(Subtitle: H. A. Fowler, Who Sells Grain in Business Hours, is an Expert in This
Branch of Booklover's Lore)
WHEN you hear the word "collector," you probably think at once on stamps, then possibly of coins or birds' eggs. Next, if you are a highbrow, Chinese armor or miniatures may suggest themselves; or, if a lowbrow, even cigerette coupons. The fact comes home that the glorious army of collectors may be expanded to include everyone struck with the mania whether it be expressed in Rembrandts or---well, autographs.
The present subject is that of book plates, and the merest chance develops the fact that in a young Kansas Citian, H. Alfred Fowler of 3 East Armour Boulevard, we have not only an enthusiastic collector of book plates but the editor of the only publication devoted to the subject in the English language. Mr. Fowler makes it quite clear that he is not a publisher by vocation, so to speak. His business is that of grain, he says, and book plates and things about book plates are simply a hobby---and a very fascinating hobby it proves to be.
In 1911 Mr. Fowler edited his first book plate publication. This was in the form of an attractive pamphlet which he called the Book Plate Booklet, consisting of about thirty pages of contributions on the subject, various interesting examples of the art, articles on the work of celebrated engravers of book plates and the statement that the booklet was "an occasional magazine devoted to book plates--news of the book plate world." Mr. Fowler's subscribers were naturally limited in number. He seems however, to have awakened the interest of certain widely scattered bibliophiles with the result that the collectors of book plates in distant corners of the English speaking world have subsequently organized the American Book Plate Society, of which Mr. Fowler is a charter member. The headquarters of this society are in Cambridge, England---Trinity College, to be exact-- but Mr. Fowler's magazine, which, in its forthcoming form will be known as the Miscellany, continues as its mouthpiece.
The Book Plate Booklet was published in four numbers, appearing in March, May, September, and December of 1911. Among other interesting features of the March number was a reproduction of the book plate of Maxim Gorky, the Russian novelist. As described, the plate, which was the work of Ephraim Moses Lilien, represents "an uncouth half-savage Muscovite peasant standing on an open book inhaling the rising, pure air of freedom. Against his knee he breaks the knout that so long kept him the slave of the tyrant. In the distance is the Kremlin, from which two ravens---birds of dark and evil omens---fly outward through Russia's black atmosphere."***It is difficult to conceive a drawing more completely in harmony with Gorky's style and Gorky's views. In the last number of the booklet the editor announced its expanision into a more ambitious publication. This materialized in the appearance in 1912 of a larger magazine called the Ex Libran. A 1-MAN MAGAZINE
The Ex-Libran was issued in four numbers, as was its predecessor. The work was done entirely by Mr. Fowler, who personally attended to every detail, even to "setting the type, sewing the covers and pasting the inserts," he says. To those who appreciate an artistic piece of work, the publication is indeed a credit to its editor's industry. The text of the Ex Libran appears in bold-faced black letter type, most appropriate to the subject matter; the capital letters of each paragraph are decorated and in a few instances illuminated. The inserted book plates are uniformly attractive and interesting---some are of considerable historic value. They range from etchings and engravings to reproductions of wood cuts, half tones and those of the black and white impressionistic variety. The articles are for the most part devoted to the work of various master engravers who have identified themselves with the book plate world---Edwin Davis French, Isaac Hunt, father of Leigh Hunt, poet and essayist, who was related by marriage to Benjamin West, the painter; Charles William Sherborn, the eminent English engraver who died within the last two years. A whole number of the Ex Libran is allotted to Mr. Sherborn and includes a delightful frontispiece portrait of the artist, etched by Sidney L. Smith of Boston, for whose work Mr. Fowler expresses a particular attachment; the wood engravings of Esther and Lucien Pisarro, including some characteristic examples of their quaint design.
Sprinkled in among these feature articles are numerous little contributions explaining the theory and use of book plates--for instance, that they must not only express the owner's personality or lineage but must be such as will be in keeping with the subject matter of the book or set of books for which they are intended. Also, they must possess some artistic value which will appeal to the instincts of the collector. Often one finds examples wherein the design embodies a pun on the book owner's name.
With the fourth number of Volume 1 the Ex Libran suspended publication, the labor attendant upon its compilation demanding too much of Mr. Fowler's time. It must have been with considerable pleasure that the editor gave notice in this final number of the organization of the American Book Plate Society, referred to above, the credit for which he might justly regard as the harvest from the seed which he had sown.
A PHOENIX-LIKE PUBLICATION
Far from giving up his labor of love however, Mr. Fowler proceeded with the publication of a successor to the Ex Libran. This materialized in the first number of the Biblio in March, 1913, a magazine of plainer appearance than its predecessor, but of wider scope. The Biblio was essentially devoted to bibliology instead of simply to book plates---"a magazine devoted to books, to every interesting phase of the subject," as the prospectus read. Book plates, however, seem to have remained the leading subject.
The publication appeared as the official organ of the newly formed society. Among other special articles are several most instructive ones on the subject of book binding, an art which is probably a good deal of a mystery to most readers.
Mr. Fowler closed the fourth number of the Biblio with a notice of the Miscellany, which is forthcoming. Mr. Fowler is apparently greatly enjoying his different experiments, and it is clear that the frequent changes point to the fact that, while he does not attach the word "failure" to his work of the past, he is restless and ambitious to arrive at near perfection as is possible in the presentation of his delightful hobby.
In addition to his magazine Mr. Fowler published, not long ago, a little book entitled "Lincolniana Book Plates" which, as the name implies, treated the various plates designed for owner of books or sets of books relating to the martyred president. This was limited to five hundred copies. Mr. Fowler is now preparing a book on book plates designed especially for members of the theatrical profession. Among these the work of Maxfield Parrish figures conspicuously.
(The Kansas City Times, Tuesday, December 23, 1913, courtesy of Missouri Valley Special Collection, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, accessed March 21, 2010)
