Bookplate for Gleeson White

Gleeson White

Late 1890s; unsigned.

Pen and pencil on paper.

Gleeson White took great pleasure in designing for himself, and seems to have spent a great deal of time producing work that would remain in manuscript: some are scribbles, some, as here, are complete works. This design is a Romantic tableau, combining nature imagery with bold lettering. White disliked what he saw as an affected treatment of names and titles in bookplates, monograms and bindings, and all of works are clearly labelled in letters which seem to prefigure the geometrical forms of Art Deco.

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Victorian Web, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]