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Bookplate Index by Library or Collector
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John M. Wing Foundation, Newberry Library
By June 1919 books began arriving for the Wing Collection at the Newberry
Library in Chicago; today the Wing Foundation is one of the world's
premier collections devoted to the history of books and printing, due in
large part to the efforts of the first custodian, Pierce Butler. (For
further information about the Wing Collection development activities from
1919 to 1932, see John Richardson, The Gospel of Scholarship: Pierce
Butler and a Critique of American Librarianship [Metuchen, N.J.:
Scarecrow Press, forthcoming].) In his original proposal to the Newberry
trustees, John M. Wing, a Chicago businessman and collector, specified
that his book collection and any future additions to it should contain the
bookplates of his “Old Corner Library." His 1915 will, however,
allowed a new plate to be added to new purchases. W. N. C.
Carlton, the Newberry's librarian, and the trustees met in late May 1919
and discussed commissioning the design of such a plate. They decided to
approach Ralph Fletcher Seymour, a commercial illustrator and type
designer of local importance, who managed the Alderbrink Press. (For basic
biographical information, see Who Was Who in America, vol. 4
[Chicago: Marquis, 1961-1968]; Artists of
the American West: A
Biographical Dictionary, ed.
Doris O. Dawdy [Chicago: Swallow Press, 1981]; and the Encyclopedia of
American Biography, ed. John A. Garraty [New York: Harper and Row,
1974]; for more specific information, see Susan O. Thompson, American
Book Design and William Morris [New York: R. R. Bowker, 1977],
especially pp. 105, 107-108, 110, and 128-129, as well as Kathryn Camp,
"Ralph Fletcher Seymour and His Alderbrink Press [Chicago,
1898-1965]: A History and Checklist of His Publications'' [M.A.
thesis, University of Chicago, 1979].) In his listing for the Directory of Bookplate Artists (1923),
Seymour wrote, "I work in copper, pen and ink, or line and wash. I
specialize in decorative and lettered designs. The cost is between $35 and
$100 for the design. I have been making bookplates for twenty years"
(Alfred Fowler [ed.], The Bookplate Annual for 1923 [Kansas City:
Alfred Fowler, 1923], p. 46). On 23 June 1919 Seymour told the Newberry's
purchasing agent, Jesse L. Moss, that he could supply them with 5,000
bookplates on Japanese imperial parchment vellum. If the library wanted
the plate in black ink, he would charge only $80 for "designing and
production" (R. F. Seymour to J. L. Moss, 23 June 1919, “Library
Correspondence—August-December 1919," Newberry Library Archives
[hereafter cited as NLA]); however, if the library wanted color, there
would he an additional charge of $80. On 27 October Carlton wrote to Edward L. Ryerson, one of the Newberry
trustees, that Seymour had made revised sketches in light of Ryerson's
suggestions (Carlton to E. L. Ryerson, 27 October 1919, “Library
Correspondence—August-December 1919," NLA). Seymour proposed a heraldic device printed in black, dark green, gold,
and silver. Below this crest he typeset "The John M. Wing Foundation
of the Newberry Library" in a Gothic face. The trustees approved the
revised design and ordered that several thousand plates be printed. This
plate is shown at the conclusion of this essay. As the years passed, however, the trustees realized that they possessed a
truly national treasure with an international reputation. Somehow
Seymour's bookplate no longer did justice to the kind of printed material
being acquired, and they concluded that a new bookplate should be
designed. This time they intended to select an artist of national, if not
international, repute. Friendly advice came from many sources, including
members of the Society of Typographic Arts and the Caxton Club. After
considering a number of artists including Eric Gill (see Kuang-pei Tu and
John Richardson, "The Newberry Library Bookplate by Eric Gill,'' Journal
of Library History 22 [Winter 1987]: 85-88), the trustees ultimately
settled on Bruce Rogers. Well known to many in the Chicago area, Rogers
worked at the Riverside Press between 1896 and 1912, whereupon he
undertook freelance work (Thompson, American Book Design, p.66). Rogers, revered by many as the greatest living book designer of his day,
created books that increasingly commanded high prices as rarities, even
before the publisher's supply of these fine editions had been sold off. He
delivered the proof of the new bookplate to the Newberry in May 1928 (Report
of the Trustees of the Newberry Library for the Year 1928 [Chicago:
The Library, 1929], p. 29) and it continues in service today at the Wing
Foundation, widely recognized as one of the world's premier collections
devoted to the history of printing. This later plate is shown on the cover
of this issue. John
Richardson, Jr. Associate Professor, UCLA GSLIS, and Newberry Library Fellow
[Originally published in Journal of Library History, vol. 26, no. 4 (Spring 1991): 608-610.]
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