[Vwoolf] A Bookplate Mystery...

[Joshua Phillips]

Thank you! I’ve not had a chance to check bookplate indices, etc., but they are certainly a good next port of call.

My best guess based on context is that it’s James Fitzjames Stephen. He was an eminent legal theorist and so would have good reason to read Bacon, and created a Baronet, so had a coat of arms. The issue is that all of the Stephen family (or the ones called James at least) were eminent intellectual somethings who could have been plausibly interested, while the coat of arms isn’t quite a match for JFJ’s as it’s combined with another’s.

Confusedly,
Josh
________________________________
From: stringsOf Light <stringsoflight at hotmail.co.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2025 4:40:15 PM
To: vwoolf listserve <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>; Joshua Phillips <joshua.phillips at ell.ox.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: A Bookplate Mystery...

Not sure if this helps, but have a look in case you haven't:
 https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://ilab.org/article/identifying-bookplates?__;!!KGKeukY!3cyIQNMb6tvcvNUGotNhZI0jl-nH8JkqnOiioC08bUlO-zrCjBvQEGtWCdyhwZFhMalRE31AGIXr-H4G0oBE0jKQyqVui_ry59Q$  Also, what can give you a clue is asking yourself who would have been interested in Francis Bacon's work, who most likely of these many James Stephen-ses?.
[https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://ilab.org/assets/images/_1200x630_crop_center-center_none/ILAB-logo-color.svg__;!!KGKeukY!3cyIQNMb6tvcvNUGotNhZI0jl-nH8JkqnOiioC08bUlO-zrCjBvQEGtWCdyhwZFhMalRE31AGIXr-H4G0oBE0jKQyqVuV6lTioc$ ]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://ilab.org/article/identifying-bookplates__;!!KGKeukY!3cyIQNMb6tvcvNUGotNhZI0jl-nH8JkqnOiioC08bUlO-zrCjBvQEGtWCdyhwZFhMalRE31AGIXr-H4G0oBE0jKQyqVuj7HNRa0$ >
Identifying Bookplates - ILAB - EN - International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB)<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://ilab.org/article/identifying-bookplates__;!!KGKeukY!3cyIQNMb6tvcvNUGotNhZI0jl-nH8JkqnOiioC08bUlO-zrCjBvQEGtWCdyhwZFhMalRE31AGIXr-H4G0oBE0jKQyqVuj7HNRa0$ >
By David Pearson. Given a particular bookplate, there are a number of avenues of research which may yield useful information on the owner. There are biographical and heraldic reference works; bibliographies or lists of bookplates; major collections of bookplates in various institutions; journals devoted to the study of bookplates, or likely to contain articles concerning bookplates; published ...
ilab.org

Researching Book Plates in Libraries and Archives
Many rare book and special collections libraries have large collections of bookplates, ranging vastly in time period, style, and significance. Some of the bookplate collections<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.bookstellyouwhy.com/advSearchResults.php?orderBy=saleprice2&action=search&cat_conj=or&keywordsField=book*plate__;Kw!!KGKeukY!3cyIQNMb6tvcvNUGotNhZI0jl-nH8JkqnOiioC08bUlO-zrCjBvQEGtWCdyhwZFhMalRE31AGIXr-H4G0oBE0jKQyqVuDd7ph0Q$ > are extremely broad, while others are quite narrowly focused. We already mentioned the King’s College Cambridge Archive Centre<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/archive-centre/online-resources/online-exhibitions/ex-libris-bookplates-in-the-archives*:*:text=Bookplate*20history,date*20from*20the*2015th*20century__;I34lJSUlJQ!!KGKeukY!3cyIQNMb6tvcvNUGotNhZI0jl-nH8JkqnOiioC08bUlO-zrCjBvQEGtWCdyhwZFhMalRE31AGIXr-H4G0oBE0jKQyqVu594gfTU$ .> above, which houses a large collection of bookplates that span centuries. You can even explore their online exhibition, “Bookplates in the Archives.” The Library of Congress has a Russian Bookplate Collection<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/coll/bookplate.html__;!!KGKeukY!3cyIQNMb6tvcvNUGotNhZI0jl-nH8JkqnOiioC08bUlO-zrCjBvQEGtWCdyhwZFhMalRE31AGIXr-H4G0oBE0jKQyqVuVEh5m9I$ > that contains a total of 130 bookplates created by Soviet artists from 1970 to 1987. The Pratt Institute Libraries also houses an Ex-Libris Bookplate Collection<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://libguides.pratt.edu/specialcollectionsimages/bookplates__;!!KGKeukY!3cyIQNMb6tvcvNUGotNhZI0jl-nH8JkqnOiioC08bUlO-zrCjBvQEGtWCdyhwZFhMalRE31AGIXr-H4G0oBE0jKQyqVuKDTuYjM$ >. These are just a handful of examples to get you started.

________________________________
From: Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces+stringsoflight=hotmail.co.uk at lists.osu.edu> on behalf of Joshua Phillips via Vwoolf <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
Sent: 11 June 2025 12:56
To: vwoolf listserve <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
Subject: [Vwoolf] A Bookplate Mystery...

Dear Woolfians, I’m writing with what is possibly the world’s most trifling query. This is to ask if anyone knows which of the many James Stephen-ses the bookplate in the attached image might belong to. The coat of arms looks similar to that

Dear Woolfians,



I’m writing with what is possibly the world’s most trifling query. This is to ask if anyone knows which of the many James Stephen-ses the bookplate in the attached image might belong to. The coat of arms looks similar to that of James Fitzjames Stephen but isn’t an exact match. It’s in an 1819 ten-volume of Francis Bacon’s works that’s in the Library of Leonard and Virginia Woolf in Washington – they’re not able to make an identification, and I’ve not been able to figure it out.



Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, and all best wishes,

Josh
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