Fowler Steps Up

When Sheldon Cheney folded up shop in May of 1910, he hoped another like-minded person would continue his work. Ten months later, the correspondence address changed from Berkley, California to Kansas City, Missouri. The new editor was H. Alfred (Fred) Fowler. Under his stay The Bookplate Booklet looked and felt exactly the same. There was an index page, an index to the Illustrations, a request for literary contributions, and news from around the bookplate world. Such as, "The Association Book Company of New York under James F. Drake, has just published a catalogue of proofs and prints by English and American Engravers from Mr. Spenceley's personal collection." Or, "The Graphic Arts and Crafts Year Book for 1909, a review of the engravers, printing, and allied industries, published at Hamilton, Ohio should be of special interest to bookplate designers....." Ads were placed by E. Lister of 104 Manchester in Oldham, England offering a "Catalouge of 2,000 Bookplates" to be mailed free to any part of the world; "Bookplates of Well-Known Americans" by Clifford N. Carver of Princeton, New Jersey; "Masonic Book-Plates" by A. Winthrop Pope, out of Newton, Massachuesttes; "Indiana Bookplaters" by Miss Esther Griffin White, with plates by Meredith Nicholson, James Whitcomb Riley, Gearge Barr McCutcheon, Edward Eggleston, Booth Tarkington, David Stuart Jordon, William Dudley Foulke, and Gov. Thomas R Marshall are reproduced in this Hoosier book; Frank B. Siegrist, a Bookplate Engraver from Kansas City; and Specialty Printing by Frank V. Barhydt of Kansas City printed the Booklet. There were bookplate owners that wanted to exchange plates with other collectors. Such as, "Harold G. Rugg, Dartmouth College Library, Hanover, N.H: exchanges the two Darmouth College plates by J. W. Spenceley for plates by the above-named artists "(Feb. 1908, Vol.2, No.1). Of note, exchange requests came as near as Lawrence, Kansas and from as far as Vienna, Austria. Fowler himself placed an ad requesting book-plates.

Fowler tried on a couple occasions to bring something special to his readers. Take the inked impression from the original copperplate done by Miss Bertha Gorst. It took special steps to insert that etching proof into the book (Bookplate Booklet, September 1911, Volume 4, Number 3, page thirty-five). The text read: "Although more widely known for her "Etchings of Chester," Miss Bertha Gorst, who is an associate of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and a member of many other well-known societies and associations of artists, has done some very creditable work in the field of book-plates.The "Etchings of Chester" are views of historical places in and about that quaint old town, and so faithfully do they render the spirit of the subjects that their depiction of the old buildings seems to express their very atmosphere of antique and legendary suggestion. And this same elusive quality is an attraction in many of her book-plates, one of them being the Gwendoline Buckler, of which we present an impression from the copperplate. This plate shows a view of Nuremberg taken from Durer's "St. Anthony"--it has been the subject for much comment on the part of ex libris critics and was at one time given honorable mention in the German Ex Libris Society Journal." In 1912 Fowler went on to publish a small folio of seven original copper etching impressions by Gorst with tissue guards to each with a facing page quoting a passage of John Ruskin. That work was called Gothic Bookplates.

Take his Ex Libran experiment published in 1912 on his private press. He limited the edition to 400 copies and printed it on Italian hand-made paper. He wanted the volume to have a one-of-a-kind appearance, something collectors would be privileged to own. Fowler personally attended to every detail, including setting the type, sewing the covers, and pasting the inserts.The type font looked like a medieval manuscript. The contents, surprisingly enough, continued advocating the engravers of bookplates. Click on link to view the Ex Libran for yourself.

Karl Marxhausen comments: To understand to hand printing process of a copperplate etching and a woodblock I have included a link to Bill Ritchie's video at Print Universe. There is the dampening of special paper, and the alignment of plates, but it will give you a better idea of the steps etching printers go through to produce a single print. Another contemporary video shows the hand-stitched book-making process Fowler "might" have used to create his Ex Libran volume.

Introducing artists

H. A. Fowler followed in the steps of his predecessor Sheldon Cheney. Surely, he also enjoyed mutual friendships with the artists he later commissioned in his Woodcut Society. A window into that relationship can be seen in a November 1907 post entitled "A Visit to Mr. Spenceley's Summer Studio." In this entry, one of the Booklet's contributors (S.A.) travels to Boston, Massachusetts. The recorded experience introduced collectors nation-wide to the then-popular J. Winfred Spenceley.
"A three-mile ride over the hills from the railroad station brings one to the summer studio of Mr. J. W. Spenceley of Boston, who has etched and engraved many notable book-plates during the last dozen years. The cottage is on a hillside, just above the quiet New Hampshire village of Chocorua. In front, Mt. Chocorua's rugged peak, five miles away, rises from above the pine trees with quite a Japanese suggestion: while in the rear, a beautiful valley of rolling meadow land and pine forests, bounded by mountains on either side, stretches into the distance where the silvery expanse of Lake Ossipee is seen."
"Mr. Spenceley was somewhere in the meadow, I was informed; and as I chose to seek him, I found him sitting beneath an apple tree, making studies of a grape vine that climbed over a boulder near by. I explained my quest, and as together we walked back to the cottage, the view over the valley held my admiration. Mr. Spenceley, noticing the direction of my gaze, remarked: "Is it not beautiful? A scholar who has traveled widely in Greece, likens our valley to the Plain of Marathon; but it needs no historic value to heighten its charm."
"We passed through the spacious living-room, where hung water-colors, and prints from the book-plate work of some of the noted engravers, and continuing upstairs, reached the studio. A large dormer window, with a rare old Indian print hanging from the top and down either side, keeping off the sidelights, concentrated its rays on the work-table below. Here was my particular interest."
"What kind of book-plates do you best like to do?" I asked. Mr. Spenceley placed four copper plates before me, each different in design. "You see the variety, but each holds my interest. Perhaps I like landscape plates best, and grace and treatment of the sixth-century French designs appeal to me especially. However, to incorporate artistically the ideas of my clientele, I find it better to use various forms of design rather than to hold to any one style." I glanced again at the copper plates and noting the detail of the work, I involuntarily asked: "How many book-plates have you made, Mr. Spenceley?"
"About two hundred now, I believe," he replied. "Perhaps you would like to see some of my proofs," and upon my assurance that I would he handed me a portfolio, in which I found examples of his book-plate work. After a short while I left, carrying away with me a deep impression of the rare personality of this artist, who believes truly that "Blessed is the man who has found his work." It is small wonder one feels the exquisite harmony in his book-plates, for he is one of Nature's most earnest lovers, and only embodies in his work the happiest and most beautiful aspects of life. As I drove back to the station, I felt a sincere gratitude toward kindly Fortune who had allowed me this intimate contact with a man who portrays with such delicate feeling Nature's happiest moods." S. A.
(above excerpts taken from "The Book-Plate Booklet Volume 1 Number 3" edited by Sheldon Cheney Nov.1906 - Nov. 1907 / Catalog Number R 087 B724 v.1/ Missouri Valley Special Collections)

Comments by Karl Marxhausen: This entry typlifies the connection that collectors could share about a given artist. It was what Fowler would later work hard to bring to the collector. Something only shared by a privileged few. Think of the "limited" edition. The nature of a print is that there are x-number impressions of that particular image. And you, as the collector, were among the few who could enjoy that image at your leisure, because it was in your possession. Print societies were able to keep collectors in "the know" about the "print scene."

Pockets of People Interested in Books And Prints often in Art Museums and Libraries

Print clubs often began as pockets of people interested in books or prints. It was museums and libraries which sought out the prints. When one reads the accounts of Sheldon Cheney (1906-1910) and later H. Alfred Fowler (1911-1945) one can identify with the enthusiasm the took the States by storm. (Cheney was editor of the Book-plate Booklet, Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Fowler was editor of the Book-plate Booklet Volume 4.) I have chosen to let these two gentlemen speak in their own words with excerpts from their published chronicles. (Bold type has been added by me to highlight some points.) Thanks to the Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, MO for the use of these materials. (Above design by Albertine Randall Wheelan)

Editorial
"The publication of a magazine in the interests of the book-plate art assuredly has a place in this day of multitudinous literary ventures. It is a regret to all book-plate collectors that the previous attempts at such a publication in America have failed, in the end, for one cause or another. There is a fascination in the study of ex-libris, which creates a fraternal comradeship between collectors. That indefinable sense which binds lovers of the beautiful together, and the antiquarian interest which holds two collectors together far beyond meal or bed-time, both contribute to make ex-libris collectors akin. There should certainly be some medium between collectors; some outlet for expression on the subject which is worth while. The little magazine, if it may aspire to that name, which is born in this issue, is not in the least pretentious. It is in the nature of a private or amateur publication. It is in no way a commercial enterprise. The experience of others in the same field has precluded any idea of financial gain. "California Book-plates" will appear occasionally, as material for each issue and time for editing it come to hand. The present number is more personal than the following ones will be, it being entirely the work of the editor. Hereafter it is hoped that articles by the well-known authories on ex-libris will see the light in these pages.
(Right design by Mary Eleanor Curran)
There are ever new ideas about certain classes of plates--children's, ladies,' medical, ecclesiastic and the several other groups--they may all be discussed to advantage. And there is always the long-mooted question of heraldic or pictorial plates. The mottoes on book-plates are always interesting, and there are many plates of special interest which can be described. There are a hundred departments in which new material may be found. The title of the magazine is a little misleading in that it would suggest a purely local field.
Though there will always be some leaning towards articles touching on California's plates, the make-up will in the main be for all collectors of ex-libris. It is hoped that check lists of the work of the more prolific California designers can be published, and there will be descriptions of California's collections and of older California plates. All of which, however, should be of interest to the serious collector and sincere student of book-plates."

California Book-Plates--A Survey
"The history of the use of book-plates in California is as yet very obscure. No one has ever made a special study of the local field, and there is no authority to tell us which plates are truly Californian, or even to give us an idea of the number of plates in use during the first half-century of the State's existence. It is hoped that the publication of this magazine will serve to bring together all the data on the subject, and that in time a complete list of ex-libris used prior to 1900 can be compiled. Since the latter date, so many plates have come into existence that a collector must needs give all his time to keep them straight." (Left design by W. T. Winterburn)

"The first authentic California book-plate known to collectors is that of Wm. D. Odds, dated San Francisco, 1849. Of course there may have been earlier plates brought over the plains by the families who came in 1848, or earlier, but until such have been proven and established, the Odds must stand as the pioneer of California ex-libris. After the Odds plate the present writer knows of very few positively identified as to owners and dates before those of the late nineties. The armorail plate of Hall Mc Allister and the pictorial plate of L.W. Lees are both well-known to collectors. The owners were both men intimately connected with San Francisco's public affairs in the early days. Besides these, there are perhaps a dozen before 1890 of which collectors are sure. But during the last few years of the nineteenth century, and since, the use of book-plates has grown rapidly, and today there are a dozen plates where there was one ten years ago."

"Of California designers, Mrs. Albertine Randall Wheelan stands first and foremost, not only in the number of plates done, but in the quality of workmanship. Mrs.Wheelan has made book-plate designing her special field, and now has something over sixty plates to her credit. It would be difficult indeed to pick out one of her plates and hold it up as her best. Her seven designs for the University of California form a set equaled in very few libraries of the world. In looking through a collection of Mrs. Wheelan's work, the quality one must notice above all others is the dignity, the essential strength of her designs. They are all plates well thought out, and almost without exception they have symbolic meaning. Probably no designer in the country, excepting, of course, our great engravers, can claim a set of plates as satisfactory individually and collectively as Mrs. Wheelan's." (As seen above to the Right here)

"Mr. E.J. Cross of San Francisco has designed about a dozen plates for Californians. His work has been along such diverse lines that a general characterization is impossible. The striking boldness of his designs for Jack London and Edward M. Lind is in utter contrast with the delicacy of the Margaret Wilson Harwood plate. There is a decorative quality in the plate for Edgar C. Chapman which appears in few of his other designs. Each plate is distinctive, and yet through them all there is a standard of excellence which shows that the artist knows thoroughly the capabilities of each of his mediums."

"Miss Mary Eleanor Curran of Los Angelos is represented by several good decorative plates. Posteresque is the only word which describes several of her designs. Miss Helen Coan, also of Los Angelos, has designed several plates for Southern Californians."

"To the collector California ex-libris the names of Xavier Martinez, Morgan Shepherd, G.H. Gihon and Florence Lundborg suggest themselves naturally as those of successful designers. There are many others whose one or two plates apiece cannot be described now, but whose work, it is hoped, will be reproduced in this magazine at some later date."

"Among the plates of Californians one may find the work of the best Eastern artists. The signatures of such men as J. Winfred Spenceley, E. D. French, A. W. Clark and William Edgar Fisher are to be found in the most representative collections of California plates." (Left design by C. F. Cross)

"Of California collectors, Rev. William Augustus Brewer of Burlingame has been most successful in his gathering. His collection numbers about four thousand and contains an unusually good array of modern engraved plates. His collection of E.D. French's designs number about two hundred and twenty. The library of the University of California has a collection of about twenty-five hundred plates. They are all unmounted, however, and so are, unfortunately, inaccessible to inspection."

"Morgan Shepard, the well-known publisher, who recently moved his business from San Francisco to New York, had a valuable collection which was lost in the San Francisco fire. The present writer has some six hundred plates, one hundred of which are Californian. Mrs. William H. Burnham of Orange and Miss Mary Burt Brittan of San Francisco have large collections. The collections of Miss Daly and Professor W.D. Armes of Berkeley, of Mr. W. A. Morrow of Oakland, and of Mr. Cross of San Francisco range from five hundred down."

"An attempt has been made in this short survey to give an outline of the history, designing and collecting of ex-libris in California. If the reader in finishing, has a better conception of the generalities of the subject, the author has accomplished his purpose. This description is by no means exhaustive of the subject; not does the writer pretend to know the entire field. Undoubtedly the work of some artists has been passed over and some collectors neglected, but it is hoped that this magazine will aid in developing the whole field, so that in time an exhaustive treatise can, and will, be written." (Above design by editor and artist Sheldon Cheney) (above excerpts taken from "The Book-Plate Booklet Volume 1" edited by Sheldon Cheney Nov.1906 - Nov. 1907 / Catalog Number R 087 B724 v.1/ Missouri Valley Special Collections)

Comments by Karl Marxhausen: Sheldon Cheney is a fellow--who is excited about his plate "discoveries"--and who takes it upon himself to get the word out. Not for financial gain. Notice as well the number of plates being collected. People are very interested in these miniature designs. It is this living history that flows to us in 2010. Years before Fred Geary took up wood-engraving, people were drawn to exquisite designs, many of which were modern engravings, as we shall see later.