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Line block relief print from a drawing by Rockwell Kent. 3¼" x 2" (8½" x 5½" sheet size).

One of Kent’s most well-known bookplate designs, depicting the nude figure of a man ascending a ladder and reaching for a star shining down on him from above. In the preliminary sketch for the plate Kent portrayed the figure with the star in hand, however Corey, a noted collector of Dickens and Civil War books, suggested it might be more effective if the star remained out of reach. Kent was arguably the most important American designer of bookplates in the 20th century, producing more than a 160 designs. He went to considerable lengths to create images that pleased his clients and reflected their personal iconographies, but Kent confessed in a letter to an "Ex Libris" collector in 1966 that: "Although I have designed a great many bookplates it has not been because of my having any particular interest in bookplates in general but merely because, after having made a very few, I began receiving orders for them and found the designing of them to be one way of earning money so that I could afford the luxury of painting pictures." Ordinarily, Kent bookplates were printed in multiples of five hundred, however Corey ordered only two hundred, preferring that his plate be even more exclusive. Proofs of Kent bookplates are scarce. Signed in pencil by Kent at the lower right corner. Roberts, D.: Rockwell Kent: The Art of the Bookplate, p. 114-115.

Donated by the family of Roger Gozdecki, Anthology Rare Books, Ltd., Pasadena, California.