One Met, Many Bookplates: Exceptional Ex Libris Examples

"The good bookplate is at once a document of its designer as much as it is a document of the owner." —Peter Fingesten

«If you've ever lent someone a book only to realize years later it still hasn't been returned, you can appreciate the importance of a bookplate. While the basic function of a bookplate is to identify an owner, a good bookplate identifies its owner not only by name but by design. An art form in and of itself, bookplate design has been around since the earliest days of the printed book, and significant artists have been employed to create bookplates that represent their owners' interests and personality.»

Watson Library is lucky enough to have two bookplates that were engraved, in 1895, by the superb American artist Edwin Davis French. At the time, French, who engraved over 300 bookplates in his career, was a highly sought-after bookplate designer. He had already been commissioned by major institutions such as the Cosmos and Grolier Clubs, and would go on to be commissioned by many more, including the New York Yacht Club. Our first French bookplate, above, depicts the Douglas-Cruger Mansion, where The Metropolitan Museum of Art resided between 1873 and 1878.

The second bookplate French designed depicts the Museum's then-new home on Fifth Avenue. French created several other engravings for The Met over the years, including the invitation to the inauguration of the Fifth Avenue building.

The library's next bookplate was engraved by Arthur Nelson MacDonald, in 1906, and depicts the Museum's then-new Beaux-Arts facade on Fifth Avenue. As pictured above, there are multiple versions of the bookplates to represent the funds used to purchase the book in question or the departmental library to which the book belonged. In this way, many of our bookplates still serve a valuable purpose, letting us know when and by whom a book was acquired.

In addition to Watson's three main bookplates, there have been many more department- and collection-specific bookplates designed over the years, which are proudly displayed in two unique books made by book artists. The first, Bookplates of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, by Henry Pelham Burn, showcases 29 bookplates, including the above bookplate for the Library of Alice and Irene Lewisohn (now The Costume Institute's Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library).

The second, Bookplates of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, by Susan Share, mounts the bookplates on beautiful marbled paper, like this bookplate for the Library of Egyptology (the Department of Egyptian Art's library). All of the library's old bookplates are now housed in Watson Library's Special Collections and are accessible through WATSONLINE. Watson Library also has a strong collection of rare bookplates and bookplate-research materials, including the semiannual journal of The Bookplate Society.

The Met's bookplates represent different periods in our history and different departmental libraries, each one reflecting an artist's styles and vision of The Met's many facets. As French and McDonald's bookplates indicate, new bookplates often accompanied major changes in The Met's location or building design. Now, as the Museum incorporates another iconic building, The Met Breuer, into the fold, we celebrate with a new Met logo. While we haven't designed a new bookplate to accompany our brand rollout (yet!), it is fun to imagine what a new Watson Library bookplate might look like, and which contemporary artist might design it.

One Met, many bookplates!