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Val Biro apparently began in 1983 to create a lively set of texts and illustrations for Aesopic fables.  These have appeared in three different series, and I have copies of some in each series.

In 1983 and 1984, Ginn and Company published two sets of six booklets, numbered 1 through 12, printed in Great Britain.  Further printings happened in 1985 and 1986.  In 1988, they added a third set of six booklets, numbered 13 through 18.

Beginning in 1986, the Wright Group in the USA published Biro's first two series.  Beginning in 1990, they added the third set.  They were all printed in Great Britain.  Their format was exactly the same as the format in the Ginn sets.  These pamphlets mention

In 2001, Award Publications in London began publishing pairs of Biro's stories and texts in larger-format pamphlets.  I found all eight of these in a supermarket in Nairobi.  Two stories from the eighteen stories in the Ginn and Wright booklets seem to have been dropped: "The Boy and the Lion" and FC.  These are the same two stories dropped in Award's single publication of 2007, Treasury of Aesop's Fables.  This set of booklets modifies Biro's texts slightly as they run across the top of the book's pages.  Then a second text in different font is added at the bottom of the page, repeating the substance of Biro's shorter text and amplifying it.  These booklets were printed in Malaysia.  Their covers are marked by small portraits of main characters in the corners of the frames on both front and back covers.  The center of the front covers offers an illustration from both of the stories presented.

Ginn and Company Fables from Aesop

1983/86 The Fox and the Crow.  Told and illustrated by Val Biro.  Fifth impression.  Paperbound.  Aylesbury Bucks, England: Fables from Aesop #1:  Ginn and Company.  £15 from Javaslublu Books, Lewes, East Sussex, UK, through eBay, August, '05. 

This is a well-worn but sympathetic and engaging eight-page pamphlet with stiff covers.  I love Biro's illustrations.  The fox here is like an outfielder making a diving catch of the cheese which the crow has let fall.  The fox's alert noticing of the crow-cum-cheese on the title-page invites a great facial expression in Biro's art.  Now I have found nine of the twelve booklets in this series. 

1983/86 The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs.  Told and illustrated by Val Biro.  Fifth impression.  Paperbound.  Aylesbury Bucks, England: Fables from Aesop #2:  Ginn and Company.  £.5 from Bookznprintz on eBay, Jan., '16.

1983/86 The Boy and the Lion.  Told and illustrated by Val Biro.  Fifth impression.  Paperbound.  Aylesbury Bucks, England: Fables from Aesop #6:  Ginn and Company.  £15 from Javaslublu Books, Lewes, East Sussex, UK, through eBay, August, '05.

This is a well-worn but sympathetic and engaging sixteen-page pamphlet with stiff covers.  I love Biro's illustrations.  The "boy" in this booklet is indeed a boy, vaguely African with a cap and a tattered long shirt that serves as his only clothing.  The king for whom he works is cruel, and so the boy runs away.  Biro gives great expressions to the pained lion as he approaches the boy with his paw bleeding.  This lion speaks, and so he can simply tell the boy his problem.  The cruel king personally catches the lion and holds him in a net.  He also catches the boy and wants to punish him by throwing him to the lion. Whereas the ruler usually sees the two encounter in an amphitheater of some sort, here he sees them encounter in the lion's jail den, into which he throws the boy.  When the two smile at each other and the boy puts his arm around the lion, the amazed king lets both go free.  Is this act in character?  Now I have found nine of the twelve booklets in this series. 

1984 The Ducks and the Tortoise.  Told and illustrated by Val Biro.  Pamphlet.  Apparent first impression.  Aylesbury Bucks, England: Fables from Aesop #7:  Ginn and Company. £10 from Lorraine Gray, Essex, England, through eBay, July, '05. 

This is an engaging eight-page pamphlet with stiff covers.  The tortoise's downfall here comes when he says to the amazed people "Look, I can fly!"  The only report of what happened next is: "Thump!"  Now I have found five of the twelve booklets in this series. 

1984/85The Eagle and the ManTold and illustrated by Val Biro.  Third impression.  Paperbound.  Aylesbury Bucks, England: Fables from Aesop #8:  Ginn and Company.  £15 from Javaslublu Books, Lewes, East Sussex, UK, through eBay, August, '05. 

This is a well-worn but sympathetic and engaging eight-page pamphlet with stiff covers.  I love Biro's illustrations.  The best feature of them here, I believe, lies in the eagle's facial expressions.  He is frustrated in the net, happy to be freed, apparently menacing when he takes the man's hat, and perhaps admonitory as he flies away.  Once a hearer or reader knows the story, it becomes clear that the last expression was one of concern that the man follow after him--and so avoid the imminent fall of the wall.  Now I have found nine of the twelve booklets in this series. 

1984 The Ass in the Pond.  Told and illustrated by Val Biro.  Pamphlet.  Apparent first impression.  Aylesbury Bucks, England: Fables from Aesop #9: Ginn and Company. £10 from Lorraine Gray, Essex, England, through eBay, July, '05. 

This booklet is identical with a third impression found earlier.  This has no such marking, and so I presume that it is a first impression.  Let me repeat some of my comments from there.  This is an engaging eight-page pamphlet with stiff covers.  It tells the story directly and even sparsely.  Do not miss the smile on the ass's face on 5 when he has lost most of his salt.  Then notice his chagrined look on 8 with the soaked sponges on his back!  The version underscores the contrast nicely by exclaiming at the first point "Lucky ass!" and at the second "Silly ass!"  Now I have found five of the twelve booklets in this series. 

1984/85 The Ass in the Pond.  Told and illustrated by Val Biro.  Third impression.  Pamphlet.  Printed in Great Britain.  Aylesbury Bucks, England: Fables from Aesop # 9: Ginn and Company.  $13 from Alibris, Sept., '01.

Here is a engaging eight-page pamphlet with stiff covers.  It tells the story directly and even sparsely.  Do not miss the smile on the ass's face on 5 when he has lost most of his salt.  Then notice his chagrined look on 8 with the soaked sponges on his back!  The version underscores the contrast nicely by exclaiming at the first point "Lucky ass!" and at the second "Silly ass!"  Unfortunately, I notice that this is #9 of a series of twelve booklets.  This is apparently the same group of twelve to which my 1986 booklet "The Eagle and the Man" belongs, but there it is published by the Wright Group.  The collector in me wonders now how to find the other booklets in the set.

1984 The Man, His Son, and the Ass.  Told and illustrated by Val Biro.  Pamphlet.  Apparent first impression.  Aylesbury Bucks, England: Fables from Aesop #10: Ginn and Company. £10 from Lorraine Gray, Essex, England, through eBay, July, '05.   

This is an engaging sixteen-page pamphlet with stiff covers.  Two things are of note in this delightful rendition of the traditional story.  First, the upside-down expression of the ass being carried on the pole is worth turning the book upside-down to see!  Secondly, there is a surprise when the man and his son fall into the water too!  Now I have found five of the twelve booklets in this series. 

1984 The Donkey and the Lapdog.  Told and illustrated by Val Biro.  Pamphlet.  Apparent first impression.  Aylesbury Bucks, England: Fables from Aesop #11: Ginn and Company. £10 from Lorraine Gray, Essex, England, through eBay, July, '05. 

This is an engaging sixteen-page pamphlet with stiff covers.  Biro's best illustration here may be the double-page centerfold showing the dog in the master's lap and the donkey looking in enviously through the window.  In fact, the ancestor in the picture on the wall is startled by the donkey!  The grinning expressions of the donkey playing and frolicking (10-13) contrast nicely with his expressions when being beaten (14-15) and when reflecting in his stable (16).  Now I have found five of the twelve booklets in this series. 

1984/86 The Donkey and the Lapdog.  Told and illustrated by Val Biro.  Fourth impression.  Paperbound.  Aylesbury Bucks, England: Fables from Aesop #11:  Ginn and Company.  £.5 from Bookznprintz on eBay, Jan., '16.

1984 The Farmer and His Sons.  Told and illustrated by Val Biro.  Pamphlet.  Apparent first impression.  Aylesbury Bucks, England: Fables from Aesop #12: Ginn and Company. £10 from Lorraine Gray, Essex, England, through eBay, July, '05.

This is an engaging sixteen-page pamphlet with stiff covers.  Biro's best illustration here may be the double-size picture at the centerfold: the boys run to the field, each with a different dream of treasure pictured in a bubble.  True to their nature, the boys give up work when they do not find the treasure.  Thus the picture on 13 after the digging is very much like that on 4-5 before the digging.  "'The grapes are the treasure,' they said.  'Hard work brings treasure'" (16).  Do these two statements by the boys fit perfectly together?  Now I have found five of the twelve booklets in this series. 

1984/85 The Farmer and His Sons.  Told and illustrated by Val Biro.  Third impression.  Paperbound.  Aylesbury Bucks, England: Fables from Aesop #12:  Ginn and Company.  £.5 from Bookznprintz on eBay, Jan., '16.

1988 The Lion and the Mouse.  Told and illustrated by Val Biro.  Paperbound.  Aylesbury Bucks, England: Fables from Aesop #13:  Ginn and Company.  £15 from Javaslublu Books, Lewes, East Sussex, UK, through eBay, August, '05. 

This is a sympathetic and engaging eight-page pamphlet with stiff covers.  Biro's great work with facial expressions starts here with the title-page.  This lion is not happy with this mouse!  Pique shifts to wonder to smiling and musing--and then to desperation.  All this development leads up to the fine two-page spread on which the lion is astounded by the mouse's ability to bite through his net.  As of this point I have found nine of what was twelve books in the series but now has become eighteen.  Other books in the series had been published in 1983 and 1986.  Apparently six more were added to the series in 1988.

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