Paul Revere, born Boston, MA 1735-died - Isaiah Thomas Bookplate - n.d. - T-Shirt

This is an engraved bookplate by Paul Revere, made for the Boston printer and publisher Isaiah Thomas, and it shows a heraldic coat of arms set in a cream field with fine, copperplate linework.

Visual Elements & Composition

Cream dominates the design, with sepia brown and pale grey carrying the engraved lines and a dark brown reserved for the deepest shadows. At the centre sits a shield bearing a heraldic cross with five crescents, topped by a greyhound-like crest rising from a wreath. Scrolled acanthus mantling spreads around the shield, and a ribbon scroll below carries the motto, which reads NEC ELA TUS and TUS NEC DEJEC. The name Isaiah Thomas is set in the plate, anchoring the composition in a rectangular frame.

Meaning & Symbolism

A bookplate marked ownership, pasted inside the front cover of a book so that its owner was known at a glance. This one was engraved for Isaiah Thomas, a printer and publisher who spread knowledge and revolutionary sentiment through his presses. The heraldic vocabulary of shield, crest and motto follows the genealogical traditions of eighteenth-century patrons, while the crescents and cross give the design its distinctive identity. Paul Revere, best remembered as a Patriot and for his midnight ride, was also a skilled engraver and silversmith, and commissions like this one show the craft networks of colonial Boston.

Wearing the Design

A bookplate is a small, carefully composed image meant to be viewed up close, and this artwork keeps that intimacy on the chest. The engraved shield and scrolls sit across the front of the shirt as a single emblem, so the detail reads as you move and the crest stays in view. It brings a piece of eighteenth-century Boston printing culture into everyday wear.