BUT FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE COPIES OF THIS BOOK ARE PRINTED; OF WHICH FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE ARE ON ITALIAN HAND-MADE PAPER AND FIFTY ON IMPERIAL JAPANESE VELLUM. OF THE ITALIAN PAPER EDITION THIS IS No. 3^6 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH A MEMORIAL t^- EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH A MEMORIAL HIS LIFE . . HIS ART a- f^ NEW YORK PRIVATELY PRINTED 1908 Copyright, 1908, by Mary Brainerd French PREFACE THIS volume is the response to the generally expressed desire of Mr. French's intimates and acquaintances for a memorial record of him and of his work. Unforeseen details have enlarged the book beyond its original outline. These are chiefly shown in the inclusion of some hundreds of states of the copper engravings, num- bering nearly four hundred, by which he is known. The biographical sketch of Mr. French is restricted to a simple narrative of the chief events of his life, and sugges- tions of the influences that governed it; a brief showing of what it was. In gathering and verifying many facts I have had the use, very kindly granted by Mr. John P. Woodbury and Mr. W. E. BailHe, of the long series of letters from Mr. French to them. More than this, for from these letters I have added much to my impressions of his personality gained in twenty years of friendship with him, and I have hoped more than anything else to convey his personality to PREFACE the reader. If I shall have done this I shall in some measure have justified the confidence that Mrs. French has placed in me. It has been found imperative to divide Mr. French's en- gravings into two classes: First, his book-plates, the Hst of which follows his notation with the little continuation needed to carry it to completion. Second, his miscellaneous engravings and designs, including practically everything save book-plates that is surely known to have come from his hand. Occasionally he did some bit of engraving or sketched a design that seemed to him too slight to attach his name to or even to keep note of. Some engravings and designs may, therefore, have escaped notice in the compila- tion of the latter list. It may be stated, too, that there are designs and engravings mistakenly attributed to him and such have been omitted. The compilation of the two lists has been somewhat diffi- cult; absolute completeness is not claimed, for that is im- possible, and unrecorded states of some coppers may appear in time. Care has been taken to accurately record the various plates and their various states that the lists miay be a sure guide to the collector. A minute examination has been made of the proofs and prints of the various plates and a considerable correspondence has been had with their holders. As a rule some distinguishing feature only has been cited to mark a state, although the state indicated may, and usually does, differ materially in other respects from other states of the same plate. The lists make no distinc- tion between working proofs and impressions from different states of the plates. Strictly speaking, a working or trial proof is one taken, while the plate is in a progressive state, to aid the engraver in its completion; whereas an engrav- ing appears in different states only when there has been a PREFACE change in the engraving of some detail of the completed plate or an addition to it. In some instances Mr. French was at liberty to strike off several copies of a working proof and he thought them of sufficient interest to hand them to friends who followed his work. These, therefore, are to greater or less extent within the reach of the public. In several clubs and libraries the successive states of the club or library book-plate are preserved and are, therefore, rea- sonably accessible, and a complete series of them is of the greatest value to the student. Only in very few, exceptional, instances have colors used in printing been noted, as, of course, the holder of a plate may at any time print his plate in any color he may choose. Mrs. French feels that note has been made of everything that Mr. French himself would have recorded, and she wishes to express here her obligation to Mr. French's friends who have walHngly and cordially cooperated in the two lists. That of the book-plates would hardly have been what it is without the industry and aid of Mr. Paul Lemp- erly, who published a list of Mr. French's book-plates in 1899; Mr. Charles Dexter Allen, Mr. John P. Woodbury, Mr. Arnold Wood, Miss Messenger, Rev. William A. Brewer, Miss Emma Toedteberg have given valuable sug- gestions and information ; and finally, Mr. W. E. Baillie's long friendship and correspondence with Mr. French and his very accurate and thorough knowledge of book-plates made his aid invaluable. In regard to the miscellaneous engravings Mrs. French feels particularly indebted to Mr. Frank Weitenkampf, curator of the Print Department of the New York Public Library, who gave his experience and judgment in outlin- ing this record of his friend's work, and who contributed largely to it. And in her behalf I also thank Mr. William be PREFACE Loring Andrews and Mr. Richard Hoe Lawrence for use- ful suggestions and courtesies. The examples of Mr, French's art here given are printed from the original coppers by the kind permission of the owners. Grateful acknowledgment of this courtesy is made to The Bibliophile Society, Mrs. Holden, and Mr. Andrews, and to the owners of the book-plates included. In the list of book-plates the names are given exactly as they are on the plates, and, with a few obvious exceptions, this rule is followed in the list of miscellaneous designs and engravings. Italicized words and dates are also as engraved, excepting in the use of the word Cypher with the later signatures. The marginal date shows the year of completion of a plate. When the plate is dated, the date is associated with its name or signature. I. H. B. CONTENTS PAGB PREFACE vii EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 3 BOOK-PLATES 33 MISCELLANEOUS DESIGNS AND ENGRAVINGS . 77 INDEX OF BOOK-PLATES 91 LIST OF PLATES EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH, PORTRAIT, 1894 . . . Frontispiece THE SOWER Vignette on Title-page FACING PAGE EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH, PORTRAIT, 1906 12 HARVARD QUADRANGLE 30 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 33 ARTHUR WEST LITTLE 44 CANDIDATI 46 PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 49 MARY BARBER ROBINSON 50 SARAH ELIZABETH WHITIN 58 EDWARD DEAN ADAMS 60 VERY REV. EUGENE AUGUSTUS HOFFMAN 64 MABEL SLADE 68 IRA HUTCHINSON BRAINERD 76 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH THE old village of North Attleboro, Massachusetts, threaded on the post-road by which the colonists frequently passed between Providence and Boston, has been for many years a home of the jewelry industry. For many years the town has been peopled with designers and engravers, with goldsmiths and silversmiths, whose art and influence have permeated the place, afifecting even those not at all concerned with their work. Here John French settled from England in the latter part of the seventeenth century, founding one of several Ameri- can branches of the French family. His descendants in direct line have ever since been associated with the town and its affairs, and in the third generation they were represented by Ezra French in the patriot army of the Revolution. Ezra French's grandson, Deacon Ebenezer French, was a man of more peaceful life, a carpenter and builder by trade; a man of responsibility, highly esteemed as a citizen and as EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH a workman. He married Maria Norton of Attleboro who also was of early New England parentage, and they lived simply as their ancestors had lived, contributing their part in town and church and social activities. Edwin Davis French, their only child, was born in North Attleboro on the nineteenth day of January, 1851. The town still had something of the New England village character, and he lived a country boy's life until, after a year in preparatory school at Suffield, Connecticut, he entered the class of 1870 of Brown University. Mr. French was, from his boyhood, strongly influenced by his mother. She was a woman of native refinement and gentleness, and he resembled her both in character and in features. He never swerved from the principles of life and conduct that he learned from her, and though a wider ac- quaintance and cosmopolitan studies modified its expression, her faith was his through life. While the boy Edwin played a boy's part in these early years and enjoyed the games of the time as did other boys of his age, yet perhaps he accepted that unaccountable nuisance of boys' life, school, with greater grace than is usual. In his amusements he went a little aside from the ordinary, and exercised a natural tendency to art that was no doubt stimulated by the atmosphere of the town itself. In the back yard of his home stood a little abandoned workshop which his father cleared and altered for him and let him furnish to his own fancy. When he was eight or ten years old he held art exhibitions in the little shop that were the delight and wonder of his fortunate playmates who enjoyed them at the extravagant rate of two pins admission. Two small panoramas, done off in water-colors and pencil, survive. The smaller of them, measuring about eight feet long by four inches wide, contains seventeen views ; the sec- 4 HIS LIFE ond, somewhat more pretentious, is about eight inches wide by perhaps fourteen feet in length. He was, however, not satisfied with undertakings of this size and passed on to larger panoramas made on the reverse side of wall-paper. Among these panoramic pictures is a representation of what was at that time a sensation in the town, and probably was regarded by the children as a supreme effort in architecture, Barden's store. The three great arches of its front no doubt appeared as wonderful to them as the three arches of Peter- borough do to the traveler of to-day. Record steamships, State capitals, and lighthouses are here, together with trees and flowers drawn and colored for reality, although in a green rose his imagination anticipates Burbank. The views of Sunnyside and Sleepy Hollow testify to a general interest in the genial Irving too little familiar to-day. It is inter- esting, too, to find on various of these panoramic pictures the now more widely known signature of the artist, E. D. French. He was fond of books, and faithful to his studies, and his school-days passed happily. Yet two years' close applica- tion to his studies at Brown University seriously affected his health; and although he still reserved a longing for a com- plete college course and possibly a literary or professional career, he yielded to the invitation of a friend, Mr. W. D. Whiting, the founder of the firm that bears his name, to become an engraver of silver. His special gifts in design and in execution were soon recognized, and he became chief of the engraving department. Except during the two years, from 1881 to 1883, when he was designer for Mr. Frank M. Whiting, he held that rank until he left the Whiting Com- pany in 1894. His nature almost demanded that he give his life to art, and of all arts engraving was the most opportune. It in- 5 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH vited and environed him and so became the channel through which his artist's temperament made itself most widely known. The arts of music and painting also attracted him, and he practised them as an amateur. North Attleboro, with its many artisans, after its days' work on brooches, watch- chains, and silver, regaled itself in the evenings and on holi- days with a brass band of fifteen pieces in which the town took pride. The parts for trombone, French horn, cornet, fife, and the like, were drawn off and distributed by the quiet and reticent lad, Edwin French, who played the trombone, and, further, composed the "Wamsutta Quick March," and other pieces for the band. Later in life he enjoyed the piano, which he played well, and he turned also for recreation to the palette and brush, though with a self depreciation that no praise or evidence seemed able to dis- lodge, for in all his life he never regarded any of his color sketches as of any worth. They seem rather to be a kind of playing with colors and form, and were, as a rule, only so far completed as a single afternoon might allow, and the next holiday brought new tints and shadows and he turned to those and a clean canvas. No doubt each man has to a large extent his choice in giving to the world, and as the world possesses work from Mr. French's graver that would have given him distinction at any point in the history of art, we will not regret that its considerable volume, and the thought given to its detail and to each plate's full effect robbed America of a land- scape-painter of distinction. Enfield, Connecticut, is a long way from North Attleboro, Massachusetts, yet Mr. French always loved walking, and to him the air was bracing and tinged with romance, for at Enfield lived Mary Olivia Brainerd, daughter of Harvey P. 6 HIS LIFE Brainerd. They were married in 1873. ^^ ^^^ ^ happy union, characterized by that ready understanding and com- panionship that bears all things, and Mr. French found in his wife a source of cheer and encouragement which carried him through many a dark season when his hold on life seemed failing and the doctors were grave. In 1876 Mr. French removed from North Attleboro to New York, where, with an interval of two years in his old home, following his mother's death in 1881, he lived until the summer of 1897. Once established in New York, Mr. French very readily resumed his quiet, systematic life, plying between his home and the Whiting Company, which were his only interests of moment. He did not concern himself with the political struggles of the times unless fundamental principles were at stake, and he did not enter very actively in social life, or interest himself with the topics of the day. The hurly- burly of city life was hardly in accord with his feeling. In school and college he had shown a fondness for lan- guages; indeed, he was a natural linguist. A leaf from a copy of Dante was often on his bench before him for refer- ence from time to time in the intervals of his work, and he read the "Divine Comedy" as he walked Broadway with the jangle and commotion of the traffic about him. His book-plate records his taste in the classics; Dante, Virgil, and Lucretius, standing side by side with Emerson, whose serenity he shared. Volapiik very naturally attracted him, and for years he held an extensive correspondence in this language, attending conventions, and contributing to jour- nals devoted to it. His enthusiasm led him, in 1893, to loan a group of Volapiik books to the Chicago Exposition. These books, not more than twelve in number, contained a little book-label which was printed to his notion from type. On 7 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH account of its personal interest this plate has been included in the list of his book-plates. As Volapiik subsided in interest and Esperanto replaced it, Mr. French transferred his attention to the latter lan- guage, and was proud of its progress. He found that al- though he had read French with ease for many years and had known Esperanto but a comparatively short time, yet when at Montreal he could talk freely in the latter language while he felt much less at home with the classic French there spoken. Among his papers there are many jottings, essays, and translations in Esperanto, among them transla- tions from Stevenson, a rubricated translation of the Lord's Prayer, and a carefully engrossed address of some twelve thousand words on the necessity of a universal language. It was a treat to discuss these new languages with Mr. French, and he liked to prove their availability and smooth- ness by reading them. A passage in Esperanto from "Ham- let," read in his resonant, expressive voice was quite as impressive to the foreign ear as though delivered in Italian by Salvini. He would turn, however, from these to Dante, who, after all, was his favorite and whom he rendered with something akin to reverence. If asked for English verse he would choose Rossetti's ballads, in which he turned most readily to "Sister Helen," and the "Blessed Damozel," or, possibly, he would read the simple verse of Longfellow and that of Whittier, whose "At Last" he lingered over : Be near me when all else is from me drifting; Earth, sky, home's pictures, days of shade and shine. In English fiction he was content to be a simple lover of Scott and Dickens. He never outgrew them, and with them he relished Victor Hugo and the recent French and Italian novelists. He was acquainted with the history and literature 8 HIS LIFE of art, especially of engraving and the subjects of ex-libris and heraldry, which were associated with it in his own engraving. The last book he read was Lippmann's "En- graving and Etching." During Mr. French's earlier years in New York, he studied art at home, gathering and compiling many scrap- books of designs and specimens of engraving; but in 1883 he availed himself of the opportunities offered by the Art Students League, and there he for some years studied draw- ing under George de Forest Brush and William Sartain. The association with Mr. Sartain was peculiarly fortunate, and the future designer and engraver on copper was an apt pupil of the engraver whose father before him had earned fame in the same field. In 1886 Mr. French became a member of the League's Board of Control; in 1887, its treasurer; in 1889-92, its president for two terms. Painstaking, systematic, and al- most eager for details, he was an effective factor in the great advance made by the League during his official connection with it. In 1887 the League moved from Fourteenth Street to ampler quarters in Twenty-third Street, and in 1889, with the Society of American Artists and the Architectural League of New York, it united in forming the American Fine Arts Society, and the movement began which resulted in the permanent home of the three organizations in Fifty- seventh Street. The president of a large and restlessly progressive society, though loyally supported by vigorous and capable assist- ants, as was Mr. French, has a multitude of questions to consider and a mass of work to do, and although he had an aversion to asserting his views, he gave time and thought without grudge, and with some sacrifice, to these duties. 9 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH Publicity was particularly disagreeable to him, and he felt keenly the ungracious attack made on Mr. Saint- Gaudens for using a nude model in his mixed classes. The deathless question of the nude in art rang through the press and stormed about the League. Much wholesome editorial comment and some woeful wit resulted, and perhaps the public was educated, for, as an echo, some casts from the antique in a western city were draped. But the unfortu- nate thing was that the League lost the services of the first and noblest sculptor of our generation. Mr. French conceived his first duty to be to the League, and he declined to hamper its action by voicing his views in the press. The reporter of a minor journal resented this, and said his paper must have a "story" — and sure enough, Mr. French found in the next issue a clever concocted tale, which he duly scrap-booked and marked "fake." His one contribution to the public discussion was a brief note to the leading journals stating that Mr. Saint-Gaudens had simply continued the two-year-old practice of the League. The receptions to Benjamin Constant and E. A. Abbey in 1889, the costume reception in 1891, and the other public functions of the League were a pride to him. But his great- est satisfactions were to see the classes grow, to see their graduates take positions as artists and teachers of art, and to have the opportunity to help and by his sympathy and encouragement to win the affection and reliance of some who were students as he had been a student. When his official connection with the League began, its records showed a membership of four hundred and twenty- three students. It had a membership of more than twice that number when, in 1891, he retired as president, and be- came one of the trustees of the American Fine Arts Society. For something more than two years after Mr. French 10 HIS LIFE withdrew from the Whiting Company, he Hved in New York and devoted his energies entirely to work on copper. His attention had been called to book-plates by the collec- tion that his sister-in-law, Miss Helen Elvira Brainerd, then a librarian in Columbia College, was making. Merely for the jest he engraved, somewhat coarsely, fol- lowing old English models, what was to all appearance a book-plate, now in its way famous. It was heraldic — shield, crest, and motto : u sepe ars so ap, disposed on the ribbon underneath. This he printed roughly on old paper and slipped into the little collection, whose owner was for a time mystified by it; and, somewhat as the ancient heralds on the appearance of an unknown champion, amateurs of to- day have since been puzzled by the novel blazonry, and by the motto so apparently an uncouth mixture of Welsh and Latin. This was in the autumn of 1893. The jest soon became earnest, for Miss Brainerd was rightly entitled to a book-plate in place of the sham, and Mr. French designed and engraved his first serious copperplate. Having decided to give his future to copper engraving, and to make a specialty of ex-libris, he engraved an an- nouncement of his intention which, in the beauty of its setting, was an enticing specimen of his work. He took a natural pride in the fact that he never had to distribute this announcement, for after he had once started he never needed to consider whence the next commission might come. He always had two or three plates in progress, commissions were waiting his hand, and there was correspondence that looked yet farther into the future. In the summer of 1897, he removed from New York to Saranac Lake and established his home in the midst of the rugged Adirondack scenery that gratified his love of nature. He frequently traveled to the South in the winter to 11 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH escape the sharper cold, yet he held his Adirondack home until the end. Many are the brief descriptions of nature in his letters, showing his pleasure in the mountain prospects, the sunsets, and the tinted skies. Whenever he journeyed from home he carried with him his sand cushion, lens, and graver, and where he stopped he set up his bench, framed a screen, and continued his en- graving. This had its difficulties, as he sets them forth in a letter to Mr. Baillie : "The light is not just right for engraving in my present quarters : I doubt if I could get altogether used to it so as to do my best work, or if it would not be an injury to my eyes to try it. For drawing it is good enough; there you have white paper and black ink, and the problem of lighting is comparatively a simple one. But in engraving, the surface of the copper is polished, and excessive or insufficient light is more readily felt ; moreover, the surface and cuts are the same color, and so the engraved lines are seen only by reflec- tion until you rub foreign matter into them, which you can't stop to do with every stroke; for this reason uneven light or cross lights are very confusing to one's optic nerve." In the October of 1905 he made his greatest journey into the world, a trip to Europe that he had looked forward to for many years, and wherever he went he found a welcome with those to whom his name was already known. The doctor he had occasion to consult in France was a book- plate collector and a student of engraving; he pulled proofs of Mr. Gould's and Mr. Simmons' plates at Stecchini's in Rome ; he here and there met correspondents in Esperanto ; the art galleries of England, France, and Italy attracted him ; but, best of all, he visited in Nuremburg the old home of the father of copper engraving, Albert Diirer, and in England he at last met, face to face, his friend and cor- 12 HIS ART respondent of years, the veteran master, Mr. C. W. Sher- born. His outing was over; June of 1906 found him again in America, and as ever still at work. This last year of his life showed that, while his health was far from secure, there was no waning in his enthusiasm, or in the firmness of his line, or in the fertility of his invention. The fourteen book- plates of this year, the year of his great vacation, maintained his prestige to the end. At the end of October he left Saranac, intending to spend the winter in New York, and he eagerly anticipated the closer association with his old-time friends in the city where he so long worked, and so many of whose historic old build- ings and points of interest he had pictured with his graver. But his hope could not be fulfilled, and on the eighth of De- cember, in the Sherwood studio building where, years before, as president of the Art Students League, he had joined in the formation of the Fine Arts Society, his life closed. II Mr. French's name in art will always be associated with designing and engraving on copper, for although, as we have seen, he was for some sixteen years a silver engraver of unusual skill, his work in silver is unsigned. Yet his debt to these years of silver engraving was a large one. While in the Whiting Company he became a master of the technique of the craft; when he turned to copper engraving he was as though born with a burin in his 13 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH hand. While there he had eagerly absorbed suggestions and had gathered flowers and vines, drawing first-hand from nature in his study for designs and their rendering. His matchless lettering and his monograms, firm and digni- fied in character, he learned there ; there, too, he learned to grave so gracefully the flowers and sprays that give charm to many of his copperplates. Years afterward, in 1899, when he was known through a hundred and fifty copper engravings, he inscribed a book to Mr. Charles Osborn of the Whiting Company: "To whose instruction, example, and energy I am so largely indebted for what skill in handicraft and taste in design I may possess." Thus the period of silver engraving was a fortunate training for his later work in copper, and his gift in designing rapidly adapted itself to his later and freer medium. We find this transition in his six earliest book-plates, and in some of the later ones the monogram motive readily suggests silver en- graving. The difference between engraving on silver and on cop- per is quite radical, however akin the two may be in some respects. The silver engraver has in mind the direct result, which he sees as his graver unfolds it; the engraver on copper works for a reflected result — a print — the reverse of the cutting on the metal; the depth of his cut, the text- ure of his engraving, is still to be interpreted by the printer, and he must keep this interpretation in view. He has the advantage, however, of working always upon a level sur- face, while coffers, vases, mirrors, or the endless variety of trinkets and household silver, all in infinite shape and size, pass under his brother's hand. Yet the two branches of en- graving are so closely alike that many artists and workers have pursued both simultaneoush'', and many, like Paul Revere and Mr. French, have passed from silver to copper. 14 HIS ART Mr. French's copper engraving is marked by a direct- ness and confidence that grew to an instinct as he became accustomed to his medium; it is characterized by what Mr. Weitenkampf well styles a nobility of line, a line fearless, certain, and always with a definite purpose toward which he wrought with a firm hand and a sure eye. He knew the value of the heavy line for strength and shading, and passed easily from heavy to light for form and perspec- tive, avoiding the suggestion of flatness that condemns many engravers to but transient success. His finer shad- ing is as etching in its effect, though in some plates, for example, that of Mr. Godfrey, he mingled etching and en- graving. At times he used the dry-point, as in the twelve deHcate remarques that are associated with as many plates. His engravings exhibit a remarkable technique governed by a sincere and true artistic feeling. It lay in his power to impart to them a glowing luster, a warmth as of burnished metal that gives them a brilliance and life not often reached in engraving, and that so notably enhances the beauty of his landscapes and seems to increase the illusion of their per- spective, whether in such exquisite little gems as are shown in the book-plates of Miss Slade, Mr. Merriman, and Mr. Woodbury, or in the larger engraving of the Har- vard Quadrangle. The strongest influences he had among engravers were, as Mr. Woodbury truly writes, the early German masters, Diirer, the Behams, and Aldegrever. They were his mod- els. The achievement of Mr. Sherborn was an inspiration and example to him, particularly in heraldry, where he noted Mr. Sherborn's methods and recognized his author- ity. One connoisseur, oddly, finds close resemblance to the work of Vaughan at a time when Mr. French was not fa- miUar with it, so easily do artists of similar gift, traveling 15 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH on similar lines reach similar results. There seems to be something honest and lasting in the work of these German and English masters that he reached by sympathy. The French engravers, lighter, graceful, but having as a rule less strength, he studied, though he seldom chose their style of decoration. In talking of him at different times with two engravers, one skilled in heraldic work, and the other notable in land- scape engraving I was struck by the enthusiasm with which each spoke of Mr. French's supremacy in his own field. Beyond this mastery of the burin that distinguishes his plates and wins the admiration of true critics and of en- gravers, lay a striking gift for designing, and a controlled imagination. He loved beauty and he loved sincerity, and these form the basis of his original work. He found the lotus and acanthus, the laurel, chrysanthemum, and pine in nature or in the works of many artists, and he utilized them, literally or conventionally, with almost unerring taste; the graces of his ornament and foliation furnishing a welcome to their wealth. With those details and accessories of a design that give personality to the plate, Mr. French was most careful— an instrument or book or scene in one of his plates is usually definite of its sort, and in its rendering he was delighted to bring reality and art together. He searched high and low for a pine-cone that would accord in its setting and be found in nature; an old plate misled him in engraving a tarpon, and he hunted for an authoritative representation to guide him; a photo-reproduction of the Jost Amman prints in the Grolier plate was not enough, he borrowed an original. Often his clients aided him to this exactness, oft- times he traced to it himself. The most fortunate of his clients were those who placed 16 HIS ART the least restriction on his freedom in composition and dec- oration, once they had indicated the desired features. Def- erential as he was, for he felt it was another's and not his book-plate that he mig^ht have in hand, yet he had the ar- tist's feeling very strongly, and in one instance this was crossed by a client's wish for an alteration — the change was made, and he took his name from the plate. He was not one ever to take a commission in a perfunc- tory spirit ; even in so many plates having the same general purpose, he searched out the distinctive qualities of each. To the lover of the sea each day that shines upon it has its own peculiar quality in tint of sky or water, in wave or cloud, that attracts attention and gives enjoyment; and to Mr. French each copper had its own fascination as into it was cut the new design with its new possibilities. He stud- ied and enjoyed his art as he pursued it ; always there was something in it that he Avould still attain. His interest in engraving was a loyalty. He had pride in its traditions and took great satisfaction in being allied to it and recognized in it. He was pleased always to meet an- other engraver and exchange points of view. His counsel was often sought and willingly given. In the pressure of his work he was often glad to introduce a proposed client to some other engraver, and sometimes his health urged him to this course. "It is not easy for me," he writes, "to be quiet and tranquil, when there is so much I would like to do." Aside from the idea of a book-plate there was little of suggestion in the collection of Mr. French's sister-in-law to which reference has been made. These plates were in large part English, and of course armorial. Among them were the Nathl. F. Moore, Rich'd Harison, Esqr., and Joseph Murray, Esqr., this last the richest of them. The distinctly American plates in the collection were crude though varied 17 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH in their rigid styles. The fantastic joke that Mr. French en- graved and put with them was a very clever imitation, an old-style plate as he intended it to be. But when he be- gan Miss Brainerd's plate he threw precedent aside and produced an original design. It is a complex plate, pictur- ing its owner's home at Enfield and bearing the monogram and name, cut as in stone; these are surrounded by a set- ting of the wild roses and ox-eyed daisies of New England and the freely-dealt-with "Chippendale" shell that already under his hand impatiently burst into leafy scrolls. His interest in Volapuk led to his second attempt, an al- most symmetrical plate, built about the winged torch and double globe symbol with the motto of the Volapiik Society, with the legend, Lonol al Edwin Davis French, on a tablet cased in a frame of "Chippendale" shells, which he again uses as freely as its originator used the original shell. His third book-plate, engraved for Mrs. French, shows again his love of the rose, and he deftly studs the mono- gram with the forget-me-not; making the monogram the feature of the plate, he gives it proportion to the freer scrollwork which he more fully commands. In the next three plates he breaks from the confinement of the rectangle, and furnishes three new varieties of the monogram motive. He had already shown a liking to re- view and correct his work by later judgment, and after a change of thought. Few plates there are in the long list but had some final touch, a shadow deepened here or a scroll lengthened or restrained there, and, generally, some little improvement where his client was probably already content. His own plate, No. 5, shown in its final state in this book, was a marked evolution. Its main features he had at the outset. Flowers blossom at top and bottom and in the 18 HIS ART midst, and scrolls float lightly from the initials. At the bottom he placed on record his chosen volumes from all the world's libraries— Dante, Lucretius, Emerson, Virgil— and an open book that breathes his love of nature, while under these are the symbols of his chosen and favorite arts. The later changes show the corners of a supporting frame appearing from behind, and the readjustment of the ribbon to bear his name. It is a very significant plate, not only for the lavish decoration and for its combined delicacy and cheering boldness, but because it is strongly and definitely personal in its character. These six plates were all in a sense the play of a man whose play must show some result. "Produce," cries Car- lyle, and to Mr. French such a voice was welcome. He was now on the threshold of his fruitful career as an engraver on copper. On the fourteenth of January, 1894, he received a letter from Mr. Beverly Chew stating that Miss Brainerd had said that Mr. French was prepared to execute orders for ex-libris, and asking for an interview. Mr. Chew wished two plates, his own and that of the Players. He had readily recognized the promise of the little sheaf of plates already done ; their more than promise he had noted too, and he in- dorsed his appreciation with good counsel to Mr. French and with generous praise to his own friends. Each of these two plates had its peculiar test. The Players was a difficult design for the engraver, yet he ren- dered the lights and shadows of a wash-drawing and the doleful and jovial masks with success. Mr. Chew wished an armorial plate, and that must bring comparison with the heraldic engravers of all time. The shield and crest are so executed that they at once suggest antiquity, and while the plate has no uncertainty, it has no thought of the hard 19 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH machine-like work of much modern engraving-, a misfor- tune skilfully avoided in the crisp scrolls and in the waving palm. Mr. Chew's double commission anticipated the similar order of Dr. Clark by but a few hours. Hard upon these four followed other orders and commendations from well- known connoisseurs, the natural fruit of the six first plates. The names of most of them stand early in the roll of plate owners : — Mr. S. P. Avery, whose encouragement of Ameri- can art was tireless ; Mr. John P. Woodbury, whose faithful friendship had in it something akin to a father's pride ; Mr. William Loring Andrews, who recognized Mr. French's skill in almost every field of copper engraving, and secured its use in numerous plates ; Mr. William E. Baillie, chief of American book-plate collectors, eager and ceaseless in his friendship; Mr. Charles Dexter Allen, whose "American Book-Plates," containing four of Mr. French's plates, printed from the coppers, won for him generally the title of "Little Master," already given him by the German author- ity, Count Leiningen Westerburg; and there were still others. From them and through their introduction came more commissions than Mr. French felt able to fill. He had reason in the spring of 1894 to feel confident of his field. It is not my purpose, nor is there need, to describe each of Mr. French's book-plates. Their art is not conveyed in words, and their personal features, for the American in- dividualized book-plate is most distinctly associated with Mr. French, of course, are not always at command. More- over, private collectors have long since been busy gathering them, and there are few persons actively interested in book- plates who have not a valued group of his work. It is so too with public collections. In 1894 Mr. French was gratified to find his plates in the 20 HIS ART Boston Museum, and the same year they were an important part of the exhibition of book-plates held by the Grolier Club. In 1898 nearly all that were then engraved, and some in difterent states, were in the extensive collection shown in Boston by the Club of Odd Volumes. An exhibition entirely devoted to Mr. French's book-plates was held in Cleveland in 1899, and through the summer of 1907 the New York Public Library held, at the Lenox branch, an exhibition of upward of two hundred, not only of the book- plates but of the miscellaneous engravings as well. A book-plate should be more than a decorative label. It should have in motto or in symbol, and quite aside from its art, some clear and lasting token of its owner. The splen- did plate of the Worcester Art Museum, with its bronze- like seal, flanked by torches and over it the generous motto, "For the benefit of all the people of the City of Worcester," stamps the purpose of each volume that contains it. The Edward Tompkins McLaughlin Memorial plate, largely planned by the professor's friend, Mr. George Dud- ley Seymour, is a more deeply impressive one. The pres- ence of the chalice — the Holy Grail — suggests to his inti- mates his interest in the Arthurian legends and his love of Browning's line : "Only grant my soul may carry high through death her cupunspilled." Closely associated with this reminder of the man is the bur- den of his counsel, the motto from Matthew Arnold, "Think clear, feel deep, bear fruit well." He thought that the poet had in this verse expressed the best of modern culture. The seal of Yale University, and the panel for the President's autograph, and the name of the prize winner, complete the plate. 21 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH The noble plate of Ernest Kempton Adams is a fine ex- ample of this cardinal principle. The motto "Seek Truth," at the top, almost suggests a halo above the bust of Socra- tes, which stands, with scientific instruments at either side, on a small cabinet containing books, some without titles, and some with the names of famous scientists. On the dexter side is a small engraving of a cross-country rider accompanied by a hound ; on the sinister side a Stradivarius is represented incased in pansies. The relative placing of these elements has its suggestive value, as, surrounded by graceful ornament, they bespeak the character and pursuits of the owner. It would be difficult to find a purely symbolic design ren- dered with more appreciation and evident delight than that of the Candidati, which evidences character in a somewhat different way. There is a touch of humor mixed with ear- nestness in it that appealed to Mr. French. This plate is used by the members of a circle of women writers. The badge of the society, designed in jest, the bauble with the initial "C," lies half buried underneath the manuscript and finished books which represent the hope and achievement of the members. An ominous boomerang, that is, a re- turned manuscript, is there too. A full circle represents the lasting friendship of the members. The wreath is the re- ward, and across the whole lies the ribbon that bears the name of the society or of one of its members. Mr. W. K. Bixby's plate is a peculiar example of the in- dividual design. He humorously accepted the generic slang title of "octopus" given to large commercial combinations, one of which he was president of, and appHed the idea to collecting. Mr. French quizzically enjoyed making a design that shows a fierce octopus in the center, reaching its tenta- cles to every side in pursuit of the books and manuscripts 22 HIS ART that tumble about in the seething water. Contradictory it is, to be sure, but how novel and startling in its effect ! Few of Mr. French's engravings furnish, in their different states, a better study than this of his power and methods. Even to the prosaic "book-pile," of which sort of book- plate he engraved but one, that of Mr. Julian Marshall, Mr. French gave individuality in the tokens of music and nature. Partly it is these, partly the fine sense of proportion, partly the perfect execution, that makes this the most beautiful book-pile plate in existence. The abstruse and technical science of heraldry has been a problem to American engravers, and not unlikely to foreign ones as well. Mr. French studied Fairbairn and Boutell to good purpose, and gathered all hints that came to him on that subject, and he so well availed himself of the decora- tive opportunities it offered that his armorials are apace in beauty with the more practised work of the foreign en- gravers of any period. His armorial designs are usually strong and decided, even when the insignia are supported and surrounded by generous ornament. His trained eye al- ways gave proportion to them, not less, but more clearly, than to others. The roll of successes is a long one, yet could it be done without seeming to forget others, I would speak of the heraldic plates, each distinct in treatment, of Mr. Varnum, Mr. Hopkins, Mr. Livermore, Mr. Gushing, and the plate of Mrs. Whitin, as beautiful in its execution as it is clever in its design. Frequently designs mingle heraldry with other motives, a more difficult matter. The plates of Mr. Talmage, Mr. Gale, Mr. Baillie, Mr. Arnold Wood, and the Dean Hoff- man Library, this last, one of Mr. French's most digni- fied engravings, follow this method. There is no class of designs in which an error so quickly 23 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH catches the eye as in the Hbrary interior. There is generally a corner that is reluctant to be a right angle; and the per- spective seems not to be less difficult because of its small compass ; if it were larger an error might be lost in it. Oft- times, too, the engraver has to work from a photograph, has to correct its errors. The plates of the Union League Club, Mr. Woodbury and Professor Gray, are notable ex- amples in this sort; and the plate of Miss Robinson shows more than the mastery of the difficulties of the style. The first state of the plate showed a library lighted by the late afternoon sun. Books, table, mantel, all were shaded to ac- cord with a brighter window and a duller fire. The pleas- anter hour of dusk was afterward decided upon, and the fire glows more cheerily by reason of the waning day- light. In either state we have a delicate appreciation of light and shadow. Mr. French would hardly choose a portrait for his graver. Indeed, the miniature portrait has always been a great test to engravers. He was inclined toward landscape work and, as in painting so is it in engraving, the fields of art seldom unite. In portraiture only is there ever a dis- tinct effort in his finished work, and that is because he strove to portray character, a difficult feat even at first hand. There is strength and vigor and the man's character in the Mark Skinner Library plate, just as the character of Dr. Storrs, benignant yet commanding, is fixed in that of the Long Island Historical Society. And one turns again and again to the child portrait, brimming with eagerness and al- together lovely, in Mrs. Prescott's plate. The same flexibility with which Mr. French met the de- sires of his clients in the designing and executing of their book-plates, enabled him to successfully render the designs by other artists that were from time to time submitted to 24 HIS ART him. There lies a danger in this combination of designer and engraver, for a heavy-line plate like those of the Authors Club and Mrs. Ward, or a plate like Mr. Dana's which combines both heavy and light lines, is simple as compared with a wash-drawing that calls for photogravure or mezzotint rendering— if the latter were within reach— and may well dismay a line-engraver. Occasionally an- other's design was suited exactly to Mr. French's art, and he must have lent himself to it with zest. Such were Mr. Tyron's designs of the Sovereign plates, that of Mr. Bell for Mr. Osborn's plate, Mr. Curtis's design for the Cosmos Club, the fine classic designs by Mr. Goodhue, and the de- sign by Mr. Black of his own plate. I fancy Mr. French must have treated these designs by other artists somewhat as studies, quite as, in 1893, he studied and varied the "Chippendale" plate of Samuel Vaughan adding much to its grace; or, perhaps, as he reproduced the armorial plate of Mr. Livermore after the copper was destroyed, adding here and there in detail and giving what might be called a second edition. Again, and more generally, he endeavored to follow the design literally, as in the De Chaignon plate and in the Acorn series of Old New York views. It was his good fortune to execute many book-plates for collectors and connoisseurs of national, or, rather, inter- national repute, and, with deference it may be said that no class of clients could be more particular or more exacting. It must also have been a matter of pride to him that he was called upon to design and execute the book-plates of so many societies, clubs, and libraries. Those of the Grolier Club and the Club of Odd Volumes almost record the his- tory and the purpose of each. The Princeton University, Union League Club, and Metropolitan Museum plates are fine examples, incidentally, of the progress of art in this 25 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH class of book-plates, and more particularly of Mr. French's aptness in rendering- a local or personal quality to plates that in old days would have been but formal labels, or worse, mere educational rhapsodies. In this relation one cannot pass without mentioning the splendid group of work he did for Harvard University, comprizing the Hohenzollern, the Child Memorial, the Harvard Union, the Societas Signatis, the Digamma Soci- ety, and the Cercle Frangais book-plates, three of which are from dignified designs by Mr. Goodhue. It is difficult to choose between them in beauty or in fitness, though per- haps by virtue of its purpose and its fame among plate collectors the Hohenzollern stands distinct. No German engraver, inspired by patriotism and breathing the air of the Dlirer country, ever gave a wilder vigor and more tri- umphant majesty to the eagle of the Hohenzollerns than Mr. French has given it here. The circumstances govern- ing the plate forced on it an unusual amount of text, which, in its variety and balance, perhaps presents in it a better study of what may be called the science of lettering than any other of his book-plates. Lettering was not a branch of the art that he particularly sought, however much he ex- celled in it. He considered rather that for his purpose there was in it neither nature nor human nature, whatever its evolution might be. Writing to his friend, Mr. Baillie, he discusses its difficulty, saying that it is a very "narrow track to follow between having your work look as though it were made with a machine and having it appear the work of an unskilled and incompetent workman." This narrow path he followed, where he could, and the character of the plate admitted it, choosing the exacting- but always satis- factory roman alphabet, which he varied by shading or by an added graceful touch to the more flexible letters. 26 HIS ART The Hohenzollern plate is also a good example that might be duplicated among the private plates, of Mr. French's unflagging interest in the desires of his client. The design was long under discussion, letters on letters passed to and from Mr. French, German and American authorities were consulted, every possible detail was care- fully considered and decided, and finally the plate was struck oflf in various colors for the immediate purpose of celebrating the advent of the Germanic Library for which it was engraved, and the visit of Prince Henry to the Uni- versity. It seems a long step from this important group of col- lege, library, and society plates, strong in their character, to the larger group of ladies' book-plates that Mr. French produced. These are so attractive in their delicacy and re- finement, and in their widely different ornamentation and symbolism, that if Mr. French had confined his attention to this class of designing, they would have given him dis- tinction. The plates of Miss Robinson, Mrs. Whitin, and Miss Slade, are but three of many that might be cited with- out approaching similarity. The exquisite plate of Miss Lawrence, so ruthlessly sacrificed in an English reproduc- tion, is fine and clear as an intaglio, perfect in its way, and quite unlike the equally charming plates of Mrs. Wood, Miss Cheney, Miss Adams, Miss Lefferts, Mrs. Lee, Miss Messenger, Mrs. Gary, and Mrs. Metcalf. Taken together they amaze one by their revelation of the pictorial possibil- ities of the book-plate. Mr. French's great delight in the work of the German Little Masters helped him to follow in their footsteps and produce in scarcely thirteen years this long series of nearly three hundred book-plates, these little masterpieces of his own. They won for him too the same title, of which 27 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH he was pardonably proud, and they have secured for him al- most classic rank among engravers ; his fame might safely be trusted to them. Yet he was drawn into other fields at the very beginning of his engraving on copper. Designs and medals, elaborately conceived and engraved certificates of membership in societies of distinction, and title-pages and illustrations for privately printed books, were sought at his hand. The first of these miscellaneous engravings was done for Mr. William Loring Andrews. This strong and brilliant engraving, of the good ship Bri- tannia, the packet in which Charles Dickens came to Amer- ica, is the frontispiece of Mr. Andrew's brochure on Irving and Dickens. "Please do not touch the plate further," writes Mr. Andrews, "I do not think it could be improved." Here lies the ship at anchor, looming in contrast to the smaller craft shown in the distance, and standing out in a placid harbor against an evening sky that engravers delight in, and which furnished Mr. French his first opportunity to show his technique in long, straight lines, now light, now heavy, each line with its purpose in representing sky and cloud. The "Chippendale" shell, already noted, is used in the bor- der of the picture with such lightness and grace as I doubt ever to see elsewhere. Here it is used with the freedom of the Louis XV decoration and In good contrast with the for- mal and regular use of it found much later in the book- plate of Mr. Henry C. Bernheim. It was for Mr. Andrews also that Mr. French engraved his best example following the French spirit, in the title- page to "Three French Engravers." With all the beauty of the French engravings of this sort, their deftness of shading and airy balance of ornament, there is something in them that seems transitory, and sometimes even trivial. Mr. French escapes the dangers of the national style, and 28 HIS ART at the same time he gives a title-page as delicate and grace- ful as the French masters themselves might desire. In the complex, engraved title-page of "Andre's Jour- nal," he displays a fine sympathy with his subject, making, we may say, an American design suited to so important an historical document. His own description is given in the list of his miscellaneous engravings. The title-page of Mr. Arnold Wood's "Bibliography of the Complete Angler," is very different. Here is ample text arranged on panels and cartouches which do not en- croach in any way with the scroll decoration, but rather ap- pear to float upon it, for it is nothing more nor less than conventionalized water; ripples and swirls sweep over the page, half obscuring the water plants, and from the midst two wonderful dolphins peer out upon the reader, and bear out the significance of the title. The Certificate of the New York Historical Society, is the largest plate that Mr. French produced. It is a singu- larly fine composition, harmoniously associating a compre- hensive variety of essential details and giving to each its individual value; and is altogether a plate of great vigor and notable brilliance. At the top, on a ribbon that folds over the Colonial border of the plate, is the name of the so- ciety. Under this, standing on a globe, is the American ea- gle, realistically rendered. The seals of State and City are in small cartouches beneath the globe, and at either side and under these are three exquisite miniatures, depicting the Half Moon sailing under the Palisades, Block's view of New Amsterdam in 1650, and the present home of the society, this last, one of Mr. French's finest architectural engravings. Free flowing acanthus scrollwork incases and connects these miniatures and symbols. The lower half of the plate is de- voted to the membership inscription. 29 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH The hesitancy with which he approached these large plates is curiously in contrast with his triumphs over them. A certain trait in Mr. French's work appears more gen- erously in the certificates than in any others of his engrav- ings. It lies in the field, or cartouche, whereon is placed the inscription and the name of the holder of the certificate. This is not merely a field for lettering; it is not stippled; nor is it lightly run across with faint lines or delicate cross- hatching ; but it is engraved with infinite pains to represent parchment, and most thoroughly it does so. A fountain pen would ill be used upon it; it should be engrossed with a quill or nothing. The generous courtesy of Mrs. Holden allows the origi- nal publication here of one of Mr. French's most signifi- cant plates of general character, the Harvard Quadrangle. As here represented, these old buildings have a reality; there is no stiff formality about them ; they speak the digni- fied welcome that the Quadrangle itself offers. The trees, whose bark and leaves have life, arch gracefully over the scene, which shimmers and glows with the sunlight and suggests the atmosphere attained by a successful land- scapist. Historically and alone the plate is notable, but it seems also to fitly complete Mr. French's association with Harvard. It was Mr. French's good fortune to be largely associ- ated as an engraver with the city of New York, and to have the appreciative friendship of those interested in the pic- turesque and historical points of the city; an interest that resulted in a group of engravings, excelled perhaps by the similar work of no other engraver. In these he rightfully took great interest, for he loved his adopted home. The Iconophile plates, a rare and much sought series of engrav- ings of New York buildings of importance, represent several 30 HIS ART that time in its march has now swept aside or materially changed; the Distributing- Reservoir, the old Tombs, the National Academy of Design, and Fraunce's Tavern, are worthily recorded among them. In the Acorn series and in New Amsterdam, and "The Old Book-Sellers of New York," Mr. French very truthfully reproduced some fine old views not easily gathered, and nowhere else found together. In addition to these invaluable groups there are in the book- plates of Mr. Blackwell, Mr. Andrews, Mrs. Plummer, the Dean Hoffman Library, A. C. Bernheim, and Mr. Black, and in the membership certificates, some choice miniatures that those interested in New York views cannot overlook. Time seems already to have given its test to much of Mr. French's work. It is often what in verse we would speak of as occasional, but with what imagination and soul he has infused it and given it a lasting interest! He gave himself quite wholly to his art, and with what may be called a resolute enthusiasm. He could but put his own character into his engravings, and that character was noble in its strength and honesty and delicacy. Ira Hutchinson Brainerd. 31 BOOK-PLATES 1 Helen | Elvira | Brainerd. | 1893 1893 a Background of cypher formed of dotted and continuous alternate lines. b Lines of background all continuous. E.D.F. Sc. 2 Mary I Brainerd] French I 1893 1893 a Plate dark, unsigned. b Plate lighter. E.D.F. Sc. 3 Edwin Davis French 1893 E.D.F. Sc. 1893. Mr. French's "Volapuk" plate. 4 Helen Elvira Brainerd. MDCCCXCIV .... 1893 EDFSc 5 EDF (Edwin Davis French) 1893 EDF. Sc. a Without frame, in which form one hundred copies were printed, Ex Libris on ribbon in centre. b With frame added, and motto re-engraved. Printed in brown, black, green and red. c Change in motto, — imitare to imitari. Printed in black, brown and blue. d Full name, Edwin Davis French, in centre. Ex Libris on 33 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH ribbon at side, and signature replaced by ipse fee. This change was made in 1901. Printed in brown, black and green. 6 Cora Artemesia Leggett 1894 EDF. Sc. 1804 7 Beverly Chew 1894 EDFSc. 1894 8 Charles E. Clark, M.D. 1894 1894 EDFSc. With books. 9 Charles E. Clark, M.D 1894 EDFSc. 1894 Floral. 10 In Memoriam. | Ellen Walters Avery. | New York, March 25, 1893 1894 a Panel blank. b As above. EDFsc. c With these words : Her books presented to Teachers Col- lege 1897 11 William Loring Andrews 1894 E D French sc. 1894 12 The Oxford Club. Lynn 1894 EDFSc. 1894 13 The 1 Players \ Either for Tragedy | Comedy History. ] Hamlet. Act II. | Scene II 1894 E.D.F. Sc. 1894- 34 BOOK-PLATES Design by Howard Pyle. a As above. b A smaller plate, — a photogravure reduction three inches high, retouched with graver by Mr. French, but with- out his signature. 14 Whitelaw Reid 1894 E D French sc. 1894 A few proofs were taken with darker clouds and sky. 15 Marshall Clifford Lefferts 1894 E D French sc. 1894 16 Edward Hale Bierstadt 1894 E D French sc. 1894. 17 W. E. Baillie 1894 E D French fee. 1894 18 Colonial Dames of America 1894 a Panel and ribbon blank. b Twelve proofs only, signed on ribbon. E D French sc. 1894 c With copyright notice on ribbon. EDF sc. 19 Charles B. Foote 1894 E D French sc, 1894. a Rays from lamp overflow edge of medallion. b Field of rays reduced, not touching medallion. 20 Henry Blackwell 1894 E D French sc. 1894 35 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 21 The Grolier Club 1894 a Before all letters, save titles of books. Leaf and scroll work nearly all shaded. Open volume at bottom heavily etched. b Plate lettered, decoration shaded, open volume lightly etched. E D French sc. 1894 c Initials / A (Jost Amman) added in panel showing early method of presswork and composition. d Date, 1568, added after letters / A. e An electrotype with the words No. — Case — Shelf — . This electrotype was used, before the index words were added, in printing the frontispiece of the small paper edition of Mr. Allen's American Book-Plates. The copper plate was used for the large paper edition. 22 Hiram Edmund Deats | Flemington, N.J 1894 a Upper part engraved, panel not lettered, lower part not begun. h As above. E D French sc, 1894. 23 Edwin B. Holden 1894 E D French sc. 1894 a Left hand of figure, save index finger, closed, wreath promi- nent. Plate destroyed after six impressions. b The same design, left hand, save middle finger, open, wreath close to head as in the antique, no motto. c Motto from De Bury added. The signature in b and c is above the date, in a, beneath it. 24 Edwin B. Holden 1894 1894 EDFSc. The smaller plate, with open book at bottom of plate. 25 Alice C. Holden 1894 a Upright book not lettered. 36 BOOK-PLATES b Engraving deeper cut; book lettered. E D French sc. 1804 26 Edwin R. Holden 1894 E D French sc. 1894 27 John Page Woodbury. 1894 1894 o Foliage and ribbon only at top ; books outlined. b View of Boston and library interior added. c Books engraved, also portrait of Cruikshank. Plate com- plete. ED French sc. A few proofs have remarque; an arbutus spray. 28 Richard B. Coutant 1894 a Books lack titles. b Titles indicated. E D French 1894 29 James J. Goodwin 1894 E D French 1894 30 Francis Goodwin 1894 E D French 1894 a Panel white, no titles on books. b Church in panel, titles of books indicated. 31 Beverley Warner, M.A. . " 1894 E D French fee 1894 Proofs in two states. 32 Jonathan Godfrey | Fairfield, Conn 1894 a Unsigned. b Signed, plate darker. E D French sc. 1894. 37 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 33 Charles Conover Kalbfleisch 1894 E D French sc. 1894. a Scales and feathers shaded. h Scales not shaded, feathers shaded but lightly. 34 Henry Sherburne Rowe 1894 . E D French, 1894 a Stipple or horizontal lines used in background of two small panels at sides. b Slanting lines substituted for stippling. Two states of proofs. 35 Emily Hoe Lawrence 1894 EDF 1894 36 James Hale Bates 1894 E D French sc. 1894 a Books under lamp not lettered. h Books lettered. 37 Richard Southcote Mansergh | Friarsfield, | Tipperary. 1 895 a A few proofs taken before insertion of name. h Without frame or signature. c With frame and signature. E D French sc. 1895 38 Louis L Haber 1894 E D French 1894 39 L B L (L. B. Lowenstein) 1895 EDF 1895 40 Library | of the ] Metropolitan Museum of Art | New York City 1895 E D French sc. 1895 38 BOOK-PLATES a With view of the Cruger Mansion, home of the Museum from 1873 to 1878. b With view of the home of the Museum in Central Park. The word Purchased — in panel, a few dotted lines in road. c Road shaded in stipple. d The same, with words Presented by — substituted. The first variety appears both with and without the words Case — Shelf — , the others only with them. Proofs have word Proof. 41 E. D. Church 1895 EDF 1895. a Outline of continents faint. b Continents clearly defined. 42 A. C. Bernheim 1895 E D French Sc. 1895 43 Alice C. Bakewell. 1849-1893 1895 E.D.F. 1895 44 Charles B. Alexander 1895 E.D.F. 1895. 45 James J. Goodwin 1895 EDF 1895 46 James William Ellsworth 1895 ED French. 1895 47 Beverly Chew 1895 E D French sc. 189$. 48 Henry H. Vail 1895 E D French sc. 1893 a Cartouche notched an eighth of an inch at top. b Cartouche notched three eighths of an inch. 39 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 49 Thomas Jefferson McKee 1895 EDF 1S95 50 M. Taylor Pyne. 1895 1895 E D French sc. 51 Micajah P. Clough. 1895 1895 a No date in plate. EDF 1895 b As above. EDFsc. Adapted from a design furnished by the owner. 52 Henry A. Sherwin 1895 E D French sc 1895 53 Samuel F. Barger 1895 E.D.F. sc. 1895 54 Marias Gerard Messenger 1895 1895 E D French sc. a No shading on lower dexter side of shield with Branden- burg book-plate. b Stipple shading added. 55 William Frederick Havemeyer 1895 Design by Thomas Tryon. 56 Theo. L. DeVinne 1895 Design by G. F. Babb. C Thomas Mott ) 57 J Agnes Devens^ Osborne 1895 a Framed, panel blank, flowers in outline. b As above. EDF 40 BOOK-PLATES 58 Frank Evans Marshall 1895 a Panel and ribbon white. Outside lower frame outline. b Decoration nearly all shaded; frame shaded. c As above. E D French 1895 59 Champaign Public Library | This book was purchased | by the [Julia F. Burnham j Memorial Fund. . . 1895 60 Biltmoris GWV 1895 1895 Design by the owner, George W. Vanderbilt. a With date on cartouche. b With date on ribbon. Some early proofs, in olive ink, have the figure 5, incomplete. Two trial proofs. 61 E H (Edith Holden) 1895 EDF 62 The I Club of Odd | Volumes 1895 a Upper half of plate engraved, the rest chiefly outline. b Plate completed, somewhat dark. E D French Sc. 1895 c Plate rubbed down, impression much lighter. 63 Percy Rivington Pyne 1895 E D French sc. 1895 64 J. King Goodrich 1895 EDF 65 William Lanman Bull 1895 E D French sc. 1895 41 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 66 Micajah Pratt Clough. 1896 1896 EDF sc 67 The Association of the Bar | of the City of New York. | The Library of | Charles H. Woodbury, | a former mem- ber of this Association, | was given to it by his widow, | and this book forms part thereof. | 1 895 68 V. E. M. (Valentine Everit Macy) 1896 a Six unsigned proofs were printed before letters. h With letters V.E.M. and No. . . Unsigned. c Changed in igoo to Valentine Everit ) , , Edith Carpenter j ^^^'^^' EDF 69 Biltmoris GWV 1895 1896 Like No. 6o, but smaller, foliage slightly more elaborate. The date, 1895, on prints only, refers to the design. Prints without date also exist. a With date on cartouche. b With date on ribbon. 70 Tracy Dows 1896 EDF A few trial proofs. 71 Sovereign 1896 Design by Thomas Tryon. a In outline, before letters. b Finished plate. The Crown plate. This design was originally process engraved. The name was in the plate and there was no panel underneath. Several sizes. 42 BOOK-PLATES 72 The Edward Tompkins McLaughlin | Memorial Prize in English I Composition. Founded a.d. | MDCCCXCIV ] Awarded to \ ] President . . 1896 a Three large panels and book blank. b Panels engraved, no ornament in lower panel. c Plate complete, as above. E D French sc. 1896 73 Christian Archibald Herter 1896 E D French 1896 74 A. J. Morgan 1896 EDF 1896 a Portrait of Thackeray as grey haired. b Thackeray younger, more erect. 75 Howard Willets 1896 EDF a Lower panel blank. b Portrait of George Cruikshank. A few trial proofs. 76 Presented to \ , Esq"" | With the Compliments of | William Loring Andrews 1896 a Flowers, books and ribbon only. b Ribbon lettered; script lettering engraved. EDF c Lettering completed; frame added. 77 Robert Sedgwick 1896 a Without signature or date. b Signed and dated. E. D. French fee*, 1896 Signed proofs exist with tuft of crest lion's tail pointing back. 43 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 78 Chas I H [ Taylor | Jr 1896 EDFsc. 1896 Design by E. B. Bird. Some proofs show slight changes in shading of sea and sails. 79 Sovereign 1896 Design by Thomas Tryon. The Eagle plate. 80 Harriet Blair Borland 1896 EDFsc 1896 a Rays spring from flame, their field large. h White ring about flame. c Field of rays small : they spring from ilame. 81 Mary Emma Plummer 1896 a Books only engraved, rest in outline. b Face shaded. c View of New York outlined. d Outlines filled in, plate lettered. Wake of boat rough. E.D.French sc. 1896 e Water quite placid. 82 Henry A. Sherwin 1896 E D French sc. 1896. Same as No. 52, one and three-quarters inches high, name included. Two states of proofs. 83 The John Crerar | Library Chicago. [1894 . . . 1896 a Portrait engraved and background finished. h Plate completed. As above. E D French sc. 1896 c With words Presented by — 44 BOOK-PLATES 84 The Denver Club 1896 Design by Cora E. Sargent. a With name of designer. A few impressions only. b Signature added. A few only. EDF sc. c Engraving lighter. Name of designer and signature erased 85 Edwin Ruthven Lamson 1896 1896 Design by Edmund H. Garrett. a Twelve proofs were taken without letters. b Name and address in panel. E D French sc. Trial proofs exist with the three graces engraved, border in outline. 86 Maria Gerard Messenger 1896 1896 Dono • Hunc • Librum • Dedi. E D French a With panel blank. b With books. c With child's portrait. Four copies only. d With view of Pleasantville Library. e With inscription: Associata \ Bibliothecani S. Marice \ Sci- entice Sacrce. \ St. Mary's School, 8, East 46th Street \ New York City. 87 Catherine A. Bliss. . . . : 1896 EDF 1896 A few trial proofs. 88 The Collection of [ Tho^ Addis Emmet M.D ] Presented by | John Stewart Kennedy [ to the | New York Public Li- brary I Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. 1 1 896. 1 896 EDF 45 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 89 Adelle Webber Gray 1897 EDF 90 O. A. K. (O. A. Kahn) 1897 E D French 1897 91 Lucy Coleman Carnegie 1897 EDF (Script cypher.) 92 Robert H. McCarter 1896 EDF- 1896 93 John Lloyd Stearns 1897 EDF (Script cypher.) 1897 Proofs in two states. 94 Edith Davies Kingsbury 1897 Design by Lilian C. Westcott. a Without signature or date. b With signature and date. E D French sc. 1897 95 Juliani- Marshall. MDCCCXCVI 1897 a Upper part of plate, save music roll, finished; the lower part in outline. h Complete, signed. ED French Sc. Twenty proofs of this plate, some in black, some in reddish brown, and one with half the plate in sepia and half in black tempered with carmine, have, as a remarque, a por- trait in drypoint of Mr. French by himself. 96 Candidati 1897 E D F sc (Script cypher.) a Without name of owner. 46 BOOK-PLATES b With name, Helen Runyon Belknap, in curved line below the design. There are several electrotype variations of this plate but the above are the only impressions from the original copper. Some of the later plates carry the owner's name beneath the design while some carry it on the ribbon and omit the word Candidati: — c Helen Hunt Daly. cc Helen Keyes. d Margaret Chase Wilson. e Sara King Wiley. / Georgiana Goddard King. g Kate Dickinson Sweetser. h Eveline Warner Brainerd. Two states; name under the plate, and on ribbon. j Ellen Rose Giles. k Elsie Lewis Day. / Louise Collier Wilcox. 97 William Connell 1897 EDF (Script cypher) j597 98 Authors Club Library 1897 Design by George Wharton Edwards. Outside measure, 3^ inches high. The engraved plate by Mr. French is not to be confounded with a process plate slightly larger made from the same de- sign. 99 Ruth Mary Sabin a Horse's head in outline, upper sinister corner of plate not engraved. EDF b Horse's head engraved ; golf clubs in upper corner. 100 Child Memorial | Library | To | Harvard University | In 47 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH Memory of | Francis James Child | First Professor of English 1897 E.D.French sc. 1897 A small engraved frame, unsigned, with the words — The Gift of . . . accompanies plate No. 100. 101 The Mark Skinner | Library. Manchester | Vermont. | MDCCCXCVII 1898 EDFsc. a Hair in portrait shaded but lightly. b Hair somewhat darker. c Deep shading in oval frame closely confined to dexter side. d With words Presented by — Working proofs exist with ribbon, book, and panel unen- graved ; portrait finished. 102 Paul Lemperly, His Book 1897 a Frame only, unsigned, undated. A few proofs. b Panel completed. Monk's cheek heavily shaded. Five proofs only. E D French fee. 1897. c Monk's face lightened. ( Henry Clay ) ^03 ^ Helen Burgess ^ R^^^^y ^^^^ E D French 1897. 104 Edward F.Burke 1897 EDF 1897 a With leopard crest. Six proofs. b Catamount substituted for leopard. 105 MolHe Cozine Lefferts 1897 EDFsc. 1897 48 f> 1.1BRAR"V OF PR INCH TON BOOK-PLATES 106 Mary I Minturn I Hartshorne 1897 Design by Miss E. Brown. a As above. b Name changed to Mary | Minturn | Ward. 107 M. Taylor Pyne 1897 E D French Sc. i8g7 a Ribbon blank save for word Pyne. b As above. c An electrotype with name changed to Percy Rivington Pyne. No proofs were taken after letters. 108 Library of I Princeton I University 1897 E D French fee. 1897. 109 Florence de Wolfe Sampson 1898 EDF (Script cypher.) 110 Abraham Goldsmith 1898 EDF (Script cypher.) 111 George Allison Armour 1898 EDF (Script cypher. ) a Book without inscription. b Book inscribed. Minor touches in shading plate. 112 A. Dwight Stratton 1898 EDF 113 Samuel W. Lambert 1898 EDF 114 Barrett Wendell 1898 EDF. 1898. a Flag at stern of ship. b Flag removed. 49 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 115 Ex Libris Medicis 1898 EDF Used by several members of the Gushing family. Design by one of the owners. 116 Vassar Alumnge | Historical Association. | MDCCCXCVI 1898 E D French sc. 1898. Some impressions are without the date 1898. 117 Samuel Smith Sherwood 1898 EDFsc 1898 1 18 The Association of the Bar [ of the City of New York, j The John E. Burrill Fund 1897 This is similar to No. 67, yet fuller in decoration. 119 The Association of the Bar | of the City of New York. | Gift of James C. Carter 1898 a As above. b Lower line broken to read Gift of \ James C. Carter. c Without name James C. Carter. Same in design as No. 118. 120 Henry Rogers Winthrop. 1898 1898 E.D.French sc. a Sky denoted by broken and somewhat heavy lines. b Sky reengraved, in continuous fine lines, figure and foliage retouched. Proofs in two states. 121 James A. Goldsmith 1898 EDF 50 '^lARY BARBER CHESTER PLACE BOOK-PLATES 122 Twentieth Century | Club | Ex Dono 1898 EDFsc. Design by Evelyn Rumsey Carey. a As above. b Without panel at bottom which carries the "Ex Dono" in- scription. 123 Frederick W. Van Wagenen 1898 EDF 1898 (Script cypher.) Proofs in two states. 124 Georgette Brown 1898 Design based on an Eighteenth Century copper plate. a Without border, a few proofs only. h Slight alteration in figures. A bright spot on stone seat. c With heavy cross-hatched border added. 125 Jennings Stockton Cox 1898 EDF 126 E. P. Williams 1898 EDF 127 Katherine Cecil Sanford Thome. 1896 . . . . 1898 E D French Sc a As above. h The Gift of Katherine Sheffield, and i8g6 at top erased. 128 Florence Coleman Nimick 1898 E D French 129 James Edmund Scripps 1898 EDFsc. Design by Albert Kahn, 1896. 51 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH a Upper third of plate engraved, the rest in outline. b Two heavy lines on dexter side of western tower of cathe- dral ; four windows in small tower. c These lines light; six windows in small tower. 130 Arnold Wood. New York MDCCCXCVIII . . . 1898 E D French sc. I 131 Charles L. Dana 1898 Design by A. Kay Womrath. 132 Eva I Snow | Smith | Prescott | 1898 1898 E D French sc Some proofs have remarque in red or in black; a toy house and soldier. 133 Sidney Ernest Bradshaw 1898 E D French sc. 1S98. a Back of Burns volume without decoration. b With three heraldic roses. 134 Edward Swan Stickney | Presented to the Chicago | His- torical Society by | Elizabeth Hammond Stickney | + ObitJulyXIMDCCCXCVII+ 1898 a As designed, outlined and commenced by Mr. French. Owing to ill health he requested Mr. J. W. Spenceley to continue it. b Nearly completed by Mr. Spenceley. c Finished by Mr. French, the last work being the head of Hermes, with final touches. E D French sc. 1898 135 John P. Talmage. MDCCCXCIX 1899 E D French fee 52 BOOK-PLATES 136 Edward Courtland Gale 1899 E D French fee. 1899 a With motto Tiens la foy. b Motto changed to Tiens ta foy. 137 Ethel Hartshorne Wood 1899 a Titles of books not indicated. b Titles indicated. E D French fee 1899 138 Henry Ren wick Sedgwick 1899 E.D.French fee. 1899 139 Emil Leopold Boas 1899 EDF 1899 140 Louise Taylor Hartshorne Moore MDCCCXCIV . 1899 E D French '99 a As above. b Louise Taylor Hartshorne Leeds. 141 Charles Dexter Allen 1899 E D French fee. 1899 a Large panels empty, upper sinister small panel has a charming reduced engraving of the Authors Club book- plate. b With portrait in oval ; proofs only. c Books in oval. d Books in oval, and seal of Bibliographical Society substi- tuted for that of Caxton Club. Proofs of d have remarque; Mt. McKenzie as seen from Mr. French's studio. 142 Allan C. Bakewell 1899 Portrait engraved by S. Hollyer. a Portrait engraved, — rest of plate in outline. 53 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH b Plate complete, as above. EDF There exist a few proofs of a slightly smaller plate, with much smaller oval. It is in outline save that the portrait is completed. ( George Van Wagenen ] 143 I Margaret Van Nest | D^ryee 1899 EDF 1899 a Four horizontal lines across windows. b Windows have diamond panes added. Some proofs of b have remarque; a pine tree. 144 A W (Arnold Wood) 1899 EDF 1899 145 Gushing. [Armorial] 1899 146 John Skelton Williams 1899 EDF 1899 147 H B (Henry Blackwell.) 1899 148 K M (Katharine Mackay.) 1899 EDF 149 Gornelia Horsford 1899 EDF sc 1899 a Landscapes quite dark. b Landscapes lightened, and horse reengraved. 150 To 1 with compliments of | Henry Blackwell. 1899 E D French Sc 1899. a Some proofs are with blank panels. b Panels filled with New York views. 54 BOOK-PLATES 151 Maria Gerard Messenger and Elisabeth Chamberlain | The Orchards 1899 E D French sc. i8gg a Dark, one broken line in roof shading. b Lighter, roof shaded in unbroken lines. 152 Treadwell Library j Massachusetts General Hospital | The Gift of 1899 Design by B. G. Goodhue. There are proof impressions without the inscription. 153 This volume, | for insertion in which the Author | has been pleased to write his name, | | is the property of I Paul Lemperly 1900 E D French Sc. igoo 154 The University Club. | Cleveland, | MDCCCXCVIII. 1900 E D F igoo 155 Robert Emmet Hopkins 1900 E D French Sc. igoo 156 Alice S. Cheney 1900 E D French fee. igoo. 157 The Union League Club. | New York | 1863 . . . 1900 ED F igoo a All windows clear. h Stained glass window and Venetian blinds engraved; clear sjpace, unshaded, on floor. c Venetian blinds erased. d Floor entirely shaded in stipple ; two shadows, line en- graved, starting from lower sinister corner, point toward center of floor. e Venetian blinds restored. 55 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH f The two shadows (d) increased, nearly blended, extend beyond centre of floor. g Words Presented by added. The first six states, framed, hang in the Club Library. 158 C. L. F. Robinson. | Newport, R. 1 1900 E D French fee. 1900 159 John R. Livermore 1900 E D French Sc 1900. This plate was destroyed by fire, and reengraved by Mr. French ; see No. 280. 160 Nathan T. Porter, Jr. « 1900 E D French 1900 Prints show retouching of figure. 161 Silas Wodell 1900 E D French 1900 162 RJS 1900 EDF 1900 163 New York I Yacht Club I Librar>' 1900 Design by Walter G. Owens. a Sails all white. b With shading of sails. c Sails lighter. Ship's stern slightly changed. E.D. French Sc. 1900 d Presented by — Proofs exist without signature. The original design, amended by Mr. French, passed through three trial proofs to the final state, as shown by the framed series in the Club Library. A small process reproduction is used in small books. 56 BOOK-PLATES 164 Walter B. James, M.D 1900 ED F igoo a Very dark, rays from sun touch mountain. b Light, rays do not touch mountain. 165 Lucy Maynard Salmon. MDCCCC 1900 E D French Sc 166 John H. Buck 1900 Design by Marian Buck. a Unsigned. b Has a hawk in the sky. EDFsc. 167 Elisabeth Chamberlain 1 The Orchards 1900 ED F igoo. 168 Margaret H. Foot 1900 E D French igoo 169 John W. & Lee Partridge | Loveland 1900 E D F sc. igoo Proofs unsigned and undated. 170 Amy B.Alexander 1900 ED F igoo 171 James Wilson Bullock MDCCCC 1900 E D French Sc a Minerva's face white, space under oval white. No date in roman figures. b Face engraved. Date and study from Paul Potter's bull added. c Portrait of Washington substituted for bull. 57 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 172 Arthur West Little 1900 E D French Sc. Dec. igoo. 173 John B. Larner. | Washington, D. C 1900 E D French sc. igoo 174 Ruth Adams 1900 ED F igoo 175 M. C. D. Borden 1900 A replica of No. 71, with an eagle instead of the crown, and change of name. 176 M. C. D. Borden 1900 Same as No. 175 but smaller. Height i^ inches. 177 S. Walter Woodward | Washington, D. C 1901 ED F igoi 178 Sarah Elizabeth Whitin 1901 ED F igoi 179 William Watts Sherman 1901 EDFSc. igoi Design by B. G. Goodhue. 180 John Sanford Barnes 1901 ED F igoi 181 Bibliotheca ] Societatis | Signeti | in Academia Harvard- iana| Ex Bono | 1901 E D French Sc igoi Design by B. G. Goodhue. 58 BOOK-PLATES 182 The Worcester I Art Museum. I The Gift of— . . 1901 E D French Sc. igoi 183 Hartshorne 1901 ED F igoi. a Signed. h Unsigned, and with mantling reduced. 184 Harbor Hill | 1901 1901 EDF 185 Mabel Carleton Gage • • • 1901 EDF sc. iQOi Design by owner. 186 Library | of the | Harvard | Union | The Gift of | James Hazen Hyde | of the class of 1898 | in memory of | Henry Baldwin Hyde I M C M 1901 E.D.F.SC. Design by B. G. Goodhue. a As above. b Date altered to MDCCCC. E.D.F. sc. igoi c The Gift of d With inscription A gift | in Memory of \ Robert Fields Simes \A. B. 1885. LL. B. and A. M. 1888 \ 1901 Plates a and b printed from the original copper; c and d from electrotypes retouched with graver by Mr. French. 187 Frances Amelia Adams 1901 EDF igoi Proofs and prints show a slight difference in the miniature of Emerson. 59 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 188 Roger Bigelow Merriman 1901 ED F 1901 a Mountains in outline. b Mountains shaded. Forequarters of lion darkly shaded. c Lion uniformly shaded. d Mountains and clouds lighter. Plate contains view of Mt. Washington and shields of Har- vard and Balliol. 189 William Phillips 1901 E D Fsc 1901 Design by P. deC. la Rose. a Signature on a single line. b Two slits on sinister side of helmet. c Signature and date E D F \ sc \ IQOI, in small circle. 190 Sarah Rodman Baldwin 1901 Design by Addison B. Le Boutillier. 191 Walter Davis Richards 1825-1877 1901 ED F igoi 192 Long Island | Historical Society | Storrs Memorial | Fund 1901 a As above, inscription in open-face lettering on white back- ground, book in lower corner blank. Two trial proofs preceding a, are preserved by the Society. b Lettering and panel shaded, book decorated. E D French igoi c With inscription : Long Island Historical Society \ Bequest of the I Rev. Richard Salter Storrs, D. D., LL. D. \ for the Enlargement of the \ Department of Ecclesiastical His- tory I MDCCCC. 60 BOOK-PLATES 193 Library of the | Society of Colonial Wars 1 in the State of Connecticut 1901 Cypher EDF 1901 Proofs in two states. 194 Field Memorial ] Library Conway | Massachusetts \ Built A.D. MCMI I Class ] Book No. ] Accession No. . 1901 Originally printed in type at the Merrymount Press and from this engraved by Mr. French. 195 The Adriance Memorial | Library. | Poughkeepsie . 1902 Cypher EDF 1902 196 James M. Vamum 1902 Cypher EDF 1902 197 James B. Dill. MDCCCCII 1902 Cypher EDF a As above, with portrait, slightly turned to sinister side, en- graved by S. HoUyer. b Has, underneath, the words : Vol. No Shelf No c A full face portrait, by J. A. J. Wilcox, substituted. A few impressions with scarf light, afterward changed to dark. Working proofs show plate in outline, portrait and diamond figured mat engraved. 198 Dorothy Furman 1902 Cypher EDF 1902 199 Edward Dean Adams. 1902 Cyplter EDF 1902 Two states of proofs exist. 200 Natala Washburne Bishop 1902 E D French fecit 1902 Four states of proofs exist. 61 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 201 Digamma Library 7902 | The Gift of 1902 a No date at top. Wolf in outline on white shield. b As above. EDFsc. 202 John Chipman Gray 1902 a One book on rug stands on its fore edge. b This book replaced by two, one lying on the other. Cypher ED F 1902 203 Edward Duff Balken 1902 ED F sc igo2 Design by George Greene amended by Mr. French. o Shelf extends beyond window line. h Shelf reduced, books under window darkened. 204 R. Stockton Pyne 1902 Cypher ED F igo2 a Ermine charges have three flourishes. b The conventional three dots substituted for the flourishes. 205 William Beverley Rogers 1902 a Head and neck of crest plain. b Head and neck of crest cross-hatched. Cypher ED F igo2. 206 The Washington County | Free Library. Hagerstown | Maryland I MDCCCCI 1902 Cypher E D F igo2 a Border in outline. Portrait unfinished, background shaded. b Portrait finished, background reshaded. Proofs exist in several states. 62 BOOK-PLATES 207 Ernest Kempton Adams 1902 Cypher EDF igo2 a Violin lightly shaded. b Shading heavier, chin rest added. 208 Walter B. Adams 1902 Cypher EDF 1902 209 Nona Newlin Hooper 1902 Cypher EDF 1902 210 John Gerard Heckscher ,1902 Cypher EDF 1902 a One palm tree. h Two palm trees. c Mouth of tarpon closed. 211 Charles D. Armstrong 1902 Not designed by Mr. French. a No inscription on tablet. b Inscription added. 212 Ira Hutchinson Brainerd 1902 EDF 1902 a Outline of ledges clearly defined by white lines. b This white defining line graved over, mountains shaded more softly, adding distance. William Henry and 2^3 ^Katharine French ^ Bumham 1902 E D French 1902 a Chevron argent, b Chevron or. 63 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 214 Homer Gage 1902 Design by Mabel Carleton Gage. ED F sc. igo2 215 Wynne Winslow 1902 Cypher E D F igo2 216 From the Library of the Very | Rev. Eugene Augustus Hoffman, | D. D., LL. D., D. C. L 1903 Cypher EDF 1903 217 Wilhelmus Mynderse 1903 a Without signature or date. h Signed and dated. E D F sc. 1903 218 LMP (Lowell Mason Palmer.) 1903 Cypher EDF 1903 The palm plate. 219 LMP (Lowell Mason Palmer.) 1903 EDF 1903 The chrysanthemum plate. 220 Edward Duff Balken 1903 Cypher EDF 1903 a Upper part of plate nearly filled with scrolls. h Scroll work much thinner showing cross-hatched back- ground, e.g., lower dexter side of globe. 221 Philip Lippincott Goodwin 1903 Cypher EDF 1903 64 '. 13.D.,LI.J>.,I>.C.I. BOOK-PLATES 222 W C W (W. C. Wood.) 1903 Cypher ED F 1903 a Lower end of C turns out. b Lower end of C turns in. 223 De la Bibliotheque | du | Cercle Frangais ] de I'Universite Harvard 1903 Cypher ED F 1903 a With cypher at top, made of letters J H H. Of this there were forty autograph proofs in black, ten in red and five in blue. b With portrait of Moliere at top, replacing cypher. Of this there were twenty autograph proofs in black, ten in red and five in blue. 224 Ruth Lancaster Hoe 1903 Not designed by Mr. French. a With one figure in canoe. b Canoe changed, contains a dog also. EDFSc 225 Charles WilHston McAlpin 1903 Cypher EDF 1903 226 Herman Simon 1904 Design by Thomas Tryon. Proofs in two states. 227 The Henry A. Rowland | Memorial Library . . . 1903 Cypher EDF 1903 228 William Augustus Brewer 1903 Cypher EDF 1903 a Trunk of tree by gate is light and dark. b Tree entirely dark, plate lighter. 65 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 229 "Warner Mifflin and Louise Hartshorne Leeds. MDCCCCI 1903 E D French 1903. 230 Annie Lyman 1903 Cypher ED F 1903 231 Caroline Seagrave Bliss 1903 Cypher E D F 1903 232 Clark University 1904 Design by Mabel Carleton Gage. a Frame work and the three flowers in centre unshaded, no signature or date. b Frame work, and flowers shaded, but unsigned. c With signature. E.D.F. sc. 1904 233 Elizabeth Sage Goodwin 1903 Cypher ED F 1903 234 Cincinnati Law Library I Rufus King Fund. . . . 1903 Cypher ED F 1903 235 Lowell Melvin Palmer 1904 E D French. 1904. a Motto, Ultra aspicio. b Motto, Palma virtuti. Some proofs have no motto. 236 Herman Simon 1904 E.D.French sc 1904 Design by Thomas Tryon. Reduction of 226. Frame four and three-sixteenths inches high. Proofs in three states. 66 BOOK-PLATES 237 Mary Barber Robinson | Chester Place .... 1904 Cypher E D F igo4 a Window much lighter than in b and other shading is in accord. b Window darkened. Plate reshaded. 238 Katherine Cecil Sanford Sheffield. 1904 . . . 1904 Cypher ED F IQ04 239 Harvard College Library | Hohenzollern Collection | In commemoration of the visit of | His Royal Highness | Prince Henry of Prussia | March sixth, 1902 j On behalf of His Majesty | The German Emperor | Presented by Archibald Cary Coolidge, Ph.D., | Assistant Professor of History 1904 E D French Sc. igo4 a As above. b No commas in next to last line and no period after History. Proof impressions with remarque (a small Roman lamp) were printed, seventeen copies each in red and blue, and twenty-nine in black, all on Japan vellum with the excep- tion of three of the impressions in black, which were on India paper. A panel was later added at bottom for the insertion of names of donors of books. There is a photo electrotype reduction, about four inches high. 240 Library of the | American Institute | of | Electrical Engi- neers 1904 E D French fee. 1904. a As above. Electrotypes are as follows : b The Gift of | Edward D. Adams c The Gift of \ Schuyler Skaats Wheeler ccA. zinc reproduction of c four inches high. d The Gift of \ The Carnegie Fund e The Gift of 67 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH Associated with e dies are used to record gifts of : / Thomas A. Edison. g Bion J. Arnold. h C. O. Mailloux. j Charles L. Clarke, k Cary T. Hutchinson. I W. D. Weaver, m Nathaniel S. Keith, n Joseph Wetzler. W. J. Johnston, p Edward Caldwell Associated with a similar dies are used for : q The Gift of the New York \ Electrical Society r The Gift of the American \ Bell Telephone Company s The Gift of the \ McGraw Publishing Company Proofs are unsigned and have word Proof in panel. 241 Mabel Slade 1904 ED F igo4 a Large tree has much foliage, clouds quite heavy. h Foliage on large tree much thinner, clouds lighter. 242 Henry C. Bernheim 1904 Cypher E D F 1904 243 Henry Fairfield Osborn 1904 EDFSc (Script cypher.) Design by Edward Hamilton Bell. 244 George Edward Dimock 1904 Cypher E D F igo4 245 Benjamin Barnes Lovett MDCCCCIIII .... 1904 E D French sc. 1904 a Has no date in plate. b Date in plate in roman numerals. Some proofs have re- marque: an open book on a branch. 68 BOOK-PLATES 246 Winfred Porter Truesdell 1904 Cypher ED F 1904 a Without letters. b As above. Some proofs have retnarque: a halberd. 247 William Bateman Leeds 1904 Cypher ED F 1904 248 Samuel Verplanck Hoffman 1904 Cypher ED F 1904 A few proofs have the crest shaded but lightly. 249 Henry H. Harper 1904 Cypher ED F 1904 Proofs in two states. 250 Mary Bryant Sprague 1904 E.D.F. sc. 1904 Design by P. de C. la Rose. Some proofs are unsigned. 251 Mary Bryant Sprague 1904 E.D.F. sc. 1904 Same in design as No. 250. but smaller— three inches high. 252 Francis Bunlcer Greene 1904 ED F 1904 a As above. b With words Library of. 253 Georgia Medora Lee MDCCCCIV 1904 Cypher ED F Some proofs have retnarque; book in wreathed spray. 69 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 254 John Notman 1904 ED F igo4. 255 Lucy Wharton Drexel 1904 Cypher E D F 1904 256 Gertrude Clarkson Welsh 1904 Cypher ED F 1904 257 Katharine Thomas Gary 1905 Cypher ED F 1905 a Trunk without shading. h Trunk shaded. Some proofs of b have remarque; view of Whiteface in the Adirondacks. ( Theodore ) 258 I Eleanor [ Taft 1905 Design by C. Grant La Farge. 259 Harriette M. Stevens 1905 Cypher EDF 1905 a Hills uniformly shaded, light. Proofs only. h Hills at dexter side darker. 260 Mary Lois Seagrave Downes 1 905 EDF 1905 261 Ethel Hartshorne Wood 1905 EDF. 1905 a Signed in circle. h Signed in body of plate. 262 Davis Righter Vail 1905 Cypher EDF 1905 70 BOOK-PLATES 263 Queen's University | Kingston Canada 1905 Cypher EDF 1905 264 George Harvey 1^05 Design by J. Venier. a Without signature. b Signed. EDFsc. 265 Lucius G Fisher 1905 E D French fee 1905 a Dotted line from dorsal fin to tail. b Fish shaded for rotundity, water improved. 266 Mary Nixon Smith 1905 Cypher EDF 1905 a Clover blossom at top dark. b Clover shaded light on dexter side. 267 John S. Holbrook 1905 Design by owner. An earlier process plate exists. a Prints unsigned. b Prints signed. EDF. sc. 1905 Proofs are unsigned. 268 Martha A. Symon 1905 Cypher EDF 1905 269 George J. Gould. 1 Georgian Court 1906 270 Parke E. Simmons . 1906 Cypher EDF 1906. 71 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 271 Henry Van Deventer Black 1906 Design by the owner. a Sky nearly clear, clouds only at edge. b Sky overspread with clouds. 272 Elizabeth Jordan 1906 E.D.F. Design by J. Venier. 273 The Cosmos Club 1906 EDFsc Design by William Fuller Curtis. 274 Emma Stewart Bixby 1906 Cypher EDF igo6 275 W K Bixby 1906 Cypher EDF igo6 a Four marks on body of octopus. h Six marks. c Three marks. The three states show marked differences in shading of octo- pus, books and water; careful studies of a difficult and novel subject. 276 Julius C. and Emily S. Bernheim 1906 a Sky uniformly shaded and rather dark. Star very distinct, distant water uniformly shaded. h Sky lighter near star, distant water shows bars of light corresponding to outline of trees. Cypher EDF igo6 277 John R. Sayler 1906 Cypher EDF igo6 72 BOOK-PLATES (LHJ) 278 ) s E J ( (Jackman) MDCCCCVI Cypher EDF 279 Cora Paschall Davis 1906 Cypher EDF igo6 a Letter A in the name has curved line on sinister side, re- sembling the letter R. b The letter A is reversed, curved line being on dexter side. 280 John Walton Livermore 1906 E D French Sc. igoo-igo6 a A few proofs were taken with name John R. Livermore. b As above. This plate is nearly a replica of No. 159 though the detail of engraving differs in the two plates. 281 Esther Pierce Metcalf 1906 Cypher EDF igo6 282 Utica Public Library. | From the | John E. Brandegee Fund 1906 E D French igo6 a No lettering over door. Proofs only. h Name of Library and date of building added. Prints. 283 The Yale Club of | New York | City 1906 Design by Howard Pyle. EDFSc. igo5. Proofs in four states. 284 Henry Clay Frick 1906 Cypher EDF igo6 73 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 285 Beverly Chew 1896 A small oval plate, stamped in gold upon leather of different colors from a die designed by Mr. French. 286 Henry A. Smith 1898 Engraved by J. W. Spenceley. Design by Mr. French. 287 J. Hood Wright 1897 Design by Mr. French, following the book-plate of Daniel Webster. Engraver unknown. 288 Byrd 1899 A reengraving of the Jacobean book-plate of William Byrd of Westover in Virginia Esqr. a Before all letters. A few proofs. h George H. Byrd of New York. . Electrotypes were then made for the following: — c Richard Evelyn Byrd of Wincliester in Virginia. d William Byrd of New York. e Francis Otway Byrd. 289 William and Helen Woodruff Tatlock 1893 a Before letters— a few proofs. b With Edwin Davis French | Saranac Lake, N. Y. printed in red from a letter-head die. In this form 50 copies were printed, a few of them by printer's error with the frame reversed, top for bottom. c The joint plate, as above. d An electrotype with name; William Tatlock. 290 For the Volapiik Exhibit at | the Columbian Exposition in I Chicago MDCCCXCIII. Loaned | by E. D. French, 217 West I Thirteenth Street, New York. 74 BOOK-PLATES This label in small capitals and half bordered was inserted in the Volapiik books loaned by Mr. French to the Chicago Exhibition in 1893. Though printed, it is included here for it was Mr. French's first book-plate. 291 W. L. Andrews. A leather label, designed by Mr. French. A myrtle wreath inclosing motto and name. 292 Marshall C. Lefferts. A leather label, designed by Mr. French, showing masks of comedy and tragedy, and fool's bauble. Two sizes : one inch and one and three eighths inches high. 293 Frederick Judson Holden Sutton 1903 Design by Mr. French. Engraved by F. O. Coombs. 294 Martha Elizabeth Brainerd 1905 Design by Mr. French. Engraved by F. O. Coombs. 295 Gertrude M. Baillie 1906 Design by Mr. French. Engraved by A. N. Macdonald. 296 U-sepe-ars-so-ap 1893 A piece of burlesque heraldry, engraved by Mr. French in the spirit of the old English book-plate engravers; his first known copper engraving. 297 Timothy Jones, Esq"- 1893 A copy, with much variation, of the Samuel Vaughan Esqr plate, engraved as a study of the Chippendale style. a As above. b Name partly erased, still traceable. c Name quite obscured. 75 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 298 de Chaignon 1903 A reengraving of an old French book-plate. 299 Nihil sine labore, | Edwin Davis French | Designing and | copper plate engraving. | Specialty of Ex-libris. | 204 West 46th St. | New York 1896 Though not a book-plate, this announcement of Mr. French's specialty is recorded here where it may serve as a link be- tween the two lists of his engravings. ^ 76 MISCELLANEOUS DESIGNS AND ENGRAVINGS E. D.French I 217 West 13th St., N.Y 1893 Changed in 1894 to: — E. D. French. | 204 W. 46th St. I New York A scroll-enclosed "Chippendale" design, not engraved, used on envelopes and letter cards. A stray leaf | from the ] correspondence | of | Washington Irving I and [ Charles | Dickens | By | William Loring Andrews | Printed at the De Vinne Press | New York, 1894 I and embellished | with engravings | on copper and zinc 1894 Type title. The illustrations include two copper engravings by Mr. French. I Frontispiece: The Steamship "Brittania." E.D. French sc. Engraved from the painting by Clarkson Stanfield R. A. Copies Nos. 1-15 of the edition contain proofs of the first three following states : a Unfinished proof. b Proof before letters. c With inscription as above. d In subsequent copies the name of the ship is changed to Britannia. II Imprimatur of W. L. Andrews. This is a small reproduction of Millet's The Sower, also used by Mr. Andrews in others of his publications. 77 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH a Without motto. EDFsc. Three trial proofs, each deeper in shading than the one be- fore it. b With motto. The plate appears in this state on the title-page of the present book. Mr. French engraved, without signature, a slightly smaller copy of The Sower, with border of a single line. 3 The Trustees | of the | Metropolitan Museum of Art | re- quest the I honor of your | presence at the | inaugura- tion I ceremonies of j the new building, | on | Monday afternoon | November fifth, 1894, | at two o'clock. | Henry G. Marquand, President. | L. P. Di Cesnola, Secretary. ] To 1894 a Before all letters ; much of decoration in outline. b With The Trustees of the and To . . . engraved. No other letters. c Seal of the museum still wanting in centre circle; the in- scription complete excepting the date. d As described. E.D.French inv. et so. 4 The President and Board of Trustees | of Union College request the honour of the presence of | at the Centennial Celebration | commemorative of the founding of | the College, commencing Sunday June the twenty-third, and ending | Thursday, June the twenty- seventh, I eighteen hundred and ninety-five, at | Sche- nectady, New- York 1895 E D French fee. There exists an impression of this plate with the centre obliterated, and the dexter portion, containing the vignette of the "Blue Gate," lamp and book, elaborated by pencil and pen into a book-plate for the Library of Union College. 78 DESIGNS AND ENGRAVINGS 5 The Society of Iconophiles of the City of New York. 1895-1897 Publication. I February. 1895. St. Paul's Chapel. 1895. E.D.French sc. II April, 1895. Interior of St. Paul's Chapel. 1 (View of Chancel) E D French sc. III May, 1895. Fraunces' Tavern. E D French sc. iSgs IV June, 1895. The Roger Morris House. E D French sc. V December, 1895. Hamilton Grange. E D French sc 1895 VI February, 1896. St. Mark's Church. E D French sc i8g6 VII May, 1896. City Hall. E D French sc. i8g6. VIII September, 1896. The Halls of Justice. | ("The Tombs".) E D French sc. i8g6. IX November, 1896. National Academy of Design. E D French sc. i8g6 X December, 1896. St. John's Chapel, Varick Street. E D French sc. i8g6 XI January, 1897. The Murray Hill Distributing Reservoir. E D French sc. i8gy XII March, 1897. Bowling Green. E D French sc. Each one of these twelve views of New York City was is- sued in a wrapper giving number, date and title of the pub- lication, and this statement : "loi impressions of this engrav- ing have been taken and the plate destroyed. All impres- sions are on Japan paper. 11 being artist's proofs before let- ters." Working proofs of some of these plates exist; 6 and 7 in outline ; 5, 6, and 10 partly in outline ; S, 6, 8, 9 and 10 with- out the seal of the Society, though practically finished. 79 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH Universitas et civitas 1895 E D French del. & sc. Ornamental border with small view of Merton College, Ox- ford. a With large panel blank. b Panel contains the business announcement of The Baldwin and Gleason Company. This was sketched in by Mr. French, and engraved by another's hand. 7 The Old Booksell | ers of New York | and other papers j by I William Loring Andrews | New York: Anno Domini one thou | sand eight hundred and ninety-five . 1895 Type title. Contains the following designs and engravings by Mr. French : — I Frontispiece. An E. View of Trinity Church N. York. Signature reads : Engraved on Copper \by E D French, from the Orig- inal in the New York Magazine 1790. II Head-band on title-page, with miniature of Caxton. EDF III Title-page ornament; roman lamp in panel with scroll, not signed. IV Nassau Street, New- York. E D French sc. Shows the signs of Sabin and Thomas Bradburn. V Head-band Part the First. EDF VI Initial / p. 3. VII Initial W p. 29. VIII Tail-piece p. 50. IX Government House Signature reads : Engraved on copper by E D French from the Original in the New York Magazine 1795. 80 DESIGNS AND ENGRAVINGS X Head-band | Part the Second. EDF XI Initial p. 53. XII Tail-piece p. 67. XIII Head-band Part the Third EDF XIV Initial T p. 71. Numbers I, IV, and IX are copper engravings, the others are process reproductions. The engravings appear in two states, one unfinished and unsigned, in the Imperial Japanese Vellum edition of the book. Experimental prints of the cop- pers were taken in varied colors. 8 Young Men's Christian Association of the City of New York 1895 To the seal of the Association Mr. French added myrtle sprays. 9 Beverly 1895 The seal of Beverly, Mass. It shows the figure of an armed Puritan, with motto, and the inscription: Founded 1626. Town 1668. City 1894. 10 Commemoration | of the | Fiftieth Anniversary | of | The First Public Demonstration [ of Surgical Anaesthesia | at the I Massachusetts General Hospital | Boston Oc- tober 16th 1846. I The Honour of your Company is requested | October 16th 1896 at ten o'clock. | for the trustees for the staff 1896 E.D.F. sc. Design by B. G. Goodhue. Similar in motive to the book- plate of the hospital. o Thirteen windows in basement of hospital. b The middle basement window replaced by a door. Hospi- tal engraved more lightly. 81 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 1 1 Admit I I to the | Massachusetts General Hospi- tal I October 16th | 1896 1896 Design by B. G. Goodhue. Similar to the book-plate of the hospital. In first proofs the letter t in October is not crossed. 12 A catalogue of books pub | lished by Lamson Wolffe | and Company Boston New | York and London 1896 . 1896 E D French sc. This engraving, signature omitted, was enlarged by photo- gravure. Sizes 5% and y'^A inches high. The body of the plate is the same as that of book-plate No. 85. 13 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. | Founded 1870. | This is to certify that | is a Fellow in Per- petuity of the Metropolitan | Museum of Art, and as such is entitled to the | privileges which now are or hereafter may be | connected with such fellowship, j President. | Secretary. | New York, 19— 1896 a Scroll work in outline. No lettering except word Excel- sior. b Scroll work shaded and seal of New York City added. c- Inscription engraved in part ; portion from is a fellow to such fellowship not yet engraved. E.D.French fecit, 1896 d Completed plate. e Same plate, with for Life instead of in Perpetuity. f Same plate, with words an Honorary Fellow instead of a Fellow in Perpetuity. g Same plate. Fellowship inscription changed to : This is to certify that | is a Patron of the Metropolitan Museum of \ Art, and as such is entitled to the privileges \ which now are or hereafter may be connected \ with such patronship. 82 DESIGNS AND ENGRAVINGS 14 Dartmouth College | The Senior Class requests the j Honour of Your Presence | at their | Commencement Exercises | from June 27th to June 30th | 1897 | June 14th 1897 1897 a Word its instead of their; no border. b As described ; with border. 15 The Journey of | the Iconophiles | around New York in search of | the historical and picturesque | (By W. L. Andrews.) Printed at New York | in the year of our Lord, eighteen | hundred and ninety-seven. . . 1897 Type title. Frontispiece : A view of the Battery and Harbour of New York, and the Ambuscade frigate, 1793. Engraved on cop- per by E D French, from the Original in "Drayton's North- ern and Eastern Tour." Six copies on American hand-made paper have the frontis- piece in two states, before letters and complete. This book contains an account of the engravings done by Mr. French for the Society of Iconophiles. 16 New Amsterdam | New Orange | New York | A chronolog- ically arranged | account of engraved views | of the city from the first | picture published in MDCLI | un- til the year MDCCC | By j William Loring Andrews | Published and for sale by j Dodd, Mead and Company, New York | Anno Domini MDCCCXCVII . . . 1897 Type title. The illustrations include the following engravings on copper by Mr. French : I Lines to the Reader. ii-xiii Head-bands and initial letters, pp. XVH, XXYH, 3, 18; Head-band only, pp. 31, 57, 75, 97. xiv-xx Tail-pieces, pp. XXHL XXXL 27, 54, 72, 93, 132. The head-bands include small early views of New York City. 83 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH Proofs exist of the initials in their first state, on a single copper. The Lines to the Reader, the head-bands, and the tail-piece on p. XXXI are signed E D F; the other engravings are unsigned. 17 A trio I of I eighteenth century | French engravers | of | portraits | in miniature | Ficquet ] Savart | Grateloup | William Loring Andrews | New York MDCCCXCVIIII 1898 Decorative engraved title by Mr. French. a Background engraved, decorated frame in outline. h Frame complete, save for lower sinister oval, which is in outline ; panels blank. E D French sc. c As described. 18 A bibliography | of [ "The Complete Angler" | of Izaak Walton I and Charles Cotton | being a chronologically | arranged list of the several | editions and reprints, from I the first edition MDCLIII until | the year MCM. | by I Arnold Wood. | Illustrated by 86 photographic | re- productions of title pages | New York | Charles Scrib- ner's Sons | MCM 1900 E D French sc. Decorative engraved title by Mr. French. a Three-fourths engraved, from dexter to sinister side. h The date in Arabic numerals, igoo. c Entirely engraved excepting the number 86. Date in Roman numerals, MCM. d Number 86 inserted. 19 The Society of Iconophiles of the | City of New York | Founded MDCCCXCIV. | Amsterdam MDCLI. [New 84 DESIGNS AND ENGRAVINGS York MDCCCC | Pro Urbis Amore | This is to certify that is a | duly elected member of the Society of Iconophiles | of the City of New York, and as such is entitled to the ] privileges which now are or hereafter may be connected | with such membership | President | Secretary. | New York 19— 1900 E D French sc igoo. 20 Paul Revere | and his | Engraving j By | William Loring Andrews | New York | Charles Scribner's Sons | MCMI 1901 Decorative title '"'designed and engraved on copper by E. Davis French in the style classed by book plate collectors as Jacobean." a Lettering and much of decoration in outline, Old South Church finished. h Plate complete, but unsigned. c Signed. E D French, igoi 21 New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations 1903 From the seal by V. D. Brenner. This plate is used on the Library's form of acknowledg- ment of gifts. An electrotype is used on the cover of the Library's monthly "Bulletin" and elsewhere. 22 Andre's Journal. | An authentic record | of the movements and engagements | of the British Army in America j from June 1777 to November 1778 | as recorded from day to day by [ Major John Andre ] Edited by Henry 85 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH Cabot Lodge | Issued by | the Bibliophile Society | for members only | Boston ] MDCCCCIII 1903 E D French fee. Description by Mr. French : "The design of this title- page, a line engraving on copper, shows the portraits of Gen- eral Washington and of Sir Henry Clinton, respectively com- manding the American and English forces at the time this Journal was written. Beneath depend the shields with their armorial bearings. More nearly in the centre of the plate appears a representation of the capture of Major Andre, the Hudson and the Palisades in the distance at the right. At the left are grouped the newly adopted stars and stripes, the thirteen stars arranged in a circle, as they were displayed until 1795, and the 'Pine Tree' flag, bearing the words 'Liberty Tree— An Appeal to Heaven.' Opposite appears the British flag, with the fimbriated cross of Saint George upon a white saltire,— the cross of Saint Andrew ; the white cross of Saint Patrick of the modern flag being a later addi- tion. Behind it is partly shown the royal standard, preten- tiously quartering the lilies of France with the leopards of England. The fleur-de-lis above the representation of the capture alludes to the French origin of Andre's family, and the cross of Saint George in the oval at the top of the de- sign to his English allegiance. The remarque at the lower left-hand corner is a representation of Andre's monument in Westminster Abbey." In the published work the title-page is given in two states, on parchment, with the remarque, and on paper without it. A few impressions exist with the remarque in a reddish- brown ink. a Without names under portraits. Six first impressions on Japan paper. h With names under portraits, and with remarque. c Without remarque. 23 The New York Historical Society | This is to certify that | I is a Patron of the New York Historical Society and as | such is entitled to the privileges which now are or | hereafter may be connected with such pat- 86 DESIGNS AND ENGRAVINGS ronship. | President. | Re- cording Secretary. | New York, | 19 — . 1904 E D French fecit 1904 At the top, on a flowing ribbon, is the name of the society, and under it are the symbols of nation, state and city. To the left of these is "The arrival of Henry Hudson on the 4th September, 1609," a copy of the engraving by A. B. Durand on the old certificate of the Society; to the right, a view of the Society's new building; below, a copy of Block's view of "Novum Amsterodamum," 1650. a Proof. "Patron" lightly scratched into spaces here indi- cated : is a of the and connected with such ship. b Same. With is a of The, the t in the being changed to a capital. c As described. d With Fellow, instead of Patron. e With the following change in the lettering : is an Honorary Member of The New York Historical Society \ and as such is entitled to the privileges which now are or | here- after may be connected with such membership. 24 Views | of | early New York | with illustrative sketches Prepared for the | New York Chapter of the | Colonial Order of the Acorn | New York | Privately printed | MDMIV 1903, 1904 Type title. Extract from introduction — "The committee having this work in charge was fortunate in securing the ser- vices of Mr. Edwin Davis French, who has faithfully repro- duced on copper all of the features of the original prints." The plates are as follows, and, save the last, are unsigned. I Fort Nieuw Amsterdam (New York) 1651. II New York in 1671. III New York in 1673. IV New York in 1733. V City of New York before the Revolutionary War. VI New York in 1801. Cypher EDF Trial proofs exist of the 1651, 1671, 1673 and 1801 views. 87 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH 25 American Badminton Series 1905 Unfinished engraved title, showing decorative border, with nude figures of men and boys, representing various sports, and without the title itself. Design by F. W. Taylor. E D French sc. 26 The letters of | Charles Lamb | in which many mutilated words I and passages have been restored ] to their orig- inal form ; with | letters never before published ] and facsimiles of original MS | letters and poems | With an introduction by | Henry H. Harper | Issued by | The Bibliophile Society | for members only | Boston MDCCCCV 1905 E D French fee. The last decorative title engraved by Mr. French, with por- trait of Lamb centered at top. Remarque; Roast sucking pig on platter. This title was used with the remarque in the announcement of the book. Some proofs have no remarque. 27 Camp Wild Air | Upper St. Regis. Picturesque vignette with pine needle decoration. Letter-head designed for Mr. Whitelaw Reid. EDFsc 28 Brook Farm Proctorsville Vt. | 189- A letter-head having a scroll-surrounded engraving of the country place of Mr. James Hale Bates. 29 Stationery Department | Charles Scribner's Sons. An engraved heading of flowing scrolls, with circular panel containing lamp and books. 88 DESIGNS AND ENGRAVINGS 30 Carnegie Institute of Washington 1902. A seal, lettered in circle surrounding portrait. Engraved by Mr. French, but used only in photo-electrotype. 31 A view of the Harvard Campus. Engraved for the late Edwin B. Holden, but never published before its inclusion in the present volume. Working proofs exist v^rith trees in outline. Without letters, unsigned. 89 INDEX OF BOOK-PLATES Adams, Edward Dean, ipg, 240 Adams, Ernest Kempton, 207 Adams, Frances Amelia, 187 Adams, Ruth, 174 Adams, Walter B., 208 Adriance Mem'l Library, 195 Alexander, Amy B., 170 Alexander, Charles B., 44 Allen, Charles Dexter, 141 American Institute of Electrical Engineers, 240 Andrews, Wm. Loring, 11, "j^i, 291 Armour, George Allison, 11 1 Armstrong, Charles D., 211 Arnold, Bion J., Gift of, 240 Authors Club, 98 Avery, Ellen Walters, In Memo- riam, 10 Baillie, Gertrude M., 295 Baillie, W. E., 17 Bakewell, Allan C, 142 Bakewell, Alice C, 43 Baldwin, Sarah Rodman, 190 Balken, Edward Duff, 203, 220 Bar, Ass'n of the, 67, 118, 119 Barger, Samuel F., 53 Barnes, John Sanford, 180 Bates, James Hale, 36 Bell Telephone Co., Gift of, 240 Belknap, Helen Runyon, 96 Bernheim, A. C, 42 Bernheim, Henry C, 242 Bernheim, Julius C. and Emily S., 276 Bierstadt, Edward Hale, 16 Biltmoris, 60, 69 Bishop, Natala Washburne, 200 Bixby, Emma Stewart, 274 Bixby, W. K., 275 Black, Henry V. D., 271 Blackwell, Henry, 20, 147, 150 Bliss, Caroline Seagrave, 231 Bliss, Catherine A., 87 Boas, Emil Leopold, 139 Borden, M. C. D., 175, 176 Borland, Harriet Blair, 80 Bradshaw, Sidney Ernest, 133 Brainerd, Eveline Warner, 96 Brainerd, Helen Elvira, I, 4 Brainerd, Ira H., 212 Brainerd, Martha Elizabeth, 294 Brandegee, John E., Fund, 282 Brewer, William Augustus, 228 Brown, Georgette, 124 Buck, John H., 166 Bull, William Lanman, 65 Bullock, James Wilson, 171 Burke, Edward F., 104 Burnham, William Henry and Katharine French, 213 Burrill. John E., Fund, 118 Byrd, Francis Otway, 288 Byrd, George H., 288 Byrd, Richard Evelyn, 288 Byrd, William, 288 91 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH Caldwell, Edward, Gift of, 240 Candidati, 96 Carnegie, Lucy Coleman, 91 Carnegie Fund, 240 Carter, James C, Gift of, 119 Cary, Katharine T., 257 Cercle Franqais, 223 de Chaignon, 298 Chamberlain, Elisabeth, 151, 167 Champaign Public Library, 59 Cheney, Alice S., 156 Chew, Beverly, 7, 47, 285 Child Memorial Library, 100 Church, E. D., 41 Cincinnati Law Library, Rufus King Fund, 234 Clark, Charles E., 8, 9 Clark University, 232 Clarke, Charles L.. Gift of, 240 Clough, Micajah P., 51, 66 Colonial Dames of America, 18 Connecticut Society of Colonial Wars, 193 Connell, William, 97 Cosmos Club, 273 Coutant, Richard B., 28 Cox, Jennings Stockton, 125 Crerar, John, Library, 83 Gushing (Armorial), 145 Gushing, Ex Libris Medicis, 115 Daly, Helen Hunt, 96 Dana, Charles L., 131 Davis. Cora Paschall, 279 Day, Elsie Lewis, 96 Deats, Hiram Edmund, 22 Denver Club, 84 De Vinne, Theo. L., 56 Digamma, 201 Dill, James B., 197 Dimock, George Edward, 244 Downes, Mary L. S., 260 Dows, Tracy, 70 Drexel, Lucy Wharton, 255 Duryee, George Van Wagenen and Margaret Van Nest, 143 Edison, Thomas A., Gift of, 240 Ellsworth, James William, 46 Emmet, Thos. Addis, Collection of, 88 Field Memorial Library, 194 Fisher, Lucius G., 265 Foot, Margaret H., 168 Foote, Charles B., 19 French, Edwin Davis, 3, 5, 289, 290, 299 French, Mary Brainerd, 2 Frick, Henry Clay, 284 Furman, Dorothy, 198 Gage, Homer, 214 Gage, Mabel Carleton, 185 Gale, Edward Courtland, 136 Giles, Ellen Rose, 96 Godfrey, Jonathan, 32 Goldsmith, Abraham, no Goldsmith, James A., 121 Goodrich, J. King, 64 Goodwin, Elizabeth Sage, 233 Goodwin, Francis, 30 Goodwin, James J., 29, 45 Goodwin, Philip L., 221 Gould, George J.. 269 Gray, Adelle Webber, 89 Gray, John Chipman, 202 Greene, Francis Bunker, 252 Grolier Club, 21 Haber, Louis L, 38 Hagerstown, 206 Harbor Hill, 184 Harper, Henry H., 249 Hartshorne (Armorial), 183 Hartshorne, Mary Minturn, 106 Harvard University Cercle Franqais, 223 92 INDEX OF BOOK-PLATES Child Memorial, lOO Digamma, 201 Harvard Union, 186 Hohenzollern Collection, 239 Societatis Signeti, 181 Harvey, George, 264 Havemeyer, Wm. Frederick, 55 Heckscher, John Gerard, 210 Herter, Christian A., T2 Hoe, Ruth Lancaster, 224 Hofifman, Eugene Augustus, 216 Hoffman, Samuel Verplanck, 248 Hohenzollern Collection, 239 Holbrook, John S., 267 Holden, Alice C, 25 Holden, Edith, 61 Holden, Edwin B., 23, 24 Holden, Edwin R., 26 Hooper, Nona Newlin, 209 Hopkins, Robert Emmet, 155 Horsford, Cornelia, 149 Hutchinson, Cary T., Gift of, 240 Hyde, James Hazen, Gift of, 186 James, Walter B., 164 Jackman, S. E. and L. H., 278 Johns Hopkins University, Row- land Memorial, 227 Johnston, W. J., Gift of, 240 Jones, Timothy, 297 Jordan, Elizabeth, 272 Kahn, O. A., 90 Kalbfleisch, Charles C, 33 Keith, Nath'l S., Gift of, 240 Keyes, Helen, 96 King, Georgiana Goddard, 96 King, Rufus, Fund, 234 Kingsbury, Edith Davies, 94 Lambert, Samuel W., 113 Lamson, Edwin Ruthven, 85 Larner, John B., 173 Lawrence, Emily Hoe, 35 Lee, Georgia Medora, 253 Leeds, Louise Hartshorne, 140 Leeds, Warner Mifflin, 229 Leeds, William Bateman, 247 Lefferts, Marshall C, 15, 292 Lefferts, Mollie Cozine, 105 Leggett, Cora Artemesia, 6 Lemperly, Paul, 102, 153 Little, Arthur West, 172 Livermore, John R., 159, 280 Livermore, John Walton, 280 Long Island Historical Society, Storrs Memorial, 192 Loveland, John W. and Lee Part- ridge, 169 Lovett, Benjamin Barnes, 245 Lowenstein, L. B., 39 Lyman, Annie, 230 Mackay, Katharine, 148, 184 Macy, Valentine Everit, 68 McAlpin, Charles W., 225 McCarter, Robert H., 92 McGraw Publishing Co., Gift of, 240 McKee, Thomas Jefferson, 49 McLaughlin, Edward Tompkins, Memorial, T2 Mailloux, C. O., Gift of, 240 Mansergh, R. S., yj Marshall, Frank Evans, 58 Marshall, Julian, 95 M edicts, Ex Libris, 115 Merriman, Roger Bigelow, 188 Messenger, Maria Gerard, 54, 86, 151 Metcalf, Esther Pierce, 281 Metropolitan Museum, 40 Moore, Louise Taylor Harts- horne, 140 Morgan, A. J., 74 Mynderse, Wilhelmus, 217 93 EDWIN DAVIS FRENCH N. Y. Electrical Society, Gift of, 240 N. Y. Public Library, Emmet Collection, 88 N. Y. Yacht Club, 163 Nimick, Florence Coleman, 128 Notman, John, 254 Odd Volumes, Club of, 62 Orchards, The, 151, 167 Osborn, Henry Fairfield, 243 Osborne, Thomas Mott and Agnes Devens, 57 Oxford Club, 12 Palmer, Lowell Mason, 218, 219 Palmer, Lowell Melvin, 235 Phillips, William, 189 Players, The, 13 Plummer, Mary Emma, 81 Porter, Jr., Nathan T., 160 Prescott, Eva Snow Smith, 132 Princeton University, 108 Pyne, M. Taylor, 50, 107 Pyne, Percy Rivington, 63, 107 Pyne, R. Stockton, 204 Queen's University, 263 R J S, 162 Ranney, Henry Clay and Helen Burgess, 103 Reid, Whitelaw, 14 Richards, Walter Davis, 191 Robinson, C. L. F., 158 Robinson, Mary Barber, 237 Rogers, William Beverley, 205 Rowe, Henry Sherburne, 34 Rowland, Henry A., Mem'l, 227 Sabin, Ruth Mary, 99 Salmon, Lucy Maynard, 165 Sampson, Florence de W., 109 Sayler, John R., 277 Scripps, James Edmund, 129 Sedgwick, Henry Renwick, 138 Sedgwick, Robert, ']^ Sheffield, K. C. S., 127, 238 Sherman, William Watts, 179 Sherwin, Henry A., 52, 82 Sherwood, Samuel Smith, 117 Simmons, Parke E., 270 Simon, Herman, 226, 236 Skinner, Mark, Library, loi Slade, Mabel, 241 Smith, Henry A., 286 Smith, Mary Nixon, 266 Societatis Signeti, 181 Sovereign, 71, 79 Sprague, Mary Bryant, 250, 251 Stearns, John Lloyd, 93 Stevens, Harriette M., 259 Stickney, Edward Swan, 134 Stratton, A. Dwight, 112 Sutton, Frederick J. H., 293 Sweetser, Kate Dickinson, 96 Symon, Martha A., 268 Taft, Theo. and Eleanor, 258 Talmage, John F., 135 Tatlock, William and Helen Woodruff, 289 Taylor, Chas. H., Jr., 78 Thorne, K. C. S., 127 Treadwell Library, 152 Truesdell, Winfred P., 246 Twentieth Century Club, 122 U-scpe-ars-so-ap, 296 Union League Club, 157 University Club, 154 Utica Public Library, 282 Vail, Davis Righter, 262 Vail, Henry H., 48 Van Wagenen, Fred. W., 123 Varnum, James M., 196 Vassar Alumnag Hist. Assn., 116 Volapiik, 3, 290 94 INDEX OF BOOK-PLATES Ward, Mary Minturn, io6 Warner, Beverley, 31 Washington County, 206 Weaver, W. D., Gift of, 240 Welsh, Gertrude Clarkson, 256 Wendell, Barrett, 114 Wetzler, Joseph, Gift of, 240 Wheeler, S. S., Gift of, 240 Whitin, Sarah Elizabeth, 178 Wilcox, Louise Collier, 96 Wiley, Sara King, 96 Willets, Howard, 75 Williams, E. P., 126 Williams, John Skelton, 146 Wilson, Margaret Chase, 96 Winslow, Wynne, 215 Winthrop, Henry Rogers, 120 Wodell, Silas, 161 Wood, Arnold, 130, 144 Wood, Ethel Hartshorne, 137, 261 Wood, W. C, 222 Woodbury, Charles H., 67 Woodbury, John P., 27 Woodward, S. Walter, 177 Worcester Art Museum, 182 Wright, J. Hood, 287 Yale Club, 283 Yale University, McLaughlin Memorial, 72 INDEX OF MISCELLANEOUS DESIGNS AND ENGRAVINGS Acorn, Colonial Order of the, 24 American Badminton Series, 25 Andre's Journal, 22 Andrews, William Loring, En- gravings for, 2, 7, 16, 17, 20 Bates, James Hale, 28 Beverly, Seal of, 9 Bibliophile Society, The, Titles executed for, 22, 26 Britannia, The, 2 Carnegie Institute, 30 Complete Angler, The, 18 French, E. D., i French Engravers, 17 Harvard Campus, 31 Iconophiles, Society of, 5, 15, 19 Lamb, Charles, Letters of, 26 Lamson Wolfife and Co., 12 Mass. General Hospital, 10, 11 Metropolitan Museum, 3, 13 New York City Views, 5, 7, 15, 16, 19, 24 N. Y. Historical Society, 23 N. Y. Public Library, 21 Reid, Whitelaw, 27 Revere, Paul, 20 Scribner's, Charles, Sons, 29 Sower, The, 2 Union College Centennial, 4 Universitas et civitas, 6 Wood, Arnold, Title executed for, 18 Young Men's Christian Ass'n , 8 95 ivi2a'?G13 THE UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA UBRARY uc B^^m) '"''se^i'il,' f U DAY USE ^ RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED 1 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. IDES 1 a 1SB4 JAN 5 1965 OCT 1 4: 1966 APR 19 1975 i , (E45o5sl0)4<6 Berkeley t'