A Dictionary of Bookplates of Irish Medical Doctors

This elegant volume by EdwardA Martin, a wellknown Dublin neurologist, lists some 170 bookplates ofIrish doctors. Although the majority are of Dublin physicians, some 50 are from Northern Ireland, such as Dr Thomas Andrews and Dr Alexander Jaffray Nicholson (father of the Brigadier), of the nineteenth century, and Dr Hugh Calwell and Sir Ian Fraser of more recent times. Most bookplates are armorial and the Fraser plate is a good example of this, with its shield of arms, crest of serpent and rod over a stag's head, and the cross of the Order of St John behind. However, the contemplative study of books is seen in the Caiwell plate and one of Dr John Stokes, while the more humorous side is in Dr John Denham's and the alegorical and gloomy side in the Bewley plate.