Bookplate of the week: March of the bibliophilic penguins
May 11th, 2012 by houghtonmodern
Continuing with our theme of bookplates featuring animals from the southern hemisphere, this week we’ve chosen the bookplate of Rhode Island industrialist Rowland Gibson Hazard (1801-1888).
Hazard managed the Peace Dale Manufacturing Company in Peace Dale, RI, and served on the Rhode Island House of Representatives as well as on the Rhode Island Senate. He was a prominent abolitionist and social reformer, and was a friend of notable 19th century philosophers such as John Stuart Mill and the New England transcendentalists. He was also the author of a number of philosophical works and articles on public finance.
Despite how busy he must have been with his business and humanitarian pursuits, Hazard also found time to collect books. His bookplate, designed by Robert Cairns Dobson, refers to his philosophic interests, and also suggests that perhaps he was interested in Antarctic Exploration:
Or maybe he just thought that penguins carrying books were really cute.
Hazard’s papers are available in the Special Collections at the University of Rhode Island, the library of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and the Baker Library at Harvard Business School.
This bookplate is part of the Daniel Butler Fearing collection at Houghton Library. Fearing collected several thousand bookplates related to angling, watercraft, and other related subjects. To access the bookplate collection at Houghton, email houghton_modern AT harvard.edu.