Open Collections

Smith, Leslie Victor

Brown ink on cream paper. The bookplate has a perforated border with rounded corners. At the top left and right corners are flowers with four square petals and five leaves extending below. The floral decorations are quite simple, featuring only small lines. Between the two flowers is curling text in sentence case followed by five leaves with stems curling to the left and the tip of the leaves curling to the right. In the centre of the bookplate an open book. The book has enforced corners and a clasp on the cover. On the open left page is a griffin rampant on a crest-wreath. On the open right page is a cat sitting on a crest wreath. A link from a chain extends from the base of the book’s spine to attach to a sign with a thick white border. Atop a speckled background is capitalized and lower case font with stylized serif accents. Two links of chain are attached to this sign from below in the left and right corners. Between the chains are stylized curling, accents meeting in a decorative feature in the centre with a leaf extending downwards. Text is printed on the left and right hand side of the leaf. There is a handwritten note in pencil in the bottom right hand corner.

Private libraries; Griffins; Cats

Prints

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Leslie Victor Smith created a bookplate for another member of the Griffin family, John William and Florence Griffin, in the same year. Please see BP MUR CAN P G75445. Leslie Victor Smith was a Canadian painter and printmaker who lived between 1880 and 1952. He was a prolific bookplate artist and worked both within Canada and abroad. He attended the Ontario College of Art in Toronto and St. John’s Wood School of Art in London. Smiths’ work was exhibited at the Royal Canadian Academy between 1908 and 1913, as well as the Ontario Society of Artists, the Montreal Art Association, the Canadian National Exhibition and at the Canadian Society of Graphic Arts. He typically engraved or etched his bookplate designs on zinc plates. Smith also created bookplate BP MUR CAN I M356. For more information on Smith, please consult "The Bookplates of Leslie Victor Smith" by William Colgate, a photocopy of which is available in Rare Books and Special Collections, UBC Library.
References:
1) Greg Peters, & Peters, C. (n.d.). Leslie Victor Smith (Artist Monogramme L.V.S.). Retrieved from <http://www.artoftheprint.com/artistpages/monogramme_l_v_s_exlibris_j_edouard_diamond.htm>

RBSC Bookplates

2017-02-15

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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