PBA Galleries

Extensive collection of approximately 600 bookplates, comprising about 350 different examples plus a few large groups of the same bookplate. About a third of the bookplates are from specific Masonic Lodges and the rest are from specific individuals with Masonic themes. Most are loose, but about 100 are mounted on paper card printed "The Collection of Jacob Hugo Tatsch". Plus, a presentation copy of A. Winthrop Pope's "Remarks on Some Masonic Book Plates and Their Owners", 1908 and a copy of Winward Prescott's "Masonic Bookplates", 1918, one of 200 copies (this copy out-of-series, plus duplicate copies, related ephemera, articles, correspondence and other reference material.

Jacob Hugo Tatsch (1888-1939) was the collector of these bookplates and an important Masonic historian, best known for his authorship of "Freemasonry in the Thirteen Colonies" (1929). The majority of these bookplates are American and date from Tatsch's lifetime, a few appear to be earlier. The bookplate is of particular interest to Masons for the interpretation of the various signs and symbols appearing upon them; they act as a microcosm of Masonic iconography. This is possibly the largest single collection of Masonic bookplates extant.