Monday, June 25, 2018

Bookplate within 19th century "German Fairy Tales"


This 2⅛-inch bookplate appears inside a slim volume titled German Fairy Tales, which was part of Maynard's English Classic Series. The 4½-inch-wide book was published in 1894 as Number 132 in a series that cost $10 to subscribe to. That's the equivalent of $287 today, so this series wasn't exactly for the masses. I wonder if many of them were purchased by schools and libraries.

Tales by The Brothers Grimm included in this volume are "Little Briar Rose," "Jorinda and Joringel," "The Bremen Town Musicians," "Rumpelstiltskin," "Iron John," "The Water of Life," "The Spirit in the Bottle," and "Faithful John".

As for the bookplate, my best guess is that B.A. Field of Watertown, New York, is Judge Brayton A. Field (1853-1940). Here is an excerpt from his obituary, which was published in the Empire State Universalist and is posted on Field's Find A Grave page:
"Judge Field was born on a farm in Hounsfield with an ancestry which went back to 1629 when Zechariah Field sailed from England for Boston. He graduated from the Watertown High School in 1873. A year of poor health followed and then four years at Dartmouth College. ... His law practice included criminal cases in his first years, but in later years it was identified with the Federal Land Bank, which loans government money to farmers. For many years he was village attorney for Dexter.

"He was member of the City Board of Health for seven years and president of the Bureau of Charities and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for a longer period. For many years, he served All Souls Universalist Church as a trustee and president of its board of trustees. ...

"He was married to Miss Antoinette E. Thompson [1858–1946] on April 27, 1881."
Brayton and Antoinette had four children, one of whom — Brayton W. Field — lived until 1984.

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