Show Childrens Book Plates A useful new fad which Is also n very old one Is the owning and collecting of bookplates by big little and medium sized folk Mr Craig tells us that a bookplate Is simply a piece of paper stamped with a name and device and pasted 5n the Inside of a book to show the ownership And Mr Stone in St Nicholas adds that a bookplate is to a book what a collar is to a dog In these days when books are even more plentiful plenti-ful than dogs when every childs Christmas Christ-mas and birthday gifts include one or more of these treasures this little stamp to show to whom the book belongs is almost a necessity Of course one can adopt the good old fashion of writing the name In the book but modern Ink fades badly I and most people particularly fathers and motherswrite so poorly that It really seems a pity to mar the dainty holiday editions with their ugly script While the little bookplate If artistically dc sJgncd adds juHt the right finish to a pretty gift and gives the child a pleasant pleas-ant sense of ownership at once To have his name and individual emblem securely secure-ly made a part of the book Itself Is almost al-most as good as having the volume dedicated l dedi-cated expressly to him More than this It protects the book much better than the mere writing of 4 I k I II 1iir UL4Smttet t Yhtir L Door M g VYl yYoo A Group of UptoDato Book Plates Designed by I a TenYearOld Pupil of the Wnratch School the name on the flyleaf whlih may bo to easily torn out Most booklovors are booklendcrs as well for It enhances the value of the book to have some friend enjoy It too but It Is unfortunately true that many people class books with umbrellas um-brellas and forget to return them It IH here the bookplate slops in with the accusing ac-cusing legend His booknot your book careless borrower As I have said this Is a very old fad about as old as the printed book We know that bookplates were used an early as 1I3S and they may have been made even earlier These I early bookplates were almost all l heraldic devices the r coats ot arms of noble families This style lasted l for several hundred yearn I and is still used Following these came what are known as the early English Jacobeans Chippendale and Ribbon and Wreath styles The bookplate of Samuel Pepys had two crossed anchors Intertwined Inter-twined with cables and the cipher of Peps and Is very quaint In our own time and country the bookplate book-plate Is usually a picture which suggests sug-gests the owners manner of life and tastes Mrs Ciutc has designed a dainty plate for two children which represents two little people pouring over a book of fairy tales with a picturesque old witch waving her wand above them while Burgess Gelett gives us one of a quaint old galleon with windows like great eyes staring you out of countenance Claude Bragdon has designed one with a little girl reading In a big armchair and an odd English bookplate Js a picture of a toy lion very stilt and woolly Wealthy people employ famous artists I to design bookplates for their little I I ones but modern young people who aro taught draivlng from their babyhood In I the public schools can easily make pretty designs for themselves The cuts accompanying this article are the work of a tenyearold pupil of the Wasatch school Many of you would find a pretty bookplate book-plate of your own designing a most acceptable ac-ceptable Christmas gift for mother and father and you would find the study of this branch of artistry both pleasant and profitable Boys who are tired of stamp collecting might find new worlds to conquer con-quer in the realms of bookplates |