predecessor

In 1906 Sheldon Cheney ran a little magazine while attending the California School of Arts and Crafts. Double click on image to enlarge.

In his1974 interview with Suzanne Riess Sheldon explained:  "I had published a little magazine here while I was in college. I had been the editor of the Olla Podrida---the Berkley High School paper. Then when I came to college I did a little for the Occident and the Californian, but somehow I got the idea of publishing my own magazine. I was interested in book collecting---I was going to be a rare book collector...that kind of faded out." (first interview, page 8)
     "I published this little magazine. It was called a quarterly. What I did was to get out the first number and then wait until I'd sold enough copies of that, and then I'd get out the second issue. I think I put out three years of that. It's probably in the University library. As a matter of fact, I saw to it that the California Bookplate Society had its home (supposedly) at the University; so I thought if they accumulated a collection of bookplates and a collection of books that were made at the University."
     "The name of the quarterly was the Book Plate Booklet.
 The first issue we got out said Californian Bookplates, and then the rest of the issues were called the Book Plate Booklet. (first interview May 24, 1974)
(courtesy of The Bancroft Library, Jim Kantor,
Suzanne Riess, and Judith Johnson, 
http://archive.org/stream/conversationswit00chenrich#page/n1/mode/2up, accessed Oct 18, 2012)

Sheldon Cheney was an etcher and editor from Berkeley, California. He produced the Book Plate Booklet Volume 1 (1906-1907), Volume 2 (1908), and Volume 3 (1909-1910). The booklet measured 5 by 7 inches. "Address all business and editorial communications to the editor, P.O.Box 307, Berkeley, California."

In 1911 Cheney's endeavor was passed on the Alfred Fowler from Kansas City, Missouri. Fowler continued the Book Plate Booklet with the format Cheney began, with four issues in 1911. Then in 1912 Fowler changed the format to a 10 by 12 inch booklet, printed on Italian handmade paper. He did all the work himself, including setting the type, sewing the covers, and pasting the inserts. He gave the edition of four hundred Ex-Libran. "Address all business and editorial communications to the editor, 3 East Armour Boulevard, Kansas City, Mo, U.S.A."
(Link on California School of Arts and Crafts, http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3071.html ; Sheldon Cheney link, courtesy of Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Warren_Cheney; California Book Plate Society under Sheldon Cheney, http://www.flickr.com/photos/prattinstitutelibraries/3247838451/in/photostream/, accessed Oct 19, 2012)