February 5, 2015

Work Project

In addition to being the Director of Development at my job, I am also the jack of all trades, mistress of none! I was assigned the job of refurbishing one of our meeting rooms a few months ago, and then researching some physicians in our archives. I never know what the next assignment will be. So when our CEO decided that we needed to perk up the 10 women’s and men’s rooms in our offices, I knew it would be a challenge.

Luckily, I remembered a stash of about 300 bookplates, dating from the 1700’s to the early 1900’s. I wrote about them here. I had scanned them a few months ago, so I had a head start on the project. These bookplates are about 3 x 4 inches, and they’re super detailed. It’s amazing when you think of the work that goes into engraving them!

The bookmarks hold lots of clues to their owners. Dr. Clark was obviously an outdoorsman, imagejudging by the oar at the bottom of the engraving, and then on the left side a shotgun, and a fishing rod, which, if you follow it up, over and down, leads to a fish! There’s the obligatory skull, as well as a snake, and the year is 1906.

In Dr. Cullen’s plate, you see at the top, the outline of the dome at Johns Hopkins Hospital where he was a physician. imageThen you see him in his laboratory with his books, and you see the seals of the schools he was affiliated with. At the bottom is his camp in on a lake in Canada. This plate was engraved by the first professional medical illustrator and Dr. Cullen’s close friend, Max Brödel.

This bookplate is from Dr. Harvey W. Cushing, the father of style icon, Babe Paley. It was used by several members of Cushing’s family, as you can see in the initials on the sides. Each person wrote their own name in, along with the city and year. Dr. Cushing spent several years at Hopkins in Baltimore.

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Of course, I do feel rather obligated to include this bookplate!image

I want these plates to be very graphic in their look, so I am converting them all to black and white line drawings to bring them back to their most elemental look. Luckily, Photoshop has an action that does that in one or two clicks. A lot of the bookplates had discoloured over the years, so I thought having them a uniform black and white would be good. I am also cleaning up specks, and darkening the lines to make them a little more legible. Ikea has some very simple black frames, called Nyttja, and they come in an 11.75 x 15.75 inch size. image I am having all of the bookplates printed at Staples using their Engineering prints service. I had a prototype run done last week and they came out perfectly. I just upload three at a time and they print them out for me to pick up. And for a 24x36 sheet, it’s about $4.00. Since I am having to do 40 of these, it’s a good way to go.

30 comments:

  1. Just terrific doing all these details that you don't see these days. Good job Meg.

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    1. The details really pop out when they are enlarged, and I see them closely when I am photoshopping them.

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  2. World Toilet Day is November 19th. Estimates of 2.5 billion people do not have access to a toilet. This is something we take for granted, I suppose, in this country, public restrooms. In St Augustine Fl the University of Florida has ongoing projects in observance of the founding of St Augustine including renovated bathrooms with educational displays about historical hygiene and best practices thru the years and years!! Hand washing was not always practiced, even by doctors in surgery.

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  3. this is really fascinating!!! makes me hate e books (but i really really love them i hate to admit!!)

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  4. Hello Meg, What on earth are those in the shield on the Cushing bookplate? I can't see quite clearly, but they look like severed hands or poorly-hemmed surgical gloves. Or perhaps I am not seeing it correctly.
    --Jim

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    1. Jim - this might help you. http://www.familytreesandcrests.com/heraldry-symbols.htm Because of the date of this bookplate, I am not sure that they would be surgical gloves. The practice of wearing gloves began in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins in the late 1880's, so even though Cushing and William Halsted, who started the practice, were working together at Hopkins at that time, I don't think that the surgical gloves would have been on the coat of arms.

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    2. Here's a link to the story. My organization is woven through this history. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2943454/

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    3. Hi again, Of course I was only joking about the surgical gloves--even if a doctor did decide to so display them, they wouldn't have those ragged edges. But look what in interesting tangent this led to--incredible that one of the first surgical gloves is still in existence! Thanks for the reference to the article.

      I take an interest in hands used decoratively or symbolically, and have noticed the various use of hands, arms, gauntlets, etc. in heraldry, but I still don't think I have seen anything like Dr. Cushing's example.

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    4. Could this "coat of Arms" be a Fantasy coat of arms, designed and items depicted curated by the one paying the artist to design a coat of arms for a bookplate, bookplate, we are talking about a bookplate not a true coat of arms. A bookplate in a book in a private library, a collection which now is curated by your Org Meg. In addition, it does in my judgement, pay a slight homage to the Flag of the State of Maryland.

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    5. Cushing's family were Puritans from Massachusetts, and the bookplate was used by numerous family members, so may not be an echo of the Maryland Flag.

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    6. Lord have Mercy. If one searches on the internet -- Cushing coat of Arms-- one indeed finds a coat of arms with three hands torn at the wrists. So much for my fantasy theory. I stand corrected. I have no excuse to speculate when a Google search will find history at your fingertips.

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    7. Here's some information on the Cushing bookplate via Yale:

      Cushing’s proud image of himself as one of a long line of Cushing doctors is illustrated by the bookplate he sketched for his growing library in 1897. Engraved from Cushing's drawing by designer Edwin Davis French, it featured the Cushing family crest and motto, which translates “by valor and divine aid.”

      Along the sides were the initials of the Cushing doctors and the years they received their degrees: David, Erastus, Henry Kirke, Edward F., and Harvey Williams Cushing. The bookplate on display is a later revision adding Kirke W. Cushing, son of HC’s brother Harry. The smaller version is found in most of Cushing’s books donated to Yale.

      Fascinated by books and history from the beginning of his medical education, Cushing became a serious collector under the tutelage of his mentor, William Osler.

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  5. Is it not true, items depicted on a shield represent the occupation of the Clan. If a gauntlet represents an armored gloved of those prepared to engage in battle, I shall extrapolate, a surgical glove on the shield of a doctor represents someone practicing proper hygiene.

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    1. Anon @8:18 - see above explanation of the gloves.

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  6. They have no idea what an amazing talent they took on when they hired you.

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  7. well done! + they are stunning + they must have know how smart you were. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com

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  8. Dr. Abeshouse's "Troubled Waters" is definitely my favorite! Great idea! Can't wait to see the results.

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  9. It's particularly apt on this blog that Harvey Cushing's primary claim to fame is as Babe Paley's father. He was, of course, also one of the foremost neurosurgeons of all time.

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    1. I know that, but you're right. The Babe connection would strike the note here.

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    1. Gotta do something with 216 years of archival material!

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  11. There's really only one word. LOVE!

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