Ethel Larcombe.

As described in this previous post, the design work of Ethel Larcombe has been on my wall for 38 years, without me having the slightest clue of its true provenance.
This is a shame I shall carry forward.
To make some small effort to ameliorate this error of character, herewith find below a bookplate designed by Ethel, commissioned by Talwin Morris for Gresham Publishers in 1907.

It has taken me a while to produce this cover version of the bookplate, and I have taken some licence/license with my version. The original (shown below) looks, to me anyway, like it has been designed for a book with a smaller trim size than that used, and so has had to be embellished to fill the available space, mostly in the vertical. To counter this, I have extended the bookplate slightly, and reduced the embellishment. I don't know if the embellishment is also the work of Ethel, or has been added by Talwin. It looks very much like Talwin's work, but there is no evidence to support that. I can only hope that both Ethel and Talwin approve of what I have done.
This is the first cover I have produced specifically with the intention of making it into a postcard.

This book by John Kirkland, entitled The Modern Baker, Confectioner and Caterer, is part of a six volume set published in 1907-1909 by Gresham Publishing.
I have tried to locate a review written at the time of release, but with no success. The set of volumes is of a specific technical nature, and not of the popular press, although I'm sure the cover must have generated some comment at the time. It almost certainly depicts Ceres, the Goddess of agriculture. Ethel had submitted a similar bookplate as a competition entry to the Studio magazine in 1902-1903, shown below.

It has been noted that the colours/colors used for the book cover are those of the Women's Suffrage Movement. It is another powerful image produced by Ethel, whom I hold in great esteem.
All homage to Ethel Larcombe.

Sans Update 9th February 2012.
Postcards of my cover of Ethel's bookplate are now available. If you would like one, please email me the address you would like it sent to, and I'll send you one.
My email address is available within my profile.