As I worked on cleaning up the bookplates, I couldn’t help but notice how many times I saw an owl depicted on the plates. The owl is sacred to the Greek goddess of learning, Athena and is even depicted on some Greco-Roman currency as a symbol of status, intelligence and of course, wealth. But there is also their association with wisdom, which might be why owls are on a lot of the plates.
Here are some of the owls I have found.
Right at the top.
It’s a little hard to see, but the owl is perched on the books.
The memorial bookplate for Sir William Osler, MD.
Ruhräh by Brödel. Two owls.
Just perched there on the shelf.
Owls are not the only birds depicted in the bookplates, there are also others, including several chickens!
Hello Meg, If I had the wisdom of an owl, I might know why a capital K was used in the word oaKen on the Ruhrah bookplate--perhaps some inside meaning, since this is hand-engraved. By the way, Ruhrah's own directions for this bookplate are found here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.researchgate.net/publication/7728967_DEDICATION_OF_JOHN_RUHRAH_MEMORIAL_ROOM
--Jim