Old Harvard University Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library Transfer Plate - $30 - (Youngstown, OH)

Up for auction is a vintage ceramic Harvard University dinner plate depicting the Widener Library. It is a decorative plate (measuring about 10.75 inches in diameter) not for food service, I am not familiar with the "American Inc" pottery mark on the back of the plate, but I believe this is part of an older, seldom seen, four plate display set depicting sites around Harvard campus which included Memorial Church, The Johnson Gate, and Widener Library. Note the gold-tone trim . . . otherwise the library done in black and the plate serves as white background. Transferware is about as close as you can get to printing on ceramics. Developed in Staffordshire, England in around 1760, the technique consists of transferring a print from an engraved and inked copper plate to a sheet of paper. The paper is then applied to the unfired clay, be it earthenware or bone china, which absorbs the ink from the paper. After the paper is removed, the clay is glazed and fired. The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library is Harvard University's flagship library. Built with a gift from Eleanor Elkins Widener, it is a memorial to her son, Harry, Class of 1907, an enthusiastic young bibliophile who perished aboard the Titanic. It had been Harry's plan to donate his personal collection to the University once it provided a suitable alternative to the outdated and inadequate library then located in Gore Hall. Mrs. Widener fulfilled her son's dream by building a facility of monumental proportions, with over 50 miles of shelves and the capacity to hold over three million volumes.

Posted in Youngstown, OH, Books
From ebay.com - 1 month ago