The Bookplate Journal, Autumn 2017. Part III.
This is the third and final part of my blog posts on the latest edition of the Bookplate Journal.
In Bookplate identification: an aid to provenance in a current research project Danijela Bucher talks about her research project regarding the prints of the Schweizer Kleinmeister, who were artists in Switzerland between 1750 and 1850. They sold their work to British aristocrats on their Grand Tour of Europe. Subsequently many of their prints are not to be found in Switzerland, but in England. The extensive collection on the Alps formed by Robert Wylie Lloyd that was donated to the British Library contains many of these prints and 27 different bookplates from previous owners, the identification of which is an important part of Danijela Bucher's research. At the end of the article are seven plates that she is seeking information on.
Next is a short article Kind hearts and coronets by John Titford about a bookplate for the demolished Chesterfield House in Mayfair and his research into finding the owner of it.
Book history and the bookplate: opportunities for future collaboration by Edward Potten interestingly talks about a shift in book studies. People are beginning to look at how we can study a book's place in social history by looking at the people who owned and read it. For instance was it a cheap book read by a working class woman from the north, or expensive and owned by an academic from London? In this sort of study provenance is king and so bookplates and inscriptions form an important part of book research. It is because of this that libraries are beginning to not only list books in their catalogue, but provenance also. This has lead to information on bookplates in libraries becoming more accessible, which benefits the collector as well as academia. It is this dual benefit, where both spheres meet, that Edward Potten grabs hold of. How can the Bookplate Society, universities and Libraries work together? Rather than an article about the history of the book it is an article about the future of studying the history of the book.
The penultimate article Welcome back home, Jane! by Janine Barchas uses the return of a set of Jane Austen's novels, owned by the author's nephew, to Chawton House Library to discuss the Richard Bentley edition of Austen's works as well as go into detail on this particular set. As a lover of the works of Jane Austen it was particularly interesting to me.
Lastly Collecting: eBay - tool or terror? by Bruce Robertson is an article aimed at eBay novices. For those people who have not yet ventured over to eBay it is a reassuring piece. If you're already familiar there isn't very much in there of use apart from his list of "desirable information for eBay bookplate listings", which forms a handy guide.
I believe I mentioned the appendix in Part II, which has a useful list of resources. What I didn't mention was that there is also a 'methodology for identifying bookplate owners' that is equally useful. Both are by Anthony Pincott. For anyone interested in bookplates these two provide a treasure trove of information that will be very useful to you. They would make a really helpful pamphlet for new members to the society. The issue is worth it just for these.
This leads me to the end of my blog posts on the latest edition of the Bookplate Journal. If you have not read Part I then I recommend that you do. Again I shall mention that you can purchase a sample journal for £7 including UK postage by contacting The Bookplate Society.
[UPDATE: I have been told that five of the seven bookplates that Danijela Bucher is trying to identify have now been identified and that the final two have been placed as queries on the CERL Provenance Query website.]
