Marks of Ownership
Endpapers also tell us stories about the history of a book’s ownership and development. They often include inscriptions with past owners' names, and may also include bookplates, book labels, stamps, or tickets. Bookplates were glued into books as early as the 15th century. Generally printed from an engraved or etched block, these slips of paper often featured an armorial or pictorial design with the owner’s name or initials and a distinctive design. Bookplates were influenced by changes in art and design and gained great popularity in the 19th century. New owners would sometimes add their bookplates alongside old ones, creating a visual timeline of provenance. Book labels were simpler, with the owner’s name and often a small, printed border. Even simpler were book stamps, with the name of the individual or institutional owner. Beginning in the mid-18th century, books also sometimes included tickets: labels used by bookbinders to sign their work or by booksellers to advertise the source of purchase.
Binder’s Ticket
Sternhold, Thomas, and John Hopkins. The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the Use of the Church of England…. Oxford: Printed by T. Wright and W. Gill ..., 1775.
A handsome and prominent binder’s ticket, indicating that the book was bound by Daniel Ewing on May 26, 1777.
Book Label & Inscription
Bidermann, Jakob. Iacobi Bidermani ... Deliciae sacrae. Fribvrgi Helvetior: Formis Davidis Irrbisch, 1665.
These endpapers tell a story of the book’s provenance, with a handwritten inscription from the 17th century and an institutional book label from the 20th century.
Golden Dog Press Bookplate
O’Brien, Edward. The Lawyer, His Character and Rule of Holy Life: After the Manner of George Herbert’s Country Parson. London: W. Pickering, 1842.
This book comes from the personal collection of J. Kemp Waldie, founder of the Canadian fine press Golden Dog Press, and it includes the Golden Dog Press bookplate. These endpapers also exemplify the non-pareil style of marbling, a popular style in the mid 19th century.
Grangerization
Bury, Richard de, John Bellingham Inglis, Charles Inglis, and W Pratt. Philobiblon: A Treatise on the Love of Books. London: Printed for T. Rodd, 1832.
These endpapers have been “grangerized” with extra-illustrated images and newspaper articles, a practice popular in the 19th century and typical of books owned by John Bellingham Inglis. The endpapers also include the book label of C. Inglis, John Inglis’s son.
18th & 20th-Century Armorial Bookplates
Herbert of Cherbury, Edward Herbert, and Philip Francis. The Life of Edward Lord Herbert of Cherbury. Edited by Horace Walpole. London: Printed for J. Dodsley ..., 1770.
These endpapers show some of this book's history ownership. On the pastedown is the armorial bookplate of Sir John Cope Baronet. The bookplate features the Cope coat of arms with a scalloped shell below the shield, in characteristic 18th-century Jacobean style. On the flyleaf is the 20th-century armorial bookplate of the Earl of Cromer.
Armorial & Library Bookplates
The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the Use of the Church of Ireland …. Dublin: printed by the Executors of David Hay, Assignee of the late Boulter Grierson, Printer to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, 1773.
This book contains the armorial bookplate of William Warren Baldwin (1775-1844) of Spadina, in the County of York, Upper Canada. William Baldwin was a doctor, lawyer, politician, and proponent of “responsible government.”
Armorial Bookplate
Morley, John. The Life of William Ewart Gladstone in six volumes. Vol. 1. London: Macmillan, 1903.
The armorial bookplate of Sir Jonathan Edmund Backhouse Baronet (1849-1918), a British banker, created baronet in 1901.
A Woman’s Pictorial Bookplate
Herrick, Robert. Chrysomela: A Selection from the Lyrical Poems of Robert Herrick. London: Macmillan and Co., 1892.
At the end of the Victorian era there was a growing interest in bookplates. Pictorial bookplates provided a means of expressing individual tastes and were popular among women. Here is the pictorial bookplate of Violet, the Countess of Mar and Kellie (1868-1938), designed by English bookplate maker William Phillips Barrett (1861–1938).