mshm280 Collection of book-plates by Edwin Davis French and others. Finding Aid Encoding funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections

South Hadley, MA

Finding aid generated in MARC format from database, then encoded using Perl scripts and XSL stylesheet. 2004-04-06 Finding aid written in English. 2005-09-23 mshm280 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections Collection of book-plates by Edwin Davis French and others. Finding Aid MS 0048 Encoding funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Collection Overview Lay, Helen Brainerd, Collection of book-plates by Edwin Davis French and others. MS 0048 Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections

South Hadley, MA

Lay, Helen Brainerd; Librarian. Mount Holyoke Female Seminary graduate, 1887. Papers consist of a collection of book-plates designed and engraved by her brother-in-law, Edwin Davis French. Other material consists of the work of Cleora Wheeler, Octave Uzanne, K. Nakata and Yumimaro Ohmori. The correspondence is between Helen Brainerd Lay, Mount Holyoke College librarians, book-plate engravers, and other collectors. Also contains some periodicals, catalogs, advertisements, and supplementary books. English. Biographical Note

Helen Brainerd Lay, librarian. Sister-in-law of Edwin Davis French. Graduated Mount Holyoke Seminary and College in 1887.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The bulk of the book-plates were designed and engraved by Edwin Davis French and represent an almost complete collection of his work. In addition there is an almost complete collection of the work of Cleora Wheeler. Most of the rest of the book-plates are English and American although there are also examples from Italy, France (including the plate of Octave Uzanne) and Switzerland, along with plates of the Japanese designers K. Nakata and Yumimaro Ohmori probably from the 1930s. The American book-plates not by French have been identified using Allen's "Classified list of early American book-plates" whenever possible. The correspondence (<1896-1938>), both with Helen Brainerd Lay and with librarians at Mount Holyoke College, is from book-plate engravers and from other collectors.

Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into five series:

Book-plates engraved by Edwin Davis French Book-plates by other artists Correspondence Periodicals, Catalogs, and Advertisements Supplementary Books

Arranged thematically then alphabetically.

Information on Use Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

Lay Book-Plate Collection, Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, MA.

Search Terms French, Edwin Davis, 1851-1906. Wheeler, Cleora. French, Edwin Davis, 1851-1906. Allen, Charles Dexter, 1865-1926. Classified list of early American book-plates. Bird, Elisha Brown. Spenceley, J. Winfred, (Joseph Winfred), 1865-1908. Hopson, William Fowler, 1849-1935. Sherborn, C. W. (Charles William), 1831-1912. Wheeler, Cleora. Bookplates, American - Specimens. Bookplates. Women's bookplates - Specimens. Heraldic bookplates - Specimens. Engravers. Toys in bookplates. Bookplates. Engravings. Contents List Book-plates Engraved by Edwin Davis French,, 1893-

Numerical by catalog number.

Unrestricted.

This series consists of book-plates designed and engraved by French. The earliest plates, designed for his sister-in-law Helen Lay Brainerd, is dated 1893.

Book-plates Not by Edwin French,

Arranged alphabetically.

Unrestricted.

This series consists of book-plates engraved by artists other than Edwin French Davis. Some are anonymous.

2 1 Anonymous - Plates of Colleges, Societies, Libraries. 2 2 Early American Book-plates, with citations to C. D. Allen 2 3 Plates by B. A. - Benrick 2 4 Plates by Elisha Brown Bird 2 5 Plates by F. C. Blank - George W. Eve 2 6 Plates by Geo. R. Halm - Hermann R. C. Hirzel 2 7 Plates by William F. Hopson 2 8 Plates by C. W. Sherborn 2 9 Plates by Irving Press - Rowell 2 10 Plates by B. E. S. - Sidney L. Smith 2 11 Plates by J. W. Spenceley 2 12 Plates by J. D. Stout - Harry F. Weyl 2 13 Plates by Cleora Wheeler Periodicals, Catalogs, and Advertisements, 1894-1929 circa 50 items

Thematic

Unrestricted.

This series is comprised of 2 periodicals ("The Literary Review and Book Plate Collector" and "The Book-plate Booklet"), several catalogues of book-plate collections, and advertisements from Edwin Davis French, The Book Plate, Elisha Brown Bird, and others.

4 1 Periodicals: "The literary review and book plate collector" [v.1, no.1 (Nov. 1902)], "The book-plate booklet" [v.2, no.2 (May 1908)-v.2, no.4 (Nov. 1908) and v.3, no.3 (May 1910)-v.3, no.4 (Nov. 1910)] 4 2 Catalogues: "A classified list of early American book-plates ..." by Charles Dexter Allen (1894), "A list of book-plates engraved on copper by Mr. Edwin Davis French" (1899), Catalogue of a sale by the Anderson Auction Company of books and an extensive collection of bookplates (May 1908), "300 bookplates engraved by Edwin Davis French, 75 engraved by F. W. Spenceley ..." Heartman Auction (Feb. 1914), "A list of angling book-plates" by Daniel B. Fearing (1916), "A choice collection of modern and early American bookplates ..." Walpole Galleries (Feb. 1927) "Book-plates, books about bookplates, mainly American, including the work of Edwin Davis French ..." Walpole Galleries (Nov. 1927) 4 3 Advertisements: Edwin Davis French 4 4 Advertisements: The Book-Plate (E. L. Boyd) 4 5 Advertisements: Elisha Brown Bird 4 6 Advertisements: J. H. Elwell, Goodspeed's, etc.