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https://ourheritage.ac.nz/files/original/60bb231d6df3d4a8117fc87f0a49d964.jpg
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
This Book Belongs To..... Bookplates, Book Labels, & Inscriptions
Creator
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Curated by Romilly Smith and Donald Kerr, Special Collections, University of Otago
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
December 2019
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
New Zealand’s Trinity of book collectors marked their books in different ways, thereby signifying ownership with the claim ‘This book is mine!’ Sir George Grey had no bookplate, inscribing his books rarely. Alexander Turnbull had ten different bookplates, one being a ‘rebus’ designed by the artist Walter Crane. Dr T.M. Hocken marked each book he owned many times, often using an Ex libris bookplate (which he was not allowed to carry); a ‘Hakena’ label, ink stamps, and his signature.
Marking ownership (provenance) by inserting bookplates, book labels, stamps or inscriptions into a book is part of a long tradition, begun in the period of the first printing presses (1450s), when multiple copies of books were produced. Book collectors started to amass libraries, either as a resource for their own intellectual pursuits, or just for show. It became chic to have a library, a collection of books and manuscripts. In later times, it was doubly chic to have a prominent artist design your bookplate.
Many of the first bookplates were based on coats of arms that many aristocrats and landed gentry had the right to bear. Mottoes dominated. As time progressed, and book collecting increased, an increasing number of owners did not have coats of arms to adorn their books. Consequently, they developed their own pictorial bookplates, often containing symbols or objects that reflected some personal aspect or interest. Traditionally, bookplates were engraved, or were produced through wood or linocuts. As the modern era progressed, the use of photography and colour has increased. Some book collectors are more circumspect. They use small, often unadorned labels, or specially made stamps, to affix in their books. Others just simply inscribed their name in their books.
Special Collections does not own a collection of bookplates like Auckland City Libraries with their Hilda Wiseman Collection, nor the Auckland Museum Library with its Percy Barnett Collection. Nevertheless, Special Collections has numerous bookplates, book labels, and inscriptions evident in the thousands of books held. On display is a small fraction of the total held, a wide variety of armorial, pictorial, and modern designs representing a wide range of book collectors. What is pleasing are the number of bookplates and labels representing female book collectors, who have traditionally not figured greatly in the field of book collecting. In addition, bookplate samples from the collection of Professor David Skegg have been included. They are particular to the South Island as they feature Otago and Southland bookplate owners.
In order to display more bookplates, far more smaller (octavo) format books and much less large format ones have been used. Often found pasted on the front endpaper, these individual design and provenance statements have their own distinct beauty. Please enjoy.
Contributor
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Special Collections, University of Otago
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Memoirs of the Life of Sir Stephen Fox
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
William Pittis
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1717
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
De Beer Eb 1717 M
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Pictorial bookplate; inscriptions
Publisher
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Printed for John Sackfield and sold by J. Roberts
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
The intertwined initials of Walter Henry Whitear make up this aesthetically pleasing bookplate from a volume about Samuel Pepys’ contemporary and friend, Sir Stephen Fox (1627-1716).
As can be seen, the book was gifted to Whitear from a ‘W.M. Chute’ in ‘March 1897’. Perhaps this gift is what prompted Whitear to pursue his research of Samuel Pepys that culminated in the publication of his More Pepysiana. Notes on the Diary of Samuel Pepys, published in 1927. Not much is known about Whitear except he was a member of the Royal Historical Society and lived in Chiswick, West London.
Bookplates