Some months ago I found my first bookplate by Amish artist Barbara Ebersole (Lancaster County, PA, 1846-1922) and then this week, from the same dealer, purchased another. Ebersole produced watercolor paintings, needleworks, and birth, marriage and death certificates (significant now also in tracing the development of the Lancaster County Amish community), but she is especially known for her fraktur watercolor bookplates, of which this is a quintessential example.
This plate, and the book to which it was once attached, belonged to Christian Speicher, the brother of the Lea Speicher who was the original owner of the other I found, so clearly they came from the same estate. The full translation here, from the German: "This book belongs to me, Christian Speicher, received from my grandfather Jacob Speicher. Written the 25th of September in the year 1879.
Examples of Ebersole's bookplates are quite coveted, with plenty of auction records out there. (A 1916 example, quite similar to this one, though still attached to its book, recently sold at Horst for $2,350.) This one shows a bit of rippling to the paper toward the bottom, and some light toning, as shown, but remains a very lovely and special thing, with ink and color strong.
7" x 4 1/4"
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