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Some Recent Bookplate Purchases, Exchanges and Discoveries

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Stanley Kauffmann (1916  -2013)
"Mr. Kauffmann  started with The New Republic in 1958 and contributed film criticism to that magazine for the next fifty-five years.
 He had one brief break in his New Republic tenure, when he served as the film critic for the New York Times for eight months in 1966.
He also worked as an acquisitions editor at Ballantine Books in 1953, where he acquired the novel Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury.
 Several years later, while working as an editor at Alfred A. Knopf  he discovered a manuscript by Walker Percy, The Moviegoer
Following a year of rewrites and revisions, the novel was published in 1961, and went on to win a National Book Award in 1962."
His bookplate was designed by John Sasso in 1935.
Does anyone out there recognize the theatre notables shown on his bookplate?
Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

5/16/2014
Responses to my question
Hello, Lew...I know I've seen the image on the far right...I believe it's Edmund Kean (1787-1833) who was a powerful stage presence early in the 19th Century. He grew up in the British theatre and was acclaimed as perhaps the era's greatest Shakespearean actor. He was especially noted as a tragedian and, indeed, his own life followed an ultimately tragic decline. He made at least two trips to perform in The United States. Very interesting to read about him. I'm still on the trail of the other two actors; I think I've seen the middle image as well. Hope I find it.
Kate  Klavan
Santa Barbara


Hey, love your newsletter. I suspect that drawings you asked for ids on, are barrymores. Here is one link that might help--http://travsd.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/the-hall-of-hams-20-john-barrymore/. I just did an image search for the name barrymore.
Marsha Brown
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From fellow collector Michael Kunze
After seeing your Confessions of Thursday, May 15th, 2014.
I think I have seen the drawing at the left side some years ago.
I guess it shows David Garrick, British actor & author, 1717-1779

From David W.Lowden

I would guess David Garrick, Edwin (brother of John Wilkes) Booth and John Barrymore.  One for each of the centuries 18, 19 and 20

5/17/2014

Updates from Kate Klavin

It's a wrap


Look what I found…Kate

P.S. Of course, all the other contributions seem pretty likely as well…except maybe David Garrick who was more handsome than the image on the left…then again, Garrick, Barrymores and Booth are all good prospects! This is fun!



St.Louis Woman's Exchange- 
This one amused me
.By the way, the St. Louis  Woman's Exchange began in 1883 and is still thriving in 2014



William Jordan Howard's bookplate was designed by Dard Hunter






Some Bookplates with Frank Papé illustrations- I 've never seen the Thomas Horan plate before. In searching for additional information about it I found this old Ebay listing from fellow collector Anthony Pincott.

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""This ex-libris was profiled 25 years ago in Bookplate Journal, Vol.4, No.2 (1986) where W.E. Butler wrote about it as follows:


It is by no means uncommon for bookplates of great beauty or distinctiveness, nor even for bookplate designers, to elude the notice of collectors until books containing the ex libris appear on the antiquarian market. Such is the case with Dennis Yates Wheatley (1897-1977), novelist and self-styled "inventor" (with J. G. Links) of Crime Dossier Murder Fiction. A sizeable portion of Wheatley's personal library turned up on the 50p–£1 shelves at Blackwells in Oxford c. 1980, nearly all bearing his bookplate. The existence of the plate was a revelation, both for its unusual subject-matter and its designer: the illustrator F. C. Pape was now known to have designed bookplates. Here was an exceptional case of the bookplate being worth more than the book, and several copies of the Wheatley plate have found their way into bookplate collections.

After a prosperous period as a wine merchant in Mayfair, following military service in the first World War, Wheatley sold out in 1931 and turned to writing full-time. His historical adventures and detective novels enjoyed great popularity, his characters Roger Brook and Gregory Sallust moving adroitly from one volume to the next. While in the service during 1917, Wheatley met Gordon Eric Gordon-Tombe, whose name appears at the bottom right corner of the bookplate. In his manner of walking, cynical ruthlessness, sense of humour, and love of the good life, Gordon Eric became the model for Wheatley's character Gregory Sallust; it was owing to Gordon Eric that Wheatley broadened his mental development and reading habits and eventually started book collecting in earnest. His private library exceeded 4,000 volumes. A few years after the war Gordon Eric was murdered, and Wheatley used his own library to create a memorial by having the bookplate designed to depict the original version of the Garden of Eden.

Following what Wheatley called the "original Babylonian account," his bookplate depicts the Garden of Eden with numerous trees, one of which is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil bearing an open book in the branches and another is the Tree of Life in the form of a flowery crux-an-sata with a nude girl in an oval. In the foreground seated on a tree stump appears a faun, beside him an iced bottle of champagne and a saxophone. The faun has Gordon Eric's features taken from a photograph, and from another is depicted Dennis Wheatley seated on the grass listening to him. Beneath the picture is a cynically amusing remark that Gordon Eric had made to Wheatley.'

Dennis Wheatley collected chiefly first editions and the "greatest classics." The better items found their way into booksellers' catalogues, where the bookplate was widely noted, though not understood. One dealer commented: "From Dennis Wheatley's library, with his large and rather disturbing bookplate on front pastedown." The Butler Collection contains the fourth edition of W. Tooke, The Life of Catharine II, Empress of Russia (1800), in three volumes, bearing the Wheatley bookplate (in vol. 1 only) and the inscription in Wheatley's hand: "Used by me when writing my Roger Brook story 'The Shadow of Tyburn Tree.' Extremely useful. Dennis Wheatley." The set is full of underscorings and marginalia which show how extensively it served as a major source for numerous events or passages in the novel (1948)

Frank Cheyne Pape (1878-1972) had impressed Wheatley by his illustrations for the Bodley Head editions of Anatole France and for one of Wheatley's favourite authors, James Branch Cabell. The bookplate is dated 1928, and Pape was selected to illustrate one of Wheatley's early books, "Old Rowley" A Private Life of Charles!! (1933). Although Pape illustrated dozens of books between 1908-38, his best works date from the 1920s and inspired something of a Pape cult. In Wheatley's bookplate he perhaps exhibited more of the imaginative range and personal viewpoint said to be lacking in some of his graphic work; most assuredly he excelled in grotesque characterization with, here, an outrageous sense of humour. 



Since the discovery of the Wheatley bookplate, another design by Pape, in 1931, for Thomas Horan has come to light. It depicts a faun playing pipes with two tiny babies on the ground between his hooves and a maiden listening to music at his side; in the forest background stands a unicorn. The bookplate is a process reproduction of what seems to be a drawing.



Bookplates so often reflecting personal interests and concerns, the Wheatley ex-libris is, as well as one of the most unconventional English bookplates of the interwar era, an object lesson about jumping to conclusions regarding the meaning of a design. Far from being "disturbing," it was a warm tribute to the owner's friend and intellectual stimulant."



 Note From Lew- I suspect that Mr. Horan may have "borrowed" Frank Papé designs for his bookplates, The one I have is different from the one described  above..


I recently discovered another bookplate with a Frank Papé design.


Louise Brooks(1906-1985) was a silent film star. The image on her bookplate appeared in The Works of Rabelais
published by Boni and Liveright (Volume 2 page 180)
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Three Interesting  Links For Booklovers

Book sale season is heating up - just like the weather!  On a drive to the dairy for a sundae? Why not pick up a book or 2 to read this weekend? Pull out the smart phone or tablet. No need for an app. Type m.booksalefinder.com and no matter where you are in the US or Canada, you'll know if there's a book sale or store within 100 miles. M.BookSaleFinder.com (don't forget the M!)
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New York Times Article about lost New York Bookstores
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/opinion/sunday/lost-booksellers-of-new-york.html?ref=opinion&_r=1

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Thousands of old library books bear fascinating traces of the past. Readers wrote in their books, and left notes, pictures, letters, flowers, locks of hair, and other things between their pagesWe need your help identifying them because many are in danger of being discarded as libraries go digital. Books printed between 1820 and 1923 are at particular risk.  Help us prove the value of maintaining rich print collections in our libraries.
Join the search! Go to your library, find marked books, take photos, & upload them here
CURRENTLY COLLECTING IMAGES and CITATIONS of MARKED COPIES OF LIBRARY  BOOKS PUBLISHED BEFORE 1923.  Each month we will add some specific authors to help focus  your searches.  We are focusing on CIRCULATING AND RESEARCH COLLECTIONS (not rare books or special collections).

See you again on Sunday May 25th




Leather Bookplates Used by the Macdonald Bindery

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"JAMES MACDONALD (1850-1920) was born in Scotland and trained as a bookbinder. In 1873 he came to the United States and worked with William Matthews, one of the pre-eminent binders. He left Matthews when he had saved enough money to start his own binding business. The Macdonald bindery, established in 1880, soon became one of the most sought-after binderies in this country. In an interview with the New York Herald in November 1910, James Macdonald acknowledged that hand- binding in the industrial age was a dying art, "...the world is moving away from the art of the book lover. The world is swifter now, but it is not so thorough in many things as it once was. The average man has become used to the product of the machine. Today he knows no other standard. He has lost his touch for half-tones - for the cover of a book has its half-tones."

Mr. Macdonald's clients were the leading publishers and antiquarian booksellers  of the late 19th and early 20th centuries .They included Scribners, The Gotham Book Mart and Brentanos
His collector clients included  J.P.Morgan, Paul Mellon and Henty C. Taylor .               Because these were active clients he had on hand leather bookplates in various sizes and colors for insertion in their books. I currently have duplicate examples of some of these plates, for possible exchange
Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

J.P.Morgan used two sizes of leather bookplates in a wide range of colors.


                The two brown bookplates shown on the right 
                are uncut examples before  trimming.



The AHA plate was used by  Arthur Amory Houghton Jr



Links

I accumulate links which may  interest book and bookplate collectors,
Here are three of them.

Flickr has an interactive site with all sorts of bookish ephemera

This Week In Bookplates 10/12/2014

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The Harvard College ,University Bookplate Collection of Hamilton Vaughan Bail   

        Hamilton Vaughan Bail(1891-1997), who graduated from Harvard in 1911, amassed one of the largest collections of bookplates for the institution ever formed. There are almost 500 examples. They range from the earliest Harvard College "Detur" plate engraved by Nathaniel Hurd to bookplates designed by 20th century greats like Bruce Rogers.






         The collection has work accomplished  by E D French, J W and F Spenceley, E B Bird, W F Hopson, S L Smith, Bruce Rogers, Rudolf Ruzicka and many others. The plates ate mounted on cards and enclosed in two half-morocco cases which make for a very handsome assemblage.




         Hamilton Vaughan Bail was for a time Harvard's oldest living graduate, having died at the age of 106. He is also known for having written a standard book about views of Harvard.

Fellow collector/dealer Tom Boss purchased the entire collection and hopes to publish a book about it. Within the collection there are  duplicate copies of some of the rarest plates
The duplicates are available for sale..

Here is Tom's contact information:
Tel. 617 308 5062   or   TGBOSS@gmail.com


Several weeks ago I attended a book show in Brooklyn, New York and one of the dealers I met sent me a nice selection of bookplates to choose from.I mentioned this to a friend who is not a collector and he was surprised that a dealer would send out items on approval to a stranger
Upon reflection, I realized that most antiquarian booksellers will send out valuable books for examination.The only time I ever had someone refuse to send me a collection for examination was
when a lawyer purchased a bookstore.. I suppose it is because booksellers are in a " gentlemanly profession" and lawyers are conditioned to  not trust the people they encounter.

Here are some of the items which I purchased.

"The Atalanta was a private  railroad car built  for Jay Gould, a noted financier and owner of several railroads. It was built in 1888 to Gould's specifications and was named the "Atalanta". The car had four staterooms, two observation rooms, two baths, an office, a kitchen, a dining area, and a butler's pantry. Only the finest materials were used. Upon Gould's death, ownership of the car fell to his son George Jay Gould who was also a railroad president. The car remained in the Gould family until the 1930s. It was then used as a private residence during the Texas oil boom until finally coming to Jefferson Hotel in 1954. Today it is a tourist attraction in Jefferson Texas". 
I suspect the bookplate was designed in the 1930s.
Here is a link about private rail cars currently for sale if you are in the market for one.

I need to do some research on the Considine plate.Perhaps it was used by

John W. Considine Jr. (1898–1961)

Trivia: 

Father of actors Tim Considine and John Considine.

I will contact his son(s) and let you know what I find out.
This Rockwell Kent plate  shown above  turned out to be a pleasant surprise.  I already had it (so I thought )
but purchased it anyway because Kent bookplates are easy to sell or trade. As it turns out Mr. Levinson's middle initial was actually L .Rockwell Kent made a mistake.which he subsequently corrected..






I had been  looking for the Laha Whittaker plate designed by Jay Chambers for some time.
 She was an actress who married  Jay Chamber's .The proof  is hand hand colored and pencil signed.by Jay Chambers..
Here is something I wrote about Jay chamber's son Whittaker a few years ago..


One last thing-I am going to have another bookplate contest 
.Details will be published within three weeks..

See you again next Sunday.

The Raunchy Rabbit Bookplate Contest

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The Raunchy Rabbit Bookplate contest is up and running. 

Think of an appropriate  caption for this bookplate and send it to 

 Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

Only one entry per person will be considered.

The contest ends at  Midnight on Saturday November 22nd, 2014

The winner will receive an inscribed artist signed copy of Killer Bunnies by Charles Bordin.


Some Old Rabbit Bookplate Friends

If you have a rabbit bookplate in your own collection send a scan and it will be added  to this blog posting.

Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

"This rabbit from my collection looks, sadly, to be the victim rather than hero of his tale"
Sent by Jane Peach
"A photograph showing Albert Turner Reid drawing in his studio. Reid was a successful businessman, a staunch supporter of the American farmer, a composer, a painter of murals and a teacher of art. The art school which he started with George Stone in Topeka was the beginning of Washburn University's Art Department. Although a talented artist and successful newspaper publisher, Albert T. Reid is probably best remembered for his political cartoons. Reid sold his first cartoon to the Topeka Mail & Breeze in 1896. For the next 30 years, his cartoons appeared regularly in Kansas City, Chicago, and New York newspapers and several national magazines. They remain today a major contribution to the history of American politics. A large collection of his work is in the collections of the Kansas Historical Society"

I have not yet found any articles about the bookplates designed by Albert Turner Reid. A number of them seem to be for friends and family members. He signed his bookplates in several different ways..Here is what I have in my own collection.If you have other examples of his bookplates please send scans and they will be added to this blog posting.




Mystery Bookplate 

This seems to be art work for a bookplate
Do any of you have information about the owner or artist ?

Raunchy Rabbit Reminder

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animatedLopRabbit

I found this adorable image on the link shown below.
If you are a rabbit lip reader you will note that Mr Rabbit is telling you not to procrastinate .
Enter the Raunchy Rabbit contest while it is on your mind and before you get distracted.

http://rabbit.org/




The Raunchy Rabbit Bookplate contest is up and running. 

Think of an appropriate  caption for this bookplate and send it to 

 Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

Only one entry per person will be considered.

The contest ends at  Midnight on Saturday November 22nd, 2014

The winner will receive an inscribed artist signed copy of Killer Bunnies by Charles Bordin.




This Bunny Bookplate by Elly DeKoster amuses me.


Bookplate Odds and Ends

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Back in January I wrote about the printer and bookplate engraver Robert Sneider.

In response to that blog posting  Paul Scheeler  sent me this image .Thank You Paul.
Hello Mr. Jaffe,

Here is a jpeg scans of the calling card image by bookplate engraver Robert Sneider of New York. It was found in an old scrapbook for St. Bernard Commandery No. 35, Knights Templar of Chicago. These were used by attendees of triennial conclave gatherings, in this case at their 1883 event in San Francisco. The scene is apparently a spoof on the solemn Chamber of Reflection used in the Templar degrees. Please feel free to utilize this on your blog or in any other manner you see fit.
Best regards,
Paul Scheeler, EPC
St. Bernard Commandery No. 35, K.T.
designer

Back in Februrary I wrote about the bookplate designer Pauline Stone


As a result of that posting  Eric Angeloch  sent me this email .Thank You Eric

Dear Mr. Jaffe,
I was delighted to have happened upon your web page illustrating Pauline Stone's bookplates. Pauline was my maternal grandmother.
You may be interested in viewing




Bookplate Dealers Around The World.

In the U.S. Tom Boss is a good resource.

In Germany I would recommend Dr.Wofgang Rieger
www.antiquariat-rieger.de/neueexlibris.htm 

In France I have purchased many bookplates from Jacques Laget


Recent Exchanges and Purchases


Cantor Abraham Cardozo's Bookplate
I exchanged duplicates with fellow collector Philip Stieglitz and got a bookplate from the library of the late Cantor Abraham Lopes Cardozo .


 I have written about the remarkable hand painted bookplates used by John Lewis Childs.
Earlier in the week I purchased  this one...



Book Shops around the World

I don't usually recommend books but in this instance I'll make an exception.
It is a safe assumption that most of you enjoy going to book shops . Jen Campbell's new book  is a delight. It's written from the heart by a very talented writer who takes you on a remarkable  journey to bookshops around the world.
My rough estimate is that she covered about 250  stores.
In another life I would like to visit every one of them..




Mystery Bookplate Artist

These three bookplates are all by the same artist.The cypher is either TC or CT.
On two of the plates the initials are boxed.If you recognize the initials please let me know
Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com
If you have mystery bookplate(s) in your collection send me an Email and I will try to assist you.



Haydon Jones

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My Great Grandfather , Haydon Jones

By Andrew Jones

Today, we would probably call him a sketch artist… but back in the days before newspapers gained the technology to reproduce photographs, Haydon Jones achieved national recognition as both an illustrator and a newspaperman… in the profession then known as “pictorial reporting.”


Born in Cleveland in 1870 into a family of coal miners, Jones showed an early aptitude for drawing, which moved both family and friends to raise the money he needed to leave the mines and study instead, at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Shortly after moving to New York City in 1889 to continue his studies at the Art Students League, at the age of 19, Jones became a staff artist at the New York Mail and Express.


In an era of red hot, day and night newspaper competition, quick and accurate artist-reporters were in great demand… and Jones’ outstanding skill in the field earned him the nickname “The Human Camera” from his colleagues on newspaper row.  Jones eventually progressed westward, taking up with the Chicago Times in 1892 and the San Francisco Chronicle in 1894.


In 1898, Jones briefly became worldwide news himself at the very beginning of the Spanish-American war, serving as correspondent for the New York World. Shortly after slipping into Cuba, coming ashore just outside Havana, Jones was captured by Spanish troops and quickly sentenced to be shot as a spy. Unaware that reports of his imprisonment were both making headlines and prompting negotiations over his fate, the artist nervously passed much of his time in prison agreeing to eager requests from Spanish officers for their sketches… hoping the likenesses might earn him some sympathy with his would be executioners. Jones and another captured American reporter were eventually freed in a negotiated prisoner exchange with Spain.


Undoubtedly Jones’ biggest scoop came in the wake of President McKinley’s assassination in 1901. Arriving in Buffalo a day after the President was shot there, Jones learned that no newspapermen were being allowed to see the suspected assassin, Leon Czolgosz. Undeterred, the artist somehow managed to arrange to have himself briefly locked up in the cell across from Czolgosz. Later that same day, Jones triumphantly returned to New York, delivering to his paper the only known likeness of the suspect at the time.


After several stints with the Boston Herald, as well as serving as the editorial and political cartoonist for the New York Post, Jones retired from the newspaper business in 1935. He died in 1954.



As simply an artist, Jones was a painter as well, but he was perhaps best known for his dry point etchings. He was famous in the field for his ability to etch his artwork directly onto fresh, virgin plates… with no previously drawn pencil sketches to guide his cuts. During his lifetime, Jones’ etchings were exhibited in New York and Boston galleries… and today they are held in many public and private collections.




Haydon Jones Checklist of Known Bookplates
                                                                                                        
Arthur Brentano (signed proof)
Dr.Charles E.Cameron 
Margaret Carnegie
Fessenden School Class of 1923  
Mary Daniels Davenport
Mary E. Fitzgerald  
George Leander French 
Helen Eggleston Haskell (signed proof)
Henry Osborne Havemeyer
Joseph Jefferson Edition 
Haydon Jones 
Robert Haydon Jones 
Edward Lauterbach 
Randolph Cooper Lewis *
Jenny Biggs Merrill 
Jane Wallace Neilson 



Jane Wallace Neilson and Katharine Bishop Neilson
Wallace Platt Neilson 
Marion Erskine Platt 

Angus Shaw *
Frank Burton Stevens 
Chauncey Devereux Stillman 
Eliot Wight Stillman 
Kenneth Stone’s Book 
*Images needed
Bookplates of Randolph Lewis and Angus Shaw are illustrated in the January (1901?)
issue of The Optimist
Ref Journal of the Exlibris Society Volume XI  Page 125

A second elusive periodical is Artistic Bookplates . N.S., V1,#1.
In the 1903 issue Randolph Copper Lewis writes
about Haydon Jones .Mr. Cooper's  bookplate is illustrated.
There may be a copy of this periodical at The Huntington Library.
 I will follow up .

Miscellaneous Items

Newspaper Illustrations  



Christmas Card by Haydon Jones    

Severed Heads on Bookplates plus a New Contest

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NEW CONTEST Announcement

 Submitted by Anthony Pincott


I cannot recall ever seeing a crossword devoted to bookplates, so the one that appeared in The Bookplate Society’s Summer 2014 Newsletter seems to be a first. It can be found at www.bookplatesociety.org/documents/Crossword.pdf  Of course some clues presuppose a knowledge of British bookplate history and literature, but this may not impede anyone who is willing to look up the Franks Catalogue online and who enjoys deciphering the elements of a cryptic clue. Existing members of the Society have until 4 December to submit their solutions in order to be included in a prize draw, the prize being a year’s free membership. Every non-member who sends in a correct answer by email to members@bookplatesociety.org by that date will be offered a first year’s membership at half the normal rate of subscription. Every entrant, even of an incomplete solution, will receive in return a bookplate (still to be specified what this may be). It’s an interesting challenge, and I should like to see another crossword, maybe not in any way cryptic, featuring American bookplates and artists.Do any of you  have the time and energy to compile this?
 Furthermore, it leads me on to ask if there are there any bookplates which depict crosswords. I can’t think of one – can you?


Topless Bookplates

For quite some time I have been fascinated by bookplates with severed heads and exposed brain matter. I call it my Donovan's Brain collection.
If you are turned off by this topic do not click onto this memorable link from the movie
  Underwater awakening
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrVc_8vbZP8

If you want similar bookplates from your own collection added to this posting send jpeg scans to
Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

I missed out on this one last week. It sold for $15.50 on Ebay.



Here are some examples from my own collection::Mr. Lombardo's plate  ( below) was designed by Remo Wolf


Don't Mess with the Montgomery clan


 Aubrey Beardsley's illustration for Oscar Wilde's  Salome with the head of John the Baptist was selected for her bookplate by Wylly Folk St. John

Dr.Arthur Ward Jr. was the chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University  of Washington








Judaica Bookplates For Possible Exchange

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I  have a number of duplicates for possible exchange.Here they are:

Please send scans or descriptions of your duplicates to 

Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com


The Elkan Adler plate has a stain on the reverse side which is intensified in the scan.








The Levitan plate is unique.It was designed for a collector of miniature books.
The dimensions  are 1 1/4 in. wide by 1 1/2 inches high










Mystery Judaica Plate

This one is not a duplicate. I purchased it last week and fellow collector Philip Stieglitz sent me the following information .
"I can't tell you which library this is from, however the words are ve-higita yomam ve-leilah, you should study it day and night(Torah). On the bottom is written ve-zot ha-torah asher sam Moshe, which translates as, "this is the Torah that Moshe placed".... I don't know what APA means."

Do any of you know which institution used this plate and what the APA signifies?

11/17/2014    Richard Schimmelpfeng and Kate Doordan Klavan  both came to the same conclusion..

The mystery plate is from Italy.

Here is Richard's response :

Lew, your mystery bookplate is for the Universita Giudaica del Livorno (Italy) designed by Antony De Witt, ca. 1900, and cut by Ulvi Liegi, pseudonym of the artist Luigi Levi.  The Hebrew is from Joshua (Hosea?) 1,8 and means meditate its essence day and night, referring I suppose to the book in Joshua's lap.  This is from Remo Palmirani's book "Gli ex libris del popolo del libro" 1994, p. 39.  The university's name may be slightly different now.



How Could I Not Buy This Stuff ?

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And The Winner is

Roseanne Simon


The Raunchy Rabbit Contest ended last night .
 I want to thank all of you who submitted 
entries.

                                                    Here is  the winning caption:
Books Hare There and Everywhere
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How could I not buy an advertising blotter from a dentist whose last name is Greif or one from the Liverpool Manure company or the Miracle of Running Water ?





How about an all purpose post-card ?



How about an undertaker's bill from the 1880's ?


How About Some Calling Cards with interesting graphics ?
(Click on images to Enlarge)

How about a fat man on a Bicycle trade Card ?

How about a traveling knife sharpener post card ?

How About an American art nouveau trade card ?

Next week  I'll begin the California Bookplate Project.
Enjoy your holiday.

The California Bookplate Project- Sheldon Cheney

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I intend to focus on California bookplate artists. and  create a central clearing house for information about.their bookplates My hope is to attract some other bookplate enthusiasts who can assist me in this project..   This first installment (below) is about Sheldon Cheney.

If you would like to help me I can be reached at

Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

These are some of the bookplate designers  I plan to write about over the next few months Some of the artists worked  in several locations throughout their careers but many collectors think of them as Californians.:

Beulah Mitchell Clute
John A. Comstock
Mallette Dean
Anthony Euwer
Mac Harshberger
Anthony F. Kroll
Dorothy Payne
Olive Percival
Charles J. Rider
Ruth T. Saunders
James E.Webb
Margaret Ely Webb 
Albertine R.Wheelan
Leota Woy



Sheldon Cheney


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Sheldon Warren Cheney (June 29, 1886 – October 10, 1980) was an American author and art critic, born at Berkeley, California, the son of Lemuel Warren Cheney (1858–1921), California lawyer and writer. At first he worked in his father's real estate business, later moving to Detroit where he founded the Theatre Arts Magazine in 1916 and edited it until 1921. Cheney was one of the most significant pro-modernist theatre and art critics of the early twentieth century. He helped introduce European modernist practices in theatre to the United States. His Theatre Arts Magazine promoted American little theatre activity, advocated for New Stagecraft design, and nurtured new American playwrights".
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Conversations with Sheldon Cheney : oral history transcript / and related material, 1974-1977

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The Warren and May Cheney House at 2241 College Ave. was built in 1885.
 (photo: Daniella Thompson, 2005)

The Cheney Family and the  family residence are discussed here:

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The Sheldon Cheney Bookplate Checklist
( A work in Progress )

Holmes Beckwith 


W.A. Brewer Jr.


Dr.Edith Brownsill 


California Bookplate Society


Calimedico Club (University of California)
Ref P.59 American College Bookplates


C H Cheney 


Sheldon Cheney 


Sheldon Cheney (Art Library) 
Warren Cheney


William F. Gable 


William F. Gable (Sun Dial) 
Breckinridge Greene (Submitted by Richard Schimmelpfeng)


Breckinridge and Florence Greene 


Otto A. Jeschien 


Kit's Book 


Lois Kohn 


Charles and Julia Shinn (Peace Cabin) 


Mary Louisa Sutliff 


Alice Grover Whitbeck


Margaret Mason Whitney 



Mr, Cheney Made the following pencil notation on the back of the Whitney plate:
"Etching
In this kind of work I make the engraving (or etching) myself,direct on the copper.
In the other kind,I simply make a drawing on cardboard in pen and inkand a process zinc plate is made from the drawing by photography.
Etching is very much more difficult but the resulting print is generally considered very much more satisfactory."
SC







Christmas Cards by Bookplate Artists

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I'll be taking a train to New York City this morning to visit Santa  at Macy's .My grandson Jack is four years old and in all probability he won't be a true believer by next Christmas.
Over the years I've accumulated  a number of Christmas cards by various  artists and collectors.

This seems  like a good time to share some of them with you.

This one was done by James D. Havens for The Hart family:


This One was done by Allen Lewis

This one was done by Thomas Ewing French

This one was Done by Charles Keeler


This One was done in 1934 by Jerry Doyle 
The Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 1934 occurred on November 6, 1934. Incumbent Republican governor Gifford Pinchot was not a candidate for re-election. Democratic candidate George Howard Earle III defeated Republican candidate William A. Schnader to become Governor of Pennsylvania. This was the first Pennsylvania gubernatorial election won by the Democratic Party since 1890.

This one was engraved by Roy Cooney in 1994 and sent as a Christmas card 
to the late Brian North Lee
This one was done by Justin C.Gruelle

This one was sent by Olive Percival in 1920.
She had a good sense of humor.


Santa in New York and More Christmas Cards

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I came back from New York City without seeing Santa Claus. There was a three hour wait at Macys
and all adults present were not that patient.The back up improvised plan was to visit a toy shop and that pleased all adults and one child.. At the end of the day I managed to stop at a bookshop and picked up this bookplate.


My guess was that Mr. Clark was in the printing trades..I did several Google searches and  finally came up with this information about a couple with the same names but that in and of itself proves nothing. I will treat this as a mystery bookplate and hope more conclusive information may be sent to me.
Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

"Norma Lee Clark, actress, author and personal assistant to Woody Allen for more than 30 years, died of cancer Nov. 8 at her home in New York City. She was believed to be 75 year old at the time of her death.
Born in Jefferson City, Missouri, Clark began her career in show business with the Pittsburgh Children’s Theater and later acted at the Rochester Arena Theater. In the late 1940s, she moved to New York to take the female lead in the Buck Rogers TV series, “Captain Video and His Video Ranger,” which ran 1949 to 1955.
For 30 years, Clark worked as Woody Allen’s personal assistant. During this period, she also wrote 15 Regency novels, under her own name and the nom de plume Megan O’Connor, including “The Infamous Rake” and “The Daring Duchess.”
Her marriage to lighting designer David Clark ended in divorce
She is survived by husband, Dimitri Vassilopoulos, her two daughters, Megan Clark and Emily Carvajal, and two grandchildren"

Here are a few more Christmas Cards

These Two are By Dugald Stewart Walker


These Two are by Rudolf Ruzicka


See you Again on Sunday

Odds and Ends plus a few more Christmas Cards

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"Clarence Hamilton Kennedy(1879-1952) was an entomologist and an artist. (He designed his own bookplate).. He was the first person to carry out a comprehensive census of dragonflies in the western United States. In 1914 and 1915, he travelled throughout California and Nevada, compiling lists of species that he encountered at specific sites along with notes on environmental conditions. This survey provides a valuable source of information on freshwater habitats and insects for a time when widespread urban development was beginning, and more than 50 years before there was any thought of human-caused global warming."
Ref.  Excerpted from a discussion on dragonflies given by . Joanie Ball


This beautifully embossed bookplate was designed by the art-deco medalist Pierre Turin

 and defaced by Willis H. Ware

Pierre Turin is widely considered the most accomplished Art Deco medalist. He was born in Sucy-en-Brie, France, in 1891 and died in 1968. He attended the École des Beaux-Arts, where he studied under Vernon, Patey and Coutain. In 1920 he won the Grand Prix de Rome, and was made Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur in 1936. His most famous work is the medal for the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts that gave the name to the Art Deco style.

Here are some representative medals he created:
Willis H. Ware 

  1. Willis Howard Ware was an American computer pioneer, privacy pioneer, social critic of technology policy, and a founder in the field of computer security. 
  2. BornAugust 31, 1920
  3. DiedNovember 22, 2013, Santa Monica, CA

Here is a Christmas card by George Wolfe Plank



Cat and mouse, often expressed as cat-and-mouse game, is an English-language idiom dating back to 1675 that means "a contrived action involving constant pursuit, near captures, and repeated escapes. The "cat" is unable to secure a definitive victory over the "mouse", who despite not being able to defeat the cat, is able to avoid capture. In extreme cases, the idiom may imply that the contest is never-ending. The term is derived from the hunting behavior of domestic cats, which often appear to "play" with prey by releasing it after capture. This behavior is due to an instinctive imperative to ensure that the prey is weak enough to be killed without endangering the cat.
In colloquial usage, it has often been generalized to mean simply that the advantage constantly shifts between the contestants, leading to an impasse or de facto stalemate.

Bookplate Designed By Luis Agassiz Fuertes


 This Christmas letter from 1943 is a refreshing bit of nostalgia.




The California Bookplate Project Olive Percival

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Olive Percival, A Renaissance Woman  

By David W. Lowden

                                                                                 
Olive May Graves Percival (July 1, 1869 - February 18, 1945) was a multi-talented writer, photographer, gardener, artist, and bibliophile in Los Angeles. Although she earned her living as an insurance clerk, she wrote for a variety of magazines, authored several books, and was sought after as a lecturer on gardens, New England antiques, Japanese ceramics, and children’s books, among other subjects.Percival was born in a log cabin on her family’s farm near Sheffield, Illinois. Her father died when she was ten. In 1887, she moved to Los Angeles with her mother and sister, lured by the climate and the prospect of year-round gardening.

Percival began work as a saleswoman in the People’s Store (later a branch of the May Company California) before joining the fire agency firm of McLellan & Golsh. In 1895, she joined the Home Insurance Company as a clerk and remained there for more than thirty years. Despite her modest salary, which never exceeded $150 a month, she built a home called the Down-hyl Claim in the Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County), a scenic area northeast of Los Angeles, often described as an artists’ colony. Oddly, when she built her home, she did not have it wired for heat or electricity. Instead, it was lit with oil lamps and candles and warmed by fires in the fireplace.

Her home was often the setting for garden teas, moon-viewing parties, and memorable salons attended by local and visiting celebrity authors, artists, and book lovers. Her diaries from 1889 to 1943 are peopled with artists, actors, writers, society leaders, career women, and others active in the intellectual life of Los Angeles during that time. One guest thought of the occasions as a mingling of “the inconvenient and the cultivated

Percival began writing for publication in 1896 and sold her first poem and first article just before her 28th birthday. Eventually, she began to regularly contribute to the Los Angeles Times, writing articles on subjects ranging from women’s suffrage to gardening. After the Los Angeles Times bombing in 1910, she penned an article titled Would Woman's Vote Suppress Anarchy, which appeared in the October 16, 1910 issue:

If ever we needed the full representation of the whole people in government affairs, that need is terribly emphasized by this distressing occurrence. As for equal suffrage, I have never in my life heard one sane argument against it. I think the only argument that men who are opposed to the measure have ever advanced in justification of their unfair and un-American position, is that they do not want women to lose their delicacy and charm by rough contact with matters political. This is not 'sentiment' but sentimentality. . . . There is no sense or intelligence about it. Women must live in the world as truly as men and in many instances they are as well equipped for the actualities of life as men. . . . If there is to be anything democratic or republican about the government of America, that independence must be based upon the liberty of all of its citizens. . . . When half of the people of any country are disenfranchised, that country has no freedom. We pretend to be progressive and we boast our splendid republicanism, but our republic is more despotic than any monarchy unless all who are taxed have a voice in the control of public affairs.

Her books include Leaf-Shadows and Rose-Drift, Being Little Songs from a Los Angeles Garden (1911) and Mexico City: An Idler’s Note-Book (1901) which featured some of her own photographs and was reviewed favorably. In her will, she arranged for the publication of two of her manuscripts, Our Old-fashioned Flowers (Pasadena, CA 1947) and Yellowing Ivy (Los Angeles, CA 1946). In 2005, the Huntington Library Press published excerpts from her book-length manuscript Children’s Garden Book, as Olive Percival’s Children’s Garden Book. The Huntington Library has seven hundred of her photographs, many of which are a record of her garden. Others are of scenes in Mexico, Los Angeles, San Pedro, and San Francisco. She often printed them herself—purposely on blueprint paper—because the colors reminded her of Oriental porcelain.

In 1949, Los Angeles nurseryman Paul Howard patented an Olive Percival Rose. It was chosen to honor the teachers of America and planted at the White House.

Although she achieved some success as a writer, she often lamented to her diary the fact that she was not able to make a living as a writer Percival accumulated notable book and art collections, many of which are now in three Southern California libraries: Ella Strong Denison Library, The Libraries of the Claremont Colleges, the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens and the University Research Library at the University of California, Los Angeles, CA.

In "Different Images, Portraits of Remembered People," author Hildegarde Flanner writes this of Percival:

"It was in 1915 in Los Angeles that I first met Miss Olive Percival. More properly, let me say, I had the honor to be presented. She was a prominent figure in Southern California, a well-known hostess, a collector of books and art. She was an authority on Oriental art and also early American antiques. She collected both. She had a fine collection of textiles, bookplates, and exquisite paper dolls. Her library of children's books was one of the best in America. She was a direct descendant of Gov. William Tracy of Virginia. In the midst of her scrupulously filed and arranged ten thousand good books she was a very important person, intellectually and socially, at a time in the history of Los Angeles when such possessions as hers represented conspicuous achievement and impeccable position."

Percival also collected old hats while making new ones. Her hat making extended to her dolls, for whom she made nearly two hundred little hats. She also made paper dolls, inspired by a letter about antique paper dolls from Wilbur Macey Stone, an authority on children’s literature and toys. The Denison Library now houses over 300 of Percival’s dolls, clothes, and other accessories

Percival was considered an authority on many aspects of Chinese and Japanese art, lending pieces from her collections of prints, porcelain, scroll paintings, lacquer, bronzes, sword guards, and stencils to local art groups for special exhibitions. Her interest in the Japanese and their culture lead her to protest anti-Japanese measures, such as the California Alien Land Law of 1913 discriminating against the Japanese. During World War II, she stored the belongings of her Japanese friends when they were sent to internment camps. To counteract the charges of some friends who accused her of being un-American, she joined the Daughters of the American Revolution, the American Society of Colonial Families, and the Mayflower Society. This did not stop her from also belonging to the Japan Society of the UK, the Japan Society (New York), the local Japan-American Club, and the Japanese-American Woman's Club.
For more information, see
 https://archive.org/details/olivepercivallos00apos

Additional Resources






  • Olive Percival diaries, transcribed, Ella Strong Denison Library, Scripps College
  • Guide to the Olive Percival Collections (unpublished) in the Ella Strong Denison Library, Scripps College, processed by Ingrid Johnson
  • Apostol, Jane, Olive Percival: Los Angeles Author and Bibliophile (Dept of Special Collections, University Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles, 1992)
  • Flanner, Hildegarde, "My Late Miss Percival: A Different Image" in Different Images: Portraits of Remembered People (John Daniel, Publisher, Santa Barbara, 1987)
  • Percival, Olive, The Children's Garden Book: Instructions, Plans & Stories: A Voice from a Gentle Age, Huntington Library Press, San Marino, 2005
  • DiBiase, Linda Popp, "Forgotten Woman of the Arroyo," Southern California Quarterly, 66 (1984)
  • Johnson, Ingrid, "Book Collector Extraordinaire: The Life and Times of Olive Percival"
  • Johnson, Ingrid: Olive Percival - Scripps College podcast
  • Los Angeles Times, various articles and editorials, 1899-1985
  •   Note from Lew Jaffe
    The 1995 Yearbook of The American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers includes a well researched   38 page article about Olive Percival and other California bookplate artists.It was written by the late Audrey Arellanes. From that article and with the assistance of David Lowden I was able to begin the following checklist.   
    The Checklist is a work in progress.If you have bookplates designed by Olive Percival for which no image is shown please send a Jpeg scan to 
    Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

    The Bookplates Designed by Olive Percival

    Adrian's Book


    Seichi(?) Paul Akana's Book

    Billie Bailey's Book


    Betty's Book

    Chloe

    Gerald's Book

    Margaret Cohn's Book

    Dorothy Wilson Corbin

    MEC (Mary Eleanor Curran)

    OD

    Dick Desmond's Book

    W.D. Jr's Book

    Walter Desmond Jr

    Dora's Book

    Gerald's Book

    SLK FMK/Home Port

    G McC

    HM

    Dorothea Moore's Book

    Grace Ormsby's Book

    Helen Mason Percival's Book

    Nova Pursell

    Claire Ryan's Book

    Lora Suydam

    HW

    HRW

    OP (Bell Shaped Flower)

    OP (Bonsai)

    OP(Bunch of Flowers)

    OP (Four Small Flowers)

    OP (Peacock)

    Olive Percival Her Book (House Viewed Behind Two Trees)

    Olive Percival Her Book (Lamb)

    Olive Percival The Gift of (A Circle of Flowers)

    Olive Percival Textiles (Text Inside a Woman's Skirt-Two Sizes)

    OP Textiles(Peacock)

    Olive (Dragonfly)

    Olive's

    Percival (In Circle-Two Sizes)











    Looking Back and Looking Forward

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    LOOKING BACK


    In 2014 I began a series of bookplate artists checklists . Of all the articles I've written this year they give me the most satisfaction . Few if any of the checklists are complete so these projects  with your help  and input are ongoing .
    ..

    Leonard Baskin
    Pauline Stone
    http://bookplatejunkie.blogspot.com/2014_02_01_archive.html


    Looking Forward

    The California Bookplate Project

    I probably bit off more than I can chew with this project but with your help I will keep on trucking.
    These are a few of the bookplate designers  I plan to write about in 2015 Some of the artists worked  in several locations throughout their careers but many collectors think of them as Californians..

    Beulah Mitchell Clute
    John A. Comstock
    Mallette Dean
    Anthony Euwer
    Mac Harshberger
    Anthony F. Kroll
    Dorothy Payne
    Charles J. Rider
    Ruth T. Saunders
    James E.Webb
    Margaret Ely Webb 
    Albertine R.Wheelan
    Leota Woy

    I really could use some help with this project.The bookplates of many of these artists   are at 
    several California institutions and it does not make sense to reinvent the wheel.What I hope to find is   someone in California with whom I can collaborate.


    If you have the time and enthusiasm please contact me.




    Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com



    Happy New Year

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    To all of you out there I wish you a happy , healthy and prosperous new year


    The following list of upcoming shows was sent out by the Ephemera Society of America




    January 3-4, Wilmington MA: Book & Paper Row, at the Boston Antiques Show & Design Sale, www.neantiqueshows.com.

    January 10-11, Hartford CT: Papermania Plus, www.papermaniaplus.com.

    January 10-11, Glendale CA: Vintage Paper Fair, www.vintagepaperfair.com

    January 16-17, 2015, New York NY: Metropolis! Vintage Books & Ephemera, www.flamingoeventz.com

    January 16-17, Austin TX: Austin Book, Paper, & Photo Show, www.texasbooksellers.org

    January 17-18, Syracuse NY: Salt City Winter Antique Show, www.syracuseantiqueshow.com

    January 23-25, Rancho Cordova CA: Sacramento Gold Rush Paper Show, www.goldrushpaper.com

    January 24, Boxborough MA: Paper Town, www.flamingoeventz.com


    January 31-February 1, Pasadena CA: Pasadena Antiquarian Book & Paper Fair www.bustamante-shows.com

    February 6-8, Oakland CA: The 48th California International Antiquarian Book Fair, www.cabookfair.com

    We need ambassadors for ephemera! 19
    hours to be covered - bring items from
    your collection to be showcased;
    authors, bring books to be signed.
    Contact us to sign up for an hour or more
    at our information booth & display case:
    Robert Dalton Harris

    February 20-22, New York NY: Greenwich Village Antiquarian Book Fair (photographs, too). gvabookfair@gmail.com.

    March 6-7, Arlington VA: Washington Antiquarian Book Fair, www.abaa.org

    March 13-15, St. Petersburg FL: Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, www.floridabooksellers.com

    March 20-22, Old Greenwich CT: Ephemera 35 - International Vintage Paper Fair & Conference, www.flamingoeventz.com and www.ephemerasociety.org. Scroll to the end for a preview of conference events.
    March 27-29, Chicago IL: The Chicago Vintage Poster, Print & Photography Fair, www.flamingoeventz.com.

    April 11, New York City: New York City Book and Ephemera Fair, www.bookandpaperfairs.com.

    April 11, New York City: The Manhattan Vintage Book & Ephemera Fair and Fine Press Book Fair, www.flamingoeventz.com.

    April 25-26, Allentown PA: Allentown Spring Antique Advertising, Book, Postcard, Photography & Paper Fair. 610-573-4969.

    May 2, Wilmington MA: Book, Paper & Photo Exposition and sale www.bookandpaperfairs.com

    May 11-15, London, England: exhibit at the Guildhall Library of postal reform documents, collection of Anthony Eskenzi. john@historystore.ltd.uk

    May 13-16, Business Design Centre London, England: London2015, a stamp exhibition to honor the 175th anniversary of the first postage stamp. www.london2015.net 

    May 29-30, Ironbridge Gorge Museum, England: conference "Exploring the Project-Based Economy"keith@a2sn.org.uk

    June 7, Concord NH: Granite State Book, Paper & Ephemera Fair www.bookandpaperfairs.com

    July 13-17, CHAViC Summer Seminar, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester MA: "Culinary Culture: The Politics of American Foodways, 1765-1900" application deadline March 20. www.americanantiquarian.org.

    12/27/2014 Don Magee was kind enough to send this information:


    Lew, thank you for your blog. I do not know if you are aware of exhibits in Rhode Island relative to book plates and owner’s marks. 


    I look forward to seeing you in 2015      Lew Jaffe           Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

    The Bookplates of Ellen Terry,Gordon Craig and Henry Irving.

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    Ellen Terry  (1847-1928)


    "Dame Ellen TerryGBE  was an English stage actress who became the leading Shakespearean actress in Britain.
    Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London and toured throughout the British provinces as a teen. At 16 she married the 46-year-old artist George Frederic Watts, but they separated within a year. She soon returned to the stage but began a relationship with the architect Edward William Godwin and left performing for six years. She resumed acting in 1874 and was immediately acclaimed for her portrayal of roles in Shakespeare and other classics.
    In 1878 she joined Henry Irving's company as his leading lady, and for more than the next two decades she was considered the leading Shakespearean and comic actress in Britain. Two of her most famous roles were Portia in The Merchant of Venice and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. She and Irving also toured with great success in America Canada and Britain."

    I have no idea  when I purchased a group of Ellen Terry's bookplates designed by her son Gordon Craig.,  They sat undisturbed in an album until I recently started reading A Strange Eventful History by Michael Holroyd .The book is about the dramatic lives of  Ellen Terry, Henry Irving and their remarkable families.It has stimulated my interest in victorian theatrical celebrities.The book  includes eight line sketch drawings of bookplates by Gordon Craig. He designed his mother's  bookplates. and on one of them she hand wrote  travel instructions.





    1. Edward Henry Gordon Craig, sometimes known as Gordon Craig, was Ellen Terry's son. He was an modernist theatre practitioner;  an actor, director,writer and scenic designer..During his lifetime he designed over 200 bookplates.
    2.  Fellow collector  John Blatchly has written an exceptionally well researched book 

    3. The bookplates of Edward Gordon Craig ,published 1997 by The Bookplate Society and The Apley House Press
    4. It  belongs in your bookplate reference library if you do not already have a copy

    Here are just a few  examples of bookplates by Gordon Craig



    1. .

    Sir Henry Irving (1838-1905)


    "Sir Henry Irving  born John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J.H Irving was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility (supervision of sets, lighting, direction, casting, as well as playing the leading roles) for season after season at theLyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as representative of English classical theatre. He was the first actor to be awarded a knighthood. Irving is thought to have been the inspiration for the title character in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula."


               
    This bookplate  by Bernard Partridge was used by Henry Irving.
    The letters of his name are black.


    Here is a link to The Irving Society




















    The bookplate shown below(with the letters of his name in red) was reproduced on page 238 in English Bookplates by Egerton Castle.
    From time to time I have seen his bookplate with the red letters..Such bookplates were cut out of Mr Castle's book and are bogus.



    Bookplate Odds and Ends 1/11/2015

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    Congratulations to Paula Jarvis 

     Her new newsletter  Printed and Bound  is  informative and beautifully laid out.


    The current issue  can be found on The Book Club of Detroit website.
    I was interested in all the articles (especially the one about bookmarks).
    When you start reading the article be sure to clink on all the links.Would you believe one collector has over 120,000 bookmarks ?


     If her plans do not change the next issue (February) will contain an article about bookplates and will also appear on the BCD website.
    Here is a link to the current issue.




    Congratulations to fellow collectors Anthony Pincott  and Peter McGowan

    Their discovery of the 96 hour day enables them to do the  the work of four  individuals in compressed time, defying all known laws of physics. Currently they are working on a very special auction in which you will be able to bid .

     The lots come principally from the collection of ladies' bookplates formed by Stephanie and Brian Schofield, and are being sold on behalf of Brian's executors.

    More detailed information will be forthcoming .Stay tuned.



    Hertha Furth

    This bookplate is illustrated on P.87 in  Ex Libris The Art of The Bookplate by Martin Hopkinson

    I would like to learn more about this little known Austrian artist and any other bookplates she designed. She emigrated to the United States where she met Waldemar Bernhard Kaempffert . In 1931 he was the science editor of The New York Times .

    Here is some biographical information about her which I copied from the internet.



    "Hertha Furth was born in Vienna in 1907

     (bio 1967 American Artist Magazine) but passport 

    records show her birth date as 1900.
    She studied with Julius Klinger in Vienna and Charles

     Martin (1884-1934) in Paris. 

    She entered the US in 1929 and lived in New York 


    City, where she was a noted designer for 

    Bloomingdale's.  She held several patents

     for art related design.  She illustrated books by

     Dr. William A Brams.  Her work is featured in 

    American Artist, January 1967 and 100 Watercolor 

    Techniques by Norman Kent."












    Important Announcement- The Bookplate Society Auction, over 2,500 items

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    LOT # J021 (Page 11)

    Lot # J026 (Page 11)

    As wintry weather causes most of us to stay warm at home, here is news of an amazing event to keep you well occupied. 
    Over 2,500 bookplates – British, American and European – are being offered for sale by online auction through The Bookplate Society. These largely come from the collection formed by Brian Schofield (1930-2014) and his wife Stephanie (née Kelvin, 1946-2001). This considerable gathering can be viewed at 




      This is five times the size of the Society’s previous web auction held eighteen months ago, and far richer in terms of the quality of the material. 

    This auction is open to all exlibris enthusiasts and is not limited to members of The Bookplate Society, but ALL participants must first register by email. 
    members@bookplatesociety.org

    The start date for the auction will be sent to participants in February. In the meantime you can  begin looking at what’s being  offered. 
    Following registration, participants will receive a bidding list showing all the lot numbers, for use in recording and sending in bids.

    Contact


    The auction secretary is Anthony Pincott.

     Send bids, or questions, to him at:



    Write to him also if you discover any errors in the web presentation


    What is for Sale

     Bookplates from a collection formed by the late Brian and Stephanie Schofield. They were particularly interested in the bookplates of ladies, both British and American, and of notable people.  There is an especially large number of works by the WPB engravers (Harrison, Osmond, Bird, Syson, & Vize), 
    Gordon Craig* , Sherborn, Eve, Anning Bell, plus the American engravers Spenceley, French, Macdonald, Fisher and many others.
     Look  for royal bookplates and one by Jessie M King.

    Also on offer are many Continental European exlibris. There is a batch of fine works by Alfred Cossmann and his school of Austrian engravers, plus an assortment by other artists of bookplates dating mainly from the period 1880-1960. We have not attempted to indicate the artist in all cases, so look out carefully for material by important designers.

    The Schofields built up a library of books about bookplates, and this is a good opportunity to acquire volumes that you may be lacking.

    Also added to this auction are some widely ranging bookplates from other sources.

    *Edward Gordon Craig’s bookplates are highly sought after, but in 1924 Chatto & Windus published Nothing or the Bookplate with 50 bookplates tipped in.  John Blatchly’s 1997 book The Bookplates of Edward Gordon Craig explains that these tipped-in plates were not printed from the original blocks but are in fact reproductions produced by a block maker for the 1924 book. Blatchly notes (page 10) that “the block maker’s efforts to reproduce the plates did not satisfy Craig at all. He felt that every line had been slightly thickened”. Nevertheless, Craig had not been willing to undertake the task of himself printing original bookplates. In 1925 there was an edition of the book with 25 tipped-in plates, reissued in 1931 by JM Dent with the same 25 illustrations.

    Brian Schofield’s “bookplates” by Craig seem mostly to come from the 1925 or 1931 books. Craig items in Schofield series have the signs (verso at top edge) of having been tipped in. The match between the numbering of plates in the 1931 book and the auction lots is given below.

    1.
    C123
    5.
    T030
    10
    C122
    15.
    S079
    20.
    -
    2.
    R057
    6.
    L062
    11.
    J036
    16.
    J025
    21. 22.
    -
    3.
    C121
    7.
    K027
    12.
    J099
    17.
    F029
    23.
    F074
    4.
    T027
    8.
    T038
    13.
    P101
    18.
    J049
    24.
     -
    4A.
    T029
    9.
    K002
    14.
    J098
    19.
    D055
    25.
    J045

    Bidders must decide whether or not these Craig items have value in their own right.  Other Craig material in this auction – K003, P086, R047, T068, T031 and D027 –  may or may not be reproductions. 

    Note from Lew- I am overwhelmed by this auction . There is something here for everyone. 


    Examples of some  items in the auction:
    Lot# B051 (Page 1)
    Lot # B079 (Page1)

    Lot # C094 (Page 2)
    Lot # C108 (Page 2)


    LOT# E082 (Page 9)
    "It's by Stanislav Kulhanek, done in 1926, it is listed in Gutenberg Katalog, and I suspect it depicts the duel scene from Eugen Onegin. My books on Pushkin are in Russian and none of them mentions Kulhanek." Information extracted from an email sent by Richard Schimmelpfeng

    1/18/2015
    "Hi Lew,
      The attribution for this bookplate is correct - it is the duel scene from Oneigen. The snippet of music at the bottom of the plate is from the aria that Lensky sings in Tchiakovsky's  opera right before the duel."  sent by fellow collector   Jim Lewis

                                                                 Lot # 130 (page 9)
    "Well now, this is interesting.  Otakar Hradecny (1905-1983) was an avid collector and had many plates designed for him.  A Czech, he was primarily an engineer (that's what the Ing. is).  He also liked naked women on his bookplates.  The device the woman is using is a medical one, I've seen it before but can't remember what it is, perhaps some kind of electric shock thingy.  I have a number of Hradecny plates in my collection but not this one.  Hopes this helps somewhat."

     Information extracted from an email sent by Richard Schimmelpfeng

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