Punning Bookplates

The Rockwell Harmon Potter plate is by Robert Cairns Dobson Punning(sometimes called canting ) bookplates use an image relating to the owner's name.I do not know when these whimsical bookplates began but they seem to be have been increasingly popular at the end of the 19th century. Here is a link to a New York Times article written in the 1890's in which the writer is highly critical of them.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9500EED91230E333A2575AC1A9609C94669ED7CF

Mr. Wolfe's inscription is in Gaelic.

I believe Mr. Tower was a Chicago resident

The Taylor and Smelt plates are from England.

The Ryder plate is by John William Evans

The Robert O. Foote plate is by Ruth Saunders

Charles H. Bell was a Governor of New Hampshire.

Click on the images to enlarge.

The Bookman plate is illustrated on P.126 in The Art Of The Bookplate by James Keenan along with several other punning bookplates

The Beach plate was done by Dr. A. W. Clark

I do not know what next week's posting will focus on but I would like to include some additional collector profiles.It does not take too much time to fine tune them. All I need is a paragraph about yourself, your collecting interest, a scan of your favorite bookplate(s) and a picture of yourself, if you are so inclined.

UPDATE 1/22/2009

Will Smith of Hangfire Books has a wonderful celebrity/punning bookplate for Gloria Swanson

Here is a link:

http://hangfirebooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/last-minute-save.html