LIBRIS

[Philip Webb [Philip Speakman Webb], Arts and Crafts architect and Pre-Raphaelite.] Autograph Letter Signed (or draft?) to J. R. Holliday, discussing the difficulties of bookplate design.

Author: 
Philip Webb [Philip Speakman Webb] (1831-1915), Arts and Crafts architect, Pre-Raphaelite, associate of William Morris [James Richardson Holliday (1840-1927), art collector; Sir Sydney Cockerell]
Publication details: 
31 August 1901. Caxtons [at Worth, near Crawley, Sussex].
£280.00

An interesting letter, in which Webb sets out his approach to bookplate design. According to his entry in the Oxford DNB, ‘By 1899 Webb was in poor health and losing money. His meagre savings were insufficient to build a cottage, so he accepted Caxtons, a four-bedroom sixteenth-century yeoman's house at Worth, near Crawley, Sussex, offered at a selflessly low rental by his friend William Scawen Blunt.’ For the context of the present letter, see the letter from Webb to Sydney Cockerell, 1 September 1902, in volume 3 of John Apin’s edition of Webb’s letters.

[Dennis Wheatley, immensely popular writer of thrillers and occult novels.] Copy of his bookplate by Frank C. Papé, accompanied by Autograph Note Signed by Wheatley.

Author: 
Dennis Wheatley (1897-1977), immensely popular author of thrillers and occult novels [Frank C. Papé [Francis Cheyne Papé] (1878-1972), artist; G. Eric Gordon Tombe (murdered in 1923)]
Publication details: 
Bookplate from 1928. Note undated, but after the writing of his 1965 book ‘Dangerous Inheritance’.
£75.00

See Wheatley's entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged. The aquatint bookplate, in black and white, is 10.5 x 14.5 cm (plate dimensions 9 x 12.5 cm). It was designed by Wheatley himself, and is everything you would hope from a writer in his field. A naked Wheatley, with slicked-back 1920s hairstyle, sits at the feet of a cloven-footed devil (Wheatley’s mentor G. Eric Gordon-Tombe, and the man he is alleged to have murdered) under the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.

[Robert Herrmann, Czechoslovak bookplate artist and architect.] Seventeen original bookplates for various individuals, ranging in style from modernist to traditional, in folder with autograph label by the artist, and photograph of sculpture.

Author: 
Robert Herrmann (1897-1936), Czechoslovak bookplate artist and architect, born and died in Prague [Judaica]
bookplates
bookplates2
Publication details: 
The seventeen bookplates dated between 1922 and 1925. [Prague, Czechoslovak Republic.]
£350.00
bookplates
bookplates2

Accomplished and attractive bookplates, in an impressive range of styles from modernist to traditional (several with mystical or masonic overtones), produced using various printing processes. The bookplates range in size from 6.5 x 7 cm (Herrmann’s own) to 11.5 x 17.5 cm. Each is dated with Herrmann’s tiny monogram design, adapted to suit its style of composition. The eighteen items are in very good condition, each laid down on a 16 x 25 cm piece of textured grey card.

[Wife of George Cruikshank] Autograph Letter Signed from 'E. Cruikshank' to Wright with autograph initials of George.

Author: 
Eliza Cruikshank (wife of the English caricaturist George Cruikshank, 1792-1878); William Henry Kearley Wright (1844-1915), Plymouth antiquary and librarian and editor of the Ex Libris Society journal
Publication details: 
26 July 1877; 263 Hampstead Road.
£40.00

One page, on paper roughly four and a half inches by seven wide. Very good on lightly aged paper. She is enclosing her husband's signature. '[H]e desires me to thank you for your clever and truthful verses of An appeal to the Protestants of England [Plymouth, 1873]; which he has seen before; and which we both most highly approve of.' The Cruikshanks are glad to hear that the Wrights have 'arrived Home safely'. George Cruikshank has written G.C. | born | Sep 27th 79. See Image

[ Edward Paget and Queen Victoria. ] Finely bound and illuminated volume, compiled by 'E. P.', containing Autograph Letter Signed ('Victoria R'), frank ('The Queen') and other material by Queen Victoria, with upwards of 1000 royal and noble monograms

Author: 
Queen Victoria; Edward Paget; Victorian royal and noble monograms, ciphers and bookplates
Publication details: 
[ London (Buckingham Palace), Windsor and the Isle of Wight (Osborne House).] 1853 and 1854.
£650.00

156pp., 12mo. In fine binding of black morocco, tooled in gilt on the boards and spine, one of the five compartments of which contains the word 'CYPHERS', with the date '1854' at the foot of the spine. With all edges gilt and dentelles, and a metal cast of the monogram 'EP' placed at centre of the front board. Hand-drawn and coloured Paget family bookplate on front pastedown. In fair condition, aged and worn, in worn binding.

[Inscribed by Berthold Wolpe; From Evelyn Philip Shirley's Ettington Manuscript Library.] Contemporary calligraphic copy, in ornate binding, of the 1655 Plantin 'Series Chronologica Imperatorum Romanorum, a C. Iulio Caesare ad Ferdinandum III. Avg.'

Author: 
[ Christophe Plantin; Berthold Wolpe; Evelyn Phillip Shirley (1812-1882); Ettington Manuscript Library; William Staunton of Longbridge, Warwickshire ]
Publication details: 
Undated manuscript of work from 'Officina Plantiniana excudebat M.DC.LV. [ 1655 ]'
£320.00

The text of the printed volume is neatly and skilfully copied over 61pp., 4to., and ruled in red. Interspersed with a number of pages carrying only the red ruling. Internally good and tight, in worn brown morocco binding with front hinge nearly detached, with heavily-worn spine with no label and singeing at head and foot. Gilt dentelles, both internal and external, and the following stamped within decorative border at centre of both covers: 'SERIES CHRONOLOGICA | IMPERATORUM | ROMANORUM | 1655'.

[ Armorial bookplate of Charles John Shoppee in 'The Handwriting of the Kings & Queens of England by W. J. Hardy, F.S.A. Author of "Book Plates," etc. With photogravures and Facsimiles of Signatures and Historical Documents'.

Author: 
W. J. Hardy [ Charles John Shoppee (1823-1897), 'Citizen and Armourer of London' ]
Publication details: 
Book published by The Religious Tract Society, 56 Paternoster Row and 65, St. Paul's Churchyard, 1893. [ Printed in Oxford by Horace Hart, Printer to the University. ]
£56.00

176pp., 4to. With four photogravure plates and numerous excellent facsimiles in text. A splendid production in red cloth gilt, with tissue guards to the plates and all edges gilt. In good very good condition, lightly aged and worn.

[ Hans Sloane, MP, of South Stoneham, Hampshire. ] Armorial Bookplate of 'HANS SLOANE ESQR.', with his Autograph Signature on the flyleaf of a book.

Author: 
Hans Sloane (1739-1827), MP, of South Stoneham, Hampshire, Deputy Cofferer of the Royal Household
Sloane
Publication details: 
Signature dated 1755.
£56.00
Sloane

The engraved armorial bookplate is on a 9.5 x 7.5 cm. piece of paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Loosely attached to the flyleaf, which carries the calligraphic signature 'Hans Sloane | 1755.' (Sloane would have been sixteen at the time, and the writing is suitably juvenile.) The flyleaf is in fair condition, lightly aged and worn, and laid down on a piece of wove paper. Sloane (a kinsman of the great collector Sir Hans Sloane) is the subject of an excellent entry by Sir Lewis Namier in the History of Parliament.

Victorian bookplate or label of 'ETON COLLEGE.'

Author: 
[ Eton College, Windsor ]
Publication details: 
[ English, mid-Victorian. ]
£35.00

6 x 9 cm. Printed in black ink. Laid down on part of a leaf, carrying on the reverse a part of an inscription in French from 'votre affectionée Eugénie'. Lightly-aged, and discoloured from the glue used in mounting. Within a decorative border characteristic of the period depicts a distant prospect of the college, with two boats rowing on the river, and a middle-class couple (she with bustle, he with top hat) with dog on bank in foreground.

The Defence of Guenevere and other Poems by William Morris. Illustrated by Jessie M. King.

Author: 
William Morris and Jessie M. King [ Isabel Bonus ]
Publication details: 
London and New York: John Lane The Bodley Head. 1904.
£280.00

8vo. 310pp. Red cloth, gilt extra, with ornate design to front board and spine. First edition with King's illustrations. A good copy of an extremely attractive book, in binding with light fading in parts, but gilt still bright, and with the merest wear at head of spine. Bookplate by Isabel Bonus for Annie C. Dolamore. Collated and complete. All of King's ninety-five illustrations are present, with twenty-four of them, including the frontispiece, on shiny art paper. A sumptuous item, produced at the high point of King's Art Nouveau period.

[ Bookplate of German library of children's books. ] Three variants of the bookplate of the 'Kinderbuch-Sammlung von Walter Schatzki', on green, blue and cream paper.

Author: 
Walter Schatzki [ Walther Schatzki ] (1899-1983), German-born American bookseller and antiquary [ Kinderbuch-Sammlung von Walter Schatzki ]
Publication details: 
[ Kinderbuch-Sammlung von Walter Schatzki. ] [1960s?]
£80.00

Three examples of the same bookplate: on green, blue and cream paper. All three in very good condition, lightly-aged. Paper dimensions: 4.5 x 5.5 cm. Illustration dimensions: 3 x 4 cm. The image, reproducing an eighteenth-century engraving, depicts two children seated at a table and studying, with a globe on the floor between them. Beneath the image: 'KINDERBUCH-SAMMLUNG | VON WALTER SCHATZKI'. Accompanied by slip of paper with manuscript note regarding reproduction 'in Photo-Litho', after 'permission received O.K. from Walter's'.

[ The Rowfant Club, Cleveland, Ohio. ] Illustrated invitation to 'An exhibition of American and Foreign Book-Plates from the collection of Mr. Charles Dexter Allen, Honorary American Secretary of The Ex Libris Society, London.' Signed by F. H. Baer.

Author: 
Frank H. Baer (1864-1940), American book collector and member of the Rowfant Club of Cleveland, Ohio [ Charles Dexter Allen; The Ex Libris Society, London; bookplates ]
Publication details: 
'Rowfant Club | 255 Erie St' [Cleveland, Ohio]. 'January 21 to 24, 1895. | Evenings 7.30 to 10.'
£60.00

12 x 8.5 cm. Bifolium. Printed in red and black on thick watermarked deckle-edged laid paper. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Engraving in black ink on recto of first leaf, incorporating the words 'Rowfant Club' and '255 Erie St', showing a back-view of a man in a chair seated at a table, spreading open a large volume containing ''BOOK-PLATES'. Text on recto of second volume, printed in black and red, with the printed words 'Compliments of' followed by the autograph signature of 'F. H. Baer'.

[Eric Gill.] Compliments slip of the bookseller George Sims, featuring a woodcut illustration by Eric Gill, with typewritten inscription by Gill to 'Tony & Jean', stating that the item has been given to them 'just before it was remaindered'.

Author: 
Eric Gill (1882-1940), artist [George Sims (1923-199), English bookseller]
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£40.00

Printed in black ink on 8 x 12 cm piece of thick watermarked laid paper. In very good condition. Sims acquired the Gill archive from the artist's widow, and it seems likely that he had the illustration made from one of the artist's blocks. The illustration shows a bearded man in loincloth, trailing a sword along the ground as he runs from a tree. Printed beneath the illustration: 'With the compliments of | George Sims'. Above the illustration is typed 'for Tony & Jean', and below the printed text 'just before it was remaindered'.

[Sir John Goodricke.] Engraved calling card of 'Sr. John Goodricke', depicting the Basilica of St Peter's in Rome. With address in contemporary hand on reverse.

Author: 
Sir John Goodricke (1708-1789) of Bramham Park, Yorkshire, diplomat and Member of Parliament
Publication details: 
Undated (late eighteenth century). London address on reverse.
£45.00

The card is 6 x 8 cm, with the engraved image of the Basilica 5 x 7 cm, within a ruled border, with 'Sr. John Goodricke' in copperplate in a cartouche at the foot. In fair condition, aged and lightly ruckled and spotted. In a contemporary hand, on the reverse: 'No 9, Somerset Street. | Portman Square'. An attractive and unusual item. Goodricke's connection with St Peter's is unclear, but a common feature shared with Bramham Park is the presence of an obelisk. Goodricke's son was the noted 'deaf astronomer' John Goodricke (1764-1786).

[William Monk, engraver.] Proof on large paper of his own self-designed bookplate ('W. MONK | HOGARTH STVDIOS'), depicting a peacock looking out onto a country sunrise from a wooden balcony. With five-line quotation from Chaucer.

Author: 
William Monk (1863-1937), engraver, based at Hogarth Studios, Charlotte Street, London, best-known for his 'Calendarium Londinense'
Publication details: 
'W. MONK | HOGARTH STVDIOS' [Hogarth Studios, Charlotte Street, London.] Undated [1890s?].
£120.00

Dimensions of etching 13 x 9 cm. Dimensions of plate 14.5 x 10.5 cm. Dimensions of page 32 x 25.5 cm. The image itself in excellent condition, the borders aged, with wear and closed tears to extremities.

[Mathew Varenne, bookseller, near Somerset House in the Strand.] Engraved bookplate ('H: Hulsbergh Sc.') with inscription 'This Book and all sorts are to be had at Math: Varrenne's at the Senecas head near Sommerset house in ye Strand.'

Author: 
[Mathew Varenne [Matthew de Varenne; Varens] (d.1726), bookseller at the sign of Seneca's Head, near Somerset House in the Strand, London; Hendrik Hulsbergh (d.1729), London-based Dutch engraver]
Publication details: 
[Mathew Varenne, bookseller at the sign of Seneca's Head, near Somerset House in the Strand, London. Before 1726.]
£250.00

Note that Varenne's Christian name is spelled with one 't' on the bookplate, and generally with two 't's by later sources. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, tipped in onto a grey paper mount. Engraved on a 12 x 8 cm piece of wove paper, with no margin.

[Johannes Groenewegen and Abraham van der Hoeck, Dutch booksellers in the Strand, London] Engraved eighteenth-century bookplate with portrait of Horace above text 'This Book is to be sold by J: Groenewegen & A: vander Hoeck in the Strand.'

Author: 
[Johannes Groenewegen and Abraham van der Hoeck, Dutch booksellers in the Strand, London, between 1715 and 1728]
Publication details: 
[Johannes Groenewegen and Abraham van der Hoeck, booksellers in the Strand, London. Early eighteenth century.]
£280.00

In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, tipped in onto a grey paper mount. Engraved on 13 x 8 cm piece of wove paper, with no margin. The firm's shop was at the sign of Horace's head in the Strand, and the engraving depicts a lapidary carving off the head and shoulders of the poet, with laurel leaf above, in an oval frame, around which are 'carved' decorations (including lyre and grapes).

Typed Letter Signed ('Mountbatten of Burma') from Lord Mountbatten [Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma] to Mr

Author: 
Louis Mountbatten (1900-1979), 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma [Lord Mountbatten], last Viceroy of India (1947), uncle of Duke of Edinburgh [Brian North Lee (1936-2007), bookplate historian; ex libris]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Newhouse, Mersham, Ashford, Kent. 22 July 1996.
£125.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, laid down on backing and a little creased. He thanks him for a letter about 'the study you are doing of Royal bookplates, and of course I remember the icon you had had [sic] of my great aunt Ella and was so pleased to have the postcard of it you kindly sent me'. He is also pleased to learn that Lee has been able to identify the print which his father sent Lee of his bookplate as the work of George Taylor Friend, 'which I am sure he would have been very pleased to know'. Lee's research 'must produced quite a few headaches, but with very interesting results'.

Bookplate by Edward Gordon-Craig for Martin Shaw, with Autograph Note by Shaw to 'Mrs. & Mr. Dryhurst', requesting 'as a Xmas present a new member' [of the Purcell Operatic Society], and explanatory note by the Dryhursts' granddaughter Maire Gaster.

Author: 
Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966) and Martin Shaw (1875-1958), founders of the Purcell Operatic Society; Maire Gaster [née Lynd] (1912-90), granddaughter of A. R. Dryhurst and N. F. ('Nannie') Dryhurst
Publication details: 
[London.] 1901.
£220.00

The bookplate is 3.5 x 2.5 cm, and shows a troubadour with a lute, with the initials 'M S' at the foot. It is affixed to a piece of 14 x 9 cm card. Bookplate in good condition, on aged card with one creased corner. The card carries the message in pencil by Shaw: 'Mrs. & Mr. Dryhurst.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Teddy Craig') from Edward Gordon Craig to Nannie Florence Dryhurst, anarchist, suffragette, giving details of his charges for designing and printing bookplates. With proof of Craig's bookplate for Dryhurst.

Publication details: 
Letter on letterhead of 17 Sunderland Terrace, London W2. Neither item dated.
£250.00

Letter: 1p., 12mo. On letterhead of 12 Sunderland Terrace, London, printed in orange with orange border. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He states that his daughter Nelly (1904-1975) has given him her bookplate block 'to get printed for you'. He quotes prices for 100 and 300 prints, 'only to old friends so please dont tell anyone else!! If you will just let me have a P.C I will get them done in two days.' Nelly has also told him that Mrs Dryhurst's husband Alfred Robert Dryhurst (1859-1949) 'wanted to know my price for a bookplate (but perhaps she got that wrong) anyhow I generally charge £10.

Engraved armorial bookplate, designed by Charles Catton and engraved by Francis Chesham, for Lord Camelford.

Author: 
Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford (1737-1793), politician and art collector [Charles Catton the elder (1728-1798), R.A., painter; Francis Chesham (1749–1806), engraver; bookplates; ex libris]
Publication details: 
Undated [1770s?].
£35.00

Steel-engraving, on a piece of thick laid paper, 12.5 x 17.5 cm. Fair, on lightly-aged and foxed paper. Never mounted, and so with no glue staining or other marking to blank reverse. Depicts Camelford's armorial crest, flanked by two birds, with motto 'PER . ARDUA . LIBERI .' At foot, in copperplate, 'Camelford.', with 'C. Catton R.A. del. F. Chesham Sculp.'

One Autograph Letter Signed ('<Emile?> Protat) and one letter in a secretarial hand, both to Martin.

Author: 
Imprimerie Protat Frères, Macon, France (Georges Protat & Neveu Srs.) [Commandant Emmanuel Martin]
Publication details: 
The secretarial letter: Macon, 28 February 1914. Protat's letter: Macon, 3 March 1914. Both on letterhead of the Imprimerie Protat Frères.
£85.00

Both items 12mo, 1 p. Both in good condition. The secretarial letter (docketed in purple 'Repondre le 1r mars 1914'): The 'cliché Durocher', which appeared 'dans le No d'Avril 1913, page 62, et qui doit passer aussi dans le Dictionnaire [des ex-libris français] Wiggishof [...] a été designé par M. du Roure de Paulin'. Protat's letter: 'Le cliché Durocher était bien à l'imprimerie nous l'avons retrouvé. Il n'était pas à la place qu'indiquait le registre.' He apologises for having 'inutilement derangé' Martin

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