[New Year's Card] by T. F. Šimon, 1912, 7.5 x 7.5 cm on sheet 17 x 12.3 cm. C.P.J. van der Peet Collection of Czech Bookplates (BKP 94), Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library, Yale University.
Other types of small graphic works were often collected alongside bookplates. This is a century-old New Year’s card by Czech artist T.F. Šimon (1877-1942). “P.F.” is an abbreviation for the French phrase pour féliciter, which was adopted in Czech and Slovak as a kind of shorthand for expressing New Year’s wishes. The artist’s distinctive monogram and signature appear beneath the image.
The Yale Bookplate Collection is a significant resource for both historical and artistic research—equally rich for someone interested in the visual culture of a particular time and place as well as someone seeking hands-on study of printmaking techniques.
Here are some starting points for approaching bookplate research:
You might consider any or all of the following:
See below for selected collections organized around suggested themes.
Some possible themes by which to explore bookplate collections at Yale include:
By Artist | By Collector |
|
|
By Institution | By Geography |
|
|
This list represents the majority of archival holdings that make up the Yale Bookplate Collection. When available, links to finding aids and estimated dates are also provided in the document.