Research Catalog

Title

The art of the bookplate / James P. Keenan ; foreword by George Plimpton.

Author

Keenan, James P.

Publication

New York : Barnes & Noble Books, c2003.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Plimpton, George.

Description

175 p. : ill. (some col.); 23 cm.

Summary

The world is full of people who love books. People who not only love to read, but who love to possess and collect books. Since the fifteenth century truly devoted collectors have commissioned their own bookplates, known also as ex libris. Some are straightforward ? a simple label bearing the owner?s name. Others are impressive works of art in miniature. Whether plan or fancy, book plates give an owner a special sense of proud proprietorship. Even more important, they assure that if a cherished book is lent, it has a decent chance of being returned. They are an indulgence of the rich and famous, certainly. And, ?The art of the Bookplate? includes many owned by prominent people such as George Washington, Charlie Chaplin, John F. Kennedy, Joan Crawford J.P. Morgan, Walt Disney, Grace Allen, Otto Bismarck, Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Houdini, Sigmund Freud, Charles Dickens, and Anita Loos. But other bookplate patrons are unknown to us, like Mabel Bishop, whose charming ex libris shows a young woman tending her garden, or Lucius Fisher, whose bookplate, naturally enough, features a fish. In this delightful book James P. Keenan, Director of the American Society of bookplate collectors & Designers, shares many of his favorite bookplates. He explains the history behind each, and discusses the artists ? some as famous as Rockwell Kent and Claes Oldenburg, others as unknown or not ex libris owners are passionate about keeping their book collections intact. As one very old bookplate proclaims, ?Steal not this book for fear of shame. For here you see the owner?s name.? The Art of the Bookplate is a book to be treasured and, of course, kept in your possession. --

Subject

• Bookplates > Pictorial works
• Bookplates > History

Genre/Form

• History
• Pictorial works

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 172-173) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Thoughts of a bookplate lover / George Plimpton -- Art of the bookplate / James P. Keenan -- The golden age of the bookplate -- Bookplates in the Americas -- Classification of bookplate design -- Bookplates in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries -- "Little masters" -- Flowering of Art Nouveau and Art Deco bookplate designs -- Bookplate artists of the twentieth century -- Brief history of bookplate collecting -- Collecting bookplates today -- A treasury of bookplates -- American Society of Bookplate Collectors & Designers.

ISBN

0760746966

LCCN

^^2004298400

OCLC

• 53329666
• SCSB-11024454

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library