Dealer/ Collector Profile, Anthony Tufts

Tony and Anne Tufts

I am a book dealer located in Exeter New Hampshire. Lately I find myself
doing less with books and more with ephemera , prints and bookplates. Two
years ago I bought my first collection without quite knowing what I was
getting into. I, like so many before me, became fascinated by these
miniature art works and by the stories they can tell. Since that first
purchase I have been fortunate enough to have acquired several more
collections. I have had bookplates by Hurd , French, Severin , Zetti,
MacDonald, Smith, Spencely and many others pass through my hands.

For the most part I buy in order to sell but I have also taken some baby
steps towards becoming a collector as well. One of my customers in
Washington D.C. sent me two of his bookplates and they were the beginning of
my collection. A particular favorite is Italo Zetti's Ex Musicis of Chr.
Van Der Straaten. I like the outdoors, hiking , gardening and music.
Rather than collecting a particular artist or engraver I find myself drawn
to bookplates with outdoor scenes, gardens, starry nights and musical
connections. The Van Der Straaten bookplate has a lot of that.

While I appreciate the work of the American Masters of the "Golden Age" I prefer Art Deco and
 Art Nouveau exlibris  and the artists of the Glasgow School

Bookplates provide a way to collect and deal in works of art that are
affordable and I enjoy researching owner's names to learn about their
interests or occupations.

I just sold this bookplate of William C. Gotshall. The design of the bookplate reflects Gotshall's broad ranging interest. When Gotshall died he left his rare book collection to the New York State Library.

There were three provisions to his bequest and of course I find the number one condition to be both interesting and telling:

(1) an appropriate bookplate bearing his name to be designed and inserted in each book; (2) the collection to be cataloged; and (3) "The choice books, rarities, first editions, those in exceptional bindings, etc. to be kept forever as a separate collection, shelved in specifically designed bookcases in a special room..."

I have a confession to make. I have recently started to read about
heraldry. Oh dear!

Tony Tufts, Exeter Rare Books
A.Tufts@comcast.net

Selling on eBay as Exeter-rare-books
http://tinyurl.com/8me7j69

Note From Lew Jaffe

I like to publish collector profiles. If you want your profile to be included in a future posting just send me a paragraph or two about your collection, along with a few Jpeg scans.If English is not your primary language I can assist you with editing.  Collectors in Europe and Asia are encouraged to participate

Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

 

Who is A.C. Palmer?

I found a bookplate etched   by A.C. Palmer earlier in the week and fellow collector Anthony Pincott  sent the following information about the owner H(Henry) Valentine Geere , a writer.

"Geere was born in 1874. There are a lot of his archaeological notebooks, sketches etc dating from around 1900 listed at http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/ead/ead.html?id=EAD_upenn_museum_PUMu1017 (University of Pennsylvania). Maybe the university holds biographical details? I cannot find a date of death for him in England, and he may perhaps have lived in the US. This said, his main book was published in Edinburgh. In any event, he must have worked with the University of Pennsylvania because of his article The American Excavations at Nippur.The work of the expedition from the University of Pennsylvania, published in The Monthly Review, 1903. There’s no obvious entry for him in the IGI.

Of A.C. Palmer I find absolutely nothing – this is a common surname, and without full first names we are quite lost. He is not listed in the standard UK directories of book illustrators of the 19th and 20th century. I think that the only way forward will be to discover other copies of this bookplate with associated notes giving fuller info. Again, I suppose him to have been American."

Does anyone out there have any information about A. C. Palmer?

See you next Sunday