Cultural Record Keepers: Serendipity in Adelphi University Libraries’ Special Collections: The “Emilie” Bookplate

Abstract

In 2007 the Grolier Club in New York held an exhibition titled Illustrating the Good Life: The Pissarros’ Eragny Press, 1894–1914. Professor Alice Beckwith of Providence College curated this first all-inclusive presentation of the Eragny Press in the United States.1 A subsequent search for Eragny Press books within the Adelphi University Libraries’ Donald V. L. Kelly Small Press Collection led to the discovery of a unique bookplate connecting Eragny Press to the story of a singular woman. Lucien Pissarro (1863–1944), son of the French impressionist painter Camille Pissarro, founded Eragny Press. Lucien and his wife, Esther, lived in England but named the press for the Normandy town that was home to the Pissarro family, Eragny-sur-Epte. There was a listing in Adelphi University’s catalog for La Légende de Saint Julien l’Hospitalier by Gustave Flaubert, published in 1900 by Hacon & Ricketts and printed at the Eragny Press in London. According to the book’s colophon, “The frontispiece was designed and engraved on wood by Lucien Pissarro. The borders and decorated letters were designed by Lucien Pissarro and