Captured from the Yale Class of 1872
Biographical Review on Google Books

All of us here at the website always thought it was really odd for Woodward to include powerlines in this unique bookplate. It wasn't until recently (Nov. 2016) that we learned its importance. Leonard Eager Curtis (1858 - 1923) was a pioneer in the early days of electrical power, serving as executive general counsel to the Westinghouse Electric Company in its patent litigation battles with General Electric Company. He is widely considered a pioneer in what would become a revolution in patent law. He would later leave law behind and form his own company Curtis & Hines to build power plants throughout Colorado and Mexico. He was also instrumental in bringing Nikola Tesla to Colorado Springs to build his Experimental Station. Curtis is named as Tesla's patent attorney on all of his patents after 1890.

1889 Tesla Patent US405859A showing the firm of Duncan, Curtis & Page as the application Attorney

Leonard Eager Curtis
Bookplate Motto: "Vive VT en Monte"

The Latin motto is a bit baffling. Vive is easy, "to live" and Monte is "mountain." But we have never found a satisfying translation for VT(?). We even considered VT might be "UT". Searching Latin abbreviations, the closest was "viz" the abbreviation for the Latin adverb videlicet meaning "namely", "that is to say", "to wit", "which is", or "as follows". It refers to the specific manner of something and although videlicet starts and ends with a "V" and a "T", VT is not the recognized abbreviation.

VT could also stand for the Roman word votum derived from the Latin voveo / vovere meaning "vow" or "promise." Either choice leaves us with the Latin, videlicet, translation roughly being, "Life which is in the Mountains." Or the Roman, votum, translation being, "A promising life in the mountains" or "The promise of life in the mountains." You get the gist. It feels fitting.

The problem here is that Woodward loved the precise use of words. To him, it was an art in its own right. We find it hard to believe he would make these mistakes. There is more than just the meaning of VT. Monte is not exactly the pure Latin word for mountain. To mix languages would even be more absurd to him. Either we are missing something in our observation or this is simply the motto Curtis wanted and insisted on.

New Updates: December 2020

Dr. Lawrence Lunt, son of the
Hon. Horace Gray Lunt, cousin to
Boston socialite Mary Minnie Eliot,
and friend/confidant of Woodward

The question regarding this bookplate has always been, what is the link between Woodward and Curtis? What put the two together that led Woodward to have Curtis as a client? The answer came while we were researching how Boston socialite, Mary Minnie Eliot, was related to Woodward friends Joseph Cowell and Lawrence Lunt. It was in that search that we learned that Lunt grew up in Colorado Springs, CO. The same place Leonard Curtis made his home. As we dug deeper, we discovered Lunt's father, the Hon. Horace Gray Lunt, was a district judge (1895 - 1899), once president of the Colorado Bar Association, head of the Chamber of Commerce and community advocate. Judge Horace also had numerous business interests throughout the same region, sat on the board of a number of companies, and across many of the same industries, especially in El Paso, New Mexico. There is no way the two, Lunt and Curtis, did not cross paths. The question is, were they close, friendly enough that Lunt could recommend Woodward to Curtis? It seems very likely since any other link to Curtis is based mostly on weak conjecture. We were never able to put two links in the same place in any concrete manner.

Prior to this update, we did have 3 working theories as to how Curtis became a Woodward client. Though Judge Lunt seems most likely, the other possibilities could still be the connection. They as follows:

1.   Woodward's father Orion was a real estate developer and the family had lived in Utah for a brief period of time and Woodward's parents eventually settled in California sometime around 1904. Curtis was nearby in Colorado, an expert in building power plants to supply cities and towns with electricity. It is very likely a real estate developer would cross paths with a power plant developer and it is hard to believe that Curtis was exclusive to just Colorado and Mexico.

2.   Curtis had many family connections to New England. His lineage goes back to some of the earliest colonies in the country, including the New Haven Colony and Shelburne Falls was home to one of the country's finest bookplate engraver John Hudson Elwell. It is possible, Curtis had heard of Elwell through family and friends, contacted Elwell and Elwell introduced Curtis to Woodward.

3.   The last and least likely is that Woodward had befriended one of Curtis's four children or one of their spouses. Two of Curtis's kids did attend school in Ohio near Canton where we know Woodward was at the age of 13.

Below: A list of sources for the contents of this page: