ORIGINAL ENGRAVING for a bookplate ENTITLED "DAI LIBRI DI GIANNI MANTERO AMATORE DI LIBRI E STAMPE", SIGNED by the artist FRANCO BRUNELLO. by Brunello, Dott. Franco (born 1913) - 1947.

[Italy], 1947., 1947.. Very good. - A superb 3-3/4 inch high by 3 inch wide engraving (as measured from the plate marks) for a bookplate entitled "Dai Libri di Gianni Mantero Amatore di Libri e Stampe" engraved on 4-3/4 inch high by 3-3/4 inch wide creamy white paper. The engraving depicts a bearded street bookseller, attired in a heavy coat and cap, with his wares laid out on a table. A potential customer, attired in a Winter coat and top hat, examines a large illustrated book. The bland facades of what appear to be East European buildings surround what appears to be the town's square with the faint outline of people strolling in the distance. Faintly signed "F. Brunello '47" in sepia ink by the artist along the bottom right of the image. The bottom left corner is creased and there is a nearly invisible indentation to the plate and a tiny stain from mounting adhesive on the verso. Near fine.

A self-taught artist born in 1913 in Vincenza, Italy Franco Brunello studied and obtained a degree in chemistry in Padua. During the waning days of the Second World War, Brunello learned of the atrocities of German concentration camps in Poland and Germany which he documented in drawings. He published these as a book, "Stalag 307", in 1945.

The Italian collector, Giovani Mantero, was president and chairman of the B.N.E.L. (Bianco e Nero Ex Libris), the Italian Society of Bookplate Artists and Collectors which hosted the first International Ex-Libris Congress.

Provenance: From the estate of the artist and designer Fridolf Johnson, author of the significant Dover reference work "A Treasury of Bookplates From the Renaissance to the Present", with his name penciled on the verso.

An illustrator and artist as well as a fine pressman Fridolf Johnson was an editor of American Artist Magazine until his retirement in the 1970's. As a graphic artist, he designed title panels for Hollywood movies and art & typography for advertising as well as dust jacket illustrations. He wrote and illustrated his own children's books in addition to other works. He also compiled and edited the Knopf book "Rockwell Kent: An Anthology of His Work".