Punning and Rebus Bookplates

The bell punning bookplates are like tribbles . They keep breeding until they take over your album.
I am not sure when I started collecting punning and rebus bookplates. It just sort of happened.I had one or two near each other in an album and they started reproducing . Gloria Swanson's rebus plate is one of the most innovative ones I own.
Hettie Gray Baker worked in Hollywood for most of her adult life and built a world class collection of celebrity bookplates.The collection is at the Hartford(Conn.) Athenaeum and well worth a visit
George H. Bell was the Governor of New Hampshire
Mr. Bookman's bookplate is illustrated in The Art of the Bookplate by James Keenan
Robert O. Foote's plate was designed by Ruth Saunders




Most of the punning and rebus plates in my collection are in the English language.If you have the time and are so inclined please send me scans of examples in other languages and I will add them to this posting.
Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com
By the way, I have added a bookplate search engine to the blog .It is located on the upper left side and will enable you to find information I previously wrote about. It always amuses me when I do a search about an artist or owner and come up with something I wrote about and had completely forgotten. See you next week.

Saturday Night Special

At a moment in history when civility and stability are being undermined by stupidity and avarice it is nice to read something inspiring.

http://www.english.upenn.edu/~traister/schrtalk.html

Tomorrow , I will be writing about punning and Rebus bookplates

The Sarah B. Lattimer Collection

The Sarah B. Lattimore collection arrived this week . It included about thirty duplicates by Frederick Spenceley and an equal number of duplicates by E.D. French .

It was not a large collection ( about 174 plates) but it contained many unusual items. I would like to focus on a few of the mystery plates in the collection in case one of you knows something about them and can help me.
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE
Among the thirty Frederick Spenceley duplicates these are two of my favorites.Bird & Son was founded in 1795 and Spenceley engraved this plate for them in 1912. The company, now called The Bird Corporation is still in business today. Here is a link about their history:
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Bird-Corporation-Company-History.html

The Krotona Institute of Theosophy plate was engraved in 1915. They are sill active today although at a different location.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krotona

Do any of you know who did these two bookplates using Bewick images. Based on my initial Google search of the owner's names I suspect William H Vodrey( 1872- 1954) was a prominent resident of Beaver Valley , Ohio and Thomas L. Leeming was a Brooklyn Architect.

This printed plate for Marshall Rutgers Kernochan was the highlight of the collection .It appears to be a photgraphic image by Edward Steichen.

The plate for Tony Kales is another one of the mysteries. Fellow collector Richard Schimmelpfeng determined that he was a child movie star who appeared in some of the Our Gang films. All the Walt Disney plates I have previously seen were " universal" packaged items. This one appears to have been custom designed for Mr. Kales. Was the plate done for him by Walt Disney or did he kidnap Mickey and Minnie and Pluto ?

A treasure trove of 74 books from the library of Thomas Jefferson was recently discovered.

Will wonders never cease?

President Jefferson did not use a bookplate. He used a secret code in the signature.

Follow the link for more information.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41735037/ns/today-books/

The American Antiquarian Society has done an excellent job of digitizing Paul Revere documents. including bookplates. Here is a link:

http://www.americanantiquarian.org/Inventories/Revere/bookplates.htm

As I get further information about the mystery plates I will update this posting.

See you next Sunday

This Week in Bookplates 3/13/2011

Fellow Collector Mark Griffin sent me two lovely bookplates and I asked him to write about them. This was his response:

"As you know, the finial bookplate was produced by Ashley Benham and the swimmer bookplate was produced by Peter Waddell. Here is a little information about each bookplate.

Finial Bookplate

The finial is located atop the historic Christian Heurich Mansion located just south of Dupont Circle in Washington, DC. I see this finial every day because the Mansion is located directly across the street from my office. The Mansion was built in the late 1890’s by Christian Heurich, our local beer baron. Mr. Heurich was afraid of fire because his first brewery burned to the ground at great financial loss to him. So the Heurich Mansion was the first “fire-proof” building constructed in DC. It has concrete floors and a steel superstructure. The exterior is brick and stone. Mr. Heurich topped the Mansion’s tower with a “salamander” finial. A salamander is supposed to ward off fire. The story is that the salamander is usually the only animal to survive forest fires. The Mansion was used by the Heurich family until 1955 when it was given to the Historical Society of Washington, DC. I served the Society at various times over a period of about 25 years as Curator, General Counsel and finally as President. The Historical Society subsequently moved to larger quarters and the Mansion was acquired by The Heurich House Foundation. I was Chairman of this Foundation for a few years before I was allowed to finally go back to my preferred position admiring the Mansion from afar through my office window.

The Swimmer Bookplate

I am a swimmer. I went to Georgetown University and I have some particular history with the Healy Building which is the building on the hill shown in this image. The swimmer is supposed to be me as a young man swimming in the Potomac River in front of the GU Boathouse and looking up at the spires of the Healy Building on Georgetown's main campus. The Healy Building has a large clock tower. When I was a freshman, a friend and I managed to steal the hands of the clock. We put them in a long flower box and sent them to the new Dean of Discipline with a note that said: "From the Freshman Class, always willing to give you a hand". The Dean, a Jesuit priest, thought the hands were maces, the medieval sign of authority. He had them mounted on his office wall with our note. He was not pleased when one of the members of the engineering staff subsequently asked him why he had the missing hands from the clock on his office wall. An investigation ensued but I was never caught, thank goodness. All of this was, of course, perfect training for my later life as a Washington lawyer."

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Here is a link about a $543,000 book and art swindle . The sucker was a hedge fund.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/03/10/34803.htm

I figure this hedge fund will need more than a big winning streak to overcome this kind of bad publicity.

Two really big book shows are coming to New York City in early April. I plan to attend both .

Here are the links:

http://www.sanfordsmith.com/

http://www.flamingoeventz.com/

The Sarah B. Lattimore bookplate collection was up for sale and I purchased it.

If all goes according to schedule I will write about it next week.

See you then.

The Washington D.C. Book Show

I purchased two copies of the Will Gilliland Jun.bookplate at the Washington Book Show (one for my collection and one to trade). I suspect it is American but need to do much more research. The family name Gilliland appears in several Google searches but the most likely candidates are from New York State. If you know something about the plate please let me hear from you.
Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

One of the areas I focus on are bookplates from the libraries of famous people. I recently purchased this bookplate used by the Jazz legend Benny Carter (1907-2003).
Here is a link with biographical information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Carter

It is interesting to see how the way we use words changes over time. The rubber stamp on a bookplate from The Library of the Philadelphia Hospital indicates it is from The Insane Department. I have another bookplate which I can't locate right now which is from The Widows
and Old Men's Home.

Here is another example. Nowadays, the word cheap more often than not has a negative connotation like in cheapskate. In the mid 1800's it was something to promote in your advertising.

It seemed to me that many dealers at the Washington Book Show were actively selling.

We may be getting out of the economic slump. Books , art and antiques are leading indicators. If their sales are increasing that is a good omen. I did well at the show. Once every decade you hit a perfect storm and I came home with ten eighteenth century American bookplates.

Right now I am playing catch-up ,having been away for several days so this is a short posting.

See you next Sunday.

This Week In Bookplates 2/27/2010

Later this week I week I will be in Washington D. C. for 36th annual Washington Antiquarian Book Fair. While there I also want to see this exhibit at the German Ambassador's Residence:
http://leobaeckinstitute.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/the-art-of-the-book-at-the-german-ambassadors-residence/

Here is a link with information about the Washington Book Fair:

www.wabf.com

www.antiquariat-rieger.de/neueexlibris.htm Mrs. Lukacs was probably an English teacher. Her plate was on Dr. Rieger's monthly List.

Here is a link:

www.antiquariat-rieger.de/neueexlibris.htm

This plate was sent to me earlier this week. It is unusual , amusing and not soon forgotten.
For those of you planning a bookish trip to England here is an excellent site :

http://www.inprint.co.uk/thebookguide/fairs/index.php

If you are in the Washington , Virginia area and have bookplates for sale or exchange please contact me Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

See you next Sunday.

Five Years and Still Going Strong

Ernest G.Vielehr was an American painter about whom I have not found any biographical information. It is my assumption he designed this bookplate for Ernest Byfield who was a Chicago hotel owner . So what we have right now are assumptions and speculation. It's a start anyhow. I purchased this plate from Tom Boss Tgboss@gmail.com He has other bookplates for sale by this artist.

2/21/2011-Before the ink had a chance to dry, Suzanne sent me the following biographical information about Ernest George Vielehr. Thank you Suzanne.

Ernest George Vielehr
Born 23 July 1891 or 23 July 1894 in Rochester, NY (he reports different dates on the WW I and WWII )
Draft Registrations)
In 1917 worked for the Commercial Color Type Co., 401 South Clinton St., Chicago, IL
and lived at 9763 Beverly, Chicago, IL; he listed is occupation as “artist”

He was of medium height, stout build and had blue eyes and light brown hair.

He married Anna M. O’Hara on 31 March 1916 in Lake County, Indiana

In 1942 he lived at 7840 Elmgrove Drive, Elmwood Park, Cook Co., IL, and he was employed by
Andrew Wallach Studios, 205 W. Wacker, Chicago, Cook, IL

He is listed in Who Was Who in American Art: 400 Years of Artists in America, Second Edition,
three volumes, edited by Peter Hastings Falk, Madison, CT, published by Sound View Press, 1999

Jennifer Kennard Kennardz@comcast.net

has a blog about typography, books and printmaking and would like some assistance in learning who designed some Czech bookplates. Here is a link to her blog:

http://letterology.blogspot.com/2011/02/czech-bookplates.html?showComment=1297510490043#c4880789786642494112

About two years ago (see link below) I wrote about a lovely bookplate designed by Cleonike Damianakes (Wilkins) whose pen name is Cleon.Yesterday I found another bookplate she designed.This one was done for Max and Jean Meyer.

http://bookplatejunkie.blogspot.com/2009/10/search-for-cleon.html

January 2011 was the beginning of my fifth year as a blogger . Here are some readership numbers for my blog (from Sitemeter) . The percentage of U.S. viewers is down slightly and worldwide viewers have increased . China never shows up in these statistics but I know I have many readers on the Chinese mainland. I assume this has to do with Chinese Internet restrictions. On average I get 95 viewers each day and many of them come from Google searches. In addition, I have about 185 weekly subscribers on Feedburner plus 79 Google followers.

Looking forward , I would like to make this a more collaborative project with more guest writers and more collector profiles . Submissions should be sent to bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

Globe-Wernicke Bookplates by Michele Behan

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE

I first encountered Globe-Wernicke bookplates on eBay. As both a postcard and bookplate collector, I found their advertising postcards fascinating. Each over sized Globe-Wernicke postcard included a detachable section at the top to request samples of bookplates, along with a copy of a booklet titled “The World’s Best Books.”
The bottom of each postcard included two perforated bookplates, some in black and white and some in color, to be pasted in books, with Globe-Wernicke advertising printed on the back. Obviously, the uncut examples I acquired on eBay had never actually been used as bookplates.
Once Globe-Wernicke received a postcard back from an interested customer, they would send out a standard form letter, including the advertised booklet plus a small supply of bookplates. They would then offer to sell more bookplates at the rate of 75 cents per thousand, 50 cents per five hundred or 15 cents per hundred.

The letter would then go on to state, “What we are particularly interested in, is furnishing you with Globe-Wernicke Sectional Bookcases to house your library...”
A website chronicling postcards of Cincinnati businesses has identified 12 separate Globe-Wernicke bookplate designs.
http://www.cincinnativiews.net/Factories%20suburbs.htm
I have four of their designs in my own collection. Surprisingly, while an artist’s signature on a bookplate is generally considered to be a hallmark separating a commissioned bookplate from the usual, anonymously designed, universal bookplate, I did find an artist’s signature on one of the Globe-Wernicke bookplates.
The striking design of a proud sailing ship on choppy waters is signed H.L. Bridwell in tiny lettering on the inner frame surrounding the artwork. Below his name, the artist has added this motto:
Like argosies of old, seek treasure ~ but go a’voyaging in books.
H.L. Bridwell is Harry Loud Bridwell (1861-1930), a local Cincinnati artist and member of the Cincinnati Art Club who became partially paralyzed and taught himself to use his left hand. He did the decorations for the Grand Opera House, after the old theater burned down in 1901.
He also did magazine illustration, including a full page of boats in St. Nicholas Magazine for October 1889 and interior artwork for the same magazine’s November 1890 issue.

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I want to thank Michele Behan for submitting this article. Submissions from readers are always encouraged. Send me an email if you wish to participate by writing about some aspect of bookplate or ephemera collecting. Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

On February 3rd Heraldry Today featured the bookplate of Sir Ian Gilmour

http://heraldryonline.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/sir-ian-gilmour-bt-%E2%80%93-bookplate/

More Dogs on bookplates:

http://bookplate-jvarnoso.blogspot.com/2007/06/dogs-in-ex-libris.html

On February 7th Passion For Pipes included a bookplate which was of no particular interest but

the story about Alfred Dunhill was very enjoyable.

Is it my imagination or does the profile picture of Alfred Dunhill bear an uncanny resemblance to a well known bookseller in Salem, Mass.?

http://www.apassionforpipes.com/neills-blog/2011/2/7/dunhill-by-dunhill-for-dunhill.html

See you next Sunday.

Puppy Bowl, Bookplates with Dogs (and Cats)

Maurice Sendak's bookplate features Jennie his Sealyham Terrier who was also the star in his book Higgledy , Piggledy, Pop

Well , I know it's a Wolf but it's in the dog family isn't it ?

Bette Davis' Scottie was named Meg


Queen Victoria's cat was named White Heather. Her bookplate depicts a member of the cat family.

Edward Penfield depicted cats on many of his posters and magazine covers.

Most Americans will be watching the Super Bowl today but I prefer the Puppy Bowl .

To commemorate this years event here are a few dog (and Cat) related bookplates. For those of you unfamiliar with the Puppy Bowl here is a brief video clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo3zvuIOwB4

SOME INTERESTING Book & BOOKPLATE LINKS:

Jerry Morris has begun a site featuring owners with multiple bookplates

http://mysentimentallibrary.blogspot.com/2011/02/changing-bookplates-of-famous-people.html

Here is a recent blog posting From The Books in My Library about the TV show Pawn Stars and a book from Sir Isaac Newton's library:

http://www.thebooksinmylife.com/2011/02/pawn-stars-rare-books-sir-isaac-newton.html

The Legacy Press has published a new book about dating and identifying 19th century American paper.

http://www.thelegacypress.com

The Fuzzy Line between American and English Bookplates

Sometimes the lines between what is an English and what is an American bookplate are fuzzy.
Here are four such examples :

Members of The Woodridge family were in America starting in the 17 th century.
On Dudley Woodbridge's bookplate the words Anglus Americanus are very accurate. He spent much time in Barbados. For more specific information about the family please refer to volume XIV page 123 in The Exlibris Journal.

Joseph Priestley (Allen #702) was 61 years old when he came to America

William Axtell lived in New York . He was a loyalist who left America after the revolution and returned to England. Ref: Loyalists In America, Vol l Page 198

Lawr.Dinwiddie- Both the design and Motto are the same as the Robert Dinwiddie Plate (Allen 224).The only change being the name of the owner. Ref.Year book 1959-60 page 28

I figure he was Robert's brother or the brother's son.

. LAWRENCE DINWIDDIE of Germiston Born 1697. Died 1746. Virginia merchant. In 1774 his old firm, then Dinwiddie, Crawford & Co. stood fourth in the list of tobacco importers. An original partner in the Glasgow Arms Bank, in the "New Glasgow Tanwork and Shoe and Saddle Factory," and, like his brother the Governor, in the "Pott Work" at Delftfield, near the Broomielaw. Had his town house in the second flat of that great tenement on the north side of the Trengate, just east of Hutcheson's Hospital. Bought back Germiston, from which, years before, his elder brother Matthew, being insolvent, had vary naturally been evicted. Provost in 1742, 1743. One of "the Six Commissioners" to the Rebels in the '45. Son of Robert Dinwiddie of Germiston, and brother of Governor Robert Dinwiddie (No.11). Had two wives, Janet Coulter, sister of Provost John Coulter, and Elizabeth Kennedy of Auchtyfardle, who between them bore him twenty-one children. One of the twenty-one, Lawrence Dinwiddie, Junior, married Mary Nisbet, who lived till 28th June, 1849. In 1843, just 100 years after her father-in-law's Provostship, Mary Dinwiddie gave to Free St. Enoch's the communion plate still in use, Germiston, which is a 2 merk land of the "Tenandrie" of Provan, is now owned by Provost Dinwiddie's indirect representatives, the Lockharts of Milton Lockhart.

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When I started collecting bookplates I had no particular focus. Whatever came my way and looked appealing went into an album. After a while I got interested in 18TH century American bookplates . The good news is that there are very few active collectors in this niche.The bad news is that these bookplates are hard to find. On the other hand , even with a modest budget persistence pays off.

Here are some time tested things that will work for you if you are patient.

Booksellers

Start with the antiquarian and used booksellers in your area. Introduce yourself and explain what you are looking for. Do not be discouraged no matter what the response. I have had booksellers ask me what a bookplate was. The point is that it is up to you to plant a seed so dealers will set things aside for your consideration. Ask the dealer if he has a box of ephemera. Sometimes the question pays off handsomely.

Another question to ask is whether the dealer has a box of detached boards. Sometimes they have still have bookplates attached to them.

Bookbinders

Look for hand bookbinder's in your area. They often save old bookplates and may very well sell some to an enthusiastic collector.

Book and Paper Shows.

Again persistence pays off. Stop at every booth and ask about bookplates.

For those of you near Glendale California here is a link to an upcoming paper show;

http://www.vintagepaperfair.com/glendale.html

Collector Profiles:

Send me a paragraph or two about your collection and I will try to include it in a future blog posting. Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

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I received this inquiry from a Edith Eggenkamp, a bookseller label collector in the Netherlands:

Dear Mr Jaffe,

As a dutch collector of booktradelabels I am (always) looking for other collectors to start and keep and exchange-correspondence.

I already exchange/trade with several collectors in the US. I understand you collect booktradelabels apart from bookplates (exlibis) as well?
Maybe, you are interested in exchanging booktradelabels with me. I can only offer you dutch booktradelabels/booksellers'tickets, old and new.
Sometimes I can also offer you some Dutch bookplates..

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Fellow collector Jerry Morris has written about Arthur M. Schlesinger's bookplate.

Here is a link:

http://mysentimentallibrary.blogspot.com/2011/01/arthur-schlesingers-bookplate-whole.html

I will see you all next week.

Guardians Of The Teeth,Guardians Of The Eyes

This 18th century Chippendale item has puzzled me for many years.I have my doubts about it being a bookplate and am more inclined to think it is a textile label. Any input from you would be appreciated.
Here is a link to an excellent site by Adrian Wilson about fabric labels and the joy of collecting:
http://www.textiletrademarks.com/?p=471

A response to my inquiry from Adrian Wilson

Dear Lew,I think you are right about it not being a book label.The key thing is the space where it has the "No." icon. That would be a space where a fabric pattern number would be, but mostly there would be another space where the fabric length would go.The label certainly has a wealth of cotton references but the references are all of cotton and thread, rather than fabric. There is a small cotton bale or thread packet, plus all the things for spinning cotton into yarn. There is a stylised shuttle but no other reference to weaving.So my guess would be an early yarn merchant label. The number space was probably to reference the colour or type of yarn. A big trade early on in the textile manufacturing sector was the merchant who would buy and sell yarn to spinners and weavers who worked alone in their homes. Maybe this was the label for one of those merchants.

Click on images to Enlarge.The bookplates designed by William Edgar Fisher (1872-1956) were not cookie cutter copies of one another.His style changed with the times. .This Gothic inspired design is one of my favorites. The proof was obtained from his son in the 1970's along with other proofs which I am selling for a fellow collector.The outside dimensions of most of the proofs are 8 1/2 inches wide by 11 inches high and in general they are in the $25.00 to $45.00 price range .I will be listing them on Ebay. Send me an Email if you would like to be notified. Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

Dr. M.C. Ennema lived in the Netherlands and his bookplate was designed by Anton Pieck

Dr. Snyder was a professor of Histology And Embryology at Hahnemann Medical College

From the N.Y. Times Obituary October 12,1983

Dr. Sidney A. Fox, a retired ophthalmologist and a benefactor of the Brown University Medical School, died Saturday of a heart ailment at his home in Manhattan.
He was 85.
He was born in Russia and grew up in Providence, R.I. He graduated from Brown and the St. Louis University Medical School. He practiced medicine in New York for 35 years before retiring 10 years ago. The Sidney A. Fox and Dorothea Doctors Fox Professorship of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences was established at Brown in 1982.

I do not have very many dental bookplates.This one was designed by Bela Petry.If you have any you would like included in this posting please send a scan to Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

Not much more to write about so please visit again next Sunday.

Biblio Mysteries

The Ruth and Andy Mystery
I got this on Ebay from a dealer who called it a bookplate . Before it arrived I thought it was a coaster but the paper is too thin so I am open to the possibility that it might be a bookplate. There are some stains on the reverse side that might have been from glue .The dimensions are 5 inches wide and 4 1/2 inches high. The designer Geovil Nereim completed it in 1943. Both the designer and the owners lived in Illinois and Andy probably was a lawyer who attended The John Marshall Law School.
If you want to enlarge the image click on it. If you have the time and inclination to do further research send it to me Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com and your reward will be some bookplates of my choice.
The Rolland L. Comstock Murder Mystery.

Rolland L Comstock was a successful attorney in Missouri who was an fanatic book collector.He built a two story library addition to his house to display his 50,000 books. This is not some Cliff Janeway murder mystery. In 2007 he was assassinated in his home-Multiple gunshot wounds and no forced entry. The case is still open and unsolved.
This was the bookplate he used.

Here is a link with some updates about the Comstock murder :

http://www.youngprops.com/class1960/comstup.htm

Here is an excellent link from Wheaton College with digitized images of the bookplates by Allen Lewis (1873-1957). He is one of my favorite bookplate designers.

http://www.wheaton.edu/learnres/ARCSC/collects/sc60/exhibit/bookplates.shtml

On January 19th there will be an auction in Israel which includes a major collection of Judaica bookplates ( lots 209 through 213). Here is a link.
http://www.kedem-auctions.com/images/catalog-13/09.pdf

Fellow collector Jim Lewis just advised me that the bookplate collection at The Los Angeles Central Library has been digitized.Here is a link:

http://digital.lapl.org/Browse.aspx?s=6

That's about it for this week.

See you next Sunday.

Collector/Dealer Profile Jacques Laget

Here is a photo of my home and office 70 km south-west from Paris with the people who worked with me till 2003 when I retired.

Now, I work as an expert for auction sales in in Paris.

How I Got Started Collecting Bookplates

As antiquarian bookseller since 1963, I was interested in the history of private libraries.

I began to collect French bookplates in the 60’s and bought several collections. Before long, I had a good many duplicates, and also quite a few foreign bookplates.

My Collection

I own around 25000 French bookplates from the XVIIth to XXth century . I also kept a few XVIth & XVIIth foreign plates (one engraved by Dürer).

How I Started Selling Duplicates
As the number of my duplicates was always increasing, I began 3 years ago to sell each week around 20 or 30 French bookplates on Ebay. Last year I tried to exchange around 8000 foreign against a large French collection but without success, so I decided to build a website where I could sell them.

Here is a link to my website :

http://www.ex-libris-jacques-laget.fr/

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Note -I posted this earlier than I had planned because ,this week Mr Laget has listed about 100 American bookplates on his website in the "new" section .

I hope some of you will find some treasures.

I have purchased bookplates from Mr. Laget frequently and he is a most professional dealer who responds quickly.

See you next week.