Open Collections

[Bookplate for Ian Waldie by Alexander Scott Carter]

1941

1 bookplate : intaglio printing ; 7.1 x 10.9 cm

Toronto (Ont.)

Prints

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The owner of this bookplate is unknown. Alexander Scott Carter was one of Canada's pre-eminent heraldic artists. Born at Harrow, Middlesex, England in 1881, he trained at the Royal Academy School of Architecture at Heatherley's and at the Bournemouth School of Art before practicing architecture in London. He left England for Toronto in 1912, and became a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, specializing in architectural decoration and heraldic ornament. His heraldic work was acclaimed throughout Canada, the United States, and England. In 1922, Carter was elected A.R.C.A. (Associate of Royal Canadian Academy), and then R.C.A. in 1927. He won a medal for Heraldic Decoration from the Royal Architectural Institute in 1959, and the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto also made him an honorary member. A quiet man who was dedicated to his art, Carter was rarely seen in public without his trademark pipe. He returned to England near the end of his life and died there in 1968. A collection of Carter's work is located in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto, where it is complemented by the Alexander Scott Carter Papers. Additional bookplates by Carter that are part of the Thomas Murray Collection include those created for Vincent and Alice Massey and Joseph Wesley Flavelle. The same bookplate can also be found in McGill University's Philippe Masson Ex Libris Collection.
References:
1) Stacey, R. (1997) Canadian bookplates. Toronto, ON: Subway Books Ltd. Prescott, Winward. A list of Canadian bookplates: with a review of the history of ex libris in the Dominion. Edited by Winward Prescott together with biographical and historical notes; compiled by Stanley Harrod and Morely J. Ayearst; illustrated with prints from the original coppers and blocks. Toronto: Printed for the Society of Bookplate Bibliophiles, 1919. Macpherson, R.G.M. 'A. Scott Carter, R.C.A.' Heraldry in Canada Sept. 1990: n. pag. <http://www.heraldry.ca/art/painter/carter/carter.htm>.
2) Philippe Masson Ex Libris Collection. <http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/bookplates/>.
3) Toews, Jennifer. 'Paint, Gesso, Silver, Gold and Stone: Alexander Scott Carter, Artist and Architect.' The Halcyon Nov. 2002: 2-3.

RBSC Bookplates

2012

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