Last year for Book Week Scotland, we got the Museum Team to reflect on what their favourite books were as children. There were lots of great choices from Pippi Longstocking, Heidi and the Enormous Crocodile.
This year we’re going to take a closer look at the Carnegies’ beautifully designed bookplates. Bookplates are sometimes called ‘ex libris’, meaning ‘from the library of’ in Latin. They were much more common in the past, but now are much rarer. In terms of museums, bookplates are very useful to see who owned the book. From there you can learn much more about a book’s provenance, research the person who owned it, and get a sense of the book’s journey from shelf to shelf. Designs usually include the owner’s name, perhaps a family motto or symbols of importance to the person. In many ways, they are similar to crests or family coat of arms.
Image: Andrew’s bookplate
When Andrew Carnegie funded his first library in Dunfermline, Scotland, he had the motto “Let there be light” carved within its Gothic-arched entrance. He also chose it for his bookplates below. The Dunfermline library is the first Carnegie library ever built of the thousands across the globe and opened on the 29th August 1883. What other symbol of Dunfermline can you spot on it?
"The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Is the Hand That Rules the World" by American poet William Ross Wallace was first published in 1865. The poem praises motherhood as the preeminent force for change in the world. He later dedicated the poem to Louise W. Carnegie who then chose it for her personal bookplate.
The Carnegies formed a personal friendship with the head librarian of Edinburgh City Libraries, Hew Morrison. Morrison participated in designing and choosing Andrew Carnegie's bookplates.
As a nice link to the Carnegies’ bookplates, we asked some of the museum staff what they would have on their personalised bookplates. Not many people have their own ex libris bookplates nowadays, so this was a nice exercise to see what is important to different people and what they’d pick to represent themselves.
Image: Louise’s bookplate
Image: Hew Morrison’s bookplate. Prudentia Praestat means ‘wisdom before’
What about our staff?
As a nice link to the Carnegies’ bookplates, we asked the museum staff what they would have on their personalised bookplates. Not many people have their own ex libris bookplates nowadays, so this was a nice exercise to see what is important to different people and what they’d pick to represent themselves.
Kirke, The Museum Manager & Curator, has done a small drawing to illustrate the things she’d include in her bookplate.
Kirke’s bookplate features outlines of the two countries that she calls home, Estonia & Scotland. Other images she has chosen to include symbolise various friendship groups she has formed over the years, her hobbies and other interests.
The small stick figure on the hillside is Pippi Longstocking, who Kirke has often been compared to. Lastly, her motto is a playful pun on Julius Caesar’s ‘Veni, Vidi, Vici’ - I came, I saw, I conquered. Can you decipher what hers stands for?
What else can you spot?
Annie, the Museum’s Visitor Services Officer, has chosen a poem by Emily Dickinson to include in her bookplate.
An Hour is a Sea
Between a few, and me —
With them would harbour be.
It’s about feeling safe and comforted by someone, rather than endlessly lost. Some find that feeling in a person, others might find it in a good book. It also reminds Annie of the beautiful Fife coastal path, especially St Andrews where she went to university. To represent her Mancunian & Liverpudlian Heritage, she’d include a bee and then a crane or heron (similar to the infamous Liverbird). She would also include an otter, one of her favourite animals which is closely associated with St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne. Northumberland is one of Annie’s most loved places in the UK, its wild and windswept charm has won her over since visiting as a child.
Image: Helen’s bookplate design
Museum Assistant Helen has also kindly doodled a version of her personalised bookplate.
Highlights include her rescue cat, the grandly named Birk Borkason, her three daughters and husband, coffee & cocktails and then her family clan’s historic motto ‘Sans Tache,’ meaning without a stain. It is the Napier clan’s historic motto, Napier being Helen’s maiden name.
Beth, one of longest serving Museum Assistants, has chosen a quote from the man himself that she would include on her book plate.
Beth loves reading and runs our museum’s monthly book club. One of her favourite Carnegie quotes is a perfect example of how reading a book encourages for a while escapism from reality, as the reader gets totally engrossed in the storytelling.
“The dainties bred in a book leads the mind from shade to sunshine”
I love this quote too, it’s one of Andrew’s most poignant as it particularly evokes the idea of reading as a means of enlightenment.
Fancy designing your own?
What would you include on your personal bookplate? Have a go at designing your own bookplate for #BookWeekScotland by downloading the template below.
Remember to include ‘this book belongs to’ or if you’re feeling fancy ‘ex libris’ followed by your name e.g. ex libris Andrew Carnegie.
