The Mosher Bookplate
Well, here it is, December 24th, Christmas
Eve, and I'm adding this last occurrence just to show that the game goes on.
Here’s a letter I just sent to Thomas G. Boss:
December
24, 2003
Thomas
G. Boss:
What
am I going to do with you!? I was just finishing cleaning the Mosher collection
shelves in preparation for family visitors this Christmas Eve, and then the
doorbell rang. Now what? Opening the door there stands a UPS delivery man who
handed me a small package with the return address of BOSS FINE ART / BOSS FINE
BOOKS. What could this be? I knew I hadn't spoken with you for a over a
month, so I hadn't ordered anything. "What could this be?" I said
again to myself. I opened the package, and to my surprise guess what I found?
Well, of course, you already know: Keenan's new book The Art of the Bookplate.
Inside was the loosely inserted THOMAS G. BOSS FINE BOOKS With Compliments. But wait, there was more: on the half-title the
inscription in the author's holograph "December 7th, 2003 | For Philip
Bishop-- | Best of luck in your | bookplate endeavors! | J.P. Keenan" Now
what is amazing is that on that very same day of December 7th, I e-mailed the
following letter to James Keenan:
December 7, 2003
James P. Keenan:
I just bought 5 copies of your new books, The Art of the Bookplate,
as gifts to a few friends. I was pleased to see the bookplate of Thomas Bird
Mosher on p. 122, and am always delighted to see his plate exhibited. Overall
your new book, though light on the scholarly side, is still a joy to thumb
through and I offer my congratulations.
As for your write-up on the Mosher bookplate, there are several errors.
(1) Thomas Bird Mosher was born in
Biddeford, Maine, not in Portland, and
(2) my understanding about Frank R.
Rathbun is that he was from Auburn, New York, although you may have information
which I do not. For your own reference, I am including some of the information
on Mosher's bookplate that appeared in my Mosher bibliography in 1998 done for
The British Library and Oak Knoll Press (p. 485):
The
bookplate Mosher used in books from his personal library was designed in 1897
by Frank R. Rathbun of Auburn, New York, with the designer's monogram of an
"F" with two "R's" mirror imaged on either side. The
bookplate was part of an exhibit (entry 1371) of bookplates from the Club of
Odd Volumes held at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1898. Mosher's
bookplate is described as "emblematical pictorial" in the Burnham
collection. The original plate was photo-mechanically printed on Japan vellum
paper from Rathbun's original drawing, but the later scarcity and high price of
Japan vellum may have necessitated Mosher's printing of the plate on Van Gelder
paper. It has been said that when Parke-Bernet auctioned the Mosher library in
1948, any of Mosher's books that didn't have the bookplate were given one.
These plates may have been from a reserve stock Mosher had prior to his
death...
According to the Honey Jar, a small 1890’s Columbus, Ohio magazine which often
focused on bookplates:
First we have the plate of Thomas B.
Mosher (of Bibelot fame). Concerning its origin the owner says it is drawn from
the Old German. On a shield the base, sinister and dexter points of which round
off into scrolls, an open book supported by two dolphins, tails entwined. Two
demi-griffins of heroic size act as semi-supporters. On a ribbon beneath the
shield and between a number of conventionalized flowers "Ex Libris
Mdcccxcvij." Below is "Thomas B. Mosher." All within a serrated
border.
_______________
Sappe, D. C., ed. HONEY JAR A Receptacle for Literary Preserves. Vol. III, No. 1.
(Columbus, OH: Champlin Press at the Sign of the Green Wreath, November 1899),
p. 16.
(3) Mosher was not "affectionately
known... because of his liberal interpretation of the copyright laws" but
because of his literal
interpretation of the copyright laws. Of course, one may say this is an
arguable point, but my research has shown that Mosher very carefully stuck to
the letter of the law, a point duly recognized--while still lamented--on the
other side of the Atlantic. And it is to your credit that your overall write-up
on Mosher is leagues ahead of the abominable statement William E. Butler made
in his American Bookplates (London,
2000) when mentioning Mosher as "the noted printer and bookplate designer,
T.B. Mosher..." How ridiculous.
(4) I was a bit surprised not to see any
mention or citation of the book published by Thomas G. Boss which directly
spoke to your contention that the Friel bookplate was the largest one designed
by Rockwell Kent (see on p. [101]): Ben Mazer's Rockwell Kent's Bookplate for John Whiting Friel. Boston: Boss Fine
Books / Boss Fine Art, 2002. Perhaps I missed it in my quick overview of your
book.
The above points aside, I'm pleased to
give your book to a few clients and friends and congratulate you on an
entertaining treatment of the subject.
Best wishes,
Phil Bishop
So
Mr. Thomas G. Boss, you had the same idea I had. Of course I didn't bother
sending you one knowing full well that you'd already have an advanced copy. I
also bought a copy for myself, but heck, now I have an inscribed copy. All I
can say is thank you so very much for the gift, and on Christmas Eve none the
less. That as indeed very thoughtful of you and much appreciated. Now somebody
else will receive a copy compliment of Mosher Books. But wait, the story still
isn't finished. When the doorbell rang at 3:20 PM, I had just finished doing
all the dusting and rearranging I was going to do. Just before putting the last
three books from Mosher's library back onto the shelves, I opened them to check
if there was anything special about them. I've been separating any of his books
which were inscribed or otherwise warranted separation from the herd. The very
last book was Max Ehrmann's The Wife of Marobius--A Play (NY:
Mitchell Kennerley, 1911) with Mosher's bookplate.But there was something else
loosely inserted next to the plate: THOMAS G. BOSS FINE BOOKS With Compliments. You had given this to
me a couple years ago and I separated it along with two other given to me my
Norman Strouse. Then the doorbell rang. Now just how eerie is that?!!!!
Blessing
to you Thomas G. Boss, and...
Merry Christmas!
Phil
I
described this gift to another one of Tom Boss's long-time customers who seemed
not to appreciate the significance of the intersection of coincidences, so I
thought it might be better if I spell it out here. Not only was this a gift,
copies of which I had just distributed gratis to several other folks, but it
was an even better copy having been personally inscribed to me. If that isn't
an announcement for "what goes around, comes around," then I don't
know what is. Furthermore, it was inscribed the very day I wrote to the author,
and then held back for a couple weeks until it was finally mailed. When it was
sent, it arrived the afternoon of Christmas Eve, and just as I was tucking away
another one of Tom's gifts to me given years before. I'm always attuned to such
fateful intersections, but this seemed to me to be an extraordinary set of
convergences which impress me to wonderment.
©Philip
R. Bishop
MOSHER
BOOKS (member ABAA / ILAB)
tbmosher@comcast.net
26
December 2003
This article is
Copyright © by Philip R. Bishop. Permission to reproduce the above article has
been granted by Gordon Pfeiffer, president of the Delaware Bibliophiles and
editor of that organization’s newsletter, Endpapers,
in which the article appeared in the September 2004 issue. No portion of this
article may be reproduced or redistributed without expressed written permission
from both parties.