Special Edition Bookmarks

Each morning I receive, Exlibris-L an interactive news letter which is of great interest to librarians and their groupies. More often then not it is quickly deleted; however, this morning I spotted a link about bookmarks which was submitted by Steve Mauer ( www.bookmine.com )

Here is the link: It is well worth looking at
http://www.miragebookmark.ch/be_0_exhibition.htm

Premium or Prize Exlibris/Rewards of Merit

Four 19 th century American Rewards of Merit.Click on Images to Enlarge

When I was a student at P.S.198 in Brooklyn acknowledgement of a job well done was a gold star.
In 18th century England the reward was a bit more elaborate. Here are a few examples from my collection. If you click on the images they can be enlarged. For more comprehensive information about these "Rewards of Merit " you should obtain a copy of Premium Or Prize Ex-Libris by Brian North Lee (ISBN 0 9535008 4 5 ).
Another excellent book by Patricia Fenn & Alfred P Malpa is Rewards Of Merit (ISBN 0-943231-68-X) . It's focus is on American items.The book was remaindered several years ago and is probably still available at a reasonable price.

Lawrence Klimecki (Lawrence@GryphonRampant.com )

recently completed a bookplate for his own use and I asked him to write about his technique along with a brief biography. Here is his response.

Lawrence Says: July 18, 2008 at 5:35 pm
I work initially in pen and ink. At some point in the design I bring everything into Photoshop for finishing. Finishing can be anything from a slight clean up to arranging different elements into a single composition. I charge $225 for a 3.5″ X 5″ design. Delivered as an electronic file, jpeg or pdf, for easy printing.Bio:Lawrence Klimecki is an artist/designer living near Sacramento Ca. He attended the Academy of Art College in San Francisco where he studied illustration and graphic design. In 1995 he founded Gryphon Rampant, the publishing end of his various projects.Lawrence now focuses primarily on religious and sacred art. He draws inspiration and influence from wide range of sources including Byzantine icons, art nouveau, golden age illustration, and contemporary graphic design.

Book Labels *(click here for my ebay listings)

T. Sparrow was a self taught wood engraver who worked in Annapolis, Maryland from about 1765 to 1780. He seems to have signed all his bookplates which after two hundred thirty years is most appreciated by bookplate collectors and students of printing history.

Samuel Jordan Cabell (1756-1818), left college to fight in the American revolution.

From 1785 to 1803 he served in congress.

This is an early label from Connecticut measuring 80 X 178 mm border to border and undoubtedly came from a large quarto or folio volume.It is also one of my favorites.

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

List Of Dated American Book Labels (A work in Progress) Early English Book Label For J. Taylour

In 1976, Brian North Lee wrote Early Printed Book Labels.

You can probably get a copy on ABE for under $20.00 . It's certainly worth a good deal more than that.
There is a folk art quality to these early printed gems that has always appealed to me. The Lee book deals mainly with English book labels.Very little has been written about American book labels.There is an article by R.W.G.Vail in the September-October 1933 issue of The American Book Collector and Charles Dexter Allen devotes a chapter to the subject in American Bookplates I have reproduced a list of dated American book labels from the text of the Vail article..It is something to build upon and I would be delighted to receive scans or information about additional book labels. Send your information to Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

*EBAY LISTINGS -. Let's face it , from time to time , I need to support my "habit" by selling duplicates on Ebay . Before the weekend of January 26th is over I will have listed about 25 choice items. You Can see them by searching Ebay by my seller name bookplatemaven or simply clicking on the Book Labels title at the top of this posting.

Poets, Science Fiction

If you search the Internet, you can probably find several "association copies" with Hart Crane's bookplate. A word of caution: After his death in 1932 Hart Crane's mother gave (or sold) some of his personal papers including a pile of Crane's bookplates to a bookseller in New York City. The dealer then pasted the bookplates in books chosen at random from his stock and misrepresented them as being from Crane's library. Not only was the dealer a crook , he was not too swift, as some of the bookplates were pasted in books published after Crane's death.

When rummaging through used and antiquarian book stores one of the first areas I go to is the poetry section. My observation has been that poetry readers, in general, tend to use bookplates more often than other readers. Poets also tend to use bookplates more often than other writers. Harold Witter Bynner (1881-1968) used at least two bookplates .

The image shown above has nothing to do with Sci-Fi or Poets, although the expression"Crow Not, Croak Not" is truly poetic .I am assuming this is either Canadian or English and it may be a printer's or booksellers label but really do not know for sure.The company it was designed for is B or E Rankin Ellis . Do any of you have additional information to share with us?

The universal (off the shelf) bookplate shown below was sold by the Antioch Bookplate Company in the early 1960's. The late Robert Anton Wilson was in their employ at that time. Click On Images To Enlarge

Last week, I mentioned that in February there will be a posting about the bookplates used by science fiction writers and collectors. If you use a science fiction bookplate please send a scan to bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

Ken Sanders , a rare book dealer in Salt Lake City Utah sent me the science fiction bookplate used by Elizabeth D. Pope. In his email he states that : " Betty or Elizabeth Pope attended many worldcons in her day, mainly in the 1950s through the 80s and the 90s and met and became friendly with numerous sci fi authors of the day.Through Brigham Young University she was able to arrange for many of them to come through and over the years accumulated a vast collection of f & sf books.I purchased approximately 2500 books from her collection ,out of more than 10,000 books."

Since one good turn deserves another, I have added a link to Ken Sander's web site. Just click on the orange words (Poets, Science Fiction) up on top and wait a few seconds for the Internet to do it's magic.

Part Of My Brain Is Stuck In World War Two

This is a 328 year old bookplate , which I purchased at Papermania.It is the oldest dated bookplate in my collection. From our friends at Wikipedia I learned the following about it's original owner : Sir Robert Clayton (1629-1707) was born in Northamptonshire,England. He became an apprentice to his uncle and along with a fellow apprentice, eventually established the bank, Clayton & Morris Co. He prospered and by 1697 was lending money to the king to pay for the army. For more details go to Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Clayton

Last week I showed the front of an aluminum owl bookmark. Two people wrote to me inquiring about the message on the reverse side. Here it is. Click on the image to enlarge it.

I was at Papermania in Hartford, Connecticut yesterday . The selection of bookplates available was impressive and I will be busy for several weeks sorting through them. Of the approximately 200 bookplates I purchased , the one that intrigued me the most is shown below.Nothing fancy, but it sets my mind in motion. It came from a Mr. Althouse whose collection was formed in the 1920's and 30's. He corresponded extensively with librarians and kept meticulous notes. This plate came from Miss Mary P. Pringle , librarian. A Google search indicates that she was the librarian at the University of Hawaii from 1928 through 1943. So, she was active during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I wonder if these plates were torn up or pasted over by the library administration after the attack. ? Did the members of this organization get swept up in the mass arrests at the time and get sent to concentration camps? Some one out there maybe able to answer these questions for me . As I say in the headline, part of my brain is stuck in World War ll. Some time in February, I plan to write about the bookplates used in the libraries of science fiction writers and collectors.I have a fairly impressive group of writer's plates but not very many from collectors . Your scans for possible inclusion would be appreciated.Send them to Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

Stuff ( Ephemera) Found In Books,Boxes and Shows

Many years ago, I collected bookmarks.In fact, that's how I got interested in bookplates.Most of that collection was sold but I did retain a few unusual items.Here are two aluminum advertising bookmarks circa early 1900s?

Calling cards and other tidbits left in books often leave a snapshot of a simpler time .Read the copy on Dr. Stewart's card.It may bring a smile to your face.

Card Score Counter? About three weeks ago I visited Port Richmond Books here in Philadelphia.The owner, Greg Gillespie lets me go through bags of unsorted books.Here is what I unearthed: a celluloid counter made by Whitehead and Hoag when they were in Newark, N.J.Someone slipped it into a book to mark a page and it remained hidden in the book until I found it.

Click On Images To Enlarge As a kid during the second world war I remember these sorts of images in comic books,posters in class rooms and and newspaper cartoons.The matches are die cut to look like bombs.

Click On Images To Enlarge
Calling cards are often used as bookmarks.Here are some interesting ones I got at a flea market many years ago.The card below is for Wilcott P. Brooks of Boston, "Natural Seer and Professor of Geomancy.Click on the image to see the details.

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE
When I go to Papermania this weekend, my focus will be on Bookplates but more often than not I wind up buying lots of other stuff just because it strikes my fancy.Trade cards, Rewards of Merit, Watch Papers,Calling Cards, and Do not Disturb signs are just a few of the many things I accumulate. Let's say this is a "show and tell " blog issue and you are all invited to send me scans of your favorite items for posting on the site.Send the scans to Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

Here are three very interesting sites about bookmarks and stuff found in books:

http://www.bookmark-collector.com/

http://bookmarkscollector.blogspot.com/

WWW.resonantfish.com/intralibris

Here is the website for a bookplate dealer in Germany.

I have purchased from him and was very satisfied.

Http://www.antiquariat-rieger.de/neueexlibris.htm