IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT: Haunting book plates from West Chicago Public Library District

Happy Halloween from the IDHH. Tonight we’re staying in and looking back through our most chilling collections from our contributors. If you’re feeling the boundary between this and other worlds thinning tonight, and looking for a little more, we recommend starting with the Cornelia Neltor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection at West Chicago Public Library District.

The Cornelia Neltor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection includes over 6000 individual book plates collected over 12 years by Cornelia Neltor Anthony before she donated her collection in 1935. At one point considered the second largest collection, just behind the Library of Congress’, the book plates show the more eerie side of individual book collecting. Used to claim ownership of a book, to both deter book thieves and provide instructions for those who come across lost books. Here among the ex-libris are depictions of reading and what books contain, including dark and stormy nights:

black ink bookplate of a gothic castle on a hill with lightning in the background and a stormy sea in the foreground, with a border of statuesque figurines — It was a dark and stormy night. Waves and lightning were shaking the castle. From the library of Winward and Hazel Prescot. Designed by Charles William Sherborn. 1911.West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Athony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.

Reading by candlelight:

black ink bookplate of an open book with an unlit candlestick on each side and a bare tree in the top with a holly leaf border. — Reading through the night, the pages lit by candlesticks. From the library of Phoebe C. Greeley’s collection, designed by Julia Collins Stohr. 1926. West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.

or other scenes with archaic and occult moods:

black ink book plate of a full moon on a cloudy night rising over a chimney on a house. — When the storm cleared a full moon rose behind the tower. Book plate from Helen Banks, designed by Charles Searle McDonald, 1922. West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.

Including fantastic and macabre images of reading:

black ink book plate of a devilish goblin sitting on a stack of books and reading a large open book resting on a table — Goblin turns the page. From the Library of Charles S. Dixwell, designed by G. H. McCall. 1928.West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.

black ink book plate featuring a man slumped over on a table with a jester's hood and marotte on the table in the foreground and an owl sitting on the back of the man's chair in the background — Fool’s nightmare. Designed and owned by Dana Willard Stockbridge, 1922.West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.

color ink bookplate of an arm bursting through clouds holding a black book with red pages and a bat resting on the book — Here come the bats. From L. Jirku’s library, designed by Vaclav Rytir, 1913. West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.

Book plates pull together the arcane and the scientific, blending what appeals to contemporary readers, including mysticism. These images provide commentary on the purpose of the book, and attitudes people have with reading, including their desires and daydreams. Not all books are spell books, but some spells are to protect them.

black ink bookplate of a Sator Square within a pentagram surrounded by farm tools and alchemical and mystical iconography. — A Sator Square embedded in religious and mystic signs and tools. From the library of Henry Van Arsdale, designed by Jay Chambers, 1921. West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.

These book plates also include a healthy dose of melancholy and death. Pulling from mythic and christian symbolism, and literature itself. The owl symbolizing knowledge, wisdom, magic and skepticism, and the skull as memento mori- the reminder of both death and memory, heighten the fear factor.

black ink book plate of a fool being hung with bats flying in the background and a Latin motto at the bottom — The night turned melancholic with my reading, “in all things terrible, love brings trouble and sadness”. Designed and owned by Georges Goury. C.1923. West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.

black ink bookplate featuring a skull beneath a caduceus on top of library bookshelf with a reading lamp over a desk — At the end of the night my library did not look the same, and reminded me all the while of what’s to come. From the Library of Dr. Herbert D. Mandelbaum, designed by Walter M. Aikmen, 1917. West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.

black ink bookplate featuring an owl sitting on top of a stack of books with a spiderweb in the background and a skull in the foreground — The owl was still there. From the Library of Theodore Lund, designed by Anne M. Danielsen. C. 1949. West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.

black ink book plate featuring an owl with wings slightly spread sitting on top of a skull — But looked different too. From the Library of Irene Andrews, designed by J.W. Jameson. 1932. West Chicago Public Library District. Cornelia Neltnor Anthony and Frank D. Anthony Book Plate Collection. Permission to display given by West Chicago Public Library District.

For more meditations on fear, reading, and the arcane, including black cats, bats, magic, star-crossed lovers, and hauntings of the skull and owl variety check out the rest of the collection from West Chicago Public Library District on the IDHH. Happy Halloween.

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