Artist Winslow Homer designed a bookplate for his friend, Hubbard W. Bryant, a Portland bookseller and serious book collector. Bryant also was the librarian at the Maine Historical Society from 1881 to 1906.

Homer, who lived in Scarborough, had asked Bryant to help him find some early books. Bryant, in return, asked Homer for a unique means to identify books in his library.

Homer obliged with a design of a mermaid flanked by dolphins, frolicking with books, under the motto "OMNE BONUM DESUPER," Latin for "All Good Things From Above."

The text "18 H.W. BRYANT, Portland, Me. 90," appears at the bottom of the design.