Houghton Library

Philip Hofer Prize

Introduction

Tantalus - bookplate for Philip Hofer by Rudolf Ruzicka after a drawing by HolbeinThe Philip Hofer prize is awarded each year to a student whose collection of books or works of art best exemplifies the traditions of breadth, coherence, and imagination represented by Philip Hofer, A.B. '21, L.H.D. '67, founder and first Curator of the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts in the Houghton Library and Secretary of the Fogg Art Museum. The entries are judged on purpose, consistency, and quality; cost, rarity, and size are not criteria. The prize, which is to encourage student interest in collecting, was established by Melvin R. Seiden, A.B. '52, L.L.B. '55.

The panel of judges reserves the right to make the award only to candidates whose collections are considered to be of exceptional quality. A first prize of $2,000 and second and third prizes of $1,000 and $500 will be offered in 2008-2009. Winners will also be invited to lend representative books or works of art to an exhibition at the library.

For further information, contact Hope Mayo, Philip Hofer Curator of Printing and Graphic Arts in Houghton Library, via e-mail.

Past Hofer Prize Winners

First Place, Ilya Leskov

2009 Winners

  • First prize ($2000): Ilya Leskov, Antique Maps of Paris
  • Second prize ($1000): Matthew Zimmerman, Faulkner, the Fugitives, and their Heirs: Twentieth Century Authors of the Tennessee Valley


First Place, Drew Massey

2008 Winners

  • First prize ($2000): Philip C. Mead, The Art of War in Revolutionary America
  • Second prize ($1000): Noah M. Silver, Figbash and Wild Things: The Illustrations of Edward St. John Gorey and Maurice Sendak


First Place, Drew MasseySecond place, Grete Viddal

2007 Winners

  • First place ($2000): Drew Massey, The Visual Muse: Images of Music and Musicians
  • Second place ($1000): Grete Viddal, Devotional Arts of Haitian Vodou


First place, Michael Sanchez  Third place, Gustavo Turner

2006 Winners

  • First place ($2000): Michael Hayes Sanchez, Artifacts of the Avant-Garde
  • Second place ($1000): Brendan Ritchie, The Hidden Land of Prester John: A Collection of Ethiopica
  • Third place ($500): Gustavo Turner, Felinology
  • Third place ($500): Michael Canfield, The Elephant in the Living Room: Wild Animals in Stereographic Images 1896-1951

2004 Winner

  • First place ($2000): Stephen W. Stromberg, Russian Political Posters: A Collection
First Place, Katherine K. Olson

2002 Winners

  • First place ($1000): Katherine K. Olson, Books about Wales and in Welsh
  • Second place ($500): Michael Canfield, Books on the influence and inspiration of entomology
  • Second place ($500): Trevor Cox, American postage stamps
  • Honorable mention: Patrick Hanley, Ecological images

2000 Winners

  • First place ($2000): Diana Williams, Literary and cultural history of race relations in Louisiana
  • Second place ($500): Daniel Adler, Books on the history of evolution
  • Second place ($500): Jason Vigna, Art and art books

1998 Winners

  • First place ($2000): Krassimira Zourkova, Book collecting in the Absence of Books
  • Honorable Mention: Jared Black, My Books and How I Came by Them
  • Honorable Mention: Kurtis R. Schaeffer, Small Library of Books on Tibetan Studies and Asian Religions
  • Honorable Mention: Danielle Elizabeth Sherrod, Performance and Material Art Forms of the African Diaspora

1996 Winners

  • First place ($2000): Brian Koh, Materials relating to the symphonic conductor Carlos Kleiber, Carlos Kleiber and his (Inadequate) Recorded Legacy
  • Second  place ($1000): William Pannapacker, Publications relating to Walt Whitman, Walt Whitman and Sexual Dissidence
  • Honorable Mention: Jun S. Song, Books on theoretical physics topics, Life and Book Collecting: Am I bored, or am I boring?
  • Honorable Mention: Kathleen Gallagher, Paintings on paper by rural Nepalese women, Voices at the Margin: Women and Artistic Expression in Rural Nepal

1994 Winners

  • First place ($1000): Juliette Rogers, Antique and Promotional Cookbook Collection
  • First place ($1000): Monica A. Coleman, Story-telling in African American Studies
  • Honorable Mention: Mark Millman, A Collection of Gene Wolfe
  • Honorable Mention: Iain Maclean, Calvin and Calviniana
  • Honorable Mention: Mitchell Rasor, Nature, Culture and the Landscape of Infrastructure

1991 Winners

  • First place ($1000): William Bikales, Modern Literary First Editions
  • First place ($1000): Steven Wardell, Japanese Culture

1988 Winners

  • First place ($1000): William Bikales, Literary Firsts
  • First place ($1000): Adam Weiss, Contemporary Prints and Paintings
  • Honorable Mention: Michael Choi, Ocean Liner Memorabilia under Ephemera
  • Honorable Mention: Robert O’Hara, Natural History

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