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Tag Archives: bookplate

Book of the Week — The Riding to Lithend

01 Monday Oct 2018

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1909, Alfred Fowler, Arthur Knowles Sabin, Bognor Regis, bookplate, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, drawings, Edgar Allan Poe, England, Essex, Flansham, Georgian, Gordon Bottomley, Harting, Ingrave, James J. Guthrie, Keeper at the Victorian and Albert Museum, Kent, London, medieval, Pear Tree Cottage, Pear Tree Press, Pickford Waller, Pre-Raphaelites, Shorne, Sussex, Sybil Waller, The Great War, William Morris, wood engravings


We have laid low to earth a mighty chief:
We have laboured harder than on greater deeds,
And maybe won remembrance by the deeds
Of Gunnar when no deed of ours should live;
For this defence of his shall outlast kingdoms
And gather him fame till there are no more men.

The Riding to Lithend
Gordon Bottomley (1874-1948)
Flansham, Sussex: Pear Tree Press, 1909
First edition
PR6003 O67 R5 1909

Gordon Bottomley was influenced by Pre-Raphaelites such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Morris. Like Morris’s work, Bottomley’s draws on medieval sensibilities. His poetry is driven by a strong command of meter and atmospheric imagery. Like many of the Pre-Raphaelites, Bottomley was a pastoralist, anxious about the Industrial Revolution and the havoc it continued to wreak on the English environment and social equity. Bottomley was known for his verse plays, such as Midsummer Eve and The Riding to Lithend. While he enjoyed some success, his work, like that of many Georgian poets and artists, lost favor after the madness of The Great War. The world no longer swayed to the rhythm of a single heroic death.

James J. Guthrie (1874-1952), a Scotsman raised in London, and, like Bottomley, inspired by William Morris, founded Pear Tree Press in 1899 while he was living at Pear Tree Cottage in Ingrave, Essex, England. Guthrie moved the press to Shorne in Kent, then Harting in Sussex, before settling at Flansham, near Bognor Regis, Sussex in 1907. The first book issued by his Pear Tree Press was Some Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, 1901. Guthrie set type, printed and made drawings and wood engravings for the press. Guthrie made the drawings for The Riding to Lithen, but the book was printed by Arthur Knowles Sabin (1879-1959), also a poet. The same year he printed this book, Sabin took up a post as Keeper at the Victoria and Albert Museum and established his own press.

Presentation copy from Sybil Waller to “Mrs. Fowler.” Sybil Waller was the daughter of Pickford Waller (1849-1930), a bookplate artist and an illustrator for Pear Tree Press. Our copy has the bookplate of Alfred Fowler, author of a publication on bookplates. Fowler’s bookplate here does not appear to be one of Pickford Waller’s. Quarter tan linen over brown paper boards, printed paper label on front cover. Edition of one hundred and twenty copies.

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Stop and Smell the (Arctic) Flowers

30 Wednesday May 2018

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19th century, Abraham Small, Alaska, American, animals, Arctic, Atlantic Ocean, bookplate, botany, British Royal Navy, Brooklyn, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, climate, Department of Botany, drawings, Elisha Kent Kane, Emily Dickinson, Europe, explorers, Exquimaux, fauna, flora, Fury, George Frances Lyon, Greenland, Gripper, Hecla, Henry Parkyns Hoppner, ice, icebergs, illustrations, Inuit, James Christie, James Clark Ross, James Walsh, John Ross, Keeper of the Herbaria, lichen, London, Lyuba Basin, moss, New York, Nicholas Polunin, North America, Northwest Passage, Norwegian, Oxford, Philadelphia, Roald Amundsen, scurvy, ships, Sir John Franklin, William Edward Parry, William Parry

As if some little Arctic flower
Upon the polar hem –
Went wandering down the Latitudes
Until it puzzled came
To continents of summer –
To firmaments of sun –
To strange, bright crowds of flowers –
And birds, of foreign tongue!
– Emily Dickinson

The Northwest Passage was the name given to the sea route which connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific along the northern coast of North America via the waterways in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Toward the end of the 15th century and into the 20th century, colonial powers from Europe sent their best explorers on countless attempts to discover a commercial route, with many failing and turning back and others ending in disaster. The first successful journey was made in 1906 by a Norwegian explorer named Roald Amundsen, completing the passage from Greenland to Alaska.

Prior to Amundsen, notable captains such as John Ross, Elisha Kent Kane, James Clark Ross and William Parry explored separate parts of the Northwest Passage in the first half of the 19th century.  Parry’s first voyage was, without a doubt, the most successful in the search for the passage and his second and third attempts continued to uncover new information about the mysterious archipelago, including research on climate, flora and fauna. In fact, the notes taken by Parry and his shipmates and recorded in three separate journals contributed to crucial research in botany, among other natural sciences.


Journal of a Voyage of the Discovery of a North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific
William Edward Parry
Philadelphia: Abraham Small, 1821
First American Edition
G635 P3 A3 1821


Between 1821-1825 three ships from the British Royal Navy, the Fury, Hecla, and the Gripper, took three separate journeys into the Arctic under the leadership of Captain Parry and Captains John Ross and George Frances Lyon. While their expeditions proved to be successful, they were not without tragedy as scurvy became common and ships were often stuck in ice for weeks on end. Narratives of the journeys were published in London and Philadelphia, respectively, with detailed accounts of the days on board as well as their interactions with the Inuit, described as Esquimaux in the journals.


Journal of a Third Voyage of the Discovery of a North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific
William Edward Parry
Philadelphia: H.C. Carey I. Lea, 1826
First American Edition
G650 1824 P31


A Brief Narrative of an Unsuccessful Attempt to Reach Repulse Bay
G.F. Lyon
London: J. Murray, 1825
First Edition
G 650 1824 L9 1825


In addition, the journals included spectacular illustrations of the ships amid the looming icebergs and intricate appendices which accounted for the varieties of animals and plants that they encountered along the way. Among one of the shipmates that helped with the drawings and collecting data was Henry Parkyns Hoppner, listed as ‘lieutenant’ on the Griper in the first journal’s roster. Hoppner accompanied Parry on all three expeditions, first as a lieutenant on the Griper and Hecla, and later promoted to second in command on the Fury in the last voyage. Although Hoppner never received the kind of international acclaim as his Captains, his creative and artistic role on board as illustrator and actor proved to leave an impression.

Collection of Plants Found in the Arctic Regions…
Henry Parkyns Hoppner (1795 – 1833)
Publisher not identified, 1821
QK 474 H66

Impressions are also what we find in this small and unassuming book. From each of the pressed flowers, a ghostly accompaniment is imprinted on the opposite page, hinting at traces of life as much from the colorful flowers as from the hands of the shipmate who collected them. Impressions are also present as the handwritten notes inked on the beginning and end pages of the book. With no bibliographic information, we can only look to a small note which describes the book as “a collection of plants found in the Arctic Sections … made by Captain Hopner … 2nd in command of H.M.S. “Fury” … The “Fury” and “Hecla” (Captain Lyon) sailed to discover the N.W. passage May 1821.” Following the description, the book is addressed to Hoppner’s friend James Christie.

Attached to a page, there is also a miniature envelope that holds “moss which Franklin and his party had as their only food.” It is possible that this note alludes to the failed overland expeditions in the Arctic lead by Sir John Franklin between 1819-1822. During this time, Franklin lost more than half of the men in his party to starvation and, in order to survive, the remainder of his crew ate lichen, with some attempting to eat their own leather boots. Furthermore, there were rumors of cannibalism and at least one murder reported.

In addition to the handwritten notes, a bookplate on the first page suggests that sometime during the mid-20th century the book was held in the Department of Botany in Oxford while Nicholas Polunin was the Keeper of the Herbaria, which is now almost four hundred years old. While lecturing at Oxford, Polunin traveled to the Canadian Arctic as a botanist on an expedition that discovered the last major islands to be added to the world’s map.

Polunin was well recognized for his research and publications, specifically Circumpolar Artic Flora which was published in 1959. This book helped inspire James Walsh’ modern herbaria, The Arctic Plants of New York City, which “combines personal letters, poetry, prose essay, scholarly research, botanical exploration and artistic investigation,” of plants gather in Brooklyn, New York. The bibliography includes a reproduction of the index from Polunin’s work, in which the author has marked in red pen the eighty-eight Arctic plants that occur in New York City.

The Arctic Plants of New York City
James Walsh
New York: Granary Books, 2015
QK177 W35 2015

From the publisher’s website: “The Arctic Plants of New York City […] ranges from the Doctrine of Signatures to the sleep of plants, and from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Muir on mental travel to Giacomo Leopardi and Charles Baudelaire on the necessity of illusion for art and life. Interspersed throughout the book are a number of two-page spreads that focus on a single plant, such as Common Mugwort, with a mounted botanical specimen of that plant surrounded by texts drawn from earlier writers on botany and set in verse, creating a field of word-objects interacting with plant-objects. The letters that open the book lead into a prose essay that touches on the souls of plants, their use in medicine and as spurs to mental travel, their transience, their migrations, their meaning.” Written, designed, and letterpress printed by James Walsh, with eighteen botanical specimens pressed and mounted by the author. Bound by Daniel Kelm at Wide Awake Garage. Edition of forty copies, 34 of which are for sale.

~Contributed by Lyuba Basin, Rare Books

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Book of the Week – A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade…

18 Monday Jan 2016

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abolition, Abolition Bill, armorial, bookplate, British Empire, British Parliament, De La Cherois Crommelin, endpaper, gilt, House of Lords, letter, morocco, pamphlet, planters, printing press, religious, slave trade, slavery, slaves, The University of Utah, Thomas Clarkson, tree calf, West Indian, William Wilberforce

Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade

A LETTER ON THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE…
William Wilberforce (1759-1833)
London: Printed by Luke Hansard & Sons for T. Cadell and W. Davis, 1807
First edition

“Old concessions are retracted; exploded errors are revived; and we find we have the greater part of our work to do over again.”

William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846) began their mutual battle against the British Parliament toward the abolition of slavery in 1787. In 1791, they were defeated by the interests of West Indian planters. In 1806, Wilberforce and Clarkson began the fight again. In A Letter, Wilberforce described the evidence and arguments against the slave trade that he had accumulated over the course of two decades. It was published on January 31, 1807. On 25 March 1807 royal assent was given to a bill abolishing slave trade with the introduction of the Abolition Bill in the House of Lords. It was the first major victory for the abolition movement. The bill was carried by 267 votes. According to an account by Clarkson, the house rose to its feet and cheered. The victory represented a battle carried on through word of mouth and the printing press. But the war to abolish slavery was far from over. Wilberforce continued to work to abolish slavery throughout the British Empire. The fight did not conclude until July 26, 1833, when Parliament voted to abolish slavery. Wilberforce died three days later. University of Utah copy has armorial bookplate of “Sam. De La Cherois Crommelin” and family signature on endpaper. Bound in contemporary tree calf, gilt flat spine with black morocco label.

alluNeedSingleLine

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Book of the Week – Types and Bookmaking: Containing Notes on the…

07 Monday Apr 2014

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book collector, bookmaking, bookplate, Boston, Bruce Rogers, D.B. Updike, Denmark, Estelle Doheny, Fred Anthoensen, Frederick William Anthoesen, Maine, morocco, Portland, Southworth Press, The Southworth-Anthoensen Press, type, type specimens, typographic, typographic ornaments, typography, United States

Anthoensen, Types and Bookmaking, 1943, Title Page
Anthoensen, Types and Bookmaking, 1943, Type
Anthoensen, Types and Bookmaking, 1943, Decoration

Types and Bookmaking: Containing Notes on the…
Fred Anthoensen (1892-1969)
Portland, ME: The Southworth-Anthoensen Press, 1943

Frederick William Anthoensen was born in Denmark, but came to the United States as an infant. He attended school in Portland, Maine. He became interested in printing under the influence of D.B. Updike and Bruce Rogers, both of Boston, and both heavy hitters of early US twentieth-century typography. In 1901, Anthoensen began working as a compositor for Southworth Press. Seventeen years later he became its managing director. In 1934, the name of the press changed its name to Southworth-Anthoenson Press. After 1944, it became Anthoensen Press. Anthoensen was recognized as an exemplary craftsman in his day.

Contains type specimens, typographic ornaments and flowers, and specimen pages, accompanied by a descriptive catalogue. Bound in full charcoal linen buckram with black morocco spine.  Issued in slipcase. University of Utah copy contains bookplate of book collector Estelle Doheny.

alluNeedSingleLine

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