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Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life

1874 Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life III: Selfishness and Kindness. By Mrs. George Cupples. Hardbound. London: T. Nelson and Sons. $5 from Stephen Jones Antiques, Washington, VT, Jan., '08. Extra copy in July, '96 in trade from Clare Leeper, who had paid $5 for it, July, '96.

This booklet of 32 pages is exactly equivalent to one section of the larger work, "Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life: First Series," published by Nelson in 1875. Only the page numbers are changed. Thus it includes seven stories, each with a full-page illustration by Harrison Weir. The plates were changed then for the 1883 printing of the same work. The pattern here includes a fable, moral, illustration, and then a story from real life. The last offering, "The Wolf and the Horse," lacks the story from real life. See my comments on the 1875 version. Both of my copies of this little book present issues, and so I will keep both in the collection. The good copy includes several heavily crayoned illustrations, and the text has pulled away from the binding. The Leeper copy is inscribed in 1877. Its board-cover is so worn as to be hardly legible, and its spine is weakening.

1874 Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life V: Self-Reliance. By Mrs. George Cupples. Illustrations by Harrison Weir. Hardbound. London: T. Nelson and Sons. $16 from Lisa Micoli, Folied Antiques, New Haven, CT, through eBay, August, '05. 

This booklet of 31 pages is presumably exactly equivalent to one section of the larger work, Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life: First Series, published by Nelson in 1875. Only the page numbers are changed. Thus it includes seven stories, each with a full-page illustration by Harrison Weir. The pattern here includes a fable, moral, illustration, and then a story from real life. See my comments on the 1875 version. This booklet is in much better shape than its companion volume dealing with selfishness and kindness.

1874 Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life: VI. The Wisdom of Forethought.  By Mrs. George Cupples.  Illustrations by Harrison Weir.  Hardbound.  London: T. Nelson and Sons.  $9.95 from paytonrules2003 through Ebay, May, '22.

We are making our way toward completing the set of Mrs. George Cupples' books.  We now have Volumes III, V, VI, and VII of the apparent series of seven, nicely outlined in the larger "Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life: First Series" of 1875.  This booklet of 31 pages includes seven stories, each with a large illustration by Harrison Weir.  The pattern here includes a fable, moral, illustration, and then a story from real life.  Only the last fable, "The Horse and the Stag," lacks a real life story.  The real life story for "The Eagle and the Arrow" involves the adventures of a boy who tries to play sick because he has neglected his lessons and would receive punishment.  Of course, everything goes wrong for the boy.  Inscribed in 1876.

1874 Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life: VII. The Wisdom of Experience, etc. By Mrs. George Cupples. Hardbound. London: T. Nelson and Sons. $5 from Stephen Jones Antiques, Washington, VT, Jan., '08.

This booklet of 32 pages is presumably equivalent to a section of the larger work, "Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life: Second Series," but I do not yet have a copy. The booklet includes seven stories, each with a full-page illustration by Harrison Weir. The pattern here includes a fable, moral, illustration, and then a story from real life. The real life stories are heavy on obedience, as befits a nineteenth-century fable book. Notice that this is Booklet VII. The first series, of which I have editions from 1875 and 1878, includes five sets.

1875 Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life. First Series. By Mrs. George Cupples. Illustrated by Harrison Weir, W. Small, et al (NA). First edition. Hardbound. London: T. Nelson and Sons. $13.50 from Dave Hall, Ithaca, NY, through Ebay, Sept., '00.

This book has the same thirty-three stories as the 1883 version. See my comments there. The T of C here does not number the stories as it does there. The same three stories here lack a modern parallel: "The Monkey and the Cats," "The Wolf and the Horse," and TMCM. The same illustrations are used for the fables, but there is a different frontispiece of FG. The book has a smaller format (4½" x 6½") and small margins. I see evidence in retrospect of minor editing in the 1883 edition. Check, e.g., the moral for "The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox" on 55. The book's fables finish on 165, and then there is a page of advertisements. The pattern here includes a fable, moral, illustration, and story, but their divisions are not marked. This book's green cloth cover features an embossed gilt image of "The Fox and the Mask."

1875 The Cock and the Jewel and Other Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life. By Mrs. George Cupples. Harrison Weir. Hardbound. London: T. Nelson and Sons. $9.99 from Scott Redcay, Bradenton, FL, through eBay, Nov., '12.

This booklet seems to be in series with "The Wolf and the Lamb and Other Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life" from the same publisher in the same year. As I mention there, there is another series, whose members' titles start with "Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life" and then add a Roman numeral (e.g. " VII") and a subtitle (e.g., "The Wisdom of Experience"). Like them all, this volume has 31 pages and then a blank, and it features seven stories, each with a modern equivalent and a Harrison Weir illustration. This volume has a red cloth cover with gilt and two pasted-on pictures. The stories here include CJ, "The Fox and the Goat," "The Hares and the Frogs," DW, "The Eagle and the Arrow," "The Doe and the Fawn," and "The Horse and the Stag." The covers are slightly bowed. Inscribed in 1877. 

1875 The Wolf and the Lamb and Other Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life.  By Mrs. George Cupples.  Illustrated by Harrison Weir.  Hardbound.  London: T. Nelson and Sons.  $15.98 from Better World Books, Nov., '09.

This booklet is close to several others that I have, but Nelson seems to have changed the format slightly.  This volume lists one specific title first and then adds "And Other Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life" where those others start with "Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life" and then add a Roman numeral (e.g. " VII") and a subtitle (e.g., "The Wisdom of Experience").  Like them, this volume has 31 pages and then a blank, and it features seven stories, each with a modern equivalent and a Harrison Weir illustration.  Where their covers are yellow and slick in appearance, this volume has a green cloth cover with gilt and two pasted-on pictures.  The stories here include "The Wolf and the Lion"; "The Monkey and the Cats"; "The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox"; "The Fox and the Stork"; "The Horse and the Loaded Ass"; and "The Miser and Plutus."  In fact, this booklet is Section Two, "Justice and Judgment," of "Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life.  First Series," whereas the other booklets seem to be sections of the second series.

1883 Fables Illustrated by Stories from Real Life. By Mrs. George Cupples. With Thirty-Six Illustrations. Inscribed 1884. London: T. Nelson and Sons. £10 at the Abbey Bookshop in Camden, July, '92.

Thirty-three stories with well selected, well told didactic parallels. The pattern includes a fable, moral, illustration, and story. Stories X, XXI, and XXVIII have no modern parallels. The text contains many " ever so " phrases. WL (VIII) bears reading; its modern parallel stops short of the final catastrophe. " The Wolf and the Lion " (IX) is typical. " The Miser and Plutus " (XIV), new to me and not strong, features a second modern instance, the story of a bizarre " barking millionaire. " In XVII, many mice run over the lion; the caught mouse pleads " Don't stain a noble character like yours by eating a puny mouse. " BF (XXII) has both a good illustration and a good parallel. " The Mouse and the Frog " (XXIX) is different: the frog, a good friend, fears that the mouse will fall into some hole. CP (XXX) also has good parallel stories. At least several illustrations are by Weir (e.g., the frontispiece, engraved by John Greenaway, and 156). Some are standard Weir (e.g., 146), but others (e.g., 76), if by Weir, depart from his standard work. Many other illustrations seem to be by the team of Small and Morison. There are nicely embossed illustrations of " The Thief and the Dog " on the book's cover and of a cheese-eating monkey on its spine. I find a problem with the book's announced count of thirty-six illustrations. FG lacks an illustration here, presumably because FG was the frontispiece in the first edition and had no illustration with the FG fable. The illustration for DS is here repeated in larger format as the frontispiece. There is a second illustration added to the final fable, MSA. Thus I get thirty-one fables illustrated with a single illustration, one fable with two, and a frontispiece for a total of thirty-four illustrations, not thirty-six. Might the two illustrations on the cover and spine count? 

 

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