under his coat.  The rabbit on October is doing something, while the roosters only crows.  The hunter on December is coming home with lots of ducks.  Are May’s beavers simply “eager beavers”?

November, 1926

January, 1927

May, 1927

October, 1927

December, 1927

1927:  Non-Aesopic Calendar Series

1927  Merchant Box and Cooperage Company of Gloucester, MA.  Brown and Bigelow calendar for October, 1927 with illustration by Milo Winter.  $16.99 from The Jumping Frog through Ebay, Jan., '25.

The formatting and approach of this blotter is remarkably similar -- and by the same artist -- as our various calendars designed by Winter and printed by Brown and Bigelow.  The design has a boat operator emptying water out of his boat.  After the highlighted maxim, the calendar asks "Are your sales of bottled goods sinking?"  I have trouble identifying a known image or story.

 

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