Theodore Hapgood was born in Somerville, Massachusetts and studied at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. In the late 1890s, he designed posters for important publications including The Century Magazine, The Inland Printer, and for Little, Brown & Company and other publishers. His work exemplified impeccable craftsmanship and found its way into book covers and jackets, monuments, vignettes and ecclesiastical vestments. He is best known for his bookplates, some of which were reproduced in The Hapgood Brochure (Charles Goodspeed, 1907). Some of Hapgood’s bookplates were exhibited in the landmark Wellesley College arts and crafts show “Inspiring Reform.” He died in Boston.