Bookplate gems from the Special Collections section of the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library , James Cook University, Townsville .
The first Australian bookplate is said to have been commissioned in l892 by flamboyant Sydney solicitor, politician, Catholic activist and avid book collector , John Lane Mullins. It portrayed a view of the lawyer's study with a coat of arms .
He was the first president of the Australian Ex Libris Society. An ex libris society was formed in London about this time and the Studio magazine ran bookplate design competitions .
In New Zealand , the highly regarded bookplate artist , maker and collector , Hilda Wiseman, lived in a house designed by her architect father who had designed many Auckland buildings, including the ferry terminal at the bottom of Queen Street.
In 1937 the Sydney Morning Herald described her "quaint" studio-once a working man's hut on an old mission station-which she had bought and had transported to her home .
Fourteen diamond glass panels from a school built in 1851 were installed to improve the lighting. Two old chairs of the same vintage were added as well as an 18th century French jewel case. Entering the studio,with its hand press, was like stepping into another world .
There were landscapes and watercolours,drawings in every medium ,bookplates finished and in the making . An ardent collector of bookplates from all over the world , she arranged the first Kiwi Ex Libris Exhibition, in Auckland in l936 which included bookplates for Mussolini, Lenin, Captain Cook and Australian pioneer aviator Kingsford Smith who made the first Australia - NZ flight .
A member of the active Ex Libris Society ,John Gibson, of Sydney, commissioned Miss Wiseman to do a plate for his collection of New Zealand books Wiseman was in contact with Australian graphic artist,collector and connoisseur and authority on Australian bookplates , Percy Neville Barnett (1881-l953).
He wrote, designed and privately published more than 20 limited edition books (some in the Edna Shaw Collection at JCU) and dedicated his life to advancing the tradition of bookplates. Barnett donated part of his collection to the Auckland Museum and Miss Wiseman endowed the Auckland Public Library with her work .
Of partular interest is the above l932 bookplate designed for a former North Queensland Anglican Bishop, John Oliver Feetham (1873-l947), described as an eccentric who liked to sleep on the floor rather than in a bed , drove an early Ford car called Ermintrude . His ashes were interred underneath the high altar at St. James' Cathedral, Townsville . Artist N.T. Hope included palms trees, a kangaroo , a cathedral , a saling boat , a bishop's mitre and an armorial shield in the design.
