Print: Bookplate, Little Jack Tar Sailor Boy - Antique Chromolithograph, Estes & Lauriat, 1895

1895. A sailor boy steps out of the pages of a children's annual published in Boston. He has been waiting ever since.

• Maker: Estes and Lauriat (publisher)
• Materials: Heavy paper
• Dimensions: approx. 10" × 7.25" (portrait)
• Origin: USA
• Era: Antique, 1895
• Condition: Very good for age — tears and stains on borders only; not visible once matted and framed; colors vibrant and unfaded. Unframed. Please review photos closely before purchasing, as all sales are final.

Titled "Little Jack Tar," believed to be from Oliver Optic's Annual 1895. A bookplate is a full-page illustration printed separately and bound within a book during production — this one is chromolithographed in full color: a boy in sailor dress, white uniform with blue jacket and naval cap, set against a soft outdoor background with pink flowers. One available.

Framing is strongly recommended both for preservation and presentation — a wonderful piece for a maritime art collector, a Victorian children's book enthusiast, a nautical or coastal interior, or anyone who loves genuinely antique illustration from the golden age of American children's publishing.

Oliver Optic was the pen name of William Taylor Adams, one of the most prolific American authors of boys' adventure fiction; his Annual was a celebrated publication in its day. Original bookplates from this era are genuinely rare, as they were almost always bound in books and rarely survived separately — the colors here remain vivid and unfaded after 130 years, the quality of chromolithography at its peak.

Browse our shop for more antique bookplates and Victorian children's illustration to round out your collection.