Ex Libris

The library’s vast bookplate collection offers a unique glimpse into the literary past.

CHARLIE CHAPLIN, PAUL REVERE and Jack London share a common Dartmouth connection—their bookplates reside among the thousands housed in Rauner Library. The collection started when Josiah Minot Fowler, class of 1900, donated his private bounty of bookplates—including one of only two known copies of Revere’s decorative label—in 1928. During the ensuing decades other alumni made similar donations, and the collection now numbers 27,000.

Although interest in private book-plate collecting declined in the late 1940s, bookplates remain an essential mark of ownership and recognition in academic libraries. Even today the College commissions new bookplates to recognize donors of books.

A helpful hint for those of you who bookplate your personal libraries: The preservation staff at Baker Library recommends using acid-free glue sticks.

(a) Robert Frost

(b) Blanche and Alfred Knopf

(c) Frederick Starr

(d) W.B. Yeats

(e) Charlie Chaplin

(f) King Gillette

(g) Paul Revere

(h) Alfred Stieglitz

(i) Rudyard Kipling

(j) Jack London