Barbara Abele Bookplate Collection, 1915-1998

Special Collections

Library and Information Access

San Diego State University

5500 Campanile Drive

 

Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research.

Administrative Information

Extent
6.5 linear feet (15 standard document storage boxes, 1 half-size document storage box)

Provenance
The materials in this collection were donated by Barbara AbeleĘs heirs.

Copyright
The copyright interests in some of the materials found in this collection have been transferred to San Diego State University. Special Collections and University Archives can only grant permission to publish materials for which it is the copyright holder. For further information, please consult the section on copyright in the rules for using collections, or contact the United States Copyright Office at (202) 707-3000 or http://www.copyright.gov.

Preferred Citation
Identification of item, folder title, box number, Barbara Abele Bookplate Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, Library and Information Access, San Diego State University.

Processing Information
Processed by Mana Ghodsian, Ellen Jarosz, and Janessa Lazaro, finished January 2006.

Encoded by
Jossie Chavez, February, 2006

Contact Information
Special Collections and University Archives
Library and Information Access
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego, CA 92182-8050

Email: scref@rohan.sdsu.edu
Phone: (619) 594-6791
Fax: (619) 594-0466

History

Bookplates, labels indicating ownership pasted inside the front cover of a book, probably originated in Germany in the mid-15th century. The earliest dated bookplate still in existence was created in 1516, and is also German. In North America the earliest known bookplate, dated 1674, was found in colonial New England, while the earliest example created by an American engraver dates from 1749.

Many themes and motifs can be identified in bookplate creation throughout history. Pictorial bookplates include portraits, images of books, views of libraries, and various landscapes. Early armorial bookplates in 16th-century England consisted of a simple unornamented shield, symmetrically mantled helmet, crest, and scroll where the owner's name was usually inscribed. Allegorical bookplates were popular in France during the reign of Louis XV and in England by the mid-18th century. Personifications of the Christian cardinal virtues and other abstract ideas, such as truth, justice, wisdom, hope, and faith usually appeared on bookplates from this period, as well as symbols of the interests and occupations of the book's owner, such as the scales of justice, and naval and military trophies. Toward the end of the 19th century, German designers began to use nude figures as a major motif in bookplate design. This fashion was followed in the rest of Europe and the United States, where figures were treated naturalistically, sometimes with erotic intent.

A variety of methods can be used to make bookplates. As in the past, the majority of bookplates created today are printed. The plates used for making printed labels may be prepared by any photomechanical processes, such as zinc etching. For finer plates the design may be engraved by hand on steel or etched into copper.

Barbara Abele was a long-time collector and researcher of bookplates. She was the niece of Fridolf Johnson, author of the book A Treasury of Bookplates from the Renaissance to the Present, still considered the best modern introduction to the study of bookplates, and spent her life in Redlands and La Jolla, California. She died on April 8, 1998 in La Jolla. She was a member of the American Society of Bookplates Collectors and Designers (ASBCD), and her collection is comprised of thousands of bookplates, sometimes considered miniature pieces of graphic art.

Bookplates are sought by collectors and studied by scholars for the insights they provide into past cultures and societies. AbeleĘs bookplate collection illustrates the wide scope of past cultures and societies, the communication networks created between individuals who shared an interest in collecting and preserving them, and AbeleĘs own personal love of nature.

Also contained in the collection are some records of the ASBCD, formed in June of 1922, of which Abele was a member. Charter members included artists Sara B. Hill, Frederick C. Blank, Elisha Brown Bird, Arthur H. Noll and collectors Rachael M. Hunt and Carlyle S. Baer. The organizationĘs goal is to further the study and collecting of bookplates. It also serves as a communication network for the entire community of people interested in the history, collection, and preservation of bookplates.

Scope and Content Note

The Abele Bookplate Collection documents the historical development of bookplates, bookplate designers, and collectors, as well as the communication networks they used when interacting with each other. The collection dates from 1915 to 1998 with the bulk of documents created or collected between 1970 and 1998. It consists of six main series: Bookplates by Subject, Bookplates by Designer, Collector Files, Correspondence, the American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers (ASBCD) , and Published Materials. The Published Materials series includes two subseries: an incomplete run of the newsletter Bookplates in the News, and other miscellaneous published works, all relating to bookplate collecting and designing.

The Bookplates by Subject and Bookplates by Designer series consists of files of bookplates arranged alphabetically by subject, and designerĘs last name, filed from A-Z.

The Collector Files are composed of information about different bookplate collectors, and include some correspondence press releases, and news articles.

The Correspondence series consists of correspondence both with individuals and institutions written by Barbara Abele from the 1970s-1990s primarily about sharing and building her collection of bookplates. It is arranged alphabetically by correspondent or general subject.

The Subject Files consist of a few photographs and files generated during research for public presentations made by Abele, and about bookplate collecting. They are filed alphabetically by subject.

The American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers (ASBCD) consists of membership directories dating from 1966, 1977-83, and 1992, and yearbooks dating throughout the 20th century, filed chronologically by year of publication.

The Published Materials series is comprised of two subseries: Bookplates in the News and Other Publications. The collection does not contain a complete run of Bookplates in the News, but does include issues from July 1970 to April 1998. They are filed chronologically. The second subseries, Other Publications, includes a collection of published works drawn upon by Barbara Abele when performing research about bookplates and when networking with other collectors and designers. They are filed alphabetically by author, and inventoried in the Container List below.

Organization and Arrangement

I. Bookplates by Subject, A-Z
II. Bookplates by Designer, A-Z
III. Collector Files, A-Z
IV. Correspondence
V. Subject Files
VI. American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers (ASBCD)
VII. Published Materials

1.) Bookplates in the News
2.) Other Publications

Subject Access Terms

Bookplates.
Antiquarian booksellers.
Graphic design.

Bibliography

Information in the Biography was taken from the American Society of Bookplate Collectors and DesignerĘs website, http://www.bookplate.org/, and the Encyclop…dia Britannica, Online Edition.

Container List

Box	Folder

	Series I, Bookplates by Subject

1	1	Abele, Barbara, bookplates
	2	Allen, Charles Dexter and Frances Louise
	3	Animals
	4	Antioch
	5	Architecture
	6-7	Armorial Heraldic Seals
	8	Art Deco
	9	Art Nouveau, 1990
	10	Artists, 1997
	11	Artists and Engravers of British and American Bookplates
	12	Astronomy
	13	Authors' bookplates
	14	Autographed
2	1	Birds
	2	Bookplates in the News
	3	Books and Book piles
	4	Books: Reading
	5	Bookstores
	6	Borders, Labels, Typeset
	7	Botanical: Flowers
	8	Botanical: Trees
	9	California , Historic (Talbot, Clare Ryan)
	10	Californians
	11	Calligraphy
	12	Canting
	13	Castles, Knights
3	1	Cats
	2	Children, toys
	3	Christmas
	4	Contemporary
	5	Crests
	6	Doctors/Medical
	7	Dogs
	8	Don Quixote
	9	Early American
	10	Egyptian / King Tut's Discovery
	11	English Bookplates
	12	Extra Copies
	13	Fireplaces
	14	Fishing
	15	Foreign Countries
	16	Foreign Designers
	17	Gates
	18	Genealogy Societies

Box	Folder

	Series I, Bookplates by Subject (cont.)

4	1	Hobbies
	2	Hourglass
	3	Human side of Bookplates (Jones, Louise Seymour)
	4	Hotels
	5	Indians
	6	Initials Only on Plates
	7	Lamps
	8	Landscapes
	9	Lawyers
	10	Leather
	11	Libraries, California
	12	Libraries, Societies, Clubs, Colleges, Institutes, Associations
	13	Libraries, United States
	14	Library Interiors
	15	Lincolniana
	16-17	Lugano , Italy
5	1	Maps, Globes
	2	Masonic plates
	3	Mermaids
	4	Military plates
	5	Miscellaneous
	6	Monks
	7	Mottos and Verse
	8	Music
	9	Old Plates
	10	Olympics
	11	Personal bookplates
	12	Photocopies
	13	Premium Plates, Commercial
	14	Presses
	15	Redlands (1 of 2)
6	1	Redlands (2 of 2)
	2	Religious Buildings
	3-4	Ships
	5	Silhouettes
	6	Skeletons, Skulls
	7	Small Bookplates
	8	Sundials
	9	Tiffany and Bullocks
	10	Transportation
	11	United Nations
	12	University Libraries, California
7	1	University Libraries, International
	2	Unusual
	3	Verses
	4	Women
	5	Woodcuts

Box	Folder

	Series II, Bookplates by Designer

7	6	Agry, G.R.
	7	Armer, Sidney
	8	Artists' Plates
	9	Barrett, William Philipps
	10	Berryman, Clifford K.
	11	Bewick, Thomas
	12	Bird, Elisha Brown
	13	Blackburn , Oscar T.
	14	Brown, Frank Chouteau
	15	Chambers, Jay
	16	Cheney, Sheldon
	17	Clark , A.W.
	18	Clute, Beulah Mitchell
	19	Coyle, Ray
	20	Cross, E.J
	21	Davis, Donna
8	1	Drain, Lillian
	2	Endell, Fritz
	3	Euwer, Anthony
	4	Evans, John William
	5	Feint, Adrian
	6	Fingesten, Peter
	7	Fisher, William Edgar
	8	French, Edwin Davis
	9	French, Harry M.
	10	Fuller, George W.
	11	Garrett, E.H.
	12	Gordon, Bank B.
	13	Harrod, Stanley
	14	Hewett. Ainslie
	15	Hollyer, Samuel
	16	Hopson, William Fowler
	17	Hurd, Nathaniel
	18	Johnson, Fridolf
	19	Jones, Dan Burne
	20	Junge, Carl S.
	21	Kirby, Valentine
	22	Lake , Elsmore

	Series II, Bookplates by Designer (cont.)

8	23	Landacre, Paul
	24	Lemos, Pedro J.
	25	McDonald, Arthur N.
	26	Meier, Franz
	27	Noll, Arthur Howard
	28	Pearson, Ralph
	29	Percival, Olive
	30	Poole , Horatio Nelson
	31	Price, Christine M.
	32	Reade, Christa M.
	33	Rhead, Louis John
	34	Rider, Charles Joseph
	35	Rowell, Gretta G.
	36	Saunders (Hallowell), Elizabeth
	37	Seymour, Ralph Fletcher
9	1	Sherbon, Charles William
	2	Smith, Sidney L.
	3	Spenceley, Frederick
	4	Spenceley, Joseph Winfred
	5	Sterling , Glen
	6	Stone, Pauline
	7	Stone, Wilbur Macy
	8	Tait, B.M.
	9	Teall, Gardner C.
	10	Thompson, Fred
	11	Triptych Group
	12	Truesdell, Winfred Porter
	13	Wagner, Rob –Pawprint•
	14	Webb, James
	15	Webb, Margaret Ely
	16	Wheelan, Albertine Randall
	17	Woy, Leota

Box	Folder

	Series III, Collector Files

	18	Baer, Carlyle S.
	19	Dore, Epherma
	20-21	Dore, Harry Ellsworth
	22	Ercolini, Mary Alice
	23	Hill, Kenneth E. and Robert E.
	24	Køhler, Johnny
	25	McManys, Jane
	26	Miscellaneous
	27	Pew, Mary E.
	28	Williams, Katherine

Box	Folder

	Series V, Correspondence

9	29	American
	30	Arellanes, Audrey Spencer
10	1	Brown, Helen H.
	2	Edward Dean Museum
	3	European
	4	Fire Museum of Maryland
	5	General, 1974-1994
	6	Joyce, Kathy
	7	Langdon, Michael
	8	Libros Latinos
	9	McRaddin (Abele), Lori
	10	Plates to Exchange
	11	Rare and Unusual
	12	Redlands Letters
	13	Turner, Meir
	14	UNESCO
	15	Wagner, Rob
	16	West, Joan

Box	Folder

	Series V, Subject Files

	17	Abele, Barbara's Public Presentations
	18	Exercise and Flowers
	19	Latin Inscriptions
	20	Photographs
11	1	Prices of Bookplates
	2	Prices of Books about Bookplates
	3 -4	Research / Catalog Cards
	5	Research Notes
	6	Research: Bookplates
	7	Research: Types of Printing

Box	Folder

	VI, American Society of Bookplate Collectors; Designers (ASBCD)

	8-10	Membership Directories (1966, 1977-83, 1992)
	11	Yearbook: Indexes
	12 -15	Yearbooks (1915, 1943-44, 1947-48, 1951)
12	1-8	Yearbooks (1956-70, 1973-83)
13	1-5	Yearbooks (1984-94)

Box	Folder

	Series VII, Published Materials Subseries 1, Bookplates in the News

	6	July 1970-October 1974
	7	January 1975-April 1977
	8	July 1977-January 1979
	9	April 1979-April 1983
14	1	July 1983-April 1985
	2	July 1985-Nanuary 1989
	3	April 1989-April 1991
	4	July 1991-April 1994
	5	July 1994-January 1996
	6	April 1998
	7	Index, January 1983-October 1997

Box	Folder

	Subseries 2, Other Publications

	8	American Artist (May 1965)
	9	Biblio, Vols. I - IV
	10	Bibliography of Bookplate Literature
	11	Bookplate (1924)
15	1-3	Bookplate Booklet (1906-10, 1917, 1919)
	4	Bookplate Chronicles (1917)
	5	Bookplate Quarterly (1918)
	6	Boss Fine Books
	6a	California Bookplate Society (1910)
	7	Catalogue II
	8	Directory of Bookplate Artists (!918)
	9	Early American Bookplates (1925
	10	Hettie Gray baker
	11	International Congress
	12	Keepsakes
	13	Los Angeles Times Magazine (1986)
	14-15	Lugano Conference Keepsakes
16	1	News Clippings (1975-96)
	2	Traditional Home (1992)
	3	Victoria (1990)
	4	Wooldridge Collection Catalogue

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