Rare German book 50 Fables for Children "Fünfzig Fabeln für Kinder"
Although this title, "Fünfzig Fabeln für Kinder" possibly dates to the 1830s (the author died in 1854, according to some sources) and the publisher, J. F. Schreiber in Esslingen bei Stuttgart, Germany, was founded in 1831, this particular copy is not that old. This printing instead seems to be from the 1880s. Despite being 120- or 130-some years old, the colors in the illustrations in this printing are still vibrant! There are advertisements for books by Lothar Meggendorfer, for example, who did not publish his first picture book until 1878. Also, Bohnn's "Neues Bilderbuch," advertised on the front pastedown, is even newer than that - some sources date it to c. 1890. Quite a few of the pages in this book are brittle at the binding, and a lot are detached. Binding is coming off. There are *fifty* color illustrations, all with the old Fraktur script beneath them.
Fable number 1 is of a "Rabe" (Crow) and reads, in part "Was ist das für ein Bettelmann? Er hat ein kohlschwarz Rocklein an und lauft in dieser Winterszeit vor alle thuren weit und breit, Ruft mit betruhtem Ton: 'Rab! Rab!'" Or, in English, "What kind of beggar is this? He has on a coal-black coat and in this winter time he runs in front of all the doors far and wide, shouting with a confident tone: 'Rab! Rab!'" All the pages are very cool, in my opinion, with terrific children's art, and sweet fables. The second fable is "Boy and Duck" (Knabe und Ente) and the third is "Bird at the Window" (Vogel am Fenster).
The author of this book is something of an enigma. The cover calls him "W. Heÿ." with a period after both first and last name, indicating that the last name may be abbreviated. And the ÿ looks a lot like an "n" with an umlaut, but an "n" never had an umlaut in German! The title page has what appears to be "W. Hen." Some identify this person as Johann Wilhelm Hey (this person was a court preacher who wrote hymns - he may or may not have authored children's books) but I will remain skeptical. The pictures in this printing are by P. Wagner (probably Paul Hermann Wagner, b. 1852), O. Böhrek, and H. Zierold.
