Bookplate of the week: Anna Ray Chatman
Jun 15th, 2012 by houghtonmodern
Grown-up collectors aren’t the only readers who use bookplates; many examples in our collection were designed for children.
Anna Ray Chatman (1900-1987) was born into a prominent Massachusetts family (her maternal grandfather was Oliver Ames, the governor of Massachusetts from 1887-1890, and Oakes Ames, a celebrated Harvard botanist, was her uncle). Her bookplate was designed by Gloucester, MA artist and frequent bookplate designer (and another uncle) Frederick Garrison Hall (1879-1946; Harvard Class of ’03) when Chatman was just four years old. Hall’s wife, Ariel, wrote, “Frederick Hall had no children of his own, but he was fortunate in having many nieces and nephews…Freddy was always “Uncle Fido” to these children and inspired and encouraged them.”*