Some Nottinghamshire Bookplates
Miniature pieces of art in their own write
I've been a collector of antiquarian books for many years, and I often find that the books I buy come from former private libraries owned by people who were once prominent in their local communities.
This has opened up a fascinating sideline for me in researching some of the names which appear on the bookplates as "ex libris" - a sort of combination of local history and family history.
Here are some of the bookplates I have found in my collection which come from Nottinghamshire. You will see that some of them even come from the old public libraries of the county.
Perhaps other people can add to them with other examples from Nottinghamshire. I'd be most interested to see them if the owners would put up a page on this website.
Bookplate of Brough Maltby (1826-1894), Canon of Lincoln, Archdeacon of Nottingham, and parish priest of St.Peter's church in Farndon near Newark. The motto 'Praesto et Persto' may be translated as 'I stand firm and I stand first'. (It mirrors the motto of Stowe public school which is 'Persto et Praesto')
Brough Maltby was born in Sept 1826 in London, but moved with his parents to Southwell very shortly thereafter. He attanded Southwell Grammar School where he was a chorister at the Minster. He went on to St.John's College, Cambridge in c.1847, graduating in 1850 as a priest. He became vicar of Farndon in Notts in 1864 and remained there until his death in 1894. He is remembered for his extensive restoration of St.Peter's, Farndon, and is commemorated in the book "Brough Maltby; Archdeacon, Church Restorer" by Rev. John Quarrell (2001)
Bookplate of Thomas M. Blagg
The Roman numerals incorporated in the design give a date of 1898, whilst the subjects inscribed on the tomes tell us of Blagg's interests - the topography, heraldry and genealogy of Nottinghamshire.
Bookplate of William Henry Mason, c.1900s
The motto may be translated as 'Virtue is the only Nobility'.
Bookplate of J.C. Wardley, c.1900s
John Owen Wardley (1849 - 1930) was Borough Treasurer of Newark from 1908 to 1924, having been employed as a bank manager. His obituary stated that "His library was of an extensive character and he was know as a widely-read gentleman. Amongst his collection were books covering a range of subjects and vaulable first editions". The full text of the obituary is available on this site under the 'People' category.
Unknown bookplate - found in a book listing the Charities of Newark-on-Trent from 1748
Bookplate of the Gilstrap Free Public Library, Newark-on-Trent, c1920s
Newark's Gilstrap Library was the gift to the town of Sir William Gilstrap, a prominent local maltster. The Gilstrap business had been founded in Newark, but Sir William later moved to Fornham Park in Suffolk. The Library was opened in 1883 and closed in 1988, being replaced by a new building elsewhere in the town. The Gilstrap building pictured on the bookplate has recently been used as the town's Tourist Information office, and, since October 2013, for the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages. The bookplate is signed and dated by the artist who designed it, W.F. Berry, 1913. The motto "Deo Fretus Erumpe" which is used in the Bourough coat of arms is usually translated as 'Trust in God and Sally Forth' - a reference to Newark's important role in the English Civil War of 1642-46.
Gilstrap public library bookplate, 1934
Slightly later than the one above, this book plate is signed and dated H.S. Drury, 1934
Bingham Book Society c.1867
Nottingham Mechanics Institute
signed and dated G. Hodgson, 1895
Bookplate of R.F.B. Hodgkinson of Newark-on-Trent