Seasons Greetings From Lew Jaffe

It is that time of year again. I want to wish each and every one of you a joyful, healthy and prosperous new year. 

Here are some Christmas Cards sent out by bookplate designers  bookplate collectors and others.

From Hugh Thomson

 From Mr. and Mrs. Harold Nelson

Designed and pencil signed 

By Rudolph Ruzica

 Designed and Pencil Signed 

By James D. Havens

Two Hand Colored  Designs

 by Hugh and Margaret Eaton

From George and Kazuko Sekine

Designed by Sonia Zwanetz

From Norman Kent

From Thomas E.French

Engraved By Stanley E. Scantlin

Mystery Christmas Card

Here's one which has bevelled gilded edges

An engraved image circa 1920

And Beautiful Calligraphy which is unreadable .

The sender's name might be  Mrs. Amanda W. Marshall.

What do you think ?

Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

12/25/2016   I received this response to my inquiry from Russ Lura

Dear Lew Jaffe,

Seasons’ greeting to you as well.

I enjoy reading your emails; thanks.

Could the name be Amanda M. Larson rather than Marshall?

Russ Lura

12/27/2016 Here is another response from Olli Ylönen 

Dear Lew Jaffe,
Your question about the mystery Christmas card:
I read the calligraphy as Mrs. Amanda A. Carsey

Wishing You a Happy New Year,

Olli Ylönen
Lähetetty iPadista

Clever Bookplates

I do not have any paid advertising on my blog but every once in a while I enjoy
giving a bookseller or in this case a  bookish hotel free publicity. If I ever go to Portugal here is where I would like to stay, The Literary Man Obidos Hotel. .By way of coincidence, the travel section in today's New York Times  (12/11/2016) is all about bookish hotels around the world as well as book stores.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/travel/hotels-for-book-lovers.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3986922/A-bolthole-bookworms-Inside-library-style-hotel-s-home-45-000-book

Not too many bookplates make me laugh or at least smile.
Here are a few that amuse me.

 If you have any bookplates in your collection which amuse you please send scans and I will try to add them to this posting.

Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

Martin Pacheco  is a magician in Argentina

Dr. Hopping was a proctologist in New Jersey

Dr Darnell 's practice was in Germantown,Pennsylvania.He was on the staff at Hahnemann Hospital.His wife Mildred Hollis Darnell designed his bookplate.

I do not know who the owner the plate shown above  was but it sounds like someone you would not want to alienate.

I was curious about Charles De Von LaFollette
 Here is his picture and  some   biographical information written by Beth Swift, the archivist at Wabash College

 LAFOLLETTE LECTURE, PROFESSOR, LAFOLLETTE THE MAN…

May 12, 2010Beth Swift

Just this week I had a request for a scanned copy of Bob Petty’s 1982 LaFollette Lecture, “The Margins of Knowledge”  and another request for a copy of a later lecture in this series. These two requests caused me to think about all of the other LaFollette lectures over the years. This series is a source of deep, engaged thinking. Each year one speaker is chosen from the faculty to present a lecture. It is an honor and, based on those who have spoken in prior years, I would think it might be a bit intimidating…These requests also caused me to think more about the man whose name is on the series…

Charles DeVon LaFollett 

Lafe, as he was known to his friends, was born in Thorntown, Indiana, a very small town in Boone County. He graduated from Thorntown High School in 1916. At Wabash he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, Managing Editor of the Bachelor, student director of the Glee Club and a leader in the Wabash Players, the forerunner of the Scarlet Masque theater group and elected to Phi Beta Kappa. LaFollette stayed a fifth year and earned his master’s degree at Wabash before heading to Harvard. At Harvard he earned his M.B.A. and was asked to stay, at first as a researcher. In 1925 was appointed Assistant Dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration. Following his Harvard years, LaFollette worked as Assistant to the President of the Bobbs-Merrill publishing company in Indianapolis.

The scene changed from Indianapolis to Corning, NY where this smart young man quickly rose through the ranks at Corning. Starting as sales manager of the Pyrex division, he was elected Treasurer in 1939 and by 1943 was the Vice President and Director of Sales. By 1946 Lafe was a director of the company. When he retired in 1964 he continued on the Board of Directors of Dow-Corning. LaFollette served as President of the Corning Museum of Glass and was a Trustee of the Corning Glass Works Foundation.

Yet through all of his success, Wabash was always a part of his world. In 1952 Lafe became a Trustee of Wabash College. He served for 25 years and in 1977 stepped down from the Board. It was in this year that the first LaFollette lecture was presented at Wabash. He and his wife also established the Charles D. and Elizabeth S. LaFollette Distinguished Professorship in the Humanities, first held by Eric Dean. It is a distinguished list as first Raymond Williams and then Bill Placher followed  Dean. Leslie Day  an archaeologist with significant excavations in Greece and professor in the Classics department served as the next LaFollette from 2009-2011.  This highly prized chair is currently held by theater professor Dwight Watson.

Lafe loved this place and Wabash rewarded him for his good work. In 1956 he received the Alumni Award of Merit and in 1967 he received the Doctor of Humane Letters degree from President Paul Cook. On his retirement from the Board in 1977, faculty member Bert Stern presented, “The Businessman as Poet.” The lecture was at 4pm and was followed by a dinner. Ben Rogge spoke after dinner and ended his remarks with this toast, “To our friend, Lafe LaFollette, then, I propose this toast: May those who teach and those who learn at this college and those who guide its destinies in the years ahead be forever mindful of your example, forever aware that the finest product of a liberal education is that rarest of creatures, a truly civilized human being.”

What a lovely thought!

A truly civilized human being as the finest product of liberal arts education…

Best,

Beth Swift, Archivist

Wabash College

Here is a photo of Mr.Andrews along with  a link to some biographical information.

https://sites.google.com/site/numismaticmallcom/encyclopedic-dictionary-of-numismatic-biographies/andrews-frank-dewette-1

Request For Dated 18th Century English Bookplates

Fellow Collector Peter Youatt Sent the Following Request.

  I have collected eighteenth century dated English plates since I was a school boy and I hope shortly to be in a position to do an article for The Bookplate  Journal  illustrating one from each year from my own collection.

I have over the years acquired a good number of them,although I have several for some years, there are currently just eight years that have remained elusive. They are 1714;1728;1731;1732;1771;1772;1784 and 1794. To count either the plate must itself be dated or the engraver’s signature must include a date.

If you can assist me I would be most interested in hearing from you.

Cordially,
Peter Youatt

youatt@walberton.me.uk

Note From Lew -

 While sorting through my own dated plates  I came upon this one.

 Brian North Lee wrote the following on page 22 in  the March 1998 issue of The Bookplate Journal 

 "John Walford's ex-libris seems milder until one notices the knife in the hand of the cherub at left,who otherwise might seem to be giving a simple anatomy lesson to his fellows, though the one at right is perhaps straining to hear what is being said .Whilst amorini are perhaps more acceptable than human figures in such compositions, it is more comfortable and traditional to see them as harbingers of love"