Scrapbooks, 1920-1965, undated

The three oversized scrapbooks have leather covers with decorative spines and Bye's name or initials embossed on the front, suggesting that Bye may have intended these not only as keepsakes but as presentation albums. Two of the scrapbooks hold photographs of art objects, most of which are portrait paintings. Almost all of the paintings in Scrapbook #1 are unidentified. The only dated and identified item is a letter by the author Booth Tarkington responding to Bye's request for information of a portrait of Tennyson. Scrapbook #2 also contains photographs of paintings that are primarily portraits and a few other objects. Almost all the works are not only identified by artist, title and date but also by the private collector. Most of the works are noted from the collection of R.L. Taylor, Esq., with a few from the collection of Mrs. John D. McIlhenny. Since it is documented that Bye did restoration work for the latter, both scrapbooks may have served as portfolios of his work as a restorer and/or art dealer.

Christmas cards fill most of the pages of the third oversized and leather-bound scrapbook. Although a collection of such ephemera suggests a personal cache of memorabilia, there is a significant amount of original artwork and reproductions by Bye and his friends to serve as a portfolio or art reference book. Many of the works Bye created are identified as etchings he designed for bookplates. There are also a few of his illustrations reprinted as Christmas cards and three architectural identified as Italian, all dated from 1920. Signed prints from friends as well as those reprinted as Christmas cards are included. A number of cards were created by Edward Warwick, who not only lectured and later served as dean of the Philadelphia College of Art but also exhibited as an artist of printmaking and watercolor. Cards with a more commercially-produced appearance are also included.

Scrapbook #4 contains clippings, primarily of pictorial and graphic design illustrations. Bye's use of a blank ledger book to house these clippings suggests that, unlike the other three, this book served as his own reference. A number of tracings of heraldic devices and several sketches were also included, loosely between the pages. Most of the reprinted illustrations reflect a pre-Raphaelite style and romantic subject matter. The graphic samples show typefaces from gothic to art nouveau styles. All these styles are also found in many of the card designs in Scrapbook #3.