Open Collections

[Bookplate for Lorne A. Pierce by Marjorie Sankey]

[between 1900 and 1969]

1 bookplate : linocut ; 10.2 x 14 cm

Canada

Prints

image/jpeg

Commissioned by Lorne Pierce, this bookplate was created by Toronto illustrator Marjorie Sankey based on the main doorway to 299 Queen St. West Toronto, known as the Wesley Building, where Pierce worked as editor. The building was built in 1913-15 in the industrial-gothic style for the Methodist Church and has since been owned by CHUM and City TV. The University of British Columbia has another bookplate of which the image is the same but the owner's name in the doorway reads ' Ex Libris E. W. Nevillle' and the words 'MORE LIGHT' and 'MORE LOVE' are printed in the bricks that are here blacked out by hand. McGill University has two copies of the bookplate which are very similar to those owned by UBC. Lorne Pierce was born in 1890 in Delta, Ontario and died in 1961. He completed his undergraduate degree at Queen's University where he became interested in Canadian literature. During this time he worked as a teacher and later as a student minister in Saskatchewan. Pierce then took his B.D. at Victoria University at the University of Toronto, and later completed another B.D. at the Union Theological Seminary and an M.A. at New York University. In 1918 he began work at the Methodist Church of Canada's Ryerson Press, and became editor in 1920. During his career he focused on promoting Canadian authors and writing books and anthologies about Canadian literature. He donated his extensive collections of Canadian textbooks and literature, as well as letters, manuscripts, and personal papers to the Queen's University Edith and Lorne Pierce Collection of Canadiana and the Queen's University Archives. The University of British Columbia library collection includes a substantial number of Pierce's published works. The Thomas Murray Collection also includes an identical bookplate originated by E.W. Neville, identified as being created in the 1930s-1940s. (Cutter # BP MUR CAN P N4855) .
References:
1) Dickenson, C. H. Lorne Pierce: A Profile. Toronto: Ryerson, 1965.
2) 'The Edith and Lorne Pierce Collection of Canadiana.' Queen's University: Jordan Special Collections and Music Library. 4 May 2004 .
3) Stacey, Robert. Canadian Bookplates. Toronto: Subway Books, 1997.
4) 'Toronto's Historic Wesley Building.' Masonry Design Magazine (2009). Marietta: Lionheart, 2010 .

RBSC Bookplates

2026-03-11

Images provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy, or otherwise use these images must be obtained from Rare Books and Special Collections: http://rbsc.library.ubc.ca

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