The initials A.M. in the lower right hand corner of Arthur Marsden’s bookplate (Figure 61) indicate that this bookplate was composed by the owner.  I do not know who Arthur Marsden was, but the symbolism on the bookplate indicates, possibly, a petroleum chemist.  The benzene ring is prominent throughout the bookplate; notice that there are endless strings of benzene rings forming the outside border, coal tar derivatives are emanating from the piece of coal on the left, the very central design figure is hexagonal, and note that around the central benzene ring is a serpent swallowing its own tail – a clear reference to Kekule’s dream of a snake swallowing its own tail, that led him to the structure of benzene.  Even the escutcheon bearing the owner’s name is hexagonal-shaped.  Power sources are indicated: volcano, the sun, generator and power lines; chemical apparatus also: retort distillation apparatus, balance, filtration set-up.  That may also be oil-well drilling equipment.  A very nice, and interesting, self-designed bookplate.

click image to enlarge (181K) Figure 61

The bookplate of F.O. Mosley has a beautifully-engraved (Watson) microscope (Figures 62, 63).  On the bench with the microscope is a narrow, top-opening laboratory notebook, pencil, reference books, and a beaker containing three test tubes, with cotton plugs – these may contain agar slants, or they may be genetics experiments with flies.  The plants and insect – probably the pollinator – together with the microscope and other equipment suggest that F.O. Mosley was associated with an agricultural experiment station.

click image to enlarge (185K) Figure 62

click image to enlarge (163K) Figure 63

The Ethel Katharine Pearce bookplate (Figure 64) was removed from a badly-damaged copy of Mrs. Ward’s book on the microscope.  The microscope and charming lamp for illumination in the evening indicate the owner’s interest in microscopy and natural history, in addition to the fact that the bookplate had been mounted in a book on microscopy. This bookplate, composed in 1906 (upper-right corner), indicates in the phrase Solitudinis libri solamen that the owner found solitude in the comfort of books, and the phrase around the hourglass says something about wasting away or pining away – the hour glass reminding us about how little time we all have here.

click image to enlarge (203K) Figure 64