Bibliophemera

I assume this bookplate to be from Texas historian Clarence R. Wharton's library. The book it's in is about the explorer LaSalle with chapters on his settlement and exploration on the Texas coast in the 16th century. So it's a safe bet to assume this CR Wharton is the Texas historian CR Wharton. Kind of an odd bookplate, though, for Wharton. I would have thought something along the lines of a Spanish mission or anything more ornate than a palm or cactus of some sort on what looks like a bare cul-de-sac lot. Perhaps it was from his front yard in Houston and he liked this particular tree. Who knows? It's symbolic of something I'm guessing. Something from Texas history or Lone Star State lore. Compiled from the Houston Chronicle after his death in 1941 and from the Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin, here is an entry about Wharton on the Handbook of Texas Online Web site: WHARTON, CLARENCE RAY (1873-1941). Clarence Ray Wharton, lawyer and hist

At a book sale over the weekend, I found the following book and bought it for the interesting label above: The Jewish State 1896-1946 , by Theodor Herzl, published by The Emergency Zionist Council, NY, 1946. The title page offers this subtitle: An attempt at a modern solution of the Jewish Question . And I offer that bit of information because it ties in with, or explains the presence of, the book label pasted on the front endpaper. Masada is an historic landmark in Israel where the last group of zealots from the Jewish Revolt against Rome, first century C.E., held out until they realized there was no escape from their fortress and committed mass suicide. Actually, it sounds more like murder-suicide because the men decided to kill their wives and children before allowing them to be captured, enslaved, and the women forced into prostitution. After they killed their families, they killed each other. A few women hid themselves to escape death and later related the story of what happened a

Frederick W. Skiff (1867-1947), of Portland, Oregon, was a notable bibliophile and prolific collector of Americana. He also authored a few books: Adventures in Americana: Recollections of Forty Years Collecting Books, Furniture, China, Guns and Glass, Metropolitan Press, Portland, Oregon (1935) and Landmarks and Literature: An American Travelogue, also by Metropolitan Press (1937). After Skiff died in 1947, his collection went to the San Francisco auction house of Butterfield & Butterfield, in San Francisco. The auction catalog (left) featured Skiff's bookplate. For the book I obtained with Skiff's bookplate, I hit the trifecta. In addition to the bookplate, the book contains an inscription by the book's author and an inscription by the book's prominent owner. The book is The Joy That No Man Taketh From You , by Lilian Whiting; Little, Brown, and Company; Boston (1907). The author's inscription: To Frederick W. Skiff, Esq. with grateful appreciation of his mos

Thought this was an interesting bit of news in the bookplate world: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~vox/0708/0526/bookplates.html Who knows what valuable and collectible bookplates of the future lurk among this group?