Catalogue 69

Catalogue 69

Our regular catalogue of recent acquisitions and items from stock is accompanied this time by a remarkable offering: the retained core collection of bookplate material from the estate of H.B. (Harry) Muir (1909-1992), bookseller, publisher, bookplate collector - indeed, patron of the book arts.

At the heart of this catalogue, and offered as one lot, is the archive of material relating to all 21 bookplates commissioned by, or designed for, Harry Muir. It includes many preparatory drawings, original linoleum blocks and woodblocks, proof prints, and numerous variant examples of the bookplates (many of them signed by the artists). A similar archive, much smaller, but no less attractive, is the one containing the original artwork and linoleum blocks for the beautiful bookplate designed by George Perrottet for Harry's wife Marcie (née Collett).

Association copies of the books on bookplates published by Harry's Wakefield Press, a complete run of the very scarce journal Bookplate (published by The Pear Tree Press, 1920-23), and a collection of 57 bookplates by George Perrottet are offered with numerous other bookplates, including those designed by artists of the calibre of Adrian Feint, John Goodchild, Norman Lindsay, Gayfield Shaw, Eric Thake, and Brett Whiteley.