Every Bookplate a Mystery - Eugene Field
Clifton Miller Library’s Rare Book Room contains many books donated by other charitable libraries, former professors, alumni, and students. The bookplates tell the story of their former owners. However, many of the bookplates themselves are a mystery.
This bookplate from Eugene Field's copy of The Burial of the Guns by Thomas Nelson Page contains a coat of arms with several sheaves of wheat. Is it a play on his name? Most likely so, since the journalist, author, and poet of the 19th century was known for his play on words, pranks, and eccentricity.
Eugene field was short lived; he died at 45, but was a prolific writer. The library owns a twelve volume collection of his writing and poetry, as well as biographies of him by Francis Wilson and Slason Thompson.
