Showing posts with label EnglishAesop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EnglishAesop. Show all posts
Monday, February 6, 2012
Cooper: Argosy of Fables
An Argosy of Fables by Frederic Taber Cooper (1921)
This is an enormous and delightful book containing almost 500 pages worth of fables from all over the world. The books opens with stories from the prose Aesop, Babrius, Phaedrus, Avianus and Abstemius. The second part of the book contains Indian stories from the Hitopadesha, the Panchatantra, the Katha Sarit-Sagara, and the Jatakas, followed by Persian fables from Jami, Sadi and the Anwar-i-Suhaili. There are also Chinese, Armenian and Turkish fables. The third part of the book contains modern European fables, from England, France, Spain, Russia, Germany and Poland. The final part of the book contains African and Native American fables.
.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Tolstoy: Fables for Children
Fables for Children by Leo Tolstoy (1904)
This is Volume 12 in the Complete Works of Count Tolstoy, translated by Leo Wiener. This volume contains Fables for Children, Stories for Children, Natural Science Stories, Popular Education, The Decembrists, and Moral Tales. The fables give us a glimpse into the Aesop's fables that had a special appeal for Tolstoy!
.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
A Selection of Aesop's Fables (Eton)
A Selection of Aesop's Fables by (the students of) Eton College (1868)
This is a collection of Aesop's fables, rendered into verse, by the Greek students of Eton College in the late 18th century, circa 1773. I will be definitely transcribing some of these for the English Aesop blog; they are delightful!
.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Thummel: Aesop in Rhyme
Aesop in Rhyme by Mary Leone Gilliam Thummel (1906)
This collection of Aesop's fables in verse also features illustrations by Edward Eksergian. I've transcribed some of them over at the English Aesop blog.
.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Aesop's Fables for the Instruction and Improvement of Youth
Aesop's Fables for the Instruction and Improvement of Youth (1834)
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 1 goes from The Cock and the Jewel through to The Tortoise and the Eagle, with illustrations; Volume 2 goes from The Frogs and the Fighting Bulls through to The Pigeon, the Dove and the Raven, again with illustrations.
.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
La Fontaine: Fables Calculated for the Amusement and Instruction of Youth
Fables Calculated for the Amusement and Instruction of Youth by Jean de La Fontaine (1789)
This book contains prose versions in English of 40 of LaFontaine's fables, with illustrations, too!
.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Stassart: Fables
Fables by Baron de Goswin Joseph Augustin Stassart (1850)
This is an English translation of Stassart's French fables - and the verse translations by John Henry Keane are truly charming!
.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Davies: Fables of Babrius
The Fables of Babrius, trans. by James Davies (1860)
The fables of Babrius are one of the most important ancient collections of Aesopica, and these verse translations by Davies are a delight to read. Here's a sample:
A vine with foliage and ripe clusters bloom'd.
Its shoots a goat with nibbling tooth consumed,
Whom thus the vine addrest: "Why injure me?
And browse my leaves? Is there no grass for thee?
Yet thou ere long thy just deserts shalt meet.
Though now my shoots thou to the quick dost eat,
To me no less shall satisfaction rise,
When juice o'er thee I pour in sacrifice."
Click here for a SLIDESHOW of all the Tenniel-Wolf images.
.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
The Little Child's Fable Book (by syllables)
The Little Child's Fable Book, arranged in words of 1, 2, and 3 syllables, with illustrations by Georgina Bowers (1868)
The first section contains fables with only one syllable, followed by a section with words up to two syllables in length, and then a final section of fables with words of up to three syllables. You'd be surprised what can be done with words of a single syllable!
.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Herford: Fifty Fables in Verse
THE HERFORD AESOP: Fifty Fables in Verse, by Oliver Herford (1921)
I've posted these delightful fables in my English Aesop blog. In addition, the book also contains illustrations by the author - here is his illustration of the frog who pretended to be a physician, fooling everyone but the fox:
.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Pratt-Chadwick: Aesop's Fables
Aesop's Fables, by Mara Louise Pratt-Chadwick (1892)
This is a book produced for use in "first grade" of the time. I really like some of Pratt's ideas about why the fables make good reading. Here's a quote from the Introduction: "Children like to talk: they like to hear people talk. Talking is their all. Then why not let their reading book talk to them, and let them talk to it?" You can find Pratt's fables transcribed and illustrated over at my English Aesop blog.
.
Boothby: Fables and Satires
Fables and Satires by Sir Brooke Boothby (1809)
The verse fables of Sir Brooke Boothby are a wonderful contribution to the Aesop fable literature in English, and the collection is especially notable for including later Latin authors as well as fables from French, German and Italian literature. Volume 1 contains Phaedrus, Avianus, plus more Greek and Latin fables; Volume 2 contains more Greek and Latin fables, fables from La Fontaine, more European fables along with Boothby's original fables and satires in verse. I'm currently republishing Boothby's poems, with illustrations, over at my English Aesop blog.
Here is a portrait of Boothby by the painter Joseph Wright:
.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Boothby: Fables and Satires
Fables and Satires, with a Preface on the Esopean Fable by Sir Brooke Boothby, Bart. - Volume 1, 1809; Volume 2, 1809.
- GoogleBooks: Volume 1 - Volume 2
- GoogleBooks PDF: Volume 1 - Volume 2
- GoogleBookstore: Volume 1 - Volume 2
Another project I am working on over the long term is a volume of Aesop's fables in various English translations and one of the most delightful English versions I found is the versification of Sir Brooke Boothby, both volumes of which can be found at GoogleBooks! Not only does Boothby cover the classical Aesop, he also includes his versions in verse of neo-Latin authors such as Abstemius, along with many of the French fabulists, too!
Volume 1 contains his translations of Phaedrus into English verse, plus his translation of Avianus, along with many other fables from Greek and Latin sources. Volume 2 carries on with the Greek and Latin fables, followed by translations from La Fontaine along with other modern European fabulists.
These volumes are a good example of the problematic cataloging of materials at GoogleBooks; I had a heck of a time finding Volume 2 since somehow Boothby's name did not make it into the catalog entry!
.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)