James Ball Naylor bookplate   Save
Printed Material
Description: James Ball Naylor (1860-1945) owned this bookplate, which features a skull crowned with laurel leaves and the caption "What's the Use?" To the skull's left are several books and handwritten pages of a book or manuscript. Smoke from a candle spells the Latin phrase "Ex libris." Naylor's signature appears to flow from the tip of a quill pen. Naylor was born October 4, 1860 in Malta, Ohio. A physician, he was also a prolific writer of short stories, poems and historical novels, most of which dealt with the early history of his native Muskingum Valley, particularly the struggles between frontier settlers and Indian tribes in the Ohio territory. His works include "The Cabin in the Big Woods" (1904) and "The Sign of the Prophet: A Tale of Tecumseh and Tippecanoe" (1901); "Under Mad Anthony's Banner" (1899) and "Goldenrod and Thistledown" (1896) were both written under his pseudonym, S.Q. Lapius. Naylor financed his education at Starling Medical College by teaching in country schools around Malta and by doing farm work and clerking. From 1920-1934 he was also district health commissioner in Morgan County. He died April 1, 1945. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05872
Subjects: Cultural Ohio--Literary Ohio; Naylor, J. B. (James Ball), 1860-1945; Bookplates; Drawings (visual works)
Places: Printed Material