Sometimes it feels like everything that is a known quantity has been found already, run through a google search, and priced according to the highest auction record. But then I have a week where I turn up a few unexpected things. Like this 1879 bookplate by Amish artist Barbara Ebersole (Lancaster County, PA, 1846-1922). Ebersole produced watercolor paintings, needleworks, and birth, marriage and death certificates (significant now also in tracing the development of the Lancaster County Amish community), but she is especially known for her fraktur watercolor bookplates, of which this is a quintessential example. Translation: This book belongs to me, Lea Speicher. Written the 25th of September in the year 1879. A very lovely thing, and examples of her bookplates appear to be quite coveted, with plenty of auction records out there. I especially love the drooping striped trumpet-like flowers on this one!

6 3/16" x 4". Very good antique condition, with minor rippling to the paper as attached to the original leather covered book cover. Color strong, reads bright and crisp, with general light wear, minor toning, etc.