Rare Book Monthly

Articles - November - 2016 Issue

Bookplates 1480-Present on Display at the Rosenbach

First known bookplate (circa 1480); William Keeney Bixby as an octopus grasping books.

First known bookplate (circa 1480); William Keeney Bixby as an octopus grasping books.

Twenty-five years after the invention of the first printed book, there appeared the first known example of an intimately connected printed ephemeral item – the bookplate. The bookplate is the subject of an ongoing exhibition at The Rosenbach of the Free Library of Philadelphia. The title of the exhibition is The Art of Ownership: Bookplates and Book Collectors from 1480 to the Present. It is running from now until January 17, 2017.

 

The average book owner of days gone by relied on a more primitive means of establishing ownership of a book. They would write their name on the title page or a blank page near the front. Often their name would be followed by "his book," or "her book," or "my book," just to make sure the meaning of their signature was clear. However, for those of greater means who established personal libraries, rather than just some books on a shelf, something a bit classier was required. They would print up a bookplate establishing their ownership. As time went on, some of them became very elaborate, occasionally works of art in themselves, sometimes even designed by notable artists.

 

The first known printed bookplate (click image above left for detail) belonged to Hilprand Brandenburg of Biberach, Germany. It is a woodcut, printed in black, and then colored by hand. Ironically, it is not in a printed book but in a 1408 manuscript, predating Gutenberg's press by almost half a century.

 

Other bookplates come from the personal libraries of King George III (the George Americans don't like), and Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt. There is an Irish landscape designed by Jack Butler Yeats, and prints by Art Nouveau illustrator Aubrey Beardsley. Then there is the bookplate of William Keeney Bixby (see image above left). It depicts Mr. Keeney as an octopus, each of his tentacles grasping a book. The plate of E. Norman Sabel shows a book reader so focused on his book he has failed to notice that his coattails are on fire.

 

Also in the collection is the art deco lyre of composer Jerome Kern. To most of the world, Kern is known for writing songs such as Ol' Man River and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. In the book world, Kern is known for his exquisite timing. He compiled a fabulous collection of books which he sold in 1929, shortly before the stock market crash. He achieved prices that would not be seen again for decades, as the value of books, like everything else, crashed during the Depression.

 

Another bookplate is that of a man with just the opposite type of luck. Harry Elkins Widener seemed to be a fortunate man. He was born to a fabulously wealthy family. He put together a fantastic book collection at an age when most young people are still trying to figure out what to do with their lives. Unfortunately, that wealth also enabled Widener to purchase a ticket on the maiden voyage of the Titanic. He was just 27 years old. His mother devoted herself to completing his collection and donating it and the money needed to build the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library at Harvard University.

 

The exhibition features bookplates from the Rosenbach's collection, others from the Rare Book Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia, the University of Delaware’s William Augustus Brewer Bookplate Collection, and other institutions. It was made possible through grants from the Pine Tree Foundation of New York, the Marilyn M. Simpson Trust and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Rare Book Monthly

  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
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