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Bookplate Index by Library or Collector
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James Ford Bell Library, University of Minnesota In 1928 James Ford
Bell merged his company Washburn Crosby with four other flour milling
companies to form General Mills. He then managed the company as it grew to
become the large international cereal company that it is today. In 1926
Mr. Bell purchased A Summarie and True Discourse of Sir Frances
Drake’s West Indian Voyage by Walter Bigges. This book was printed
in London by Richard Field in 1598. It was the first book in the library
that Mr. Bell would later establish at the University of Minnesota in
1953. Mr. Bell was a
graduate of the University of Minnesota, majoring in chemistry. Much later
he served on the Board of Regents of the University. But he was also a
book collector. Mr. Bell began collecting early English works, mostly
drama and poetry. By the 1930s his book collecting shifted to nonfiction
works, particularly the reports of the French Jesuits of North America and
other pieces of Americana. These Jesuit reports were issued on an annual
basis from 1632 to 1672. They were extremely popular reports of the North
America missions, containing lively comments on the manners and customs of
the various North American Indians. The market for travel accounts written
during the European Age of Discovery was almost insatiable, as Europeans
sought to find out about and make sense of lands and peoples different
from themselves. It was natural for
a businessman like James Ford Bell to read in his books accounts of
economic activity between various peoples. This reinforced his belief that
commerce, the desire of people to trade their surplus goods for products
that they do not possess, is the most important factor motivating
interaction among people. Economic activity, Mr. Bell believed, underlies
all other human activity: social, cultural, and political. When Mr. Bell
took a look at his international company he wondered where it all began.
He soon realized that the documentation of the beginnings of world
commerce was not being done in a consistent manner. So in 1953
he donated six hundred carefully chosen books to the University of
Minnesota Library. The original goal of what became the James Ford Bell
Library was ambitious. To get at the earliest records the library’s
first curator was sent to the Middle East to inquire about collecting clay
tablets, scrolls, and papyri documents. Serious consideration was given to
collecting oral histories and other materials documenting the foundations
of air cargo routes. It was soon realized that this was too much for one
library to do, so the scope of the James Ford Bell Library was redefined
to collect books, maps, and manuscripts that document Europe’s
relationship with non-European parts of the world in the time period 1400
to 1800, approximately. Europeans left behind many written records about
their travels and encounters all over the world. Today the collection
stands at just over twenty thousand items. All of those first
six hundred carefully chosen books contain Mr. Bell’s bookplate. This
tiny oval green leather plate measures just 2.5 3 centimeters. Stamped in
gold is the family motto: Nec Quaerere Honorem Nec Spernere [Neither seek
nor spurn honor]. In the center, also stamped in gold, is the family crest
consisting of an eagle on top of the shield, three bells (very difficult
to see), the bottom one separated from the top two by a center field of
bells (also difficult to see). Separating the name, James F. Bell, from
the family motto on one side is a three-leaf clover and on the other side
is a bundle of grain. Use of the bookplate was discontinued when it was
discovered that the leather was reacting with some of the end papers in
certain books, and books added to the collection since then are plated
with a James Ford Bell Library bookplate meeting modern preservation
standards. Brad
Oftelie, James Ford Bell Library, University of Minnesota
Bookplate courtesy of the James Ford Bell Library, University of Minnesota. [Originally published in Libraries & Culture, vol. 34, no. 4 (Fall 1999): 400-401.]
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| Last updated June 8, 2001 |
