Troutsdale Press bookplates

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Amy M Sacker.

The work of four bookplate artists printed by the Troutsdale Press, Boston, in 1903 and 1904 is contained in these small volumes at the Internet Archive. None of the artists featured are names I’d come across before. Amy M Sacker’s work is of note for being that of a woman given equal status among her male colleagues, and a nice clear-line style reminiscent of Walter Crane. The short text at the beginning of her volume runs through the history of the female contribution to bookplate art, drawing the conclusion (in the usual chauvinistic terms of the period) that women can indeed compete with men at this game.

Amy M Sacker | Elisha Brown Bird | F Arthur Jacobson | Adrian J Lorio

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The artist’s own bookplate by Elisha Brown Bird.

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F Arthur Jacobson.

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Adrian J Lorio.

• At the LA Times: What’s sticky and can be found in old books?

Previously on { feuilleton }
Bookplates from The Studio
Yuri Yakovenko bookplates
Tranquillo Marangoni bookplates
Book-plates of To-day
Louis Rhead bookplates
Pratt Libraries Ex Libris Collection
The Evil Orchid Bookplate Contest
The art of Oleg Denysenko
David Becket’s bookplates

Bookplates from The Studio

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Cyril Goldie.

Selections from Modern Book-plates and their Designers, an overview of British, American and European designs published by The Studio magazine in 1898. These small Studio books are always good to see, not least for the period ads in the opening and closing pages. A couple of the designs are familiar from later reprints, notably Cyril Goldie’s remarkable accumulation of thorns and skulls. Many others are in the swirling and tendrilled style of Art Nouveau which The Studio did much to promote in Britain. Also of interest are a few entries from well-known fine artists who are seldom associated with this kind of design. Among these is Belgian Symbolist Fernand Khnopff who contributes a design of his own and an article about Flemish bookplate design.

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Charles Robinson.

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PJ Billinghurst.

Continue reading “Bookplates from The Studio”

Yuri Yakovenko bookplates

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Yet more bookplates, discovered whilst browsing the wealth of material at this Japanese site recommended by Andy Paciorek. Belarus artist Yuri Yakovenko’s name is given a number of spellings on various sites so I’ve gone with the one from a Belarus art page since they can be presumed to know best how to label their fellow artists. Yakovenko’s hyper-detailed, occult-inflected brand of Surrealist imagery is so striking you have to wonder why his work hasn’t gained more visibility. Is it because the contemporary Ex Libris print world appears to be a self-contained zone within the wider art market? Whatever the answer, this is a region worthy of further investigation.

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Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
The etching and engraving archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
Tranquillo Marangoni bookplates
Book-plates of To-day
Louis Rhead bookplates
Pratt Libraries Ex Libris Collection
The Evil Orchid Bookplate Contest
The art of Oleg Denysenko
David Becket’s bookplates

Tranquillo Marangoni bookplates

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Occulta (1949).

Two of the many bookplates produced by Italian artist Tranquillo Marangoni (1912–1992). The official site (in Italian) has three pages of ex libris work as well as further pages devoted to his woodcut book illustrations, postage stamp designs and other graphic productions.

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Eros x Agapi (1949).

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
The illustrators archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
Book-plates of To-day
Louis Rhead bookplates
Pratt Libraries Ex Libris Collection
The Evil Orchid Bookplate Contest
David Becket’s bookplates

Book-plates of To-day

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A design by Harold Nelson.

That title probably requires a (sic) for those unaware that “today” was commonly hyphenated until about 1920. Wilbur Macey Stone’s Book-plates of To-day (1902) is a small overview of the art of the bookplate at the Internet Archive. Among the artists flourishing the Art Nouveau foliage are a couple of familiar illustrators such as Robert Anning Bell (below), and there’s also a plate by the Belgian Symbolist Fernand Khnopff, the first such work I’ve seen by that artist.

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Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
The illustrators archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
Louis Rhead bookplates
Pratt Libraries Ex Libris Collection
Robert Anning Bell’s Tempest
The Evil Orchid Bookplate Contest
David Becket’s bookplates