Browse Items (20 total)

This image depicts the bookplate of Bernard Coleridge, 2nd Baron Coleridge. If the name Coleridge sets off the ringing of bells, it should, as Bernard’s grandfather was the nephew of famed English Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834).…

Who is hiding within the lines of these two portraits in pencil done by an unknown hand? Another caricature is to be found on the verso of the endpaper. While we today might not dream about doodling on the endpapers of an 18th century book, this…

Many hands and many quills have annotated this work by Jerome de Hangest, a theologian hailing from Compiègne and a contemporary of Erasmus. The marginalias annotation, as is the text itself, are in Latin, which would indicate a certain amount of…

The endleaves of this book house a text on the wars of religion which occurred during the reign of Henri IV, specifically on the war that was titled the “Guerre des trois Henri” in 1585. The text speaks primarily of the Huguenots.

In a fine and elegant script, the annotations appearing in the margins of the work by Papinus are of the hand of a French reader. Due to the distance of several centuries, it is difficult to identify the commentator, but the annotations appear to be…

The endpapers of this accounting “textbook” by François Barrême, a very popular work in its time, was used by its owner to puzzle out practical exercises of calculation, including problems and answers.

This printed ex-libris, attached to the “von Ende” family of Altjessnitz, Germany, appears on the interior pastedown of this book. It serves to remind us that the ex-libris was also considered an art form during certain eras for bibliophiles, who…

This first example is that of what is termed an “armorial binding”, where the coat of arms of an aristocratic family will serve to indicate ownership on a book’s binding. Such bindings are executed with exquisite care and a family’s arms are tooled…

This bookplate of Fréderic Lachèvre (1855-1943), French bibliophile, literary critic, editor, and specialist in 17th century literature of the Libertines, is remarkable for the finesse of its engraving. The image of the skull resting on a pile of…

An ex-libris embossed on a leather over was one way of indicating ownership of a book. In this example, however, we do not see a familial coat of arms, as can be seen in image no.8, but the “Quebec Library” choosing to simply spell out its name in…