Bookplates for Libraries

July 20th, 2010 by Larry T. Nix No comments »













Although I specialize in the collection of postal librariana, my overall collection of librariana includes a wide variety of items. One of those items is library bookplates. I don't specifically seek out library bookplates but I have a nice collection which I have acquired through chance and the generosity of other collectors. I have made several posts to this blog related to bookplates which can be found by searching the blog under, what else, "bookplates". I recently acquired a book entitled Bookplates for Libraries by Edward Hampton Shickell (Roger Beacham Publisher, 1968). This book contains an introduction by William R. Holman and is not about the collecting of library bookplates but about the design of bookplates by and for school, public, and academic libraries. The book contains a large number of examples of well designed bookplates, and the book itself is an excellent example of good book design. I have written a previous post about William R. Holman who publishes under the Roger Beacham imprint. It is a real treat to have this book in my collection with its connection to Bill.

I would be remiss in writing about bookplates and not mentioning the excellent blog Confessions of a Bookplate Junkie published by Lewis Jaffe.

yesterday in santa cruz, siena turned one

July 13th, 2010 by david silver No comments »

we love you siena - very, very much.

Happy 140th Birthday LC Copyright

July 6th, 2010 by Larry T. Nix No comments »
















On July 8, 1870 President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law the bill centralizing all the functions of copyright in the Library of Congress. Since 1870 the Copyright Office has registered over 33 million claims for copyright. As I reported in my previous post centralizing copyright at the Library of Congress was largely due to the efforts of Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford. The requirement that two copyrighted items be deposited with the Library of Congress has been a major factor in the Library becoming the largest library in the world. The U. S. Copyright Office in the Library of Congress has done an excellent job of documenting its history on its website. A brief introduction to the Copyright Office and its history is located HERE. Numerous links to key documents relating to the history of copyright in the United States and at the Library of Congress are located HERE. An interesting bit of trivia at one link notes that the Copyright Card Catalog (no longer active) is the largest card catalog in the world with 45 million cards in 25,675 drawers. "Placed top to bottom, the individual cards would stretch from San Francisco to Detroit and beyond." My show and tell for this post is a postal card mailed by Thorvald Solberg (1852-1940) to a colleague in Germany on October 27, 1887. Solberg began work at the Library of Congress in 1876 in the Law Library, but he also assisted Spofford with copyright. He became an international expert on copyright, and on July 22, 1897 he was appointed the first Register of Copyrights. In the postal card Solberg indicates that he is sending a copy of his "History of International Copyright in Congress" to his colleague in the mail.

front yard tomatoes (and siena!)

July 3rd, 2010 by david silver No comments »

(click pic for larger size)

Tailspin Tommy, Hal Forrest, and Copyright

June 29th, 2010 by Larry T. Nix No comments »
At the urgings of Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford all of the functions of copyright for the United States were centralized in the Library of Congress in 1870. This more or less guaranteed that the Library of Congress would become the largest library in the world. With this responsibility came an unbelievable amount of mail for the Library. Millions and millions of pieces of mail. Perhaps no postal item received by the Library was quite as spectacular as the envelope shown above which was designed and mailed by Hal Forrest (1895-1959), creator of the Tailspin Tommy comic strip. The comic strip was started in 1928 and ended in 1942. The letter was mailed as best as I can tell in 1932 and Forrest was almost certainly seeking copyright (or at least information about copyright) for some of his material. The most interesting discussion of Hal Forrest and Tailspin Tommy on the web is on the Collect Air website. A gallery of some his work is located HERE. I am busily working on an exhibit of postal librariana related to the Library of Congress for the American Philatelic Society's stamp show in Richmond, VA in August and you can be sure this envelope will be in the exhibit.