American Flags on Bookplates-Part One

As often happens in collecting  you start with one item that has a particular theme and then get another .Before you know it you have a small accumulation..This recently acquired woodcut for Henry Connard Jr. is one of my  favorites..I do not know anything about the owner but flags with 26 stars were used between 1837 and 1848.*
.Throughout this posting I will be using two references Charles Dexter Allen's  American Book-Plates and  Paul Latcham's Bookplates In The Trophy Style

The Thomas H.Henderson Plate is Allen # 373.(Latcham #229b)
The James Henderson Plate is not listed by Allen and is Latcham # 229a
My copy of the James Henderson  is dated in ink 1790.

*Here is a useful site for dating American flags
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:SKbPJ7ZsjWcJ:www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagfact.html+american+flag+with+26+stars&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com





Waldon N.Edwards was a congressman from North Carolina.Here is some biographical information extracted  from this site:
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=E000083
"EDWARDS, Weldon Nathaniel, a Representative from North Carolina; born in Gaston, Northampton County, N.C., January 25, 1788; attended Warrenton Academy; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1810 and commenced practice in Warrenton, N.C.; member of the State house of representatives in 1814 and 1815; elected as a Republican to the Fourteenth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Nathaniel Macon; reelected as a Republican to the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Congresses, elected as a Crawford Republican to the Eighteenth Congress, and as a Jacksonian to the Nineteenth Congress; and served from February 7, 1816, to March 3, 1827; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Treasury (Eighteenth Congress), Committee on Public Expenditures (Nineteenth Congress); declined to be a candidate for reelection in 1826; returned to his plantation; member of the State senate 1833-1844; member of the State constitutional convention in 1835; again elected to the State senate in 1850 and chosen its president; president of the State secession convention in 1861; died in Warren County, N.C., December 18, 1873; interment in a private cemetery at his home, “Poplar Mount,” about twelve miles from Warrenton, Warren County, N.C."

The James Giles Plate was engraved by Maverick. It is Allen # 308 and Latcham #191




                                                                        
The Major Reuben Humphreys plate is Latcham #192 and was engraved by Peter Brunton.. It is exceedingly rare.My copy is a re-strike from the original copper.
                                      









I will continue with some additional  examples next week.
If you want to send scans of bookplates with flags for inclusion in the blog send them to  bookplatemaven@hotmail.com
See you next week.