BY THE SAME WRITER. SCHOOLS AND MASTERS OF FENCE. George Bell and Sons. New and Revised Edition. 1892. Translated: VEscrime et les Escri?neurs. Paris : P. Ollendorff. 1888. CONSEQUENCES. A Novel. Richard Bentley and Son. 1 89 1. New York : Appleton and Co. "LA BELLA" AND OTHERS. Studies of Character and Action. Cassell and Company. 1892. New York : Apple- ton AND CO. ENGLISH BOOK-PLATES (EX-LIBRIS). j^. r Bacon eques auratus & magni Jmlli zXngliae Cuftos It brum bunc hi- aliothecae Cantabngdicauit* English Book-Plates Ancient and Modern by Egerton Castle M.A.,F.S.A. London : George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden, & New York. Mdcccxciij. ICMOQl First edition of 1,000 copies, published December, 1892, New and enlarged edition, November, 1893. PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. HE first edition of this book, published in December, 1892, was specially pre- pared to supply the curious in the matter of book-plates with a general account of many interesting facts connected with English Ex-libris. Hitherto there had been no popular book on the subject, and none that touched upon the interest, artistic and personal, of modern examples. As that edition was exhausted within a few weeks of publication, and the type distributed, no further copies could be issued. In view of the continual demand, it was decided to re-model and re-issue the whole work. In this volume some sixty new examples have been added, including a facsimile of the Bacon gift-plate in colours and thirteen plates printed from the original coppers in place of the six which appeared in the first edition. The Bibliographical Appendix has also, with the kind collaboration of Mr. H. W. Fincham, been expanded and made to include every pub- lished account of, or literary allusion to English Book-plates that might prove of interest to the " Ex-librist." 829768 \ PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. ANY are the interesting facts connected with book-plates, known to students and collectors, yet little dreamed of by the greater number even of those who hold themselves curious of everything connected with " The Book." Indeed, the chief difficulty in presenting these facts to the reader is to reduce them to sufficient order, chronologically or other- wise. There is so much multifarious information capable of being " tacked on " to the subject, that every specialist writing about ex-libris is prone to make them vehicles for his own favourite snippets of information. This is more particularly notice- able in those numerous disquisitions on book-plates contributed to antiquarian periodicals. On the other hand, of the very few works, existing in volume form (half-a-dozen at the most), which deal with the subject at hand, only two treat of English Book-plates. These latter, which have long been out of print, rich mines of information though they be, and indispensable to the regular collector, are for that very reason not sufficiently xii Preface. popular in their scope to meet the requirements of the general reader. In the present volume I have attempted to make a rapid survey of the history of English book-plates qua book-plates ; to trace the origin of these marks of ownership and the gradual spread of their use from the Continent to this country ; to concatenate the successive " styles " in their ornamentations, and the various " classes" of devices that have been most in vogue up to the present time. This short history, supported by a general record of sundry facts that bear more or less immediately on the study of book-plates, and by reference to the existing literature of the subject, should, I imagine, prove interesting, not only to collectors, but to anyone who owns a book-plate, whether personal or handed down with an ances- tral library. It may also be of use to those who — impressed with the idea that a token destined to record for ever their transient ownership should be both original and artistic in design — may wish to know something of the ex-libris of many distin- guished contemporaries. Some of the examples here reproduced are very rare, many are very good of their kind, many again are of interest on account of their owner's personality. But most of them have been selected mainly as types ; and for this purpose, whenever possible, several examples of each class have been grouped together, in order that common features might be discriminated by comparison. It is well to state that, with the exception of a Preface. xiii few instances (among which the four ex-libris engraved by Mr. Sherborn, my own and two or three others, which it has been possible to print direct from the copper plate or wood block), the illustrations being reproduced by " process and on modern paper, cannot convey all the charac- teristics of the original engravings. This draw- back, however, is unavoidable in a book where copious illustration is of paramount importance. Modern specimens have in all cases been given for copy by their owners. For the loan of sundry rare examples, also for valuable advice, I am in- debted to the courteous interest shown in this work by well-known collectors, Miss E. Chamberlayne, Lord de Tabley, the Hon. Gerald Ponsonby, Mr. C. W. Sherborn, (that typical /'little master" of modern days), Mr. Arthur Vicars, Mr. J. R. Brown (the present chairman of the Ex-libris Society), and Mr. J. P. Rylands, in whose genial company I first learned something of the many interests that may lurk about a book-plate. I must also express my obligation to Mr. Glee- son White (an " eclectic" collector like myself), without whose active help in attending to the numerous details connected with the bringing out of an illustrated book, I do not think I could have completed the present work within the very short time available for its compilation. E. C. 49, Sloane Gardens, S.W. DESIGNED BY SIDNEY HEATH. CONTENTS. PAGE Introduction i First Group — Early Armorial 41 The Tudoresque Style (1590-1625) 42 The Carolian Style (1625-1660) ....... 48 The " Restoration " Style 56 Group the Second. Eighteenth Century : — The Queen Anne and Early Georgian Style (" Jaco- bean") 68 The Middle Georgian, "Chippendale" or "Rococo" Style 81 The Later Georgian (Festoon) Style 102 Pictorial Plates : — I. "Literary" (Book-piles and Library In- teriors) 117 II. Portrait Book-plates 130 III. Allegoric Book-plates 133 IV. The "Landscape" Book-plate ... 141 Group the Third — Modern Plates : — Modern Armorial — Die-Sinker Style 152 Seals and Vesicas 173 Printers' Mark Style 181 Heraldic-allegoric 187 Heraldic-symbolic 202 Pictorial Non-Heraldic Plates 214 The Choice of a Book-plate and Book-plate Collecting 285 The Book-plate's Petition 3 16 Bibliography of English Book-plates 331 Index 343 CONSTITUTIONAL CLUB : LIBRARY. DESIGNED BY HERBERT P. HORNE. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Copper-Plates and Coloured Plates. To face page Gift-Plate of Sir Nicholas Bacon to the Univer- sity of Cambridge, 1574. Facsimile in three colours, lithographed by W. Griggs Frontispiece Book-Plate of William Robinson of Liverpool. Copper by C. W. Sherborn 1 Book-Plate of Lord de Tabley. Copper by C. W. Sherborn 16 Book-Plate of Thomas Swanbrook Glazebrook of Birkenhead. Copper by C. W. Sherborn 24 Book-Plate of Edgerton Smith of Preston. From the original copper, circa 1725 75 Book-Plate of John Henslow. From the original cop- per, circa 1780 101 Book-Plate Engraved for Captain Cook's son. Pro- bably at the Herald's College, on the occasion of a grant of arms to the family, in 1785 115 Portrait Book-Plate of Samuel Pepys. Facsimile in photogravure by Walker and Boutall 130 Book-Plate of General Viscount Wolseley. Copper by C. W. Sherborn 159 Design for a Book-Plate (Helmet, Crest, and Motto). Copper by G. W. Eve 160 Design for a "Seal" Plate. George Douglas, Duke of Argyll, k.g., k.t. Copper by G. W. Eve .... 173 Book-Plate of H.M. the Queen, for the Windsor Library. Woodcut, in two colours, by West and Mary Byfleld. (Reproduced by gracious permission.) . . . 181 Book-Plate of Henry Irving. Woodcut, in two colours, by Bernard Partridge 239 Portrait Book-Plate of H. S. Ashbee, F.S.A. Etch- ing by Paul Avril 278 XV111 List of Illustrations. To face page Portrait Book-Plate of Walter Herries Pollock. Photo-etching by Walker and Boutall, from a pen drawing by Agnes Castle 28b Book-Plate of James Carlton Stitt. Photogravure of a design by Simon Gribelin, adapted 290 Illustrations in the Text. RylandsJ.Paul Dedication, 186 Heath, F. R. . . . . Constitutional Club Li brary Pepys, Samuel . . . Fincham, H. W. . . . Monastery of Buxheim Pomer, Hector . r . Pinson, Richard ... Fawkes, Richard. . . Scott, John ..... Treshame, Sir Thomas The Bysshe Plate . . The Eynes Plate . . Gwyn, Francis, of Lansa nor Wentworth, Thomas . Brodrick, St. John . . Campbell, The Hon. Ar chibald ..,..,. 61 Bath, The Dowager Coun- tess of 62 Simcox, Martha .... 63 Nicholson, Gilbert, of Bal- rath 65 Corpus Christi College, Oxford 70 Somerset, Lady Heniretta 71 Maister, Henry, of Kings- ton-upon-Hull .... 73 John 4th Duke of Bedford 75 Lloyd, The Rev. J. . . . 77 Charles, 5th Baron Corn- wallis 78 Bancks, John .. .. ..... 79 xiv xvi 7,53 29 33 35 37 38 39 45 49 5i 58 59 60 Wilberforce, William . Nash, Robert .... Sweetman, Henry . . Foote, Benjamin Hatley Walters, Henry . . . Smith, Matthew . . . Frederick, Sir Charles . Campbell, T Vere, James, jun. . . Ord, John Heriot, Charles . . . Hubbald, , of Stoke Surrey Gulston, Elize . . . Hatfield House Library The Barrow, The Rev. W. . Dickinson, Charles . . Larking, John . . . Macgregor, General Rogers, Samuel . . . Walton, John . . . Anonymous (Urn fashion Dyer, Charles . . . Beaufort, The Rev. D. A. Hewer, William . . . Bolas, Thomas . . . Wyndham, Wadham . Ashton, H., Esq. . . Gray's Inn Library . . Samwell, T. S. W. . . Avlesford, Earl of . . Bree, The Rev. W. T. . Lumisden, Andrew . Bessborough, Countess of 83 85 88 89 9i 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 103 105 106 107 108 109 110 in 112 113 118 120 121 122 123 125 127 129 135 138 List of Illustrations. xix Townley, Charles Wilson, J. . . Farr, Samuel, M.D. Broughton, A., M.D Neild, Jas. . . Boteler, William "Strawberry Hill" plat Anderson, John, jun Hawks, George . Bainbridge, G. C. Lane, William Caulfield, Richard Bailey, William, of Belfast Buckle, Henry Thomas Trollope, Anthony . . Dibdin, Thomas Frognall Larking, John Wingfield, of Lea, Kent Prescott, Dr. . Yeatman,The Rev. Huyshe Wolcott .... - Lyon King of Arms Clarke, Henry Savile Carlyle, Thomas . Tennyson, Lord . Dickens, Charles Cussans, J. E. Yates, Edmund . Day, Robert . . Eton College Library Althorp Library, The Crawhall, Joseph Archaeological Society The, Co. Kildare . . Aide", Hamilton . . . Baring-Gould, The Rev. S Evans, Sir John, K.C.B. Middleton - Wake, The Rev. C. H. . . Loftie, The Rev. W Angell, Samuel . Sykes, Christopher Fitzgerald, Edward Seaman, H. G. . Locker, Frederick 195, 196 Locker- Lampson, Godfrey J- PAGE 139 I40 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 I50 151 153 154 155 156 158 l6l I63 165 166 168 I69 ,293 173 174 175 177 178 179 l80 l8l 182 183 184 I8 5 188 I89 191 193 ■ 197 199 Ewart Aylorde, Henry . Brierly, Sir Oswald Leighton, John . Russell, John Scott Gladstone, William Corbet, M. R. . . Folkard, Henry . White, Gleeson . Campbell, Mrs. . Meade, L. T. . . Lake, Ernest . . Browning, Oscar Doble, Charles E. Ford, E. Onslow . Sharp, C. . . . Tait, Henry . . Turnbull, A. H. . Crane, Walter . . Shorter, Clement . 2 Besant, Walter . Perris, John . . Warren, The Hon. Leicester . . Dobson, Austin . Gosse, Edmund . Alma Tadema, Lawrence . Brown, James Roberts Jackson, Robert . . . . 203 204 205 207 209 . 211 . 212 215, 220 . 217 . 218 . 219 . 221 . 222 . 223 . 224 . 225 . 226 . 227 247, 255 . 229 B, 230 231 233 234 237 240 241 242 Wheeler, E. J 243 Slater, Walter Brindley . 244 Winterbotham, James . . 245 Coutts, Money .... 246 Mathews, Charles Elkin . 248 Macdonald, Wm. Rae . . 249 Gray, J. M. ..... 250 Beddard, F. C 251 Somervell, Arthur . . . 252 Brooke, The Rev. A. Stop- ford 253 Cox, Henry Fisher . . . 254 Philpott, The Rev. R. S. . 256 New, Edmund Hort . . 257 Paton, A. V 258 Heath, S. H 259 Holme, Charles .... 260 XX List of Illustrations. Evans, F. H Manning, William . . . Kitchin, George .... Vicars, Arthur .... Castle, Egerton .... Keverstone Library, The . Bell, A. G. and N. . . . Patterson, Jane . ... Hogg, Warrington . . . Goddard, W. Knightley . Pain, Barry Pollock, Walter Herries . Haggard, H. Rider . . . Loftie, The Rev. W. J. . Frampton, Christabel, A. . Parsons, The Rev. D. . . PAGE 26l Mayo, The Earl of . PAGE . 288 263 Ponsonby,TheHon. Gerald 289 264 Hamilton, Walter . . 291 265 Martin, J. S. . . . • 294 269 Home, Herbert P. . . 295 271 Keene, Charles . . . 296 273 Rylands, Harry . . . 297 274 Spokes, Russell . . . 298 275 Castle, Egerton . . • 3 QI 277 Davies, F. Trehawke . 304 279 Crosby Hall Library, The 309 280 Huth, Frederick Henr> T . 3IO 28l Sweetman, Elinor . • 311 282 Vallance, Aymer. . • 327 283 Wright, W. H. K. . • 330 287 Brackett, W. H. . . • 342 ^ Willi am Robinson ENGLISH BOOK-PLATES. (ex libris.) INTRODUCTION. [HERE are still men of books (makers, vendors, and buyers, I mean,) who actually do not know the meaning of the word book-plate, or of its jargon equivalent, ex-libris. " Did I possess a book-plate, as you call it," writes one of the most distinguished men of letters of the day, " it would be much at your service ; but I am so far from being the owner of such a thing that I do not know what it is, nor have I ever heard of it." More than once, when breaking new ground in book-stall land, intent on discovering ancient and cheap volumes still garnished with valuable but possibly unconsidered ex-libris, have I been referred by a not up-to-date and otherwise unsophisticated bouquiniste to a box of miscellaneous illustrations and engravings, labelled " this lot of plates, from four pence." One particularly testy person of that calling on one occasion even argued the point and, in answer to my unreasonable insistence that B 2 English Book-plates. such were not book-plates, in the ex-libris sense, aired unexpected latinity : "they were plates," he asseverated, " and they were out of books ; ergo book-plates ex-libris " thus once more testifying to the etymological inadequacy of the word book- plate ; and in a way also, to that of ex-libris. For the use of my friends and acquaintances, whom of late I have taken to catechizing with reference to their possession of a personal book- plate, I have found it necessary to have a stereo- typed phrase of explanation. All this would tend to prove that notwith- standing the increased interest lately shown for " those charming personalities that we find affixed within the covers of books by their owners " (to use Mr. John Leighton's fond description), there are still some men of books, as I said, (and women also), who do not even know of their existence. As this volume is not set forth for the use, nor I fear for the delectation, of established collec- tors (who no doubt, both in the general and the particular, have a much more complete knowledge of the matter than I can boast of), but rather for the guidance of the average book-lover who may or may not have heard that there are such things as book-plates and that these are occasionally interest- ing, it seems fit to define from the outset what is an ex-libris, what a book-plate. One of the first cares, as a rule, of the regular book-buyer on returning home of an evening, the Introduction. 3 pleased possessor of a new volume, or yet after sorting the parcel sent by his bibliopole, is to affix on each recruit some special mark of owner- ship before passing him to the rank and file of his library. This branding may be done in many ways, and for various reasons. First, concerning the ways. — Many men simply enter their names in ink or pencil on the fly leaf, or more ruthless, on the actual title-page ; or yet again, in school-boy fashion, on the edge. Some have been known to stamp with monogram or crest the verso of a book cover in wax or wafer, scooping out an adequate hollow for the perpetra- tion ; others, of very latter-day philistinism, accom- plish a similar defacement of a fair volume by means of a stencil or a rubber stamp and endors- ing fluid. A great number, however, with somewhat higher notions of the neatness which befits a printed volume, affix on their books a more or less orna- mental name-ticket ; a certain misguided sub-section of these latter utilise visiting cards for this purpose. But your real book-lover goes some way beyond these modest means of heralding ownership in his silent yet eloquent, his ever-ready, instructive or amusing, moral-teaching or vice-flattering slaves. He considers that any volume worth preserving, (in the book-pride sense) should have no adjunct but such as can enhance its appearance, increase its value. In his mind the master's badge must be a thing of beauty, a token of satisfaction. This is the man who devises, or causes others more crafty than himself to devise for him, speaking 4 English Book-plates. labels, works of art, which to the world at large will proclaim something of the owner's position or personality, and in the owner himself will evoke a recurring sense of self-congratulation. Among the more wealthy or ardent bibliolaters, a mere label, however artistic, is often not held a sufficient token of love for their books ; their mark of possession must form a still more integrate and decorative part of the cherished tomes. Their ex-libris must be embodied in the very ornamenta- tion of a costly binding, must be tooled or stamped on the cover itself. The study of these stcper- libros — as such luxurious marks have been spe- cially termed — is however a subject by itself. 1 Now, all tokens of ownership in books, whether they be careless signature, or seal or stencil mark ; whether they be modest printed name-labels, superb heraldic plates, or allegorical compositions signed by some ■ " little master," or yet again gorgeous super-libros as above described, all these are known in the modern bibliophile's jargon as ex-libris. The accepted English equivalent is "book- plate." It may be pointed out that the two expressions are not really synonymous, for although all book-plates proper enter into the category of ex-libris, all ex-libris, as we have seen, are not necessarily book-plates. But as, of all marks of book possession, printed or engraved labels are not only the most distinctive and numerous but 1 A subject which has been practically exhausted (as far as French books are concerned) by Johannis Guigard, in his "Armorial du Bibliophile," Paris, Bachelin Deflorenne, 1870-73, 4to. : with illustrations in the text. Introduction. also, to a certain extent, the most interesting, it is expedient to dismiss the autograph and the armorial stamp on the binding as not belonging to the present subject, and to consider the terms ex-libris and book-plate as practically interchangeable. Neither the Latin nor the vernacular expression is satisfactory ; but they are both consecrated by usage, and it is obvious that none of the terms that have been suggested to replace them, such as " owner-plate " or " book-label," are more ex- plicit or more elegant. The Latin words, ex-libris, are of international use, and have been admitted as technical in Larousse's " Grand Dictionnaire Universel du XlXeme siecle : — "Ex-libris, mots latins qui signifient litteVale- ment : des livres, d'entre les livres, faisant partie des livres, avec le nom du proprietaire. Ces mots s'inscrivent ordinairement en tete de chaque volume d'une bibliotheque, avec la signature du proprietaire." The definition is not very exact ; or, at least, it is too general. As to the word book-plate itself, it has been until very lately ignored by English lexicographers. Cassell's " Encyclopaedic Dictionary," 1888, was, I believe, the first to notice it, and as follows : — " Book-plate, a piece of paper stamped or en- graved with a name or device and pasted in a book to show the ownership." 6 English Book-plates. "The American Dictionary of Printing and Book-Making" (Part iv., Jan. 1892) published by Howard, Lockwood and Co., New York, takes a little more trouble about the word : — "Ex-libris — Book-plates; the ornamental de- signs inserted on the inside of the cover of a book, or upon one of the fly-leaves, to indicate possession. They are usually something after the manner of heraldry, but often with the name and residence at full length. The use of book-plates is one of the fashions of the present day, and is likely to continue. Specimens occur in books printed as early as 15 16, but in England, France, and Germany they became very common in the last century. Many eminent engravers were called upon to execute this class of work, and among the examples of that day still extant are a great number which bear evidence of superior skill. In America, owing to the rarity of engravers before the year 1800, we have few ex-libris; but since 1840 they have been tolerably numerous. Several books have lately been written upon this subject, and long series of articles have been written for the magazines upon it." This explanation, although a trifle more explicit than Larousse's notice, is hardly correct as to facts. I give the two extracts to show that however un- satisfactory as definitions, the two terms are now recognized and must be adhered to. The Latin expression, it is well to add, is dis- tinctly foreign in origin, and rarely occurs on any but comparatively modern English plates. 1 1 The earliest occurrence seems, according to Warren, to be Introduction. 7 With reference to the English name, the student can only speculate on what such labels may have been called in the early days of their existence. As far as we know at present, the earliest approach to the word book-plate is discoverable in the " Diary of Mr. Samuel Pepys," who, on the 21st BOOK-PLATE OF SAMUEL PEPYS. 1668. day of July, 1668, made the following entry in his book : — " Went to my plate maker's and there spent an on the book-plate of Richard Towneley, of Towneley, Lancashire, dated 1702. The term never came into common use before this century. 8 English Book-plates. hour about contriving my little plates for my books of the King's four yards." " David Loggan," says Mr. Hardy, in the intro- ductory chapter of his work on book-plates, "a German born, and an engraver of some note has, in writing to Sir Thomas Isham in 1676, a no more concise term for I sham's book-plate than 'a print of your cote of arms.' Loggan, as a return for many favours, had sent Sir Thomas a book- plate designed and executed by himself. ' Sir,' he says in the covering letter, ' I send you hier a Print of your Cote of Armes. I have printed 200, wich I will send with the plate by the next return, and bege the favor of your keind excepttans of it as a small Niew yaer's Gift or a aknowledgment in part for all your favors. If anything in it be amies, I shall be glade to mend it. I have taken the Heralds painters derection in it ; it is very much used among persons of Quality to past ther Cotes of Armes befor ther bookes instade of wreithing ther names.' " I have thought it worth while to give the whole quotation on account of the last sentence, which records, as it were, in situ, the beginning of the then fast-spreading fashion of armorial book- plates. In his " Anecdotes of Painting," and again in his "Catalogue of Engravers" (177 1), Horace Walpole approximates to the word book-plate ; in the first he adverts to Hogarth's engraved cypher label as " a plate he used for his book ; " and in the second speaks of the allegoric design engraved by George Vertue for Lady Henrietta Introduction. 9 Cavendish Holies, as "a plate to put in Lady Oxford's books." The first use of the actual word itself seems to occur in John Ireland's " Hogarth Illustrated," the first volume of which was published in 1.791. Here the biographer gives it as his opinion that " the works of Callot were probably his (Hogarth's) first models, and shop-bills and book-plates his first performances." Again, as Mr. Hardy points out, in 1798 Ireland refers to the "book-plate" for Lambert, the herald painter, which Hogarth had executed. Bartolozzi, giving a receipt for the book-plate he had engraved for the Countess of Bessborough, called it a " name-ticket." But it is just possible that the little engraving w T as originally intended as a visiting card (see the chapter on Allegoric Plates). And now concerning the reasons for a custom which may be said to be almost as old as the printed book itself, and which is anything but on the wane at the present time. — Books are not consumable goods, but chattels intended to endure; they are at all times invested with definite intrinsic value, often with fanciful preciousness. But, to fulfil their destiny, they must consort with many people, and, during the inevitable changing of hands, may easily lose their way back to the rightful owner. This dread fate may overtake them even without any intermeddling of the tra- ditional malice prepense of book-borrowers, for, after all, almost all books have numerous brethren io English Book-plates. singularly like unto themselves. And, having once lost their way, they might lightly find them- selves established in new colonies, were it not for the safeguard of some unmistakable mark of ownership. Thus it may be said that the primary object of an ex-libris, is precautionary against loss, by accident or through the negligence of borrowers ; (whether a book-plate has ever fulfilled that pur- pose is, however, an open question still). A second, closely connected with the first, is to secure the identification of a valued tome as part of a collec- tion. A third and universal object of the book- plate is, as I have said before, to gratify the sense of possession by giving some kind of personal character to chattels which in themselves are only specimens of more or less copious batches, or (by a curious, though intelligible reversal of the same idea) by giving this character to a work which the present owner believes to be almost unique of its kind. From this peculiar feeling, difficult to express, but which can be recalled no doubt by all book- lovers, this desire to invest books with some more " personal " character, depends the custom notice- able in so many ex-libris ancient and modern, of dovetailing with the plain statement of ownership some more or less original " sentiment," or some bibliophilic motto which denotes a prevailing taste or bias of thought in the owner. Albeit the ex-libris, as a bibliognostic institution, can thus be traced in its origin to an appreciation of book property, it must be admitted that, on the Introduction. 1 1 other hand, many, perhaps the bulk, of the enor- mous number of book-plates already known to the collector undoubtedly owe their character to mere fashion. This applies more particularly to the legion of purely armorial plates. For some three centuries it has been considered M correct " to have a book-plate for use in the library in very much the same fashion as it was, and is, " correct " to have silver, and livery, and note paper adorned with monogram, crest, or escutcheon. It will be seen that, with the excep- tion of a few persons of specially artistic, scholarly, or otherwise original taste, fashion has, until com- paratively latter days, had as undisputed an influence on the composition and ornamentation of people's ex-libris, as upon the shape of their clothes or the decoration of their silver ware. The question of fashion's sway upon the character of book-plates, exemplified by the singularly de- finite " styles " into which they can historically be arranged, introduces a fresh consideration. What are the heads of attractiveness discoverable in a study of book-plates ? These are of varied kinds. In the first place, book-plates have a general interest covering nearly four centuries ; they appeared in some form or other almost as soon as printed books began to be articles of commerce ; they may therefore be studied from the antiquarian-historical point of view. 12 English Book-plates, Again, insomuch as a great many of them are dis- tinctly things of beauty in themselves, they may be regarded with curiosity and pleasure by purely aesthetic eyes. In a representative collection of these tokens, the student of Art will be able to trace, in an almost regular chain, the development and changes in decorative fashion at various periods ; the evolution of style in " Ornamentik." Ever and anon, also, among the crowd of unsigned specimens, or of specimens signed by names un- known to fame, he may light upon the handiwork of some little master : for in the past such men as Albrecht Diirer and Jost Amman, Cipriani and Bartolozzi, Boucher and Gravelot, Hogarth and Bewick, George Vertue, and Sir Robert Strange, thought the minuscule frame of a book-plate not unworthy of their skill ; and their example is happily imitated by a few modern artists of standing. The Herald and Genealogist will of course recognize on book-plates the achievements and the pride of connection, at different epochs, of innumerable families of note, expressed in the fashion of successive periods. Indeed many keen ex-librists consider the heraldry of book-plates quite their paramount interest. At any rate, from its very essence, the ex-libris lends itself with singular appropriateness to symbolism and allegory, and is a fit subject of research and study to those who take delight in such " conceits." Furthermore, from the thickly pressing ranks of armorial labels telling of wealthy and otherwise excellent book-owners who, however, may be Introduction. 13 utterly unknown to Biography, there will occasion- ally shine forth the book-plate of some famous man or woman — long since dust. Here, then, is a record ; for the ex-libris was personal ; no doubt it was submitted to the owner for approval or criticism before completion ; it was finally accepted, possibly in many instances it was jealously affixed by him, or her, on the covers of a library — long since dispersed. And coming forward after so many years, the book-plate may help to impress on us the ultimate philosophy of Book- pride, nunc mihi, mox aliis f 1 And if the book- plate of a man of note in history or literature is out of the common ruck, if it bear quaint mottoes or cunningly devised allegories, if it show us a " library interior" or a " book pile" displaying the names of favourite authors, it remains as a memorial (only known, be it noted, to the " ex- librist") of his private tastes and aspirations. Many specimens are either dated or signed by recognizable hands, or both. Thus can the study of a number of genuine examples often lead to the discovery of certain criteria of style, based on internal evidence, which can, after a time, be applied to fix the origin of other work, unsigned or undated. In such guise is the study of book- plates distinctly profitable as well as attractive in itself. The would-be " Kernoozer" in matters of virtu can make it a peg upon which to hang much and valuable bye-knowledge. It might finally be urged that an understanding 1 The motto characteristically chosen by Mr. A. W. Franks (our premier collector of ex-libris), for his own book-plate. 14 English Book-plates. of book-plates is a branch of general bibliology. The book-plate appertains to books and bookmen, both in the past and the present ; it is therefore worthy of investigation. After all, to use Warren's apt phrase, the " ex-librist is but a humbler class of bibliophile." The historical interest does not, of course, appertain to quite modern plates except in the case of late examples completing a long list of family ex-libris. I do not, however, share the contempt expressly or tacitly shown for con- temporary book-plates by almost every writer on this subject ; if such devices do not reflect, after the manner of more venerable specimens, the lead- ing fashions or the ruling affectations of their age, their very freedom from conventionality affords scope for more original treatment, for compositions in many cases highly interesting and which will no doubt be peculiarly so to the ex-librist of advancing centuries. In fine, whatever may be the general opinion con- cerning the amount and the special nature of the interest discoverable in book-plates, it is a matter of fact that they are and have been for many years considered worthy of study by men of recognized culture ; the taste, however, for collecting ex- libris is of comparatively modern growth. 1 They were considered worthy of an essay in 1 In the appendix will be found a condensed Bibliographic account of what has been written in England on the subject of Book-plates. For a Bibliography, arranged in chronological order, see the series of articles contributed by Messrs. H. W. Fincham and James Roberts Brown to the "Ex-Libris Journal" Introduction. 15 the " Gentleman's Magazine," as early as 1822, and they frequently crop up in the pages of " Notes and Queries," " Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica," " The Antiquary," and other periodicals specially devoted to antiquarian and book-lore. In the year 1837, a certain Rev. Daniel Parsons published an article on this subject in the third annual report of the Oxford University Archaeo- logical and Heraldic Society, and at a later date, in " Notes and Queries," (1st Series, iii. 495), he announced his intention to write a " History of Book-plates." This, unfortunately, he did not live to publish. So far English writers seem to have been the first in the field of ex-libris. But it was reserved for the French, ever most keen in every matter of Bibliographic interest, to produce the first two actual books on the subject. One is the " Armorial du Bibliophile," above mentioned, 1 dealing with super-libros, the other " Les Ex-libris Francais, depuis leur originejusqu a nos jours," by M. Poulet- Malassis, published in 1875, which does the same office practically, but with lesser wealth of illustra- tion, for French book-plates proper. What M. Poulet-Malassis, with national exclu- siveness, had done for French ex-libris, Mr. (vol. i. parts 6, 7, and 8, Dec. '91 — Feb. '92), published by A. & C. Black, London, Soho Square. This useful woik has been reprinted, but only for private circulation. 1 See p. 4. M. Guigard has since then issued a " Nouvel Armorial du Bibliophile, Guide de l'Amateur des Livres Armories, contenant la reduction de 2,500 Armoiries et riches reliures armoriees. Paris, 2 vols., Emile Rondeau, 1890. 1 6 English Book-plates. Leicester Warren (now Lord de Tabley), under- took a few years later, with greater breadth of knowledge and appreciation, for ex-libris at large. His work, 1 with its pleasantly set forth, dis- criminating survey of the whole subject, was of course hailed with delight by English collectors. From the first it took its place as an accepted and trustworthy book of reference. Haurit aquam cribris qui vult sine discere lidris, is the motto selected by the author for this fascinating manual, 2 one without which it were indeed as futile as ''drawing water in sieves," to hope for real proficiency in ex-libris lore. " Warren's Guide" in fact is, as Mr. Rylands appropriately puts it, " to the lover of ex-libris such a companion as Walton and Cotton's ' Complete Angler' is to the contemplative fisherman." Warren — to use the popular way of adverting to one whose work has long been acknowledged — will remain princeps among writers on the present subject, were it only for the one fact, that he was the first to classify book-plates in " styles" from which their age can be deducted, and thus to lay the foundation of an intelligible nomenclature. For there is little doubt that, whatever criticisms may be passed on such terms as " Jacobean," " Chippendale," and others patented in " The Guide," they are now accepted and destined to 1 " A Guide to the Study of Book-plates," (ex-libris), by the Hon. J. Leicester Warren, M.A. 8vo. London, John Pearson, 46, Pall Mall, 1880. 2 Culled from the ex-libris, dated 1697, of a certain old Austrian lawyer, J. Seyringer. Introduction, 17 endure by convention ; they were found useful at a time when none better were brought forward, and by this time all English collectors know pre- cisely what, rightly or otherwise, these words are meant to describe. All the terms, moreover, of subsequently devised classifications have remained based on his general scheme. A special feature in Warren's book is the series of lists, carefully and almost exhaustively compiled by the author himself, of English and Foreign book-plate engravers. These lists are to a cer- tain extent supplemented by a very precious pam- phlet, printed in 1887 by Mr. A. W. Franks, of the British Museum (now President of the Society of Antiquaries) for private distribution, under the name " Notes in Book-plates. No. 1, English Dated Book-plates, 1 574-1800." " Warren's Guide " is now unfortunately out of print, and has already become a prize to the book- hunter. Speedy exhaustion, it may be remarked, is a fate which has hitherto overtaken the few English works on Ex-libris, (and therein may per- haps be found sufficient justification for the pre- sent volume) ; it is now even more difficult to dis- cover a copy for sale of Mr. Griggs' " Examples " or of Mr. Rylands' " Notes." The first of these, " Eighty-three Examples of Armorial Book-plates from various Collections," privately printed and issued (only to the extent of sixty copies) by Mr. W. Griggs in 1887, albeit only an annotated Album of facsimiles, formed a most valuable adjunct to " Warren's Guide," which was no doubt insufficiently illustrated. It is a c 1 8 English Book-plates. very excellent reproduction of rare plates, ranging in date from 1574 to the first years of this century, marked preference being given to very early speci- mens. 1 The second, under a very unassuming title, and notwithstanding its modest proportions, ranks next only to Warren's work. These " Notes on Book- plates (ex-libris), with special reference to Lanca- shire and Cheshire Examples, and a proposed Nomenclature for the Shapes of Shields," by J. Paul Rylands, F.S.A., were likewise privately printed at Liverpool in 1889; they were repro- duced the following year among the " Transac- tions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire." While selecting his examples more particularly from the Counties Palatine, Mr. Rylands makes his monograph deal with English ex-libris gene- rally, and follows with great discrimination the development of the various national styles. The work is of course based on Warren's foundations ; but, as might be expected after the lapse of many years not wasted for the study of book-plates, it shows a certain advance in systematic classifica- tion. 2 Three more volumes, of great interest to ex- librists, have appeared since the publication of Mr. 1 A Second Series of " Examples of Armorial Book-plates " has lately been published by Mr. Griggs, 1891-92 (see Biblio- graphy Appendix). 2 Since the publication of the first edition of the present work, Mr. W. J. Hardy, F.S.A., has added to Messrs. Kegan Paul and Co.'s excellent series of " Books about Books," a most interesting volume on " Book-plates." Introduction. 19 Rylands' " Notes," but as they treat mainly of foreign plates, I need only mention them here/^r mdmoire. The "Svenska Bibliotek och ex-libris auteck- ningar med 84 illustrationer," by M. C. M. Car- lander (Stockholm, Adolf Johnson, 8vo., 1889). Herr F. Warnecke's " Die Deutschen Biicher- zeichen (ex-libris), von ihren Ursprunge bis zur Gegenwart," containing 21 illustrations in the text, and 20 plates (Berlin), T. V. Stargardt, 8vo., 1890. A most admirable work. M. Henri Bouchot's " Les Ex-libris et les marques de possession du livre," with 15 plates (Paris, E. Rouveyre, 8vo., 1891). M. Bouchot, a leading authority on bibliognostic matters, has taken the trouble to write this essay in a brilliant style — apparently, however, for the definite pur- pose of disparaging the interest of ancient book- plates. The appearance of Warren's book undoubtedly gave a general impetus to the study of book-plates. Since then a good deal of learned disputation on the subject of these minor works of art has had ephemeral publicity in newspapers and periodicals, only to remain all buried in the great Necropolis of Back Numbers. Many such valuable contribu- tions by learned specialists, however, such as Mr. W. J. Hardy, Mr. Walter Hamilton, Mr. John Leighton, Mr. Robert Day, Mr. W. H. K. Wright in this country, and Mr. Lawrence Hutton, and Mr. R. C. Lichtenstein, the two best-known autho- 20 English Book-plates. rities in America, have happily been (or are being) resurrected and collected, so as to make them accessible to the Student, in what has become the recognized organ of English book-plate collectors, the " Journal of the Ex-Libris Society." The history of this very flourishing Association, (already counting some three hundred members, among whom many of the best "authorities" known, not only in this country, but also in America and on the Continent), is briefly this : — " The scheme," to use the Hon. Secretary's own wording, " originated with a few ardent collectors who convened a meeting in London on February the ioth, 1 89 1, the initiatory steps being taken by the present honorary secretary of the Society. 1 " The chair was taken by Mr. J. R. Brown, who was supported by Mr. John Leighton, F.S.A., Mr. Walter Hamilton, F.R.H.S., Mr. C. W. Sher- born, Mr. W. C. Jackson, Mr. H. W. Fincham, Mr. J. F. Meehan, Mr. Harry Soane, Mr. James Tregaskis, and others." In this sitting, the constitution of the Society was settled. At a subsequent gathering, Mr. John Leighton was elected Chairman of the Council, Mr. Walter Hamilton, Treasurer, Mr. W. H. K. Wright (of the Public Library, Plymouth), Hono- rary Secretary, as well as general editor of the contemplated Journal. At a later meeting, Mr. Arthur Jewers, F.S.A., was appointed Heraldic Assistant Editor, and within a month of the final 1 Mr. W. H. K. Wright, F.R.H.S., Borough Librarian, Ply- mouth. Introduction. 21 constitution of the Society the first number of the Journal appeared, and met with a success which has never failed it since. It is meet, however, to state that a modest look- ing forerunner of the " Ex-Libris Journal," contain- ing a great quantity of interesting information, was at that time in existence, being then in fact more than a year old. But its origin was provincial, and its publication, therefore, was not generally known. It was started as a monthly supplement to the " Western Antiquary," under the style of " The Book-plate Collector's Miscellany," and edited by Mr. Wright. Its last number was issued simultaneously with the first Part of the " Ex- Libris Journal," which, it should be stated, during the period of its infancy undoubtedly derived much nourishment from the defunct parent publication. . " The Book-plate Collector's Miscellany " is now unobtainable, and the original numbers may in time, when "early book-plate literature" has be- come an antiquarian subject, come to be quoted at preposterous prices. One of the latest works published on the subject of ex-libris, is a learned monograph by Mr. Walter Hamilton, "French Book-plates (Ex-Libris)," by Walter Hamilton, F.R.G.S., F.R.H.S., London, George Bell and Sons, 1892, imp. i6mo., with about 100 illustrations. This is distinctly the work of a specialist, addressed to specialists, and as far as copiousness and accuracy of information go, is more complete than either that of Bouchot or Poulet-Malassis. 22 English Book-plates. A " Hand-book on American Book-plates" is announced as forthcoming from the pen of Mr. Charles Dexter Allen, of Hartford, Conn. ; also a selection of Irish book-plates from the late Sir Bernard Burke's collection to be published by his son. Hand-books on Italian, Spanish, and Nether- landish book-plates are still, presumably, in the lap of the gods. The plan of the present work is not ambitious ; I have no pretension to lecture upon what so many keen collectors glowingly term the " science " of ex-libris ; in fact I cannot, with my best imagina- tive effort, discover where science comes in in the present subject. As I have stated in the preface, my purpose is simply to give the reader a general idea of the history of the Book-plate, as a mark of possession, in England, with reference especially to the relation of the various " styles " with each other, and to their various " classes " of composi- tion ; to support this by disquisitions on such cognate topics as may be of interest to any one proposing to investigate the subject further by himself, and to complete my account of the subject by means of chosen examples displaying the ten- dency of modern taste in the matter of book- tokens. The question of foreign ex-libris will therefore only be touched upon in so far as it may introduce that of English plates, or as foreign influence affected English fashions. I have found it necessary to divide the subject Introduction. 23 somewhat more minutely than has hitherto been generally done, and to draw a distinction between " styles" and "classes." Neither of these terms, I am aware, are really apt, but I have not been able to excogitate anything better; the former, moreover, is already fixed by prescription. By " style " we are to understand style of orna- mentation, which, in book-plates, is very generally found to reproduce (somewhat in arrear as to time) the prevailing taste for decoration in such things as manuscript or typographic illuminations, architec- tural details, and furniture, dress, gold- and silver- smith's work, and so forth. By means of " classes " we can discriminate between the different modes of composition, such as " Library Interiors," "Allegories," " Landscapes," or pure ° Genre," applied to book-plates. The arbitrary classification of ex-libris in "styles" is convenient (although necessarily not accurate, considering that styles overlapped each other at most periods,) and is happily more practical in the case of English than of foreign examples. The number of " classes " must be restricted, and cannot of course be made to admit all known varieties with anything like precision ; (one might almost be tempted to erect one especially as a home for the "Sports" that are so numerous in large collections) ; but it will be found that, until the first quarter of this century at least, the regular " classes," enumerated further on, are tolerably adequate for purposes of description. Up to that time both " styles " and " classes " may be held to 24 English Book-plates. have some kind of chronological meaning — a very important quality. The nomenclature I propose (in answer to re- peated requests piteously expressed by ex-librists for a revision of technical terms) is based on that of Warren, as expanded by Rylands, but modified and with alternative expressions which may perhaps be found acceptable and may help to bring English classification chronologically in line with that of the Continent. Heraldry has always been and (fiaceM. Bouchot and his sarcasms on the modern use of blazon) should rightly be an important feature on a book- plate. M. Bouchot, with characteristically national inability to understand anything essentially English, does not realize that family traditions in this country have been preserved where, under similar social conditions, they have been in most cases irretriev- ably lost in his own. From its very essence coat armour must ever be the most speaking personal symbol. As a matter of fact a number of plates, both ancient and modern, display nought but armorial bearings; and indeed there was a time when, as a mark of proprietorship, such a display fulfilled its purpose better than any printed state- ment could have done. It would, however, perhaps be assuming a little too much to reckon nowadays on unassisted blazon as an unmistakable, indisputable token of owner- ship. And, even in theory, it is a chief drawback to this noble simplicity that marks of cadency not Introduction. 25 being really practical ad infinitum, a purely heraldic plate, without a more special inscription, could scarcely in the majority of cases be sufficiently personal. The greater number of ex-libris, previous to the present half-century, being distinctly heraldic in character, it seems fit therefore to consider first : Armorial Plates, that is, plates in which the owner's armorial bearings are the features paramount. These can be best classified with reference to the manner in which the escutcheon is set forth and to the style of its ornamental surroundings. Armorial Plates. Group I. Early Armorial (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries). Group II. Georgian (eighteenth century). Group III. Modern Armorial (nineteenth century). The Early Armorial group may conveniently be sub-divided into three styles : — Tudoresque, covering the sixteenth and the early seventeenth centuries. Carolian, ranging from about 1625 to the Resto- ration. Restoration, during the last four Stuart reigns. The Georgian group includes the three styles 26 English Book-plates. discriminated by Warren as Jacobean, Chippen- dale, and Festoon, and can historically be divided into Early Georgian, Middle Georgian, Later Georgian. Early Georgian : (Jacobean) or " Grinling Gib- bons," ranging mainly from the first years to the middle of the century. Middle Geoi'glan : Rococo (Chippendale). Later Georgian: " Urn," " Wreath and Ribbon," (Festoon), "Adams." In the group, Modern Armorial, I place all purely heraldic plates of this century ; they can hardly be classified otherwise than by reference to the shield forms. The leading characteristics of these " styles " will be separately noticed under their proper headings. It will be remarked that, chronologically, they all more or less overlap each other ; there is no really hard and fast line of demarcation between them, and it was of course always open to engravers to hark back to older-fashioned designs. But still these styles correspond tolerably to the successive decorative fashions that prevailed most popularly during the periods mentioned. As a matter of fact, " Archaic " tastes in decoration are quite of modern growth ; book-plate engravers of old almost invariably followed the prevalent man- nerism in ornamentation of their own days. It is possible to fix approximately the date when a definite fashion came in for decoration, but not when it went out ; for no style that has had any Introduction. 27 general vogue, can be said to have been abandoned altogether at any particular time. Many book-plates display, besides the owner's arms, other features more or less conventional or realistic, symbolical or merely picturesque; many again dispense with heraldry altogether. These I shall call Pictorial. The various " classes " into which Pictorial Plates may be grouped are too eclectic to admit of any satisfactory chronological arrangement. Many, however, were decidedly more popular at certain definite periods than at others, and the following classification may be said to be con- catenated to a certain extent. " Book-piles." " Library Interiors." " Portraits." " Allegories." " Landscapes," or " Vignettes." " Symbolic," or " Emblematic." " Seals." " Printer's Marks." " Genre." " Adaptations." All these classes, excepting perhaps the Land- scape, which is hardly known earlier than the last quarter of the last century, and the pure Genre, which is essentially modern, are found in every 28 English Book-plates. age of the book-plates. The greater number of these make a show of heraldry in some form or another, and many are enhanced by bibliophilic mottoes or personal " sentiments." Into classes by themselves must be ranged modern non-heraldic pictorial plates, and also printed or engraved, non-heraldic and non-pictorial labels bearing the owner's name, with or without book-loving phrases and admonitions (amiable or the reverse) to book-borrowers. Such labels are also found at all periods ; indeed, some of the very oldest ex-libris known belong to that category. Before beginning to anatomize the English book- plate more particularly, that is, to describe the leading characteristics of each of the so-called " styles" and " classes," and their mutual relations, it will be necessary to briefly recall the early history of book-plates on the Continent ; for, as far as our present knowledge enables us to see, these personal tokens did not become common in England until long after their regular establishment in foreign libraries. The hypothesis that what is now meant, broadly speaking, by an ex-libris is as old as the book itself would perhaps not be too bold a one to advance ; we may well imagine that whenever a collection of such valuable chattels as Books was brought together, some definite mark of possession was affixed to them. Concerning Egyptian, Greek and Roman libraries, however, no information of Introduction. 29 the kind is obtainable nor likely to be brought forward. Those more immediate predecessors, however, of the modern, that is the printed Book, the MiJ^mri^tX 6utan\ft(>Uu>iUnoXfco/ m>c*cl>cxxwn* BOOK-PLATE OF MR. H. W. FINCHAM. Adapted from an illuminated initial letter in a 14th century missal. 1 laborious productions of the mediaeval monastic scriptoria embodied in the character of their illu- 1 The crest, introduced in the cusped top corner of the letter is unfortunately of very modern appearance owing to 30 English Book-plates. mination every mark necessary to declare their identity, and by implication the name of their rightful owners. It might even be said that im- portant manuscript books of later date in history, especially the gorgeous works of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, bore a formal " ex-libris" on almost every sheet. There, illuminated heraldic devices, ornamented initials and other personal emblems proclaimed with ever- recurrent pomp the owner's family name. When the invention of movable type had, far and wide, revolutionized the physical nature of books and the character of their ornamentation, the pride of ownership had to assert itself in a different manner. From this necessity were born those special adventitious tokens which it is now agreed to call ex-libris. " Libraries," says M. Bouchot, 1 in one of the happiest pages of his work, "were not then, as now, formed of superposed shelves where books stood upright so as to display their backs only. Round the walls, as a rule, were arranged long desks, whereon the volumes lay flat, showing the side of the binding. The idea of decorating this ex- posed part with special magnificence seems to have occurred to the Italians very early. From them it passed to the French, who in a short time asserted themselves as masters in that style. The substitution of personal arms and mottoes and the conventional wreath of latter-day heraldic draughtsmen. The words are the "doggerel version of two monkish latin hexameters" quoted by Coleridge in the preface to "Christabel." 1 " Lex Ex-Libris et les marques de possession du Livre," (see Biblio). Introduction. 31 monograms to foliage and flowers, and all the commonplace artistic economy of primitive bind- ing, was effected within a very brief period. From the inside the symbol of ownership passed to the outside and assumed a recognized status. " Conceived in such a spirit the ex-libris was an unlooked-for good fortune ; it helped to foster an inimitable art in which men such as Geoffroy Tory and Roffett tried their power, an art which found connoisseurs such as Grolier and Francis I. in France, and Maioli in Italy, ready to appreciate and promote it. " Everything that could enhance their work was drawn upon by these artists. They interlaced cunning strap patterns with the title of the book and the name of the owner, combined these with his badges and mottoes ; in fact they ' realized the ideal ' of a perfect fanciful decoration, at the same time asserting with precision the owner's rights." To such aristocratic conceptions of possessive marks does M. Bouchot attribute the compara- tively late appearance in France of the book-plate proper, which in the birth-land of printing arts had come into existence almost as soon as books began to be freely disseminated. " In Germany," asseverates the French expert, (under the pulse, no doubt, of merely bibliophilic antipathy), " where the binding art was tram- melled by a ponderous, ungraceful taste, utterly commonplace and lacking in personality, the want was early felt of some internal mark of proprietor- ship. Reasons of economy pure and simple pro- moted the invention of the German ex-libris." 32 English Book-plates. This was possibly one of the causes at work ; but it might with perhaps better reason be sug- gested that book-buying (and therefore book- collecting) was earlier and more generally practised in the country where the earliest and most nume- rous printers were at work ; and that therefore the advantages of a practical and not too ruinous mark of possession were sooner realized in Germany than elsewhere. For, after all, magnificent biblio- philes of the Grolier and Maioli type can hardly be held out as representative of the community of book buyers even in their respective countries. Be all this as it may, the book-plate, as we understand it now, — that is the label, printed or engraved, heraldic or otherwise, intended to pro- claim the ownership of a book when affixed to its board or fly leaf — undoubtedly made its first appearance in Germany. " The oldest ex-libris of this kind known," writes Herr Warnecke, 1 "is that of one Johannes Kna- bensperg, alias Jgler. Its date, on various conside- rations, has been fixed at about 1450. It is a rough woodcut showing a hedgehog engaged in disporting itself with a flower in its mouth, among strewn leaves. Above the picture is the punning note of warning to would-be borrowers, Hans Jgler das dick ein J gel kuss." According to the same authority, the oldest ex-libris actually connected with a printed book, is a small woodcut dating from 1480 or there- abouts. It shows an angel bearing a shield, 1 " Die Deutschen Biicherzeichen " (see Bibliography). Introduction. 33 (azure charged with an ox argent, ringed sable). Whether this was actually designed as a book- plate, may be an open question ; but that it was used as such (or at least as a " gift-plate," which is the same thing in essence) is proved by a manuscript inscription in Latin recording that Brother Hildebrand Brandenburg of Biberach had GIFT-PLATE OF HILDEBRAND BRANDENBURG OF BIBERACH TO THE MONASTERY OF BUXHEIM. Circa 1480. presented the books in which this plate is found to the Carthusian Monastery at Buxheim. Curiously enough, some of the earliest known examples in England are also gift-plates. It is quite allowable to suppose that the desire of establishing a record of a donor's generosity in the D 34 English Book-plates. books themselves, may have been one of the most active factors in the evolution of the label ex-libris. By the beginning of the sixteenth century, the German book-plate seems to have attained a singularly complete development ; to have, in fact, become already fully accoutred to meet all the re- quirements, artistic and practical, of a good mark of possession. There can be no doubt, for instance, about the purpose of the two early plates of this kind which experts have attributed to Albert Dtirer. They are book-plates, explicitly ; they can be nothing else. Both of these are worthy of careful study, especially the larger of the two, likewise the earliest, which was designed by Dtirer for his friend Bilibald Pirckheimer, the Nuremberg jurist. This woodcut (to which Herr Warnecke ascribes the date 1503) combines almost all the conven- tional elements of ex-libris composition into one effective picture. It is boldly Armorial, and even without the legend, Liber Bilibaldi Pirckheimer, would proclaim the owner's name at a glance. It is ornamented in a style typical of the age and country. Its pleasing appearance is heightened by an amiable motto : Sibi et Amicis, and by an unimpeachable " sentiment " (repeated in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, for Bilibald was a scholar of the first class) to the effect that, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom} 1 Diirer also engraved a likeness of Pirckheimer which (we have it on the authority of Mr. Wheatley), was also used as a book-plate. This is an interesting example of the "portrait" class. Introduction. 35 The second, which bears the inscription, Liber Hieronymi Ebner, whilst less eloquent in treat- ment, is of special interest as being the first dated ex-libris on record, 15 16. Both these designs Try Sa a^TtH " FANTA KA0APA "1012 KA0APOIX'* OMNIA MVN DA MVND15 D.IUCTOR POMER PRtFCft & LAVR« BOOK-PLATE OF HECTOR PuMER, LAST PRIOR OF ST. LAWRENCE, NUREMBERG. Designed by Albert Diirer, engraved by R. A., 1521. 1 1 For the loan of this plate, which is reduced from the original, about four times the size of this page, I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Elliot Stock, publisher of "The Antiquary," in which it originally appeared. 36 English Book-plates. having already been reproduced in standard works, 1 I have selected as a model of early sixteenth- century book ownership device, the plate designed by Durer for Doctor Hector Pomer (last Prior of St. Lawrence in Nuremberg) engraved on wood by one R. A., in 1521. The learned repetition in Greek, Hebrew, and Latin of St. Paul's maxim : to the pure all things are pure, is worthy of notice ; it recalls at once the composition of the Pirckheimer ex-libris. This is the oldest specimen known which is both dated and signed. Durer is supposed to have designed at least some twenty book-plates. He most decidedly set a definite fashion in the composition of these tokens, one that has had a lasting influence. Nor was he singular in his estimation of an ex-libris as a fit subject for the artists graver. Holbein did not disdain it altogether ; Lucas Cranach, Hans Sebald Beham, Virgil Solis, Jost Amman, and many other " little masters " have left their marks on numerous authenticated book-plates, and in this department have firmly established that " old German style," curvetting yet heavy, at times overcharged, but always magnificently heraldic, which is felt in German work to this day. It seems now clearly established that the use of ex-libris was already adopted almost every- where by German book-collectors before it found 1 The first appears as a frontispiece in Warren's " Guide"; the second occurs among M. Bouchot's illustrations j both are given in Herr Warnecke's work (see Bibliography). Introduction. 37 its way to any perceptible extent in other coun- tries. In France, for instance, the first indubitable book-label of this kind that has yet been discovered dates from 1 574. And this is but a modest printed ticket, bearing in conjunction with a personal "sen- timent" the name of Charles d'Alboise d'Autun. " Ex bibliotheca Car It Albosii Eduensis. Ex labore quies. 1574." 1 THE MARK (REDUCED) OF RICHARD PINSON, Naturalized in this country in 1493. Appointed King's Printer in 1503, died about 1529. In spite of his contempt for this German inven- tion " these little rags of paper, so easy to displace 1 This date, it is curious to notice, is also that of the oldest dated English example at present known. No doubt, however, there have been earlier English book-plates, which may be brought to light in due course of time. 38 English Book-plates. and replace," 1 M. Bouchot feels bound to record that, in France, a goodly number of very fine heraldic plates, known to belong to the sixteenth century, and the existence of which never has been quite clearly accounted for, may have really been designed as ex-libris. This is a very likely hypothesis which may some day be borne out. THE MARK OF RICHARD FAWKES. Circa 1521. Italy, it would appear, did not take kindly to the book-plate before the seventeenth century. 1 It ought to be pointed out that a great number of early German book-plates, besides being the work of great artists, are of noble proportions, having been devised for the broad boards of folios and quartos. Introduction. 39 As for poor Inquisition-ridden Spain, notwith- standing her close German connections, she never had much chance of developing a national curio- sity for literary and typographical matters. At any rate the subject of Spanish ex-libris is still fallow. With reference to the early history of book- THE MARK OF JOHN SCOTT, Printer, whose work ranges from 1521 to 1537. plates, it must again be remarked that almost from the first they seem to have been singularly perfect and definite. M. Bouchot fancies he sees the prototype of the French Armorial book-plate in the heraldic illuminations of the " dloges mor- tuaires," an institution which was in vogue during the latter part of the sixteenth century. These 40 English Book-plates. mortuary panegyrics of great men (that is, men of rank) came into very general fashion just before the time when the French heraldic book-plates are observed to have made their first appearance. The connection very likely existed ; at any rate, M. Bouchot's hypothesis is but in accordance with the noticeable fact that at any definite period heraldic composition remains the same on whatso- ever object it be applied for ornamental purposes. But I should point out that there were models of much earlier date than these armorial head- ings to deeds and other calligraphic rolls, which may very likely have had a direct influence on the composition of personal book-plates, armorial or otherwise. I mean the Printers Marks. The subject is worthy of further investigation. The early printer was, as a rule, also an editor ; in other words a scholar, a man of parts. He was fond and jealous of his work, and stamped it with a mark meant to be as personal and as unmis- takable as possible. Now the greater number of these marks show all the leading characteristics of the first German book-plates ; they are emble- matic, they are treated in a definitely heraldic manner, they bear a personal name, and as often as not a "sentiment." or a scholarly motto. Thus, in spirit and intention, they are similar, cceteris paribus, to the most typical ex-libris. The examples here reproduced in support of this suggestion are selected from the earliest English printers. ENGLISH BOOK-PLATES, FIRST GROUP. EARLY ARMORIAL. HE term, Early Armorial, was fixed by Lord de Tabley. and Mr. Rylands, but it was really meant by them to apply to that " style " which in this work will be more particularly described under the head Restoration. Under this broad heading must, however, be considered all English plates of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and a certain number ex- tending in date as late as the second quarter of the eighteenth. This at first flush may seem a very long period for a single group ; but, long as it is, until a greater number of early examples have been brought to light, it can only be made to include, as a matter of fact, a comparatively small number of plates. Critical analysis of the leading features of such early plates has shown, as I have said, that, " for ex-libris purposes," this lengthy span of time can be subdivided into three periods, corresponding to 42 English Book-plates. three " styles," the characteristics of which (although not very sharply defined) are perceptibly distinct. These are : The Tudoresquc, which, with tolerable closeness, covers the interval between the establishment of our first English printing presses and the second quarter of the seventeenth century. The Carolian, which applies to the remainder of the century previous to the return of the King to England, and The Restoration, which is practically limited to the last four Stuarts. THE TUDORESQUE STYLE (159O- 1 62 5). Future searches for early English examples will, no doubt, bring to light, at least, a small number of genuine book-plates older than that of Nicholas Bacon. Hand-painted blazons and illuminated initials proclaiming ownership of course abound in MSS., but, although such emblems may be looked upon as ex-libris after a manner, they do not rightly come within the scope of the present study. One of the most magnificent examples of this kind, however, deserves passing notice, namely, that which was designed for Cardinal Wolsey, still attached to a folio volume that once belonged to Henry VIII., and now re- poses in the King's Library, British Museum. 1 As might be expected in anything that ever ap- pertained to the pompous Primate, it is a very 1 This plate is reproduced in Mr. Griggs' "Second Series of Armorial Examples." See Biblio. The Ttidoresque Style. 43 gorgeous affair indeed. It is, however, as I have said, not a book-plate in the ordinary sense, but an illuminated armorial composition, displaying the Cardinal's arms, duly supported, under the tasselled hat. It is difficult to believe that our early printers, who, as a rule, had such very excellent personal works of their own, singularly Teutonic in charac- ter, should not, in some manner or other, have imported the wide-spread German custom of movable ex-libris for the printed book. But, with the exception of one dated 15 18, said to have been discovered in the Bodleian Library, the sixteenth century is only known at present to have produced two specimens, which both belong to the latter half of Elizabeth's reign. One, dated 1574, is the above-mentioned gift-plate of Sir Nicholas Bacon to the University of Cambridge, a facsimile repro- duction of which forms the frontispiece of the present volume. As the traditional school-boy knows, Nicholas Bacon, the "father of his country and of Francis Bacon," an attorney of the Court of Wards and a Cambridge man, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in the first year of her reign, and made Lord Keeper. Pie died in 1579. The very handsome device he had engraved on wood for the books presented to his Alma Mater is hand-coloured, and displays on a square-pointed shield the arms of Bacon quartering Quaplode (Quaplade ?), with a crescent at the Fess Point for a difference (Nicholas was a second son of Robert Bacon of Drinkston). The Mantlet, denticulated in 44 English Book-plates. acanthus-leaf fashion, but in a strong and sober style, with rather heavy tassels, is symmetrical ; a scroll beneath, close to the escutcheon, bears the motto Mediocriias firma. Under all is the legend : N. Bacon eqnes attratus et magni sigilli Anglice Custos librum hunc bibliotheccz Cantabrig dicavit. *574- This plate is also known in another form, that is, without the date and the inscription recording the gift, and uncoloured. A facsimile of this variety, found in the Bagford collection, is given by Mr. Hardy in his learned and interesting work on book-plates. "A close comparison," says the writer, " shows that both shields of arms are struck from the same block ; can it be that the latter is the book-plate of Bacon himself, to which, on the copies used for the books that he gave to Cam- bridge was added the donatory inscription?" This is most likely. This gift-plate is extremely interesting in itself, and also because it bears an early and authentic date. The other Elizabethan plate (which, I be- lieve, was discovered by Mr. James Tregaskis, the well-known bibliopole of the Caxton's Head, Holborn), was devised for Sir Thomas Treshame in 1585. The Treshams, explains Mr. Arthur Jewers, F.S.A., in " The Book-plate Collectors Miscel- lany," were an old Northamptonshire family who, in Reformation times, strenuously adhered to the ancient faith. The particular Tresham-for whom this plate was engraved, was knighted at Kenil- THE TRESHAME BOOK-PLATE. 1585. The Tudoresque Style. 47 worth on the 18th of July, 1585. He married Muriel, daughter of Sir Robert Throckmorton, of Coughton. His eldest son, Sir Francis, was impli- cated in the Gunpowder Plot ; the second son, Sir Lewis, was created Baronet ; with the son of the latter, Sir William, 2nd Bart., the line ended. Concerning the motto Fecit mihi magna qui potens est, Mr. Jewers suggests this ingenious com- mentary : " the est shows that the 'doer of great things ' was then living, and the qui that it was a man and not Queen Elizabeth. In 1585 the Earl of Leicester was occupying a high position, and the motto may perhaps allude to him." It seems, however, much more probable that this portion of a verse from the Vulgate (Luke, chap. i. 49 ; in the authorized version : He that is mighty hath done to me great things), was purely and simply a pious "sentiment." This can be taken as a representative example of the Tudoresque plates, all of which present the same characteristics, as far as heraldic arrange- ments are concerned, as a certain type of private seal belonging to that period. These arrange- ments are generally as follows : a plain shield (that is, one without adventitious ornament) sur- mounted by the wreathed, crested and mantled helmet, the mantlet being comparatively slender, deeply cut, acanthus-edged and blown about sym- metrically ; a scroll underneath for the motto, and sometimes (as in the present case) another for names and qualification. Very often, however, the legend is simply underscribed without a scroll. In plates of this style, previous to about 1640, a 48 English Book-plates. date after which they become very rare, tinctures are not shown in the engraving. Closely similar to this is the well-known plate belonging to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, on which figures the legend : Ex dono Willielmi Willmer de Syivell in Com : Northamptonice Armigeri, quondam pencionarij in ista domo. Viz, in Anno Domini 1599 sed dedit in An . Dm. 1613. 1 To the same type also belongs the plate of Edward Lyttelton (who became Lord Keeper in 1 641) ; the first book-plate signed by William Marshall, indeed, the first English example with an engraver's name, and also one of the earliest showing the tinctures by the conventional lines and dots, alleged to have been invented by the celebrated Father Sylvester Petra Santa. This so-called Tudoresque style remained appa- rently in some favour until the early days of the Restoration, and indeed, at first inspection, does not differ very materially from the style more par- ticularly ascribed to that period ; the chief diffe- rence between the two lies in the amplitude of the mantling, which in " Restoration" heraldry assumed a much more massive and imposing waviness. THE CAROLIAN STYLE (1625-1660.) In a certain number of ex-libris, however, which, 1 This plate is reproduced in Mr. Griggs' " Eighty-three Armorial Examples"; also in "Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica," N.S., vol. iv. p. 238. See Biblio. THE BYSSHE HOOK-PLATE. E The Carolian Style. 5i curiously enough, seem all to belong to the middle third of the seventeenth century, there is a notice- able tendency to depart, for a time, from this old- established conventionality, from this correctness of heraldic arrangement ; to assume, in fact, an THE EYNES BOOK-PLATE. outlandish originality and independence of design. As these really appear to belong to a definite period, they may be examined separately. Here the shield is no longer plain, sometimes it is not even symmetrical, but of the cut-and- scrolled "cartouche" order. In many cases the 52 English Book-plates. ragged, waving mantlet is actually discarded, and the escutcheon is encompassed by wreaths or palms, with festoons and ribbands which, but for the workmanship of the seventeenth century en- graver which is unmistakable, might, at first sight, suggest a late eighteenth-century date. Such, for instance, are the book-plates of Mar- sham, circa 1650 (a cusped " Stuart" shield within a circular wreath of bays); of Sheldon (a " French" shield on a cut-and-scrolled cartouche) ; of Bysshe? 1655 (an indented, cusped and slightly scrolled shield, encompassed by palms tied together, wreath- like, by ribbands that interlace with the motto scroll, the whole contained within a line frame) ; of Gore (similar in treatment to the Marsham plate) ; of Southwell and of Eynes (Elizabethan shields between two broad dentellated and curly acanthus-like sprays tied under the base by knots of ribbands). The workmanship of all such plates is distinctly foreign in character, and recalls more particularly certain French ex-libris of the Louis XIII. period. And in this connection it is worth re- cording that the fashion of enclosing escutcheons with chaplets and wreaths or palm-branches is re- ferred to as characteristically French by Menestrier (" Origine des ornements des Armoiries," Paris, 1 Quarterly dimidiated, showing two quarterings, first, Bysshe, second, Clare, impaling Greene. These are the arms of Edward Bysshe, afterwards Sir Edward Bysshe, Garter King- at-Arms, as borne by him before his father's death in 1655. He died in 1679. CFrom Griggs' "Examples.") Scunvued P&pifs of 3 rajmfrton in Muntirwtimshre, Ejtf. Secretary of the Jfonirafa/to htf Ma^/Kina Charles the SecmdiDescended "afij ' curhentfamily ofPejniftfCatwnham inCamkidgsfure,- THE BOOK-PLATE OF SAMUEL PEPYS. Circa 1680. The Carolian Style. 55 1680), who points out that the double palm is "an agreeable ornament, and, moreover, a symbol of conjugal love." Book-plates previous in date to the last quarter of the seventeenth century are certainly not numerous. I may quote here, as being much to the point, a few words written by Lord de Tabley, in answer to my inquiry about early national examples in his collection. "It is curious, but, I think, perfectly certain, that the fashion of having book-plates in private libraries was singularly late in reaching England. And many of the earliest specimens which we have, 1 show to my mind a foreign influence, and are very likely the work of foreign engravers. An ancestor of my own, a certain Sir Peter Leicester, a most exact and laborious antiquary and a thorough bookworm, lived in the time of the Civil Wars and on till past the Restoration. I have all his library and all his MSS. He was the man of all others quite certain to have had a book-plate if such a thing had been fairly known. But there is not a trace of one, though all his books are inscribed most elaborately with his name and their proper number in his library. I think this can be taken as fair evidence that the book-plate of a living man was at that time an exotic custom to an English man of letters. The custom seems to have come in first for the purpose of recording book legacies to colleges and such institutions." 1 This refers mainly to those "styled" Carolian in this book. 56 English Book-plates. THE " RESTORATION" STYLE. It was long supposed by collectors that the very oldest English ex-libris dated from the early days of the Restoration. As a matter of fact, and as I have just pointed out, English plates anterior to that period have not been discovered in great number, nor are we likely to come across many more. No doubt the Parliamentary wars caused the destruction of many books and thus of many book-plates : and moreover the canting days of the Commonwealth were hardly propitious to book- collecting or ex-libris devising. But on the return of the old order of things there seems to have been a very abundant sprout- ing of personal devices among the leaves of Eng- lish books, suggestive of a general revival of interest in library matters. Plates of that period are now known in large numbers ; they present in almost every instance very definite characteristics. In heraldic arrange- ment and general appearance they are evidently close kin to the Tudo7'esque, showing as a rule the plain, square, pointed or angular shield with the crested, wreathed and mantled helmet, and a scroll for the motto. Very often the legend is inscribed on a broad cut-and-curled label beneath the whole. But their "physiognomy" is decidedly different from the older members of the Early Armorial group. The armorial book-plate of Samuel Pepys may be looked upon as transitional in style between the two periods. The Restoration Style. 57 In the first place the tinctures are invariably shown in dots and lines (this is, of course, quite exceptional in plates of Tudoresque style, and only occurs in a few specimens of later date than 1640.) 1 Furthermore, the mantling has now assumed a form and a behaviour which evoke, not, as of old, ideas of lambrequins hacked and torn in hot battle, but rather a vision of the contemporary towering, tumbling, curly Versailles peruke. In fact I have been tempted to suggest the expression " Periwig Style" as appropriate. Comparison with French ex-libris of the seventeenth century will show that this excessive and formal amplitude, this very fine cutting and crisp curling of lambre- quins, was quite the fashion in France somewhat earlier than in England, and, as we know, French fashion at that time took the lead in all things. It can be safely asserted that the typical triple rolls of denticulated mantling, encompassing a shield in the same manner as the periwig of the period encompassed the face of a man of rank, is distinctly French in its origin. And in this con- nection it is rather curious to remark how the " Restoration " mantlings continued to flow in 1 The modern and universally accepted methods of indicating metals and tinctures by means of lines and dots is supposed to have been devised and first set forth by one Father Sylvester Petra Santa, author of " Tesserae Gentilitise," published at Rome in 1638. The French heraldic writer, de Genouillac, ascribes its invention to the annalist Christophe Butken, at the end of the sixteenth century. It was certainly popularised in France by the works of Vulson de la Colombiere, about 1639. In any case this system does not appear to have been generally adopted by English engravers till almost twenty years later. 58 English Book-plates. foaming cascades round the escutcheon of book- plates, so long as the " monstrous periwig " re- mained in fashion as a masculine headdress. In other words, the Restoration style in ex-libris THE BOOK-PLATE OF FRANCIS GWYN OF LANSANOR. 1698. endured (although at later times overshadowed by the so-called "Jacobean") until early Georgian days. Very typical, in two " manners " of this very definite style are the plates of Gwyn of Lansanor The Restoration Style. 59 and Lord Raby on the one hand, and of St. John Brodrick and Archibald Campbell on] the other. The number of book-plates treated more or less BOOK-PLATE OF THOMAS WENTWORTH, Baron of Raby, 1698. after these two fashions, ranging in date between 1 665 and 1 7 1 5, is considerable. They all show the legend inscribed on a broad scroll (precursor of the "napkin" of later days) generally cut-and-eared ; the plain shield, square sided ; the crested, torced, and mantletted helm. In the case of arms unac- 6o English Book-plates. companied by supporters, the deeply foliated, denticulated and elaborately curled mantlings are ample, and embrace three sides of the shield, sometimes even meeting under the base ; when. BOOK-PLATE OF ST. JOHN BRODRICK. I703. however, supporters are in attendance, the mant- lings assume necessarily somewhat lesser propor- tions, and spread themselves aloft on either side of the helm. 1 1 These two types of the Restoration style (e.g., Gwyn and The Restoration Style. 61 The " Lining" (as the shading within the mantlet edges has been called) in the Brodrick plate, and also the legend scroll in all these examples, should BOOK-PLATE OF THE HON. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL. Grandson of Archibald, eighth Earl of Argyle. Made Bishop of Aberdeen in 1721. be noticed, as these characteristics are precursors Brodrick), have more than once been reproduced in modern adaptations. Compare the first with that of the Rev. D. Parsons, and the latter with the ex-libris drawn by the Countess of Mayo for her husband. 62 English Book-plates. of some of the factors in the coming " Jacobean " manner. On account of its early date, 1671, although not really typical of the style now under considera- tion, being in fact rather Carolian in character (all GIFT-PLATE OF THE DOWAGER COUNTESS OF BATH. 1671. The original is 4^- by 5^ inches. the more so as the tinctures are not shown), I have added here an example of a feminine plate. In such a case, correct heraldry does not, of course, admit of the manly helm, nor of its paraphernalia, torce, crest, or mantlings. In this gift-plate of Rachel, Dowager Countess of Bath, the arms of Bath, empaling Fane are simply surmounted by The Restoration Style, 63 a coronet of somewhat outlandish form. On an endless scroll are spread the four mottoes : Non est mortale quod opto ; Bon temps viendra ; Ne vile fano ; Semper eadem, together with the legend : M Ex dono Rachael Comitissae Bathon Dotariae. An. Dom. MDCLXXI." I have not been able to ascertain who was the recipient of this plate, which, I should state, in the original is of very large size, and no doubt intended for quartos or folios. BOOK-PLATE OF MARTHA SIMCOX. 1670. The size of the original is about 5 by 3 inches. Another very large ex-libris of the same period, is the printed label of one Martha Simcox, with whom the thirtieth of August, 1670, seems to have been a red letter day with reference to book ownership. With reference, however, to printed inscriptions of this kind which occur, cut down to the shape of labels, in many collections, but which have rarely, if ever, been discovered genuinely in sitti, it is more than probable that they are not 64 English Book-plates. book-plates, in the sense, at least, of movable ex-libris. It seems to have been the fashion with booksellers in Stuart and early Georgian days, as a compliment to the worthy purchasers of Bibles and other pious books, to print in a somewhat decorative manner the name of their client and the date of the good transaction on the fly-leaf. The Restoration type had a certain simplicity, withal a stateliness of its own, which kept it long in fasion. It endured, in fact, to some extent, as I have said, until the second third of the eighteenth century. It seems to have been at the height of favour with engravers during the last ) ears of the dying, and the first of the new century. After the reign of Queen Anne specimens of this style become exceptional. I give here the ex-libris of Gilbert Nicholson of Balrath, as an example, first, of what the Restoration style had become in early Georgian days, and secondly, as an instance of a misleading date, rendered all the more misleading by the style of the plate itself. Considered as a " Restoration" design it is un- usual in character; the escutcheon itself with its foliated edges differs from the general type. This ornamentation, however, as well as the meaning- less roses under the helm and the scrolling of the gorget and beavor might pass for " Carolian ; " but as a matter of fact, the probable date of the plate is somewhere about 1722. Mr. Franks, after criti- THE BOOK-PLATE OF GILBERT NICHOLSON OF BALRATH. Probable date, 1722. F Later Restoration Style. 67 cal comparison with other ex-libris of Georgian date, has come to the conclusion that Gilbert Nicholson simply recorded the date at which the Balrath property was acquired ; the book-plate} which is identical in arrangement with that of one Thomas Carter (1722), was evidently engraved by the same hand. Another very celebrated plate, really of Georgian times, yet bearing a misleading Restoration date, is that of Sir Francis Fust, who fancifully claimed to be a descendant of Schoeffer's associate at Mainz. Although dated 1662, the Fust ex-libris can be shown not to have been engraved earlier than 1728 ; this latter being the date at which its owner succeeded to the Baronetcy. GROUP THE SECOND. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. queen anne and early georgian style (" Jacobean"). jE have now arrived at a period in the history of the English Book-plate, the style of which is, by common deference to Lord de Tabley's special authority, designated as " Jacobean." Notwithstanding its singularly inappropriate derivation (almost, it might be said, of the lucus a non lucendo order,) the word has become sanc- tioned, by prescription as it were ; I only suggest the above alternative terms as an attempt to in- troduce some kind of historical symmetry in our nomenclature. But it is difficult to understand exactly how Warren came to choose as applicable to that period an adjective which cannot fail to suggest the age of Inigo Jones rather than that of Christopher Wren. " The artistic style of English ex-libris decora- tion," says the author of " A Guide to the study of Book-Plates," " which we propose to distinguish as The Queen Anne Style. 69 Jacobean, is first found, so far as our present materials carry us, accompanied by a date on certain college book-plates of a.d. 1700. Like ornaments recur in the ex-libris of Dame Anna Margaretta Mason, relict of Sir Richard Mason, KK, late Clerke Corntroler (sic) of the Green C loath to King Charles and King James the Second, 1 70 1. 1 Now it sounds natural enough to stamp as Jacobean the book-plate of a lady whose husband served the last James, yet this style of Jacobean decoration continued to appear on book-plates until about 1745, long after the name ceased to be strictly applicable. Still, as the art of the Mason book-plate in 1701 is practically the same with that of Francis Winnington's ex-libris in 1732, we presume it will be allowable to call the last, no less than the first, Jacobean, although de- signed during the reign of George II. To affix any fresh name to the Winnington plate would be to assume a solution of continuity between the art of the two specimens which does not exist." For such reasons, it seems, came a very definite style to be called by a most indefinite name. The purpose, however, of a word is fulfilled when it is generally accepted as applying to certain things, and these certain things only. Now there is no vagueness about the style to which the term "Jacobean" has hitherto been applied, and for which I suggest the name " Early Georgian." 1 Given in Griggs' "Armorial Examples," ist Series. (See Biblio.) 7o English Book-plates, It is exemplified by the five characteristic plates I have chosen, and which correspond, up to a certain point, to those selected by Warren. The ex-libris of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, albeit undated, bears internal evidence of belonging to the same period as the " certain College Book- BOOK-PLATE OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD. Circa 1700. plates of a.d. 1700." At any rate, it is repre- sentative of the class. Again, the ex-libris of Lady Heniretta Somerset, although of later date than that chosen as typical by Warren, shows a very close imitation in all essentials of the Margaret Mason design. The Queen Anne Style. 7i The book-plate of Henry Maister, of Kingston- upon-Hull is a good instance of " Jacobean " treat- ment in its more gorgeous manifestations ; whilst that of Edgerton Smith (of Preston, Lancashire, one of my own forefathers, a great lover of well- BOOK-PLATE OF LADY HENIRETTA SOMERSET. 1712. ordered libraries) is very characteristic of the style in its quieter mode. The latter is here printed from the original copper plate which was cut, it would seem, in 1725, somewhat roughly, but not without vigour, by a local engraver. 72 English Book-plates. The Bedford plate, dated 1736, may, in a similar manner, be taken (although less complete than the Winnington ex-libris quoted by Warren) as tolerably typical of the Jacobean treatment towards the end of that special period. As Warren was the original expositor of this style, I think it better, for the purpose of describing its main characteristics, to quote that author's own words : " In the beginning of the eighteenth century occur dated ex-libris of certain colleges who placed above their escutcheon neither helmet or crest, and who, consequently, had no mantling wherewith to decorate the bare flanks of the shield. To supply this void in decoration, a distinct frame was placed round their escutcheons, and this frame- work was ornamented with ribbons, palm-branches, or festoons. The prominent or high relief portions of this frame were not set close to the edges of the escutcheon, but between it and them an interval of flat-patterned surface nearly always intervened, in which, as upon a wall, the actual shield was im- bedded. This we shall call the " lining" of the armorial frame, and we shall find this lining usually imbricated into a pattern of fish scales one upon the other. This scaled-covered or latticed or hatched interval of lining is characteristic of the style More rarely simple horizontal lines replace the cross-barred pattern : and on the latest and roughest specimens the lining simulates the bricks upon a wall Now the earlier book- plates of Anne 1 have merely the Jacobean frame. 1 [Not being of the Restoration type. — E. C] «•><>•> BOOK-PLATE OF HENRY MAISTER, OF KINGSTON-UPON-HULL. • 1719. nWf/tL /^^85%l3>{x\ c5^ /^. ^>^^5^ III f^B : ' |j*H ««f ^St^M^^ Edgerton * Smith: 1 Early Georgian Style, IS But another step in the external decoration was to add a bracket distinct from the frame upon which the shield with the frame is supposed to rest." THE BOOK-PLATE OF JOHN 4TH DUKE OF BEDFORD. This description, examined with reference to actual examples, is sufficiently definite. It may be summed up thus : — The main characteristic of the Queen Anne and early Georgian style is an ornamental frame, suggestive of carved-work, rest- 76 English Book-plates. ing as often as not upon some kind of conventional support ; the ornamentation of both frame and support being of the interior architectural order, making frequent use of fish scales and trellis or diaper patterns for the decoration of plane surface. Indeed the style of some of the more imposing Jacobean compositions might aptly be called M Grinling Gibbons " (in the same manner as it has become usual to speak of " Chippendale"), after the carver and designer of those decorated door- frames, brackets, mantel-pieces, and wall-panels, so well appreciated by Sir Christopher. In short, in the same way as as the " Early Armorial " styles recall the heraldic arrangements of seventeenth century seals and parchment emblazoning, in the same way as the so-called " Chippendale " and "Festoon" styles of later days reproduced the then prevalent taste in furniture and silversmith work, so the "Jacobean" style recalls the wood- work and florid mouldings, the heraldic carved panel wall-tablets and " compartments," the heavy mirror frames, festooned and " scolloped," of Queen Anne and George I. domestic architec- ture. Warren mentions the very frequent presence of escallop shells in the ornamentation of shield frames and brackets as typical of the style. The " shell," no doubt, (although, in point of fact, fre- quently absent from the Queen Anne and Early Georgian design,) was a very special feature in the wood- work and stone-carving of the period. Its combination with the bombi and roll-mouldings of the special decorative style, known as " Louis Characteristics of Early Georgian. 77 Quatorze " gives a strong foretaste of the coming " Rococo." It must be pointed out that some of the charac- teristics of what we call in England " Queen Anne," THE BOOK-PLATE OF THE REV. J. LLOYD. 1730. Engraved by Bickam. (among others the frame cartouche and the bracket as supports for the escutcheon) are observable in sundry French plates belonging to the latter part 78 English Book-plates. of the seventeenth century, notably those of Sebas- tien le Clerc. Among the multifarious decorative elements drawn upon to make up a " Jacobean" design, con- THE BOOK-PLATE OF CHARLES, 5TH BARON CORNWALLIS, of Eye, Suffolk. Circa 1730. ventional figures are of frequent occurrence, amo- rini, term-gods, angels, " fames," " victories," and such like. In the latter days of the style these figures will often assume increasing importance in the composition of book-plates, which will then be- Transition to Rococo. 79 come somewhat irregular in disposition and more especially " Allegorical " The ex-libris, for instance, designed by Bickham for the Reverend John Lloyd, A.M., displays some of the main features of this later " Jacobean " style, already infected by Louis XV. mannerism. The oval escutcheon on its bombi cartouche, the fanciful shells, the cupids already semi-allegorically THE BOOK-PLATE OF JOHN BANCKS. Engraved by G. Bickham. 1740. occupied with books, are characteristic ; indeed, this particular example might almost belong to the " Allegoric" class. The Cornwallis book-plate is unfortunately not dated, but it is presumably nearly of the same age as the above, and may be taken as a good in- stance of the transition style between " Jacobean " and " Chippendale ; " in other words, between the Early and Middle Georgian. It was devised for 80 English Book-plates. Charles, fifth Lord Cornwallis, who came to the title in 1722, and was created Earl in 1753. It displays the purest early R6ge7ice style, and was probably drawn by some French artist, in which case its date might quite well be as early as 1725. In England, the general expanding of the escallop- shell into a shelly border, and its combination with bombS wood-work curves after the early French "rocaille" manner, never came much in vogue before the " forties " of the century. The tolerably symmetrical decorative arrangement, however, in this case, would point to a somewhat earlier date. The name-label of John Bancks, engraved by Bickham, is a good example, with its simple " curled endive" ornamentation, of the spreading influence of the " Rococo" mannerism about that period. / THE MIDDLE GEORGIAN, "CHIPPEN- DALE" OR "ROCOCO" STYLE. T must be borne in mind that all leading styles in decorative art from the middle of the seventeenth century until the beginning of this one have had their origin in France, an inevitable result of the cen- tralized splendour of the French courts. It was, therefore, but natural that the next definite style in book-plate ornamentation, the Rocaille or Rococo, should find its way to England within a few years of its universal adoption in France. The Rocaille, so long as it was dealt with by tactful hands, has never been excelled for decora- tive purposes. Warren remarks that we may regard this style {i.e. the Chippendale, which is by some people supposed to be synonymous with Rococo) as " thoroughly national." On this point, I take it, it is hardly possible not to differ, even from so respected an authority. As a matter of fact the style is essentially French in all its stages. True, the leading ideas of this ornamental conception came originally from Italy, being based on the pierced scroll, volute-head work of Renascence character. But it is in France, during the years G 82 English Book-plates. of Louis XIV.'s most flamboyant ostentation, that we find the first manifestation of a general ten- dency towards that peculiar mood which in early Louis XV. days developed into the full-blown Rococo. Many are the French artists who, during the second quarter of the century, vied with each other to evolve out of " rock and shell" elements the most surprising and fascinating combinations. Designers like Toro and Oppenort ; architects like Blonde I, Cottes, Cuvillier ; painters like Watteau and Boucher; " vignettists" like Babel, Eisen, Bellay, Choffard, Perotte, Gravelot, found in them endless materials for original designs. But the great masters of this decorative system were un- doubtedly le Sieur de la Joue, and Jttste Aurdle Meissonier, both " Painters and Architects to the King," the latter, moreover, being " Official Gold- smith and Designer." Now, the earliest English work dealing system- atically with the rock-and-shell manner is an album of " 33 Sheilds {sic) and Compartments," published by James Gibbs (the architect of St. Martin-in-the- Fields, St. Mary-le-Strand, and of the Radcliffe Library, Oxford), about the year 1 73 1 , that is, several years after the appearance of the leading French works on the same topic. Similar collec- tions of designs by A. Heckell, andy. Collins (all more or less open adaptations of La joue and Meissonier's creations), were engraved by H. Roberts and J. S. Miller about 1750. But the man who no doubt most contributed to bring what he himself is careful to call u the new French style" Chippendale. 83 in vogue on this side of the channel was Thomas Chippendale. As applied to the ornamentation of Middle Georgian Ex-libris the word " Chippendale" is hardly legitimate ; it is English and more eupho- rniumt^ BOOK-PLATE OF WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, THE ABOLITIONIST. Presumably designed for his grandfather, W. Wilberforce, about 1750. nious than Rococo, but it is not exact. Thomas Chippendale created a certain style of furniture and decoration that was very charming and original ; but that style, which was particularly his own, with its symmetrical light fret-work, and its Chinese cloissonne arrangements, is as different as anything 84 E7tglish Book-plates. can be from the curly Rococo. Nevertheless, in ex-libris parlance, Chippendale is and will no doubt remain the popular name for the style that pre- vailed most between 1740 and 1770. The physiognomy of a Chippendale or Rococo plate is unmistakable. Its chief characteristic is a fanciful, unrestrained treatment of scroll-work, which became, very early in the history of the style, studiously asymmetrical (no doubt, in order to give freer scope for variety of counter-curves). Another " mark and stamp of the Chippendale ex-libris," again to make use of a graphic descrip- tion in Warren's Guide, "is a frilling or border of open shell-work set close to the rounded outer margin of the escutcheon. This seems to be a modification of the scallop-shell so normal at the base of frame or bracket on a Jacobean plate. It is, in fact, a border imitating the pectinated curves and grooves on the margin of the scollop- shell." A Rococo frame, in fact, is always a medley of these shell edges fancifully combined with acan- thus or "curled endive" leaves and bombe scrolls. Straight or concentric lines, and all appearance of a flat surface, are carefully avoided. From the numerous nooks and ears created by such an arrangement sprout flowerets and spriglets, depend festoons, wreaths, and ribbands. In later ex- amples the composition is often complicated by the introduction, as ornamental elements, of cupids, doves and hoc genus omne ; and, in more than usually dishevelled specimens, of hispid beasts, such as dragons, wyverns, and similarly congruous BOOK-PLATE OF ROBERT NASH. 1 735. Early "Rococo." 87 objects. This accumulation of adventitious factors in the decoration, belongs, however, rather to the days of decadence in " Chippendalism," to use yet another jargon term introduced by students of ex-libris. At the beginning there is a great preponderance in book-plates of that less extravagant design in which the bombe and volute work, somewhat heavy, predominates over the lighter, ragged, rock-and- shell, tenuous flower arrangement of 1750. The ex-libris of William Wilberforce is typical of the early and purer style. 1 It must never be forgotten, however, that in ex- libris engraving, as well as in every department of decorative art, styles and fashions not only overlap each other for some considerable time, but by borrowing from each other's elements form a tran- sition mode. Typical of this transition kind, yet more kin to Jacobean than to Chippendale, was the Cornwallis plate I noticed on p. 68. The ex-libris of Robert Nash, (the probable date of which is 1735,) on the other hand, is more Rococo in character, but it still retains something of the previous taste in the trellis work, and the " lining" of its outer frame, as well as in the broad detached scroll on which figures its legend. 1 Although this plate belonged to the great philanthropist and abolitionist, and consequently was used for his books during the last quarter of the eighteenth century, it was un- doubtedly engraved early in the second, and, in all probability, for his grandfather, William Wilberforce (of Kingston-upon- Hull). See a notice of this plate by Mr. J. R. Brown, Ex-libris Journal, vol. ii. p. 62. 88 English Book-plates. There seems hitherto to have been a general tendency among book-plate collectors to ascribe rather too late a date to " Chippendalism." Now o'Zd^ BOOK-PLATE OF HENRY SWEETMAN. Circa 1745. almost every element of pure early Chippendale style can be found in the plate of Benjamin Hatley Foote (a very perfect and typical example) ; in those of Henry Sweetman and of Henry Walters, V/?yas??7Ari/ cTuzutyu, t/^w/< BOOK-PLATE OF BENJAMIN HATLEY FOOTE. 1 743. Early Rococo. 9i — all of which are anterior in execution to the middle of the century. The ex-libris of Matthew Smith, which, on BOOK-PLATE OF HENRY WALTERS. Engraved by J. Skinner, in Bath. 1747- account of its substantial appearance I also as- cribe to that period, is interesting as an original combination of natural shells with conventional " scollop edging." Possibly this Mr. Matthew Smith had conchological tastes which he liked 92 English Book-plates. to have recorded in this improved rock-and-shell decoration. Helms and mantlings, as a general rule, are BOOK-PLATE OF MATTHEW SMITH. Circa 1750. absent from pure rococo heraldic arrangements. It is from the " rocaille " period that dates the long prevalent custom of representing the crest as resting upon a simple and conventional wreath Early Rococo. 93 or "torce." 1 The book-plate, therefore, of Sir Charles Frederick, K.B., has a somewhat unusual physiognomy. I give it here as an instance (on (•Mains 2)ftt/t BOOK-PLATE OF SIR CHARLES FREDERICK, Surveyor-General of Ordnance. Circa 1750. the whole rare in English ex-libris) of the " Trophy" class : Sir Charles was at one time Surveyor- General of Ordnance. It must be admitted that 1 The helm alone, however, occurs in sundry Scottish plates of " Chippendale " character, such as the token of T. Camp- bell, A.B. 94 English Book-plates. the uncompromising straight lines and the unami- able, fishbone-like array of military implements, are little in harmony with Chippendale graces. T. Campbell AJ5. ijs

CHOll^ BOOK-PLATE OF GENERAL MACGREGOR. Circa 1795. closing wreaths, or palms, sprays and " slipped " branches, crossing under the base, generally tied with a knot of fluttering ribbon, and rising sym- metrically on either side of the shield. The door-panel arrangement selected, with some show ofclassical taste, by the Rev. W. Barrow, LL.D., S.A.S., the earliest in date among my examples, Festoons and Sprays, 109 displays the urn shield, the festoon, the ribbon and the sprays in a very typical, Adams-like manner. The book-plate of Charles Dickinson, on the other hand, is a charming example of the simple BOOK-PLATE OF SAMUEL ROGERS. Circa 1795. festoon and spray combination : and of the plain palm or spray arrangement the next four figures are typical. The first, that of John Larking, cannot be earlier than 1793, the year in which this particular Larking (of Clare House, East Mailing, Kent) 1 10 English Book-plates. married Dorothy Styles, and was thus able to em- pale her arms on his escutcheon. In the second it is quaint and pleasing to recog- nize, blazoned on so peaceable a token as a book- plate, the arrogant charges once borne by civili- John Walton . Be ding ton. EOOK-PLATE OF JOHN WALTON. Circa 1790. zation-despising Rob Roy, quartered with the achievements of MacDonald. The third, designed for Samuel Rogers, is pre- sumably contemporary with that epoch in the poet's life which was marked by the appearance of the " Pleasures of Memory ; " in other words, with the last ten years of the century. The Decorative Urn. 1 1 1 I have selected the fourth, which was the token of John Walton of Bedington,. albeit a meagre and otheiwise poor design, on account of its very typical display of the wall-pin in its two chief varieties, oval and circular, as it so happens that all my other examples excepting the Barrow plate do not include that important element of Chambers- Adams decoration. ANONYMOUS BOOK-PLATE TYPICAL OF THE URN FASHION. Circa 1795. As for the anonymous little plate, which seems, judging from the coat, to have belonged to one James Tyers, I have not been able to ascertain its exact date ; but it is very characteristic of the general taste in the last decade of the century. There we see what is really a "festoon" frame on which is displayed the favourite shield of the times, but meant to suggest at first flush the inevitable urn. I have selected this example and the next to show how the beauteous utensil seems 112 English Book-plates. to have been impressed on the minds of later Georgian engravers. The ex-libris of Charles Dyer, with its blasted tree (representing the spray) growing out of a gravestone ; with its inane weeping willows (no BOOK-PLATE OF CHARLES DYER. Circa 1800. doubt in lieu of festoon) ; with its funeral urn of hideous proportions, actually stamped with a mark of cadency, and its spade shield in the act of col- lapsing, may be held up as a " dreadful example." l 1 I can put no exact date to this, but would ascribe it to the very first years of this century, a time when national taste was at a most deplorable ebb. The Decorative Urn, ii3 It is difficult to understand what it was that in those days so often suggested tombstone arrange- ments as suitable for insertion amono- books. This BOOK-PLATE OF THE REV. D. A. BEAUFORT. Circa 1790. Mr. Dyer was, perhaps, devoid enough of decency to think that his book-plate was appropriate to his name ; but this is no rare example ; as a matter of fact, funereal ex-libris are almost numerous enough to fill a class by themselves. 1 1 14 English Book-plates. Of spade shape are the shields that figure in heraldic " landscape " or otherwise pictorial plates belonging to the last quarter of the century. It must also be noted that in many cases shields of this pattern are found, unattended by sprays or festoons, but surrounded by an elliptical frame, beaded at the edge, sometimes shaded, as in the present example, but generally plain. 1 In the simple escutcheon of urn pattern, which also occurs on book-plate of late Georgian days, utterly unadorned, left in severe nakedness, we are to see the immediate predecessor of that very uninteresting book-plate for which I have sug- gested the term " Modern Die-sinker. To the late Georgian " Spade" style belongs a most interesting plate which for some time was supposed to have been that of Captain James Cook, of discovery and circumnavigation fame, but which was most likely devised for his son (likewise James Cook). This ex-libris is most interesting on many accounts although it seems never to have been used. I owe it to the courtesy of the Rev. Canon Bennett, of Shrewton, Wilts, to be able to print it in my volume from the original copper-plate. The history of this plate itself is obscure. Captain Cook was killed at Hawaii, February 14th, 1779. On September 3rd, 1785, a coat of arms was granted to the family of which the following is 1 This "silver tray" arrangement was specially cultivated by an engraver (1780-95) who signed S. A T ee/e, Sculp 1 . The Decorative Urn. 1 1 5 a blazoning, very typical of the degraded heraldry which the College tolerated at that period. "Azure, between two Polar Stars Or, a sphere on the plane of the meridian. North pole elevated circles of latitude for every ten degrees, and of longitude for every fifteen, showing the Pacific Ocean between 6o° and 240 west, bounded on one side by America and on the other by Asia and New Holland, in memory of the discoveries made by him in that ocean, so very far beyond all former navigators. His track thereon is marked with red lines, and for crest on a wreath of the colours is an arm imbowed vested in the uniform of a captain in the Royal Navy. In the hand is a Union Jack on a Staff proper. The arm is encircled by a wreath of palm and laurel." The crest motto is " Circa orbem " and the motto below the shield on the original is " Nil intentatew reliquit." The error is corrected in the book-plate. The original grant of arms is now with other Cook relics in the Colonial Govern- ment Museum at Sydney. No " Captain Cook," however, was living at the time of the grant, and consequently the plate could never have been used by the Cook of navigation fame. But his eldest son, James, a young naval officer of high promise, was appointed in the autumn of 1793 to the command of the " Spitfire " sloop of war. There was then a " Captain Cook " and it is assumed that the plate was made for him. The general style of the design belongs to that period. The young commander never lived to use the 1 1 6 English Book-plates. plate ; in January, 1 794, his body was discovered on the beach of the Isle of Wight, under circumstances which pointed strongly to the suspicion of murder, and the original copper passed through various hands, with family papers and heirlooms, until it came into the possession of the Rev. Canon Bennett. v|sfe*, iM^ss^^ffS ^likJ^^^-l^l RE^B^WM^KitV m ^^^^^^^^^s^^i^^ *•' ^ae^aRsaK.' PT^V* 1 PICTORIAL PLATES. I. "literary" (book-piles and library interiors). GAVE it as a broad fact that with the exception of mere name-labels and recent times, book-plates have un til generally been more or less heraldic in character. In short, the number of plates in which Armorial Devices do not figure in some guise or other is comparatively small. Hence the advisa- bility of distinguishing first, as far as such a thing is feasible, the different modes of heraldic treat- ment. This was all the more requisite, as to a great extent the so-called styles must be referred to, to qualify the classes, such as the " Literary," "Allegorical," " Landscape," and "Architectural." We may, for instance, have a "Literary" book- plate ornamentally treated in Rococo or in later Georgian style, and so forth. Perhaps the oldest definite class of pictorial book-plates is the " Book-pile" (the special mean- ing of the word is now consecrated). Some kind of arrangement of books for decora- tive or symbolic purposes is, of course, a most obvious element in the composition of a book- plate. The word "book-pile" having been applied u8 English Book-plates. to a certain well-known conventional display of volumes, it is necessary to " distinguish and divide" among literary ex-libris, between Book-piles proper and piles of books otherwise disposed. BOOK-PLATE OF WILLIAM HEWER. Showing the typical " book-pile " arrangement. 1699. The Book-pile is a very specially English device. The oldest dated example known is that of Sir William St. Quintin, Bart. ; but the date it bears (1641) is misleading, and records, in fact, the The "Book-Pile." 119 creation of the baronetcy, not the year of the en- graving which was, in all probability, executed at least a, score of years later. Next in date are the plates of Sir Philip Syden- ham and of William Hewer (Samuel Pepys' friend and secretary, at whose house in Clapham the im- mortal gossiper drew his last breath in 1703). Both these plates bear the date 1699. : That of William Hewer, albeit non heraldic, is in every other sense typical. The man who designed it adopted an arrangement which, in all essentials, has endured unchanged; three tiers of bound volumes ' rising one on the other in the fashion of a modern overmantel, adorned with a bundle of documents and other articles of stationery a-top, pediment-wise, forming a kind of frame for a scroll which may bear heraldic charges, cyphers, or merely wise mottoes. William Hewer, en don bourgeois, was satisfied with a very excellent mono- gram of his name. Book-plates of this pattern, varying but in the most trifling details, but made personal by heraldry or legend, occur sporadically throughout two cen- turies. One of our keenest and most learned collectors, the Honble. Gerald Ponsonby, has adopted the regulation book-pile as his mark. The expression " piles of books " is applied to a display of volumes more freely disposed. 1 When the books are represented in their proper habitat, 1 The term is certainly awkward and otherwise unsatis- factory ; but it is certainly better than that of " loose-books " which some collectors propose, and which is, to say the least, ambiguous and unsuited to this grave subject. 120 English Book-plates. that is, indoors (not, like those of Mr. Samwell for instance, resting damply and unprotected on heather), such devices, however, may be classed among Library Interiors." {Jl^umtaJ \Jlv#tcu. BOOK-PLATE OF THOMAS BOLAS. Copied from a design by Gravelot. Circa 1740. The " Literary " device, notwithstanding all its pleasing and artistic potentialities, has not, until recent times, found as much favour in England as in other countries. More is the pity, for there "Library Interior!' 121 are charming elements of quaintness and personal adaptability available for such compositions, as, indeed, a great number of French and German plates testify. BOOK-PLATE OF WADHAM WYNDHAM, ESQ. Adapted from a design by Gravelot, engraved by Pine. Circa 1740. The earliest examples belong to the eighteenth century, and are, as a rule, rather foreign in cha- racter; the national taste was for more purely armorial devices. As mere ornamental adjuncts books are often present in Chippendale, even in Jacobean plates, but there certainly was a want of 122 English Book-plates. fertility in the conception of such designs by English engravers. There is hardly more than a score or so of "Library Interiors" previous in date to this century known in England, and '(MUt^r^F BOOK-PLATE OF H. ASHTON, ESQ. Engraved by Billinge. Circa 1760. curiously enough many of these are mere adap- tations of earlier or contemporary compositions by foreign artists. Such is the case, for instance, with the ex-libris of Thomas Bolas, which shows us a singularly un- BOOK-PLATE OF GRAY'S INN LIBRARY. Engraved by J. Pine, 1750. 1 ' Library Interior" 1 25 stable erection of volumes (on the cover of one being a literary motto) as a basis for an escutcheon with scroll. This plate (says Mr. Vicars, a collec- tor who has made the study of "library interiors " a speciality) is copied from one signed and en- graved by Gravelot for Charles Bolingbroke, sur- geon, and the probable date of which is 1 740. r^mm^ BOOK-PLATE OF T. S. W. SAMWELL, ESQ. Circa 1810. , In the same manner the Wadham Wyndham plate is a copy (adapted as to heraldry) of another plate signed by Gravelot, engraved by J. Pine for J. Burton, D.D. Again, there are extant at least two plates which are adapted copies of the Ashton ex-libris, signed by Billinge. The book-plate of Gray's Inn Library is a fine 1 26 English Book-plates. example of rampant Rococo, possibly also de- signed by Gravelot, who certainly was active in propagating French mannerism in this minor de- partment of British art. The records of Gray's Inn inform us that the label was " ordered of Pine the engraver, 24th November, 1750." 1 A celebrated example of the ''Literary" class is the Packington library plate. This rather striking piece of bold engraving — which, notwith- standing its qualities, is a trifle indistinct as to meaning and not easily described — is commonly attributed to Piranesi. There is that, no doubt, in the feeling of the drawing which at once recalls the toucher gras of that prolific artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi. On the other hand, it has been recorded that the Earl of Aylesford, whose book- mark this was, piqued himself on his talents as an engraver, in which particular capacity he received instruction from Piranesi. It is there- fore quite possible that, as it is held by some, this plate may have been the work of the Earl himself. I have not been able to ascertain the date of the Sam well book-plate ; but, to judge from the character of its escutcheon, it must have been engraved during the first decade of this century. The plate of the Rev. W. T. Bree is still a more modern instance, and a pleasing one, of the con- ventional " Pile of books" device. It belonged 1 Gray's Inn now uses a smaller modern copy of this plate, done by A. Moring, London. THE AYLESFORD BOOK-PLATE. Attributed to Piranesi. Circa 1770. 11 Pile of Books." 129 (says Mr. Vicars) to the father of the present Archdeacon Bree, and was drawn by his grand- father. BOOK-PLATE OF THE REV. W. T. BREE. Circa 1830. K 130 English Book-plates. II. PORTRAIT BOOK-PLATES. HE idea of using a likeness of the owner as a personal mark in books is, on the whole, very obvious. We have seen that Dtirer's friend, Bilibald Pirck- heimer, is known to have had a plate of this kind, which he pasted on the back covers of his books. Portraits also occur on sundry printer's marks ; on that of our own Richard Fawkes for instance. But portrait examples, anterior to modern times, are rare ; it may even be said they can be counted on the fingers. The oldest known instance of an English por- trait ex-libris, is the gift plate 1 of John Hacket, engraved by W. Faithorne in 1670. The donor's likeness appears in an oval frame with the inscrip- tions : " Inservi Deo et l^tare" and Ex dono J oannis Hacket Lichfieldens et Coventrjens Episcopi, 16 jo. W. Faithorne, Sculp. It is, perhaps, allowable to include in this class a certain handsome plate found in sundry MSS. volumes of the Ashmolean library. This engrav- ing, which measures seven inches by five, repre- sents a niche in a wall, in front of which a bust, inscribed Elias Ashmole, stands, resting upon a number of books symmetrically piled to form a 1 Reproduced in Mr. Hardy's volume on " Book-plates." Portrait Plates. 131 sort of plinth. On one of the volumes to the left figures the Ashmole crest, whilst on another, cor- respondingly placed to the right, is displayed the coat, which, being tinctured in the conventional dots and lines, would alone suffice to fix the date as posterior to 1640. Over the central pile hangs a " napkin," left blank, apparently for manuscript numbering. It must be admitted that this is a very book- plate-like arrangement, yet it hardly seems to have been used as such, but rather as a frontispiece or title-page to the MSS. Elias Ashmole used, as a regular book-plate, a plain typographic label, dated 1635. The most notable examples of this kind in the eighteenth century are the two ex-libris engraved by Robt. White, reproducing a portrait of Samuel Pepys himself, after Kneller. They are of diffe- rent sizes. 1 In the larger one the portrait appears in an oval frame bearing the words : Sam Pepys Car. et Jac. Ang. Regib A. Secretis Admiralicz. Under the picture is the motto : Mens cujusque is est quisque. This seems to have been originally engraved as a frontispiece to Pepys' privately printed edition of " Memoires relating to the State of the Navy of England for ten years, determined 1688," which appeared in 1690. But there can be no doubt about Pepys having used the plate at a later period as an ex-libris. Both the portrait plates are found pasted in his books at Magdalene College, Cambridge. 1 The larger was reproduced in the original edition of the present work. 132 English Book-plates. The smaller plate displays the portrait on a scroll of paper in an oval medallion, with the same singular motto overhead. 1 In Mr. J. P. Rylands' " Notes" is given an ac- count of certain hand-painted ex-libris by Thomas Barritt, the saddler-antiquary, and of etched copies of the same, dated 1794. Barritt is represented in the midst of "antiquarian" surroundings — old armour, parchment rolls, coins and clasped books — his arms are displayed on a shield, and there is a motto in Old English characters : PtOfCtt SltltlQUa m apricum* Portrait plates are few and far between. Among modem instances I may quote the book-plates of Mr. W. T. Thorns, the founder of " Notes and Queries," of Mr. Joseph Knight, by William Bell Scott, and Mr. Ashbee, which, through the owners' courtesy, I am able to include among my examples (see Modern Examples). From every point of view it is regrettable that more English men and women of note should not have adopted this form of token, which is of all kinds the most personal, and there- fore the most interesting to posterity. 1 Two other plates engraved for Mr. Pepys are known to collectors. One has the initials S. P., combined with the Admiralty crossed anchors : this is the one to which he refers in his diary (July 21, 1668) : the other is heraldic, and displays Pepys' quartering Talbot of Cottenham with the legend : Samuel Pepys, of Brampton in Huntingdonshire, Esq., Secretary of the Admiralty to his Majesty King Charles the Second. Descended of y e ancient family of Pepys of Cottenham in Cambridgeshire. The first of these is reproduced in the Introduction, and the second under the head " Restoration " Style. 133 III. ALLEGORIC BOOK-PLATES. N the more pretentious book-plates of "Jacobean" style, in addition to the usual decorative factors, festoons, scol- lops, and wreath mouldings, cornucopias and pilasters, we often meet with others of a more statuesque kind, such as masks, term figures, satyr heads, cherubs, and similar creations of artistic fancy. These form the irregular element which is sometimes introduced to enhance an otherwise symmetrical decoration. In the same manner we see cupids or fairies, or short-skirted shepherdesses a la Watteau on " Chippendale " frames. The translation of these figures from mere sub- ordinate into leading characters is easy to trace. The artist had only to adopt the realistic treatment instead of the conventional, and to give ostensible life to his figures by ascribing to them some appo- site action with reference to the escutcheon they support : the result was an "allegoric " plate. The ex-libris of the Rev. John Lloyd, which as to " style " was included among the Jacobean, may in this sense be classed among Allegoric plates. Animus si aequus quod petis hie est, says the inscription on the bracket, whilst attendant on the shield are two lively cupids ready to present the book required. Allegoric plates, it may be stated, are as a rule rather ridiculous. In this particular 134 English Book-plates. case, it were difficult to conceive a composition more inappropriate to the library of an equable- minded divine, although it might, perhaps, have suited well enough the more frolicsome volumes of some erotic collection. In a similar manner the book-plate of Wadham Wyndham, with it cherubs discussing some point of literary lore, might be (and is indeed, by some collectors,) classed among ''Allegories " instead of " Library Interiors." On the whole, Allegoric plates are not numerous in England, Warren holds them to represent an obvious, yet never very widely popular deviation of the more precious "Jacobean" mode, which gradually lost all apparent connection with the parent style ; but the same may be said of those emblematic arrangements that are affiliated with the Chippendale designs. " Whether we take," says he (the first to define this class and'trace its connections), " the Allegoric plate of the period of Hogarth, Pine, and George Vertue, or consider the later groups of mythologi- cal engravers such as Bartolozzi and his scholars, Sherwin, Henshaw and the like, it must be con- ceded that in England during the eighteenth century, Allegoric book-plates were never a nume- rous class. In France, however, during the same period, such ex-libris were, on the contrary, pro- fusely abundant." I have already pointed out that the appearance of a given ornamental style in book-plates is always, and naturally so, somewhat in arrear of its prevalence in general decoration. Such was certainly the case with the " Jacobean " and the Allegoric Plates. 135 " Chippendale," and we have seen how either of these lent themselves to modification in the direc- tion of " Allegory." Now about the year 1 730, " acres of ceiling BOOK-PLATE OF ANDREW LUMISDEN. Engraved by Robert Strange. Circa 1746. frescoes were being done, by the yard, and Allegory began to sprawl in all its dizzy con- tortions and aerial foreshortenings on many palaces and public buildings of the period. Sir James Thornhill had just received forty 1 36 English Book-plates. shillings a yard for the Cupola of St. Paul's and Greenwich Hospital, and twenty-five shil- lings a yard for the staircase of the Southsea House at Blenheim, besides embellishing the Princess's apartment at Hampton Court at a rate not recorded. Vanderbank, Laguerre and a dozen others had been daubing away in all directions with much public applause and private emolument. That Allegory should, therefore, reach even the British Book-plate was inevit- able." 1 One may add to this, that Allegory had likewise already run riot on the engraved title- page of the period, and that designers would naturally feel tempted to adapt the manner to private book-plates. Prominent among engravers who cultivated this style, stands George Vertue, who cut the celebrated plate of Henrietta Cavendish Holies, Countess of Oxford, in 1733; John Pine, who executed the gift plate, inscribed Munificentia Regia, for the use of the books presented by King George I. to the University of Cambridge (both of which interesting specimens are repro- duced in " Warren's Guide" and in Hardy's " Book-plates ") ; William Hogarth, who worked in both Jacobean and Chippendale style ; Cipriani and Bartolozzi, whose manner is more of " spade and urn " description. Robert Strange, the noted line engraver and Jacobite life-guardsman, who designed pay-notes for the young Pretender, yet accepted a knight- 1 Warren. Visiting Cards. 137 hood from the third George, engraved at least two book-plates, both of the Allegorical descrip- tion. One was executed from a design by T. Wall for Dr. Thomas Drummond and shows us the doctors library and various musical instru- ments, over which, in accordance with Thomas Drummond's motto Aurora est apta musts, an allegorical figure of Dawn hovers with a ruddy torch in her hand. The composition, for which Strange was not responsible, is on the whole poor and tolerably priggish. The other, probably engraved in 1746 or 1747, which in design recalls Gravelot's manner, was made for Strangers brother-in-law, Andrew Lumis- den, secretary to the young Pretender. It shows us a conventional interior, with a marble console supporting on brackets a pair of busts, Cicero and Craig ; the latter presumably the Sir Thomas Craig, of Riccarton — a countryman of both the owner and the engraver — who wrote learned treatises on Feudal Laws and on Royal Succes- sions. In the foreground a cupid, holding a manuscript in his hand, sits in an orating attitude among books, rolls, scales, compasses and other emblems of judicial tendencies, whilst the Lumis- den coat is displayed on a Rococo cartouche. The crest figures above the owner's name on a diminutive frame at the base of the whole com- position. v It is to be regretted that the " relief" process of reproduction should do so little justice to this very interesting plate. The original is signed " R. Strange, Sculp 1 ." 138 English Book-plates. The plate of Henrietta Frances, Countess of Bessborough, is here given not only as an exam- ple of Cipriani and Bartolozzi allegorical work, but also as an instance of a pictorial visiting card (an Lendon,rui> J D te '30.l71f6.li,EBa.Ttol<***; BOOK-PLATE OF HENRIETTA FRANCES, COUNTESS OF BESSBOROUGH. Designed by Cipriani. Engraved by Bartolozzi, 1796. article then in fashion among people of taste) adapted to serve as an ex-libris. Mr. Ponsonby, of whom Lady Bessborough was an ancestress, informs me that this device was really used as a book-plate. The design is to be thus interpreted : a Roman interior (according to Visiting Cards. J 39 the classic lights of the last century); Venus seated and holding a dove in one hand, the em- blem of love, and in the other a flambant heart. It was designed by Cipriani, engraved by Barto- lozzi, and " published" 1 by the latter in 1796. This is the plate which Bartolozzi called a " ticket VISITING CARD OF CHARLES TOWNLEY, USED AS A BOOK-PLATE. 'Engraved by Skelton. Circa 1790. plate" when acknowledging the receipt of ^20 as the price of the same, the day before " publi- cation." The plate designed by William Skelton for his early patron Charles Townley, the antiquary and 1 This last refers to the protective Act of Parliament passed in 1735 (chiefly at Hogarth's instigation). 140 English Book-plates. collector to whom the British Museum is indebted for the " Townley marbles," is another instance of a visiting card which has done duty as an alle- gorical ex-libris. Whether on the other hand the book-plate of J. Wilson, Professor of Phrenology, was originally devised as a business card, is a matter for conjec- ture. It is reproduced here as one more example of the class, although its date is undoubtedly much later than the eighteenth century. -^W^U/^T" &/^S%Z67Z&t! *>~> BOOK-PLATE OF JAS. NEILD. Circa 1790. and the crested morion in the Neild vignette, is generally pleasing ; it is essentially English. An excellent specimen is the ex-libris engraved by Barlow for William Boteler, which gives a view of Eastry Church in Kent, whilst the arms on a conventional shield (Boteler empaling Harvey) proclaim the owner s name. Armorial Landscapes. 145 In some cases the armorial element is alto- gether absent from the landscape plate. In such instances, the owner's name (for after all an ex- libris must record book-ownership somehow or other) may be engraved on a rock (as in the plates of John Anderson, Junior, and of C. E. BOOK-PLATE OF WILLIAM BOTELER. By Barlow. Circa 1800. Bainbridge), or writ in the clouds after the fashion of a latter day advertisement. This, however, is not more incongruous than the introduction of tilting lances and targes in a quiet fishing scene where an angler in 1 790 attire, is placidly lifting a stout perch out of the water ; but, as Warren remarks with reference more especially to the charming Bewick vignettes, the owners, not the L 146 English Book-plates. designers of landscape plates, were responsible for the intrusion of these jarring elements. In the design supposed to have been used by Horace Walpole as a book-plate, and which shows THE "STRAWBERRY HILL" BOOK-PLATE. a distant and rather artificially aged view of Straw- berry Hill, heraldry is not so obtrusive, and there is a certain conventionality about the arrangement of trees in the foreground which suits the style of a book-plate. This plate has been attributed to Bewick, but, as Mr. Austin Dobson has pointed Non-armorial Landscapes. 147 out to me, if any of the Strawberry Hill plates were executed by the Northumbrian engraver, they are simply exact copies of the vignette copper which appears on the title-page of Gray's " Odes," (the first book issued from the Strawberry Hill Press) in 1757. In that year Bewick was only four years old. Horace Walpole died in 1797, at a BOOK-PLATE OF JOHN ANDERSON, JUN. By Thomas Bewick. Circa 1800. time when Bewick was most busy about this sort of work, but it is not likely that this original draughts- man should have copied an old device. The ex-libris of John Anderson, Jun r ., and of George Hawks, which are representative of the non-armorial class and give us Bewick at his best, are charming little pictures. In the first of these, however, it is difficult to recognize any great suit- 148 English Book-plates. ability as a mark of possession, unless, indeed, it were destined to a library of specially piscatorial lore. The treatment of G. Hawks' token, on the other hand, in the hands of the delineator of " Bewick's Birds," is as natural as it is obvious in suggestion. Be this as it may, the pure landscape ex-libris of the last decades of the eighteenth century and the first of this, formed a very definite category, BOOK-PLATE OF GEORGE HAWKS. By Thomas Bewick. one of which examples are not only numerous, but in many cases particularly pleasing. The vignette plate of C. Bainbridge, by Howitt (a loving designer of sporting subjects) with its keen-nosed setter coming round a boulder on a moor, is also an in- stance of the kind. We are, indeed, far from the Book-pile and the Rococo frame ! This style frequently took the character of ruins (symbol of the instability of human affairs ii general, and of book possession in particular) in Non-armorial Landscapes. 149 The taste for deserted temples, frowning mediaeval remains, broken arches and overturned columns endured even longer than that for forest glades and rustic scenes. All these structures, it is well BOOK-PLATE OF G. C. BAINBRIDGE. By S. Howitt. Circa 1810. to note, offered surfaces temptingly inviting in- scription, and it may be said that " Ruin " book- plates are almost a class in themselves. The Townley card is tolerably typical of the genus ; so is the William Lane ex-libris, which, no doubt, was also used as a visiting card. It is very i5o English Book-plates. characteristic, and peculiarly atrocious in composi- tion. The Trajan column-like structure, flanked by the ruins on one side of a Corinthian colonnade, and on the other of some Romanesque building, would look incongruous enough within such a frame. But at the period which was graced by Mr. William Lane a label of this kind would not mwumwvxiuww BOOK-PLATE OF WILLIAM LANE. have been quite complete without a cinerary urn ; and here we have it, pertinently utilized as a shield of arms, whilst the cover knob is fashioned into a wreathed crest and the plinth is cunningly adapted to the requirements of the owner's motto. The Caulfield ex-libris is another and less ridi- culous example of this class. " This plate," says Mr. Robert Day, F.S.A., in a paper on Book- plates engraved by Cork artists, " when first used "Ruin" Plates. 151 by Dr. Caulfield was signed Augustus Colthurst, and dated 1820. I have some early examples of it in books purchased at the sale of the Caulfield library, and have no doubt about the accuracy of the date, which has since for some cause been obliterated." BOOK-PLATE OF RICHARD CAULFIELD, LL.D. By A. Colthurst, 1820. GROUP THE THIRD. MODERN ARMORIAL. |T is almost impossible to divide this group into very definite styles, for on the one hand, a chief characteristic of the piwely Armorial Modern plate is a singular absence of adventitious ornamentation, and on the other, the different methods of setting forth armorial bearings adopted by different die- sinkers and engravers are too numerous to classify to any useful purpose. Again, in the majority of modern plates com- bining heraldry with other artistic elements, there is such wide eclecticism in composition, the tran- sitional forms between " mainly heraldic " and " mainly pictorial " designs are so infinite that it is almost useless to attempt any chronological specification of styles and classes. Of nineteenth-century plates, the pure and simple Armorial label (by which I mean that very correct, very arid, quite unmistakable work of the modern " die-sinker and engraver,") however inte- resting it may sometimes prove to the genealogist, Modern Die- Sin key Style. 153 is a perfect nuisance to the ex-librist who looks for more in a book-plate than merely correct blazoning. Unfortunately its name is legion. It floods ex-libris albums and drawers ; it clogs the wheels of classifi- UWtrS EX LiZBEZS (Smlitlmt 6aikg UM2 £Msiiens£s /*23 -Jh& BOOK-PLATE OF WILLIAM BAILEY OF BELFAST, 1 823. cation ; the collector has often to issue a warning that it will not be acceptable in exchange for artistic specimens. Still it is a book-plate, and no doubt, if not otherwise interesting, it fulfils its purpose with great precision. I propose, for want of better imagination, to 154 English Book-plates. christen this style " Modern Die-sinker." This may sound frivolous, but it is tolerably descriptive. A short inspection of any respectable stationer's stock of specimens will suffice to fix its main characteristics in the mind. " Modern Die-sinker" plates, then, can only be BOOK-PLATE OF HENRY THOMAS BUCKLE. Circa 1850. classified, when they display a whole escutcheon, by reference to the shapes of the latter. 1 To a certain extent there has been some kind of chrono- logical succession in the vogue enjoyed by parti- cular shapes ; but as each of these has endured in 1 See the "Types of Shields" plates at the end of this book. Modern Die-Sinker Style. 155 some manner contemporaneously with subsequent designs, the classification is almost futile. The shield which succeeded the later Georgian spade in the general favour of heraldic engravers was that square-sided, eared, scribed or angular based escutcheon which occurs so plentifully on book-plates between the years 1810-30. It is a BOOK-PLATE OF ANTHONY TROLLOPE. Circa i860. shape which, whilst it was most common during the first third of this century, has retained some favour till now. Such, for instance, was that which Mr. William Bailey of Belfast adopted for his ex-libris in 1823. I have, however, chosen this example more particularly as one of a tolerably definite genus (that might, perhaps, be termed •56 English Book-plates. "Aerial") in which family pretensions are always raised to the skies and heralded among the clouds. No doubt the very many stars quartered by Mr. Bailey suggested the appropriateness of the arrangement to his case ; but Aerial book-plates are on the whole fairly numerous. BOOK-PLATE OF THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN. Circa 1812. The escutcheon of Henry Thomas Buckle, the historian of Civilization ; of Anthony Trollope, the novelist ; of Thomas Frognall Dibdin, the Biblio- grapher, belong to that numerous tribe of square eared shapes, hundreds of which are turned out yearly in our own days. No doubt the historian and the novelist, busy men more curious of book- matter than of book-form, relied upon their cus- Modern Die-Sinker Style. 157 tomary stationer to supply them With fitting per- sonal tokens for their volumes. But not so the author of " Bibliomania." His coat is a quaint specimen of mock heraldry, meant to record his own well-known tastes. It is not easy to blazon, but here is at least an attempt towards so doing. Quarterly. \st Azure, a lion rampant debruised by a bendlet argent, a label of three points of the same ; 2nd Gules, a Chapman passant, proper, vested or ; 3rd Argent, the colophon mark of Fust and Schoeffer in f esse ; \th the printer s mark of William Caxton cove7'ing the field. — Crest, a cubit arm, vested azure, cuffed or, the hand proper grasping an early illuminated book with clasps, also proper. This bogus blazonry was not, of course, in- tended to deceive anyone ; and, under this very " Modern Armorial " form, the great Bibliomaniac's ex-libris was really personal in the highest degree. A very great variety of shapes of shield-forms were more or less in fashion at different periods (many of them imitated from ancient examples), among which the "Victorian," the " College of Arms," modified forms of " Stuart," of " Queen Anne," even of " Gothic," and of foreign shapes. The helm and mantling made a general reap- pearance, but with much loss of heraldic feeling. To select one instance only — during its long seces- sion from the helmet, since early Georgian days, the torce or wreath had assumed unto itself such importance as sole supporter of the crest on English plates, that when we find it again reinstated in its proper place it seems to have lost all sense of i58 English Book-plates. fitness. This is very perceptible in the Wingfield Larking Plate, (tolerably representative of much " Modern Die-sinker" work), where the torce, dry as a chip, is balanced meaninglessly stiff and rod- like atop of the helm, which it should really ^5!%^s BOOK-PLATE OF CHARLES DICKENS. A further selection made : Heraldic and Allegoric. Heraldic and Symbolic or " Rebus." The latter styles and classes, unlike the "purely heraldic," admit of any amount of artistic fancy in composition, and include many of the most charm- ing designs in existence. It seems hitherto to have been the habit among those few English writers who have taken up the subject, to consider that most of the interest in 172 English Book-plates. book-plates ceases with the close of the last cen- tury. I venture, however, to submit that not a few of the designs I have been able to collect in these pages to illustrate modern types would only re- quire the glamour of age to enable them to com- pare favourably with the best examples of bygone days. • . : • 173 SEALS AND VESICAS. T is expedient to class under this head most book-plates of vesica or of circular outline (others, of course, than conven- tional garters) ; they may not be al- ways ostensibly designed as seals, but in most BOOK-PLATE OF J. E. CUSSANS, ESQ. By Robinson. cases their general physiognomy recalls at once the heavy seals of mediaeval days. 174 English Book-plates. This style is eminently adapted to book-plate Its very essence is heraldic. It composition. BOOK-PLATE OF EDMUND YATES. By J. Vinycomb. admits of much and nice discrimination in the ordering of ornamental elements and affords suit- BOOK-PLATE OF ROBERT DAY, F.S.A. By J. Vinycomb. Seals. 177 able room for inscription. Among the best examples extant are the ex-libris of Mr. J. E. Cussans, the distinguished writer on heraldry and cognate subjects, engraved by Robinson, and that of Mr. Robert Day, signed J. Vinycomb. In the same manner, but perhaps not so masterly in BOOK-PLATE OF ETON COLLEGE LIBRARY treatment, is the vesica used by Mr. Edmund Yates. The plate bearing the inscription Liber Col- legii Regalis Beate Marie de Etona, a handsome specimen, is of the gothic tracery type ; as for the unpretending seal-plate of the late Althorpe N 178 English Book-plates. Library books, M. Bouchot would no doubt see in it a corroboration of his satirical and sweeping statement that, "the greater the bibliophile the plainer is the book-plate." There can be no doubt that were it not that this insignificant little label is the mark chosen for the finest private collec- tion of books in the world it would attract little attention. I imagine that the rough and studiously archaic BOOK-PLATE OF THE ALTHORP LIBRARY. device supported by the onomatopoetic motto Nee careo nee euro (which is obviously suggested by the crows on the Crawhall coat) ought to be regarded more or less as a seal. It may not be held up as being in itself a thing of beauty by every beholder, but it is very typical of the work of the well-known designer of "Impresses quaint" and other works of " revival " character. The last specimen of this kind, interesting as a Collegiate composition, is the plate of the Archaeo- Stamped Leather Plates. 179 logical Society of the County Kildare. The three coats therein displayed show, firstly, the arms of the town of Naas, Co. Kildare, secondly, those of the Duke of Leinster, first President of the Society, and thirdly, those of the Earl of Mayo, who is virtually the founder of the Society. In the seal class may, perhaps, best be included SOB" BOOK-PLATE OF JOSEPH CRAWHALL. By the owner. that somewhat uncommon kind of ex-libris, the " leather label," stamped (generally in gold or silver, but sometimes blind-blocked) with armorial compositions or other devices, the colour of the leather generally being (as it should always be) selected so as to suit that of the cover lining. This sort of personal token, which is sometimes i8o English Book-plates. exceedingly beautiful, and which recalls in almost every characteristic, except its mobility, thejztper- BOOK-PLATE OF THE ARCH/EOLOGICAL SOCIETY, CO. KILDARE. libros patronized by more ostentatious bibliophiles, belongs to a very distinct category, and is only applicable to the covers of more or less gorgeously bound volumes. m mEmmMmmmmm ;»>^^«^.^^^^i^>^.^»'^.^.N»N;..x LTEZI m r v v y Her Majesty's Book-plate for the Windsor Library. {Reproduced by Gracious Permission.) i8i PRINTERS' MARK STYLE. IKE the foregoing, this style, which I propose to name with reference to a very frequent type of early printers' mark, is chiefly Armorial. In general composition, plates of this kind recall both the mark BOOK-PLATE OF HAMILTON AIDE. of Richard Fawkes, with " pounced " or pointille background, and that of John Scott, with escut- cheon,^crested helmet, and name, filling a square 1 82 English Book-plates, panel. To this class belongs, in general charac- ter, notwithstanding its noble dimensions, Her Majesty's plate for the Windsor Library, designed by West and engraved by Mary Byfield. BOOK-PLATE OF THE REV. S. BARING-GOULD. The four smaller examples I have chosen as representative were executed by Mr. Harry Soane, the well-known heraldic engraver of Han way Street. The ex-libris of Dr. Evans, (now Sir John Evans, K.C.B.), LL.D., D.C.L., whilom The Pounced Style. 183 President of the Society of Antiquaries, and Secretary of the Royal Society, might, however, almost as appropriately be classed as emblematic. BOOK-PLATE OF SIR JOHN EVANS, K.C.B. By Harry Soane. For, in addition to the achievements and scrolls and pounced background common to the printers' mark, are displayed ancient coins, stone and bronze implements, symbolic of some of this great savant's ' 1 84 English Book-plates. special works of research. It is a poor device, both in composition and execution, but full of interest on account of the singular distinction of its owner in so many branches of learning. The three others, all belonging to men of letters BOOK-PLATE OF THE REV. C. H. MIDDLETON-WAKE. Designed by the Rev. J. Loftie. Engraved by Soane. — Mr. Hamilton Aide, the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, and the Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake, are more typical examples. The latter (designed by the Rev. J. Loftie, the historian of London), with its escut- cheon hanging to a bole of the Tree of Knowledge The Tree of Literature. 185 after a very typical printers' mark manner, and the " Wake Knot " as main badge cunningly utilized for the owner's initials, is a singularly well-balanced composition. The Tree symbol, typical of growing, spreading mm ■/■-">_V««i «»» •fvf PREND>/\OY^TEL 3iSOB£2ES BOOK-PLATE OF THE REV. W. J. LOFTIE, F.S.A. Designed by Robert Bateman. and fruitful knowledge, and therefore, by associa- tion, of literature in general, is adopted also by Mr. Loftie for his own book-plate. Here we see three escutcheons ; the larger shield bears the family arms ; that on the dexter side displays argent, a cross sable, symbolical of the owner's 1 86 English Book-plates. sacred calling ; whilst on the sinister the owners initials are introduced in a Caxton-like manner well suited to the general spirit of the design. This composition was originally devised for the title-page of Mr. Loftie's " Latin Year," by Robert Bate man. Another ex-libris, belonging to Mr. J. P. Rylands, albeit not strictly armorial, is included as a final example. The symbol displayed on the escut- cheon is a merchant's mark eneraved on a fifteenth century seal used by one Nicholas del Rylands, an ancestor of the present owner. I:PAVL:RyLflNDS:FSil: BOOK-PLATE OF J. PAUL RYLANDS, F.S.A. 1 8' HERALDIC-ALLEGORIC AND HERALDIC- SYMBOLIC. T is impossible to draw any really logical line of demarcation between "Allegoric" AO and " Symbolic " or " Emblematic " com- 8 positions. For the purpose of book-plate definition, however, I propose to class as "Alle- goric" all designs where the attendants on the shield are human or celestial beings acting some part with reference to the owners personality, name, tastes, or pursuits. This would place the modern class somewhat in line with that already similarly defined by Warren. It seems, however, necessary to use the double terms with reference to modern examples, as of course there are many plates that are allegoric without being in any way armorial. When, on the other hand, the emblematic con- comitants are simply animal or material objects, the term " symbolic " has seemed to me more suitable. In any case a division on these lines is to some extent practical. HERALDIC-ALLEGORIC. One of the most interesting specimens of this class is the plate designed by Mr. (now Sir John) Millais, for the present Mr. Christopher Sykes. 1 88 English Book-plates. The allegory bears on the owner's Christian name, and illustrates the legend of St. Christopher ferry- ing Christ through the waters, whilst the arms on the unconventional escutcheon (argent, a chevron sable between three sykes or fountains) are suffi- ciently canting to proclaim the patronymic. Mr. BOOK-PLATE OF SAMUEL ANGELL By Sir W. Boxali, R.A. Sykes is happy in the possession of a plate which, at once personal and eminently artistic, seems to fulfil all the requirements of the perfect ex-libris, and the future collector will consider himself in luck who comes across this original piece, and recognizes the well-known Millais type in the delicious head of the Infant Saviour, and en the rim of the seal-like frame the unmistakable initial. The plates of Samuel Angell and of Edward BOOK-PLATE OF MR. By Sir J. CHRISTOPHER SYKES. E. Millais. Design by IV. M. Thackeray. 191 Fitzgerald are very similar in composition. In the first, the angelic supporter of the shield, (de- signed by Sir W. Boxall, R.A.), is easily inter- preted. The second, however, bears no obvious meaning. But this unpretending device, which might so easily fail at first glance to attract atten- tion, is nevertheless as interesting as any in exis- BOOK-PLATE OF EDWARD FITZGERALD. By W. M. Thackeray. 1 tence. In the first place, it was drawn by William Makepeace Thackeray, and in the second it was designed for his friend, Edward Fitzgerald, the poet and translator, who introduced to the Western World a work still held by sundry enthusiasts to be worth a hundred volumes of verse, the Rubaiyat, 1 For the loan of the original block I am indebted to Mr. Bain, the well- known bibliopolist in the Haymarket. 1 92 English Book-plates. of Omar Khaiyam. It is supposed that in the Angel Thackeray intended to pourtray Mrs. Brook- field. 1 Another unique plate is one designed in 1881 by Randolph Caldecott. Says Mr. Blackburn in his recollections of that most delightful of humourists and draughtsmen : — 11 The book-plate was drawn for an old and in- timate friend in Manchester [Mr. H. G. Seaman, of Chelford, Crewe], and it is curious to note how closely the style of the family crest is followed in its various details. If it were not for certain satirical touches, this ingenious design might easily pass for the work of other hands ; the touch and treatment have little in common with Caldecott as he is known ; the artistic completeness of the little book-plate is another evidence of his power as a designer." It is, I think, quite allowable to place this quaint composition in the present class — a pious seaman apparently preparing himself, in accordance with his motto, by diligent reading of the Book of Psalms, for the watery grave to which his frail craft will presently abandon him, is no doubt a speaking allegory. On the subject of this very interesting piece, (which was originally drawn on the back of a post- 1 On the subject of this ex-libris Mr. Edmund Gosse has sent me the following interesting detail : — " I have just come across a note I copied out of a letter by Edward Fitzgerald, dated March 19th, 1878, referring to the book-plate. ' Done by Thackeray one day in Coram (Joram) Street in 1842. All wrong on her feet, so he said — I can see him nowl — E.F.G." BOOK-PLATE OF MR. SEAMAN OF MANCHESTER. By Randolph Caldecott. O Design by Randolph Caldecott. 195 card), Mr. Seaman, writing to a friend, remarked : " Regarding Caldecott's drawing, I have just been reading the letter in which he sent it with the print from the block cut by his friend Mr. J. mil Fii^"«aaKafeEHi. BOOK-PLATE OF FREDERICK LOCKER. By Walter Crane. D. Cooper. In this he expressed himself much pleased with the excellence of the engraving, which he had himself seen carried out. He had intended, with several artists, friends of his and men of note, to make a study of this pretty art — book-plate de- 196 English Book-plates. signing — for its worthy revival. But, alas ! his hands were full and his life was so short, that I think mine was the only specimen he completed." The author of " London Lyrics," Mr. Frederick Locker- Lampson, has had a variety of book-plates BOOK-PLATE OF FREDERICK LOCKER. By Kate Greenaway. drawn by well-known hands at different times for himself and his family. In the first of the four which I have the privilege of reproducing, Mr. Stacy Marks, R.A., 1 has selected for allegorical 1 Mr. Marks has designed some forty book-plates. It were a boon to many lovers of art if his example were followed by more limners of similar standing. ^FREDERICK;* £ ^i Lockers BOOK-PLATE OF FREDERICK LOCKER. By H. Stacy Marks, R.A. GODFREY LOCKER-LAMPSON BOOK-PLATE OF GODFREY LOCKER-LAMPSON. By Kate Greenaway. Designs by Stacy Marks, 201 purposes a favourite subject of his — the professional 11 Fool" absorbed in thoughts of melancholy wisdom. The second, in which a muse-like young woman watches over a rather roughly set forth achieve- ment with a motherly gaze, is not signed, but bears all the characteristics of Mr. Walter Crane's manner. The two juvenile ex-libris destined to proclaim the book ownership of Frederick Locker and Godfrey Locker-Lampson, are designed by that recognized specialist, Kate Greenaway. The variations in the heraldry of these four plates are no doubt due to grants and a change of name. 202 English Book-plates. HERALDIC-SYMBOLIC. JYPICAL of the book-plate arrangement intended to record personal tastes and occupations is the design made by W. Bell Scott, poet and painter, for Henry Aylorde. We are at once made aware, by the open muniment chest, the big folios and clasped books, the seals and parchments, the classical lamp, the chalice and the background of ruined romanesque architecture, that Henry Aylorde was an Antiquary. Among the most copious and imaginative de- signers of the present time is Mr. John Leighton, F.S.A., 1 — " Luke Limner," — one of our keenest ex-librists. Mr. Leighton has composed a number of book-plates both for himself and his friends. I am able to reproduce here one perhaps less well- known than many others, in which an artist's palette, slightly coicchie, is used to fit (after the manner of some old-fashioned German shields) the proportions of a vigorously heraldic lion. The "sentiments" on the border are terse English adaptations of Spanish proverbs. 1 The student of book-plates will derive much benefit from, and find great general interest in, the perusal of one of Mr. Leighton's works, " Suggestions in Design," with descriptive and historical letter-press by J. K. Collings. (Blazon, Heraldry, Rebuses, plates 50-54.) London. Blackie and Son. 4to. 1880. Design by IV. Bell Scott. 203 The palette is of course a very sufficient symbol of a limner's avocation. It again appears suitably in another of Mr. Leighton's compositions, the book- plate, to wit, of Sir Oswald Brierly, marine painter to Her Majesty. Here the symbolisation of the owner's pursuits is pushed further, and the palette BOOK-PLATE OF HENRY AYLORDE, F.S.A. By William Bell Scott. is cunningly used as a background to an admirably conventional ship, one mast of which passes, in maul-stick fashion, through the thumb-hole, flying a scrolled pennant charged with a motto (on the reverse with a date), whilst the mainsail of the other serves as a field argent for Sir Oswald's 204 English Book-plates. cross-potent and fleur-de-lys. The crest graces the " top-garland" mast, the garland appositely playing the part of torce. " Here," as Mr. Leigh- ton says in his paper on " Ship Ex-Libris," 1 M the BOOK-PLATE OF SIR OSWALD BRIERLY. By John Leighton. porpoise plays on its own waverley sea whilst a lanthorn-lighted prow cleaves the course." The Brierly plate is a singularly improved version of the idea embodied in an older symbolic ship-device, thus described by Mr. Leighton, in 1 Journal of the Ex-Libris Society, vol. i. part 5. 1 r\ WOOD T r\ BURN L- \J WINE W DRINK Q 1§ Z ^^^^®5^ UJ tr^^^^ML cc MjS^-jw^^ Ll. \w& r\Wl 1 '*"'*- \ \tj ^V^B^^w • f^ K^a^^*^^^^^. * ^^^^f^^^y o o m &$$ "n m > D • o o o a 1 |"\ BOOKS "I" /"% READ I— *■• FRIENDS ^ TRUST /3lo&n icigbton. JF.S.3. V BOOK-PLATE OF JOHN LEIGHTON — " LUKE LIMNER." By the owner. Designs by "Luke Limner! 1 207 the same paper, as " The ex-libris of John Scott Russell, F.R.S., the naval architect who con- structed the Leviathan, afterwards the Great Eastern (now no more). In this you will per- BOOK-PLATE OF JOHN SCOTT RUSSELL. ceive an old style of barque mediaevally treated, the sails being reefed, whilst the shield — out of all proportion — is hoisted on the mast ; the motto flying from a pennon on the prow, whilst on the poop is painted a monogram, J.S.R., a spouting 208 English Book-plates. dolphin blowing away on the waves that are made to float the owner's name in full." A very distinct genus of the Heraldic-Em- blematic class of design, is that which deals in Rebus on names or heraldic charges, and the artist who has perhaps achieved the greatest success in this description of book-plate is Mr. Thomas Erat Harrison. Mr. Harrison has created, in this minor department of his artistic pursuits, a style which is essentially his own. His theory on the composition of a book-plate is very definite : a token of this kind should be as " unmistakable as a trade mark," and should bear some distinctive reference, armorial or personal, to the owner. Such ends are best secured in his opinion by decorative and conventional rather than pictorial and realistic treatment. The three plates I am able to repro- duce, interpreted by Mr. Harrison himself, will fully illustrate his method and style, which is as characteristic, in its way, as that of Mr. Sherborn. "The first is a gift of Lord Northbourne to Mr. Gladstone on the occasion of that statesman's golden wedding; it bears the dates, 23rd July 1839, 23rd July 1889. The Kites and Stones are a rebus on Gledstanes, the original form of the name (gled = kite) ; and it will be observed that the shield hangs on a holly bush, the reason for this being that the griffin of the crest issues from a wreath of holly leaves. The helmet is rather prominent to show that Mr. Gladstone is still a commoner." The second, belonging to Mr. Matthew Ridley Corbett, is thus explained : " The Angel is em- BOOK-PLATE OF WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. By T. Erat Harrison. P Designs by Erat Harrison. 2 1 1 blematic of Matthew ; the squirrels show that one was formerly used as a crest ; the ravens allude to the motto, * Deus pascit Corvos! The space on BOOK-PLATE OF M. R. CORBET. By T. Erat Harrison. the stone under the shield is for the date on which the book was procured." The book-plate of Mr. Henry Folkard, Libra- 2 1 2 English Book-plates. rian of the Wigan Free Library, is open to much interpretation, chiefly, it must be said, of the dismal order. It was designed by Mr. Gordon Browne, son of the immortal " Phiz," and known Ufitry ®- 3folkar&. BOOK-PLATE OF HENRY FOLKARD. By Gordon Browne. besides by much excellent work of his own. Here we have, in company with a closed book, the spectacles of advancing age and withering flowers, what is presumably meant to represent the bitter cup of life (under the form of a German Design by Gordon Browne, 2 1 3 Romer). As a support to this bowl which bears the melancholy philosophical inscription : " Teh habe gelebt und geliebet" are various emblems of life and death, graceful feminine forms, with the symbol of their soul — the psychic butterfly — over their brows, enslaved by the Implacable Fiend, who lies half hidden behind them in gruesome, bony company, whilst round the base the serpent biting his tail emphasizes an endless allegory. This is indeed a book-plate offering congenial" food for reflection to those dSsabuses in whom M. Bouchot sees a special category of book-lovers. PICTORIAL NON-HERALDIC PLATES. ' EMBLEMATIC " AND " GENRE/ ROADLY speaking, the great majority of Non-Heraldic book-plates are Em- blematic (that is, Allegorical or Sym- bolic) in some way or another. In fact, they could hardly be "personal" without some kind of representative device. The numerous modern examples I give of this category contain specimens of almost every class, Allegoric, Sym- bolic, Library- Interior, Landscape, etc., which, as they have already been descanted upon in con- nection with Armorial Styles, need not be further distinguished. In Mr. Eolkard's Cup-and-Book device we had a good instance of wide-reaching symbolism. I imagine, however, that the extraordinary- looking design made by Mr. Charles Ricketts for Mr. Gleeson White claims quite the most universal scope of any in existence. " The tree of Creation (Igdrasil)," says Mr. Ricketts in explanation of his mystic picture, Design by Charles Ricketts. 215 " springs from a swirl of water and flame which breaks into little gems ; the flame, continuing, flows through the trunk of the tree, which branches on each side into composite boughs suggesting the different plant kingdoms. This central flame en- E*UWM GlFePN VvkiTE© BOOK-PLATE OF GLEESON WHITE. By Charles Ricketts. velopes the figure of man, placed in the midst of the tree in the act of awakening. The fruit on the eastern end of each bough represent in embryo the fish and water fowl, the reptile and creeping insects, the larger animals, and finally the creatures 2 1 6 English Book-plates. with wings. The rainbow shooting through the centre composition signifies the atmosphere ; the two figures under one cloak in the lower part of the design represent night and day, i.e., the planets." Now, at first flush, one might well wonder what all this cosmogonic symbolism can possibly have to do with a book-plate, and feel inclined to com- pare the designer to Racine's Plaideur with his celebrated exordium : " Avant done La naissance du monde et sa creation . . ." But the owner of this characteristic if rather fan- tastic device is ready however with a compara- tively simple interpretation. " The tree," explains Mr. White, " whether under this particular shape of Igdrasil in Scandi- navian mythology, or under that of the Tree of Knowledge in the Mosaic tradition, has always been a favourite symbol for Literature'. It is therefore a felicitous choice as an emblem of knowledge, eternal, yet needing daily nourishment, and always growing. In fact, the various inter- pretations of this mystical tree are as all-embracing as literature itself." The ex-libris of Mr. John Lane which figured in the original edition of this work was one that might well strike a would-be interpreter with dismay, but Mr. Alan Wright, the designer, whose characteristic beetle-like cypher figures on many an illustrated periodical of the day, and who is also a prolific designer of book-plates, kindly explained some of its meaning. It seems that there was the " Lane Designs by Alan Wright. 217 of Life " (which also stood for the initial letter of the owners name), with the " Trees of Knowledge, Fame, Crime, and Pleasure" on either side ; and the curious might amuse themselves by disentangling at their pleasure and leisure " Love and the Flowers of Youth," " the Lion of Circumstance," good and bad Angels, together with our old friend Charon BOOK-PLATE OF MRS. CAMPBELL. By Alan Wright. and the river Styx. To pursue the Allegory still further, I pointed out (on my own responsibility) that the cheerfully disposed might descry a gleam of hope for the poor beset wayfarer in a minute " Sunrise " at the extreme corner, while on the other hand it was quite open to the pessimist to recognize in a sinking orb an emblem of Eternal 2l8 English Book-plates. Night. There was a typical instance of the im- mense amount of "food for reflection" that can be compressed within the compass of an emble- matic book-plate ! Two other plates by the same hand figuring in 1300K-PLATE OF L. T. MEADE, Late editress of " Atalanta." By Alan Wright. the present volume are less complicated, — Mrs. Campbell's ex-libris is plainly musical and literary, besides being a pleasing and inspiriting kind of device to meet constantly in favourite books. The lesson it aspires to teach is that were the book closed Design by Gleeson JVhite. 219 and the inkpot dry, the span of life would be death- like. Mrs. Campbell is known in the musical world as Madame Perugini. The staves partly hidden by the Death's Head show a few bars of a favourite air. Another musical book-plate is that designed by Mr. Gleeson White for the late Ernest Lake, a musician of great promise and a well-known mem- ber of the Savage Club. His crest was a cannon, and the musical notes are an ingeniously arranged BOOK-PLATE OF ERNEST LAKE By Gleeson White. canon, to which are set the words of a motto attributed to St. Francis de Sales — the old dog Latin noexkins tend boexkins is the original form of the sentence. The same hair-raising latinity occurs as the sentiment on Mr. White's own book-plate (by Alan Wright). Here we have another "bony light" and another cheerful view of the ultimate fate of our dearest books in the hands of old Tempus, edax rerum. The Allegory, which shows us two working 220 English Book-plates, sisters, the first engaged, apparently, in pruning the Tree of Knowledge, whilst the second, seated at its foot, with the Lamp of History by her side, absorbs herself in theoretical study, was drawn for Mr. Oscar Browning by Simeon Solomon, a Pre- Raphaelite who once gave promise of a brilliant artistic career. 1 Irt. omnibus rebus requiem BOOK-PLATE OF GLEESON WHITE. By Alan Wright. 1 Such was the interpretation I placed on this plate. Mr. Browning has since, however, pointed out to me that in some respects the interpretation went wrong, whilst in others I fell far short of the mark in not seeing all that could be seen in this singular plate. "The meaning," writes the owner, " of the book-plate is as follows. It represents the antagonism between the active and the contemplative life, between the life of active Design by Simeon Solomon. 221 A very distinct genus of the Emblematic class might be separately classed under the rubric Punning or " Rebus." Such plates are of course BOOK-PLATE OF OSCAR BROWNING. By Simeon Solomon. work and the life of study, which just at that time was exciting me very much. Labor of course signifies one, and Theoria the other. Theoria was borrowed from a version by Munro of some lines of Milton, in which he renders ' the cherub con- templation ' by Theoria. Content aiileurs is an invention o;' my own, and represents the discontent following the above- mentioned conflict. It is modelled on the repos aiileurs of St. 222 English Book-plates. very personal, and often excessively quaint. As I have stated before, Mr. Erat Harrison is a special BOOK-PLATE OF MR. CHARLES E. DOBLE. By T. Erat Harrison. Aldegonde. The lamp and book are merely attributes of llieoria. You perceive that Labo?' is standing up, girt, pruning a tree, which is emblematical of the educational work in which I was then engaged. The wings are my crest. We intended to have the coat-of-arms instead, but I omitted to send them. The river is the Thames, emblematical of Eton where I then was. The spires ought to have been those of the chapel as seen from the river.'' Rebus " Plates, 223 adept at this sort of composition, and has pro- duced some of the most artistic and interesting ex- libris of modern times. The rebus on the name BOOK-PLATE OF E. ONSLOW FORD. By T. Eiat Harrison. of Charles E. Doble is typical of his system, and is thus to be interpreted, by the designer himself. " The stars are Charles Wain for Chas. The note E is on the bell, which, with the doe, makes Doble (Dobell). The imp is a mere accessory, 224 English Book-plates, alluding to the dread such spirits have of the sound of bells." In this year's "Academy" Mr. Harrison ex- hibited the emblematic plate devised for Mr. Onslow Ford's books. It is conceived in a some- what different manner from his earlier works. BOOK-PLATE OF C. SHARP. By K. M. Skeaping. There is no attempt at punning but as much sym- bolism as the frame can conveniently contain. The tree is, of course, the literary " Tree of Knowledge," from which the serpent is offering sound and rotten fruit — a somewhat strained allu- sion to the fact that all books are not edifying. Designs by J. D. Batten. 225 The owl symbolizes wisdom, in a classical manner. The statue is " Peace," Mr. Ford's favourite work; the lyre heralds his taste for music and poetry; whilst, of the principal figures, the man with mallet and chisel stands for Sculpture proper, B-IMaBE-I^Uels Ma ^MKiM- $> BOOK-PLATE OF HENRY TAIT. By J. D. Batten. carved work, and the' female figure for fire; she pours the melted metal into a mould from a crucible, the vapour escaping through an air-vent ; her flight downwards is symbolic of her heavenly origin. The crucible and mould, of course, are allusions to bronze casting. Q 226 English Book-plates. The inscription should be ^ooXuroi rx kocXoc. There is an unfortunate mistake in the original drawing. Another musical rebus appears on the book- plate of Mr. Charles Sharp, of the Liverpool BOOK-PLATE OF A. H. TURNBULL By Walter Crane. Institute, where under a charming "interior" by K. M. Skeaping, the note C sharp, on a small canton ruled for music, figures as a simple legend. Mr. Henry Tait's artistic device displays, like that of Mr. Browning, the allegory of Labour and Study, Designs by Walter Crane. 227 with an Anglo-French pun (somewhat far-fetched it must be admitted) on the family name as a motto. Far better as a rebus, if not as a picture, is the BOOK-PLATE OF WALTER CRANE. By the owner. spirited Turnbull plate, executed in Mr. Crane's best manner. To a certain extent the device composed by the Apostle of Socialism and Deco- 228 English Book-plates. rative Art, for his own books, may also be con- sidered as a rebus on his name, for I assume that the two-handled wine jug stands for an initial W BOOK-PLATE OF CLEMENT SHORTER. By Walter Crane. before the Crane. But it is also elaborately sym- bolic ; and, with pen, pencil and palette, and the quatrain from the " Rubaiyat," descriptive of the owner's pursuits and literary tastes. Designs by Walter Crane. 229 Omar Khayyam as interpreted by Edward Fitz- gerald is evidently a favourite singer in Mr. Crane's ear, for we find another quatrain of the " Rubaiyat" doing duty as "Sentiment" on the plate devised BOOK-PLATE OF WALTER BESANT. By J. Vinycomb. by this artist for Mr. Clement Shorter, editor of the " Illustrated London News.'' In this device, with the exception of the female figure perusing the " Breviary of Love," and of the monogram shield, both of which are singularly occidental in appear- 230 English Book-plates. ance, the decorative composition is of the Persian type, a favourite with Mr. Crane. Very illustrative of Mr. Walter Besant's capa- city for unrelenting work is the " Library Interior " designed for that indefatigable and prolific writer by J. Vinycomb and engraved by Marcus Ward and Co., of Dublin, in which we see the sage man of the pen amidst studious surroundings, absorbed in his HOOK-PLATE OF THE LATE TOHN PERRLS. work yet fearful of the flight of time, and making right good use of the hours as they fall through the glass. One would wish, for the sake of com- pleteness, that the artist had found room for Mr. Besant's favourite motto " Work whilst ye have the light." The plate engraved for the late John Perris, whilom Librarian of the Lyceum in Liverpool, BOOK-PLATE OF THE HON. J. B. LEICESTER WARREN. By W. Bell Scott. Designs by IV. B. Scott. 233 which shows us the Knight of the Dismal Counte- nance enthralled by his beloved Tales of Chivalry, may be taken as emblematic of the powers of books over imagination and, on that count, included in the present category. The three following plates belong to other well- known men of letters : Mr. Austin Dobson's (designed by Alfred Parsons), easily interpreted as 53§jj^ ■yEgljlJM^ :VJ of IkEP'^PRS^ MP*?T[!g&W% Will Pr^sif LOOK-PLATE OF AUSTIN DOBSON. By Alfred Parsons. " At the Sign of the Lyre ; " ! and Mr. Warren's, by William Beli Scott, are both distinctly emblematic. The latter is, of course, particularly interesting to ex-librists, revealing as it does some of the special tastes of a poet and scientist, who, withal, remains the best known authority on the subject of book-plates. " I may tell you," writes Lord de Tabley, " that, : It was originally used as a tail-piece in that charming volume of verses so entitled. 234 English Book-plates as you suppose, the design refers to some of the leading hobbies of my life. It may seem some- what egotistical to have had them heralded there ; but Mr. Scott very kindly designed the plate without consulting me. The plant is a bramble bush (as I have made the genus Rubus my prin- j|*f«p»to»fe 500K-PLATE OF EDMUND GOSSE. By E. A. Abbey cipal study), the lowest scroll is inscribed Rumex, with the portrait of a Dock, also a favourite genus of mine ; the upper scroll is inscribed with some MS. poetry, in which I have made several obscure attempts. In the background is a coin cabinet which has been my earliest and perhaps my most absorbing hobby." Edmund Gosse on Book-plates. 235 Lord de Tabley's over-modest reference to his verses is incidentally corrected by no less an authority than Mr. Edmund Gosse in the following quaint paradoxical excerpt from " Gossip in a Library," which I quote here, not only in explana- tion of the charming design of Mr. E. Abbey for the writer, but as giving a decidedly novel view of the uses of a book-plate. " The outward and visible mark of the citizen- ship of the book-lover/' says Mr. Gosse, himself a lover and connoisseur of books sil en fut, " is his book-plate. There are many good bibliophiles who abide in the trenches and never proclaim their loyalty by a book-plate. They are with us but not of us ; they lack the courage of their opinions ; they collect with timidity or carelessness ; they have no heed for the morrow. Such a man is liable to great temptations. He is brought face to face with that enemy of his species the borrower, and dares not speak with him in the gate. If he had a book-plate he would say, ' Oh ! certainly I will lend you this volume, if it has not my book- plate in it ; of course one makes it a rule never to lend a book that has V He would say this, and feign to look inside the volume, knowing right well that this safeguard against the borrower is there already. To have a book-plate gives a collector great serenity and self-confidence. We have laboured in a far more conscientious spirit since we had ours. A living poet, Lord de Tabley, wrote a fascinating volume on book-plates some years ago with copious illustrations. There is not, however, one specimen in his book which I would 236 English Book-plates. exchange for mine, the work and gift of one of the most imaginative American artists, Mr. Edwin A. Abbey. It represents a very fine gentleman of about 16 10, walking in broad sunlight in a garden, reading a little book of verses. The name is coiled around him with the motto Gravis cantan- tibus umbra, I will not presume to translate this tag of an eclogue, and I venture to mention such a very uninteresting matter, that my indulgent readers may have a more vivid notion of what I call my library." Mr. Lawrence Alma Tadema also uses an allegoric book-plate, a medallion of mixed classical and modern composition. The allegorical figures and objects are numerous, and relate, of course, to the Fine Arts — or rather to the various material manifestations thereof; for in Mr. Inglis's device one fails to discover any allusion to Music. These are grouped in a felicitous manner in and about an easel-like arrangement of initials, through which flutters a scroll bearing the appropriate " sentiment :" As the Sim colours flowers, so Art colours life. The one marring factor in an otherwise pleasing design is the heavy inscription of name and address. When one is " Alma Tadema," an address is surely not required on a personal token. A sketch of the artist's head appears, after the fashion of an engraver's "remarque," in a corner, and converts the ex-libris into an informal portrait plate. To what extent the vividly original book-plate of the representative actor of our modern English BOOK-PLATE OF LAWRENCE ALMA TADEMA. By Elmsly Inglis. BOOK-PLATE OF HENRY IRVING. By Bernard Partridge. Design by Bernard Partridge. 239 stage is really emblematic I have not been able to ascertain. I have made several futile guesses, and finally requested Mr. Irving's own interpreta- tion. The information received, if not definite, is at least as characteristic as the design itself. " I think," said the owner, " that it was designed by Bernard Partridge, though there is nothing of that bird in the composition. The occult meaning, so far as I know, there is none ; but Partridge may have intended his ' dragon to be a sort of glorified sandwich-man with the Lyceum play- bill!" The next five plates are illustrative of the difficulty of classing many modern " pictorial " examples. They might be called pure Genre, and yet they are all more or less Emblematic ; one is certainly a " Library Interior," and another equally soa" Portrait " plate. Three of the five are signed by Mr. Stacy Marks. The first of these, composed for Mr. James Roberts Brown, gives a portrait of the owner, in the character of Alchymist, this being the title the Chairman of the Ex-libris Society bears among the Sette of Odd Volumes; it might, however, as I have said, be described as symbolic, in consideration of some of the surrounding emblems, masonic and others. I do not know whether the old gentleman depicted in Mr. Robert Jackson's plate is also in any way meant to be a portrait, but, at any rate, as Mr. Jackson is a known virtuoso, a collector of prints, china, drawings and such like, all the accessories to this picture are certainly intended 240 English Book-plates. to be symbolic. The third, one of the latest of Mr. Marks' productions in this line, belongs to his eldest son. It is difficult to discover any symbolism in this charming- little piece of genre. Mr. E. J. Wheeler, the "Punch" artist, who occasionally signs his humorous sketches with the lAMEpRpBERTSBROWN- | BOOK-PLATE OF JAMES ROBERTS BROWN. By H. Stacy Marks, R.A. conventional presentment of a four-wheeler, has designed several ex-libris for himself and his friends, all of which are charming compositions. For his own beloved volumes Mr. Wheeler has delineated the unalloyed happiness of an obvious bibliophagist — a lover and devourer of books Designs by H. Stacy Marks. 241 in favourable circumstances, deep in the glut- tony of an intellectual meal, with many heavy BOOK-PLATE OF ROBERT JACKSON. By H. S. Marks, R.A. courses awaiting his attention in the shape of curious old tomes. The label character is happily introduced under the shape of a fantastic bolt and strap cartouche, R 242 English Book-plates. over which, however, the full-face helmet unsuited to a commoner is an incongruous element. The ex-libris devised by the same artist for his friend Walter Brindley Slater, is quaintly illus- BOOK-PLATE OF WALTER MARKS. By H. S. Marks, R.A. trative of another form of bibliophilic delight — a lucky find by the book-stall hunter. As examples of what can be termed more specially "sentiment" plates, I reproduce two de- Designs by E. J. Wheeler. 243 signs of Mr. J. D. Batten and one by Mr. C. Forestier the well-known illustrator. On that which ^belongs to Mr. Winterbotham lurks un- BOOK-PLATE OF E. J. WHEELER. Designed by the Owner. obtrusively in the background, behind a well- laden strawberry plant, a wise old saw — Inter folia fructus — which has done duty on many a book- plate of various countries, from the sixteenth 244 English Book-plates. century down to present times. This is a general bibliophilic sentiment adopted also by Mr. Charles Elkin Mathews for the token of his books (p. 248). ^saP , ., KOOK-PLATE OF WALTER BRINDLEY SLATER. By E. J. Wheeler. But below the Winterbotham device and signifi- cantly close to the book-owner's address, appears, in the cosmopolitan language of the learned, the sententious warning that it is only Designs by /. D. Batten. 245 The wicked who borroweih and returneth not again. The second, composed for Mr. Money Coutts, has a humbly pious motto in explanation of a pure symbolic figure — Da mihi, Domine^ scire quod sciendum est. BOOK-PLATE OF JAMES WINTERBOTHAM. ByJ.D. Batten. This example, which, of course, can be classed either among " Interiors " or " Allegories," accord- ing to the taste and fancy of the collector, is re- presentative of a very personal category of book- 246 English Book-plates. plates, in which a suitable blank space is left for the owner's name in autograph. In Mr. Clement Snorter's ex-libris the " senti- ment " is, it must be owned, scarcely appropriate BOOK-PLATE OF MONEY COUTTS. By J. D. Batten. to the spirit of bibliophily. The quatrain suits the picture, however ill adapted the composition may be to the recognized purpose of an ex-libris ; it suggests at once the good old burthen And so say all of us ! Design by C. Forestier. 247 should the unfortunate necessity for immediate '' Books are enough." Xay, nay, They are not human ; Vd give all mine away For one sweet woman. BOOK-PLATE OF CLEMENT SHORTER. By C. Forestier. choice ever occur; but why such a dilemma on a book-plate ? 248 English Book-plates. Mr. C. R. Halkett, of Edinburgh, has designed many curious plates in a very characteristic alle- gorical style of his own. One of the best is un- doubtedly that of Mr. W. Rue Macdonald (the author of a very elaborate work on Napier of Merchiston's Logarithms, which he has for the first time translated into English). In this device BOOK-PLATE OF CHARLES .EL* KIN MATHEWS. By A. Robertson. we have once more the old allegory of Labour and Study, so often adverted to in these pages, and the Tree supporting the owner's heraldic claims. In execution and composition it is perhaps the most attractive book-plate which has left Mr. Halkett 's hands. The Tree of Wisdom figures again in the token adopted by Mr. J. M. Gray, of the Scottish National Designs by C. R. Halkett. 249 Portrait Gallery. Peering between the branches is seen the tempting combination of serpent body and female head. Seated at a table is also a monk (but of less prepossessing appearance than in the preceding example), who is firmly resolved to keep BOOK-PLATE OF WM. RAE MAC DONALD. By C. R. Halkett. his time well in hand and make good use thereof. This is the ''second state" of the plate, with the shield of arms added to the original design. Mr. Beddard is prosector of the Zoological Society ; his plate is altogether allegorical of the 250 English Book-plates, chosen pursuit of his life, which is Natural History. In the tree dwells the Hamadryad representing the Vegetable Reign ; she holds in her hand a disused skull, suggestive of Ethnology ; the spider, the flat fish, the gull, the zoophytes and the front view of a trilobite (in a special panel), have refe- BOOK-PLATE OF J. M. GRAY. By C. R. Halkett. rence to various departments of research. The customary monk of Mr. Halkett's devices, seated, somewhat sleepily, in a massively timbered craft, and taking soundings, is intended, I believe, to record symbolically the exploring expedition of the " Challenger," of which Mr. Beddard was a Designs by C. R. Halkett. 251 member. — There is no doubt that the modern symbolic book-plate may often require a good deal of explanation. The landscape ex-libris, dear to our grandsires, (ii^x{^xmmd'^M^'hM^m\; BOOK-PLATE OF F. C. BEDDARD. By C. R. Halkett. has been revived of late years (it must be owned with felicitous results) by Mr. Leslie Brooke. The three examples that I am able to reproduce among these pages show, of course, a great family like- ness as far as treatment is concerned, but the treatment is charmingly light and suggestive. 252 English Book-plates. Without being elaborately symbolic they are suf- ficiently distinctive to make very excellent personal tokens. The various scenes displayed, after a synoptic Wm&i^L ^°> 60 Wynnstay-GardensKensin gton-1 BOOK-PLATE OF ARTHUR SOMERVELL. By L. Leslie Brooke. manner, in the various plans of Mr. Arthur Somer- vell's device, refer, I understand, to various inci- dents of a memorable expedition once undertaken by the owner. The piping shepherd is, of course, symbolical of Mr. Somervell's musical vocation. Designs by L. Leslie Brooke, 253 The Stopford Brooke plate, with its charming long perspective, is simply bucolic; but in the device of Mr. Henry Fisher Cox there is a harmless and gracefully delineated rebus allusion to the owners t EdC'Libris : StopJcrd y&> taMiMHiM. ' . Mmtimy^- ' » -j g? Augujti ■ Brookg I "" i ' nm m \j^pccQxcu r BOOK-PLATE OF THE REV. A. STOPFORD BROOKE. By L. Leslie Brooke. name in the fishing scholar seated under a tree, and apparently more attentive to his book than to his float. A variety of the " landscape," as well as of the 254 English Book-plates. " architectural," plate of very obvious suggestion is what Mr. Hardy calls the " View " device. Indeed many of the older vignettes are actual views of scenery, houses, favourite nooks dear to the owners. Many of Bewick's woodcuts used as ex-libris reflect actual scenes of his own North 13 -ALBERT-PLACE ■•** Jf~ KENSINGTON- BOOK-PLATE OF HENRY FISHER COX. By L. Leslie Brooke. Country. Among the foregoing pages of this volume will be found several professed "views" : Eastry Church, in Kent ; Strawberry Hill, Twick- enham ; from the window in Mr. Leveson Scarth's Design by H. Rail ton. 255 Library Interior is seen a distant, but, I am told, quite recognizable view of the bay near Bourne- mouth. Mr. Hardy mentions several examples which possess interest beyond the personal ; one, for instance, having belonged to ° Peter Muilman, of King Street, London, and Kirby Hall, Castle Hedingham, Essex," on which are represented the U*£% ^■■^lir^J /i/tu/t'vhwcttJ BOOK-PLATE OF CLEMENT SHORTER. By H. Railton. remains of a feudal stronghold, presumed to be Castle Hedingham itself, now no more, as it may have appeared about 1 775, One of the best-known plates of this kind, probably the earliest in date, is the ex-libris Tabularii Publici in Ttcrre Londinensi, which was engraved by J. Mynde for the library of the Public Record Office, then at the Tower, and gives, us a 256 English Book-plates. good likeness of the building as it was seen in those days. 1 I am able to reproduce here two latter-day examples of the "View" class. One is a sketch made for Mr. Shorter, by Mr. Railton, in his RiveTHouse.,HammeTsmith 1884 • j«>!V«/.C-^ v >«i^W''-^V>'Vi''<^ l, 'Vj8^W»'..*t*.|^l RICH- SlVR PH I LPOT T, M- A' PREBENDARY I OFSWE LLS ■ t BOOK-PLATE OF THE REV. R. S. PHILPOTT. By Edmund H. New. well-known and charming manner, of Shake- speare's house at Stratford-on-Avon. There is no very special appositeness in the choice of such a subject for the purpose of a personal book-token ; 1 A facsimile of this interesting plate is included among Mr. Hardy's illustrations. Designs by Edmund New. 257 it was no doubt suggested to that great lover and portrayist of picturesque dwellings by Mr. Shorter's amiable and bibliophilic choice of the quotation from Titus Andronicus — " Come and take a choice of all my library And so beguile thy sorrow." The quaint little back view of " River House, Hammersmith," on the other hand, drawn by Mr. fFORiWISDOlvv I S-BETTER THANIRUBIESANDAU : THETHINCSTHATMAY 1 BE-DE5IKE0-ARE-N0TT0 jJB&COrtPAREP-ONTO-HCRk , HOOK-PLATE OF EDMUND HORT NEW. By C. M. Gere. Edmund New for the Rev. Richard Philpott, prebendary of Wells, is no doubt very personal, and filled with associations. Mr. Edmund New, it may be said here, uses a plate drawn by Mr. C. M. Gere, the rising artist (like Mr. New, of the Birmingham School of Art), who devised the frontispiece to William Morris's " News from Nowhere." 2 5 8 English Book-plates. Very much in the same manner is the plate de- vised by this designer for Mr. A. V. Paton. The three last-mentioned plates, as well as several designs by Mr. R. Anning Bell (to be mentioned further on), have been much admired by MsMWKI NON^ CARETS E^NTOSTRIS gV ^ULLU,S^HONORE^LIBEFUS> Evi m/^^^^mKmm CM GERE du f893 BOOK-PLATE OF A. V. PATON. By C. M. Gere. all sorts and conditions of men, from Royal Acade- micians to simply "clever persons," on the walls of this year's Exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Society. Without going full tilt against cultivated criti- cism, it may, however, be allowable to protest — from the ex-librist's standpoint— against the utterly lax treatment of heraldry in the Paton plate, which Designs by C. M. Gere. 259 shows a deplorable misconception of the " fitness of things." Blazonry should never be allowed to look insignificant and slovenly ; it loses all raison d'etre in decorative composition if it be not dealt with with both correctness and dignity. Another successful pupil of the Birmingham School, who occasionally finds time to devote to SM. BOOK-PLATE OF S. H. HKATH. By the owner. such trifles as book-plates, is Mr. Sidney Heath, whose designs for book-tokens display points of technical excellence. In the ex-libris of Mr. Charles Holme the well- known collector and authority on Japanese art, drawn by the owner himself, we have the " land- scape " treated in a conventional, strict black on white, style of very latter-day type. There is a 260 English Book-plates pseuclo Japanese flavour in the fretted rendering of the cloud, the planning of the hills without dis- tance, which recalls at once Mr. Aubrey Beardsley's Jin dc siecle mannerism. The same is observable HOOK-PLATE OF CHARLES HOLME. Designed by the owner. in the meandering stream of printer's ink — no doubt in allusion to the " Books in the running- brooks " of the " sentiment." Very different in spirit and style is the label composed by Mr. Holme for a friend of his, Mr. Q«SQ^mmMLIBRlS*mHURK€*YICERS* F. S. ft BOOK-PLATE OF By the Re\ ULSTER KING OF ARMS. W. Fitzgerald. Design by IV. Fitzgerald. 267 various sentiments which support the composition, from the Baconian adage — '-''Reading maketh a full man." to the Shakespearian request — " Come and take a choice of all my Library.''' are apposite to the picture : for Mr. Evans is the well-known bookseller in Queen Street, Cheapside, and, in his book-plate at least, seems undoubtedly 44 full of his subject." The other was made for Mr. George Kitchin, son of the Dean of Winchester. Mr. Arthur Vicars, F.S.A., who succeeded the late Sir Bernard Burke in the position of Ulster King of Ai r ms is the owner of several handsome plates, mostly Heraldic as a matter of course, but he also uses a " Library Interior," which, had it been reproduced by a better process, such as photo- etching or photogravure, would have been one of the most charming plates in existence. The design and composition recall in grace and quaintness the work of eighteenth century French vignettists, and would have been worthy of interpretation at the hands of some skilled engraver. It was devised, on Mr. Vicars' suggestion, by the Rev. William Fitzgerald, son of the the late Bishop of Killaloe ; a draughtsman who, curiously enough, was only known until then as a clever caricaturist. The design for a book-plate made for me by my wife, is a free adaptation of an old French 268 English Book-plates. Rococo frame to an original little piece of "genre " composition, illustrative of that most reposeful occupation in a library firelight, "meditation,"— with eyelids closed. 1 Mr. Warrington Hogg, a very original deviser of plate, motifs, has drawn, among many other clever things, a very excellent " interior," used as book-token by Mr. Leveson Scarth, of Keverstone. Among the good features of this plate must be noticed the charmingly quiet distant view from the window, and the natural introduction of the necessary armorial element in a place where heraldic carving would most suitably appear. This is, I believe, the only interior done by Mr. Hogg, but he has brought out a goodly number of symbolic designs on quite original lines. Among the best may be reckoned his own book-plate and that used by Mr. A. G. Bell. In the " Bell " plate, the canting symbolism and the pertinence of the legend are both too obvious to need comment. The Dutch family motto, which may be translated, " Through time and industry," and the paint-box and books, represent the tastes of the owners of the plate — Mr. Arthur G. Bell, the water-colour artist, and his wife, whose books on art, issued under the pseudonym " N. D' Anvers," are widely known. The three little bells bearing the initials of their children, with the two large 1 A more carefully finished elaboration of the same idea, reproduced in " Intaglio," was given in the original edition of this work. It could not be included in the present issue, owing to the undertaking that none of the copper-plates belonging to the limited edition would be reproduced in another issue. DESIGN FOR A "LIBRARY INTERIOR" HOOK-PLATE. By Agnes Castle. TlJoftooK'ff worth anything- that IT- not-worth-, « BOOK-PLATE OF THE KEVERSTONE LIBRARY. By Warrington Hogg. Designs by M^ar ring ton Hogg. 273 and the three small hearts burning with the same fire at the foot, complete the idea. In the artist's own plate the mystic tree " Igdra- BOOK-PLATE OF A. G. AND N. BELL. By Warrington Hogg. sil," symbolical, as we know, of literature, rises from the hill of difficulty at the foot. The pen in the ink-horn points to the quotation from Chaucer 274 English Book-plates. inscribed on the heart. The hearts, aflame with desire for learning, mount up to the book on the summit of the tree ; the birds, taking their flight BOOK-PLATE OF JANE PATTERSON. By R. Alining Bell. from the topmost boughs, typify the soaring thoughts born of books. Mr. R. Anning Bell has designed a great num BOOK-PLATE OF WARRINGTON HOGG. By the owner, Designs by R. Anning Bell. 277 ber of ex-libris in a more or less allegorical style. In my own irresponsible judgment the treatment of his subject by this artist is somewhat too un- BOOK-PLATE OF W. KNIGHTLEY GODDARD. By R. Anning Bell. substantial for the requirements of a book-token. But here again, as in the case of some other designers I had occasion to mention before, it is on record that these compositions are highly ap- 278 English Book-piates. predated by Art Critics, and it is therefore meet that they should figure in a gallery of modern book-plates. The device which marks " Jane Paterson her book," no doubt displays a definite suggestion of grace ; and the same must be said, in a greater degree, of the book-plate of Christabel Frampton, which is the last illustration of this chapter. But what can I find to say of the mediaeval figure in classical attire that supports on that thin and frail rod the tinctured escutcheon and the tilting helm of Mr. Knightley Goddard, whilst Cupid, arms akimbo in a doubting attitude, contemplates her with such obvious disfavour ? The book-plate, however, devised by the same artist for Mr. Barry Pain, is a composition, no doubt, idoneous to the peculiar genius of the •' New Humour" apostle; Pallas (not armata, for she has discarded her shield and hung her scale-armour out to dry) sits in a somewhat insufficient attire poring over works of Latter-Day Humour, and burning the midnight oil, whilst the Bird of Wisdom, on a high pile of books, pained and astonished, discreetly averts his eyes from the in- decorous spectacle. The portrait plate as a class, like the " Library Interior," is not as much in favour as it might with advantage be. And yet devices of this kind are undoubtedly and must always remain the most personal that it is possible to conceive. The two examples I have chosen are interesting both artis- tically and from the personal point of view. Designs by R. Aiming Bell. 279 The ex-libris drawn by M. Paul Avril for Mr. Ashbee, a keen man of books and art collector, should be classed among the punning or " Rebus" devices. At the foot of an Ash tree rests a BOOK-PLATE OF BARRY PAIN. By R. Arming Bell. medallion portrait of the owner, whilst a palpable Bee hovering around the arrangement gives the clue to the pictorial charade. It is quite legiti- mate to include this plate among English examples, notwithstanding the foreign nationality of the 280 English Book-plates. designer — so well known in connection with Octave Uzanne's deliciously illustrated volumes. Gribelin and Gravelot, Bartolozzi, Cipriani, and Piranesi were likewise foreigners, yet we would continue to reckon the designs they made for English book-lovers as English book-plates. Mr. Walter Pollock's portrait plate, on the other hand, belongs to some extent to the symbolic class. It is a portrait "in character," namely, that of Fencer and Poet. — A gentleman in the dress of Elizabethan days waits at some trysting spot in a forest glade for the arrival of a tardy opponent, M HIEROGLYPHIC PLATE OF WALTER HERRIES POLLOCK. By the Rev. W. J. Loftie. and beguiles the obnoxious waiting time by polish- ing some impromptu verses lately jotted down on his tablets. It is well known that the present editor of the " Saturday Review" — writer, play- wright, poet, and hedonist — finds keen delight in matters dimicatory, especially in the fence of rapier and dagger. The wounded boar tearing away in the distance is an unconventionally heraldic allusion to the crest borne by the singularly dis- tinguished family of which Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D., is the present head. This plate, devised and drawn by Agnes Castle, gives a very characteristic likeness of the owner. It has been ^/ ( r//or/^,, II- I. Hieroglyphic Plates. 281 The reproduced (by a very indifferent process) in Sketch," on the occasion of an interview. Mr. Pollock also uses hieroglyphics as a token of possession, but this very characteristic mark, de- vised by the Rev. W. J. Loftie, refers only to the initials W. (V V.) H. P. Mr. Loftie has also devised hieroglyphics, to be used as a book-token, for Mr. Rider Haggard; in this case, however, the inscription is sufficiently Oyf BOOK-PLATE OF H. RIDER HAGGARD. By the Rev. W. J. Loftie. elaborate. It is meant to signify " H. Rider Haggard, the son of Ella, Lady of the House, makes an oblation to Thoth, the lord of writing, who dwells in the Moon." It was, of course, in- tended to be jocular ; but no doubt the device, composed by a recognized expert in such matters, will remain a most interesting token in connection with the author of " She" and of " Cleopatra." Mr. Loftie himself uses, among his many plates, a little device which originally figured on the title- 282 English Book-plates . page of his " Ride in Egypt." The hawk, copied from one of the walls in the Temple of Philse, holds the symbol of life and death (the crux ansata) towards five hieroglyphics, which signify V V. J. L. Above is the inscription The Lord HoruSy the son of his. HIEROGLYPHIC BOOK-PLATE OF THE REV. W. J. LOFTIE. By the owner. BOOK-PLATE OF CHRISTABEL FRAMPTON. By R. Anning Bell. ON THE CHOICE OF A BOOK-PLATE, WITH A FEW WORDS ABOUT BOOK-PLATE COLLECTING. ' jT cannot, of course, be claimed that in the foregoing pages every style and class of existing ex-libris has been passed in review. Such a task, to be complete, would require many thick volumes — and then remain nugatory after all, for exhaustive knowledge in the matter of book-plates, as in everything else, can only be acquired by frequent and careful scrutiny of the objects themselves. As the number of examples available for study becomes multiplied, disquisition on general rules and broad facts becomes less and less requisite. In any good representative collection (provided the same be arranged on historical lines), the student can make his own observations, and classify them for his own purposes according to his own ideas. But large, and especially well-arranged col- lections, are not accessible to every one ; the amateur of ex-libris who has not time to ride his mild hobby with the necessary regularity, and 286 English Book-plates. thus gather for himself all that is to be gathered of general information, can have the task lightened for him by a compendium of examples recognized as typical, arranged in recognized categories. As I have said in the introduction to this work, the interest taken by various people in personal tokens of book-ownership is of varied kind. A great number of book-owners not other- wise keen about " ex-librism," feel at one time or another a transient curiosity in the subject, because they would have a book-plate of their own and therefore wish to know something of their fore- fathers' and of their contemporaries' taste in such a matter. No doubt the study of past fashions in design is suggestive and otherwise useful. Indeed, it sometimes even leads to a misplaced apprecia- tion of past work ; I mean it inclines book owners to forego the trouble of original conception, and to adopt ancient devices which may certainly be good of their kind, but are to a great extent inappro- priate to modern volumes ; for it can certainly be questioned whether it is justifiable, in an artistic and bibliophilic sense, to use in volumes born of the nineteenth century a composition especially created for men and books of a very different age. Be this as it may, "adaptations" form a numerous and definite class of modern plates, one, it is curious to note, selected by many regular collectors. Five examples will, I think, suffice to illustrate this category. The oldest of these is a purely heraldic ex-libris used by the Rev. Daniel Parsons (who was one of the first in England to write Adaptations. 287 about book-plates as objects worthy of study). Comparison with the Early Armorial example on page 58 shows pretty conclusively that the model selected by that gentleman was the plate of Gwyn of Lansanor, or at least one by the same engraver (for the study of ancient ex-libris reveals the fact that adaptation was likewise much practised in BOOK-PLATE OF THE REV. D. PARSONS. Circa 1837. olden days). True, the " napkin " of the original has been dispensed with, but in all other res- pects the ornamental character of the seventeenth century design has been closely copied. Mr. Parsons was one of those who, in good heraldic fashion, see no use in a legend on a book-plate, holding that a paternal coat, quartering a maternal 288 English Book-plates. one and impaling conjugal arms is amply suffi- cient to fix beyond doubt the owners personality. This simplicity would no doubt be "highly cor- rect " if only an exact knowledge of blazon formed BOOK-PLATE OF THE EARL OF MAYO. Drawn by Lady Mayo, engraved by Curvven, of Dublin. an indispensable part of a sound and liberal educa- tion. But, as matters stand in this respect, it is on the whole more practical to underscribe a name even to a well-known coat such as that of the Earl Adaptations. 289 of Mayo, whose book-plate is also an adaptation from a " Restoration " design. With reference to this plate, it must be pointed out that, however compact and otherwise excellent in design, the ancient model was not quite judi- ciously chosen. The achievement of arms of a 4&88. c_/ BOOK-PLATE OF THE HON. GERALD PONSONBY. Engraved by Curwen. nobleman should include the Supporters, and for this purpose a plate composed after the manner of the Archibald Campbell ex-libris, for example, shown on p. 61, would have perhaps been more suitable. 290 English Book-plates. Lady Mayo's father, the Hon. Gerald Ponsonby, possessor of one of the most complete collections in England, has, for his latest ex-libris, chosen the " Book-pile " arrangement, in all its time- honoured conventionality. To judge from the character of the rococo frame surrounding the arms, the model adopted belonged to the middle of the last century. One of the most effective adaptations I know is that used by Mr. Carlton Stitt, of Liverpool. This is a reproduction in photogravure of the elabo- rately symbolical frontispiece drawn, in the days of Anne, by Simon Gribelin for Lord Shaftesbury's Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions and Times, to which is added, for the sake of per- sonality, the name of the owner and his motto — Sed sine labe decus. The monogram cartouche which proclaims the book ownership of Mr. Walter Hamilton, another " authority " on the subject at hand, is, with the exception of the motto on the scroll, an exact copy of a design ascribed by Mr. Austin Dobson to William Hogarth, and supposed to have been devised as an ex-libris. The harmoniously woven initials served Mr. Hamilton's purpose very naturally; Hogarth's composition, however, seems to have been more than once appropriated as a frame for totally different monograms. Such adaptations are hardly legitimate, and reveal a paucity of imaginative resources. In fact, adapta- tions of all kinds, besides never being really Adaptations. 291 personal, are not, as I have already said, suited to this age. In the case of ancestral libraries many succes- sive styles of plate are oftentimes to be found in v auss?" 1572, BOOK-PLATE OF WALTER HAMILTON. the slowly accumulated collection, giving a cha- racter of its own to each various accession, and representing distinct phases in their history. It \^ould seem almost a matter of duty, in a senti- 292 English Book-plates. mental spirit, to continue the chain of records by affixing to such modern volumes as may be added to the goodly company a book-plate representative of modern taste. The choice of an ex-libris now-a-days, however, is no simple matter. It is easy enough to light on an emblem which may be personally highly pleasing ; but not so to find one suited to the general purpose of a modern library. The fact cannot be waived that the Victorian book buyer has, as a rule, to provide marks of owner- ship for libraries vastly different in every way from those of his Georgian ancestors and their forefathers. On the book-shelves of the past two centuries were aligned nought but substantial volumes, most uniformly clothed in rich, strong brown calf, and the least important of which was no doubt a much more consequential chattel than would now be a work of similar standing. In libraries so com- posed the old-fashioned engraved plate, more or less sumptuous and armorial, suited all books almost equally well. But in our days of cheap editions and of " publishers' cloth," ex libris matters bear perforce a very different complexion. A superbly decorative achievement of arms engraved by Sherborn ; an elaborate and elegant composition of Erat Harrison, could but look inconsistent on the white lining paper of a five shilling book. Yet this cheap and plain volume may, nevertheless, be worthy of a settled place in the bibliotheca and therefore of its owner's badge. Choice of a Plate. 293 On the other hand, what an insult to a precious tall copy, habited in choicest binding of Morell or Zaehnsdorf, to stamp its board with any little abomination, such as one of our every-day die- sinker's "crest within a garter." In the same manner as a poor book (poor in the typographical sense) can be made absolutely piteous if arrayed in a magnificence unsuited to its status in the book world, so can the most exquisite plate lose all its significance when mated to an unworthy or unapt companion. In short there is as much con- From the Library of CHARLES DICKENS, Gadshill Place, June, 1870. sistency required in the choice of a book-plate as in that of a binding. What then is the way out of this latter-day difficulty ? The answer is simple : for a modern library several plates at least — certainly more than one — are required, that is if the ex-libris be in- tended as anything more than a mere utilitarian statement of ownership. Tokens of this latter kind fulfil, of course, only one (the most matter- of-fact) purpose of an ex-libris, but so long as their statement is explicit, fulfil it satisfactorily ; but if ex-libris had never gone beyond that purpose the 294 English Book-plates. book-world would have lost many charming crea- tions, and there would have been no scope for " ex-librism." Of this category the label used as a distinctive record of Charles Dickens' own books at Gadshill Place, albeit somewhat special in its purpose, 1 may be taken as a sufficient example. There could be nothing inconsistent in its appearance on any class of books ; it professes to state that the volume to which it is affixed belonged to the *a£ii£y ~^\.^ ^ \W 4 fmxtm BOOK-PLATE OF J. S. MARTIN. Of Edinburgh. nothing more -but Gadshill Place Library, sufficient record of interest withal In a conjuncture of this kind the most rigorous simplicity was, of course, in the best taste. But in ordinary cases there is no doubt that the simple name-label, by means of a little judicious ornamen- tation, may be made not only more pleasing to the eye but actually less obtrusive. Very " chaste " and practical is the little label of Mr. John Martin, Charles Dickens died in June, 1870. Choice of a Style. 295 the well-known Edinburgh bibliophile ; so is the Initial plate of Mr. Herbert Home, whilst that designed in the same old-fashioned " pounced " style by F. C. Montagu for the late Charles Keene is decidedly artistic ; this last, in fact, is perhaps the best example I know of the class ; such a device would quietly enhance the most HERgSlTHKBpOK i:sovcht:for;so! INITIAL BOOK-PLATE BY HERBERT P. HORNE. modest and could not disparage the most preten- tious volume. The more "typographic" the character of fan ex-libris, the more universal is its suitability. For this reason I. would say that when only one device is used for a general library, plates of the " Printer's Mark" class have the widest range of applicability. They have no very obtrusive aris- tocratic pretensions, no special gorgeousness, yet ►can be made of most ^attractive appearance, and 296 English Book-plates. from their appositeness to printing of every kind, can consistently figure as the personal element in all sorts and conditions of books. If, moreover, the design is reproduced in different sizes, every acquirement of a perfect ex-libris is fulfilled. The heraldic monogram, on pounced background, in Printers Mark style, adopted by Mr. Harry BOOK-PLATE OF THE LATE CHARLES KEENE. Designed by Frederick Conway Montagu. Rylands as his book device, exists in two sizes, of which the present example is the smaller. Next to this class, seals and heraldic composi- tions in the style of Mr. Russell Spokes' plate are perhaps most congruous to a miscellaneous collection. With other categories of designs, whether " Ar- morial" or " Pictorial," the difficulty of application Choice of a Design. 297 increases, and much discrimination has to be exer- cised. On my own shelves repose many books, even of the most estimable, on which, for instance, the exquisite "library interior" in the Rococo manner, designed for me by my wife, would look almost ridiculous. How completely out of place, llSa ;__ ""'"■■ "■■"«'- d BOOK-PLATE OF HARRY RYLANDS. By Menestrier. for instance, would this dainty composition — with its cosy corner by the hearth, where a pensive gen- tleman of the olden time is seen falling into a fire- light reverie 1 — look on the boards, shall I say, of 1 These remarks refer to the intaglio plate (the sketch of which is given in the preceding chapter) belonging to the original edition. 298 English Book-plates. Simienowicz's "Art of Artillerie," a very magnifi- cent volume, with all its pride of the seventeenth century military plates ; or on those of Sir Charles Lyell's " Elements of Geology ; " or yet again in my JiOOK-PLATE OF RUSSELL SPOKKS. By Harry Soane. " M orographic Dictionary," which happens to be a superbly bound prize book ! The fact is, that this ex-libris is intended to herald ownership in works, not only fit in appearance to receive an artistic plate, but works of poetic or romantic interest, Special Plates. 299 especially books with an ideal world or an old world flavour about them — the books, in fact, I love best. Herein lies the chief drawback to the pictorial classes of book-plates, one which is felt even more persistently than with over-proud heraldic arrangements : they cannot suit the majority of volumes in a "working" library. For these, some simpler, more conventional design is wanted, such as an ornamental label, a small seal, or modest crest with name underscribed. Special collections, of course, are provided for with greater ease. For such, an ex-libris can be devised which will stand much in the same relation to the subject as a canting charge in heraldry to the owners name. Mr. Edmund Gosse, (to take only one instance in point,) a poet himself, is by inclination an his- torian of poetry, and the main character of the books he collects with greatest zest, and opens most frequently, is in good keeping with the reciting cavalier in the sunlight, of Mr. Abbey's design. This is an instance of what was adverted to in the Introduction concerning the interest attaching to a book-plate which remains as a record of special tastes and pursuits. But even in the general working library there will often exist special collections more or less jealously segregated from the rest. Most men of books have a bibliographical hobby or two. Of course the gorgeous way to honour this conclave, this favoured clique of friends, is to have each member thereof specially bound and stamped 'distinctively. But th&super-/i6ros method is not 300 English Book-plates. financially within the reach of all book-collectors ; indeed, in many cases, where the original bindings are worth preserving, it is impracticable. A special ex-libris, however, is always available, and is a sufficiently distinguishing mark. As a specimen of the special collection book- plate, one designed for me by the same hand that drew the Regence "interior" and intended for the covers of works on the " Art Dimicatorie," is here reproduced. It has seemed suitable to select as emblematical of the Art of Fence, an ideal view of the Inner Sanctum of that sublimely confident expositor of the " philosophy of arms," Master Girard Thibault of Antwerp, who flourished in the days of the "Three Musketeers" — the dread room where, with the help of diagrams, logical, anatomical, and geometrical, the author of that astounding work, VAcadSmie de V Espie professed to teach any number of ineluctable and infallibly mortal strokes. Thibault undoubtedly held the highest grade in the legion of theorists who during the last three centuries have "anatomized" the art of fight, and he may therefore fitly be taken, on his own ground, in his own costume and attitude, as a sufficiently Allegorical figure. The motto inscribed on the beam overhead jQostrum De atmts quacrete, is that of the Keruoozers Club, a close and select little body of connoisseurs in Arms and Armour, and in anti- quarian matters connected therewith ; whilst the sentiment Qui porte espee porte paix is meant to qualify what might be held as too pugnacious BOOK-PLATE OF EGERTON CASTLE. Designed by Agnes Castle. Personality in Plates. 303 and sanguinary in an excessive devotion to cold steel. About the choice of a personal ex-libris, general advice or general rules are really of little use ; the whole matter is so obviously dependent on personal tastes and circumstances. It has been seen that, in the past, the prevailing fashion at different times had an almost all pervading in- fluence on private taste ; whilst, on the other hand, the tendency of modern designers is towards unrestrained originality. But originality of con- ception can, in a certain way, be pushed too far, and actually lose sight of the main object of a book-plate, which is to herald ownership. De- signers would do well to bear in mind that the ex-libris should be a label, not merely a pretty picture, or even a pretty "conceit." This fact need in no way detract from its artistic perfection; all that is required is, that the treatment should always be to some extent conventional and sym- bolic (heraldry is but a special form of symbolism, and armorial designs must needs be conventional). In theory, pure " landscape " or pure " genre " plates, however precious artistically, cannot be said to suffice for a good ex-libris ; in practice they are but irrelevant illustrations. Although it is quite possible to render an anony- mous plate characteristic enough for its purpose — as the artistic design of Mr. H. P. Home for Mr. Trehawke Davies so fully testifies — when the ex- libris is meant to be personal, it were well that it should record in unmistakable fashion the name of 304 English Book-plates. the owner. Statements of distinguishing and honourable titles can never be incongruous on a personal token. The date at which the design was adopted may also fitly and properly appear in the composition. BOOK-PLATE OF F. TREHAWKE DAVIES. By H. P. Home. The modern fashion is in favour of some definite " phrase of book-possession," although, it should be pointed out, it is, on the whole, a foreign invention. The immense majority of English plates anterior to this century (excepting gift-plates, which re- quired, of course, a special statement to that effect), bear no proprietary remark before the owner's Phrases of Book possession. 305 name, an omission which is generally found still in the " Modern Die-sinker" style. I myself incline to the bibliophilic phrase as being conducive to completeness in the conven- tional arrangements. The somewhat inapt ap- pearance of a mere name under a little genre sketch, will no doubt suggest itself at once by reference, to choose only these instances out of many, to the two otherwise charming compositions drawn for Mr. Jackson and Mr. Walter Marks. The choice of suitable phrases already sanc- tioned by long custom is tolerably large. The words Ex-libris, (which have long been of so general occurrence on foreign book-plates as to have become consolidated into a conventional substantive, and under that guise recognized as a technical term), the .words ex-libris, I may urge, are not only so very definite in meaning, but also so universally accepted, that they must remain the best and least pretentious. Some people prefer varieties, as Units ex-libris before, or E libris suis after, their names. Ex bibliotheca is a little more aspiring, and no doubt tends to suggest a collection of some importance. The number of proprietary formulae sanctioned by precedent is very great. Warren has collected a great many of these book-phrases in the intro- duction to the " Guide " ; many more may be gleaned among the leaves of the " Book-plate Collector's Miscellany." With a view to personal adapta- tion, the following few examples are offered for Consideration. x 306 English Book-plates. — Liber Bilibaldi Pirckheimer, (1503). Sibi et Amicis. — Thorn ce Prince Liber, ( 1 704). — E Bibliotheca Baronis du Baltimore, ( 1 75 1 ). ~Ex Catalogo Bibliothecce Caumartin, (1750). — Unus ex collectione librorum Domini J ohannis, ■ Georgii Eimbeckenii, ( 1 720). — Grolierii et amicorum. — Met Golierii Lugdunens. et amicorum. — Michaeli Begon et amicis. — Ex bibliothec Reg. in Castel. Windesor. — Pro Bibtiotheca . — Pertinet ad Bibliothecam . — Ex Museo D. Claudii Puffier, (1690). — Bibliotheca Palatina, (1730). — Bibliotheca M. H. Theodori Baron. (1720). — Ad Bibliothecam Jo. Jac. Reinhai'di, (1695). — Insigne Librorum . — Symbolum Bibliothecce J ohannis Bernardi Nack, (1759). — Ex supellectile librana Bened. Gui. Zahnii, (1780). — Sigillum Horatu Comitis de Orford, (1791). — Ex-libris Bibliothecce personalis , (1750). — Ex-libris Bibliothecce domesticcz Ricardi Towneley de Towneley in Agro Lancastrensi Armigen. Anno\^ tat ! s \ K- \lJomini, j 702. — E libris Hen. Aston, (1740). — Bibliothecce Gerhardince Pars sum. — Sum J ohannis Martini, It will be seen that a good number of the fore- Phrases of Book Possession. 307 going types are of foreign extraction ; being Latin, however, they are equally available for English plates. On this point, it may with- advantage be remembered that a pedantic translation and con- sequent declension of proper names is not really necessary, and is, in fact, often productive of a grotesque effect. Vernacular phrases do not seem to have been evolved in great number, no doubt on account of the more prevalent habit among English engravers of simply stating the owner's name under the design without further specification. — This book belongs to Charles Edward Thompson, (1816). — A. Grays Private Library, (1820). — Edward Aicdley oweth (owneth) this Booke, (1633)- — / belong to . — This is Giles Wilkinson his book. — Logoniafi Library [i.e. of John Logan]. — Austin Dob son his book. — One of the books of . Besides the statement of ownership, a great number of plates, aiming more or less at originality, display, as I pointed out in the Introduction, senti- ments and mottoes of the most miscellaneous character. Many are decidedly amiable and pro- fess a readiness in the owners to admit friends to the free use of their libraries. I think there can £e but one opinion among book-lovers on this subject : the Sibi et Amicis, the M or N et ami- 308 English Book-plates. corum formulae are either rank affectation, or if peradventure sincere, unworthy of any member of our fraternity. The majority of book-plate senti- ments, however, are more honest, and are meant either to warn away all borrowers uncompromis- ingly, or at least to rise as a standing reproach to the wicked who do not speedily return a lent volume. Statements of this kind are for all practical pur- poses nugatory, but a legend in the style either of John James Webster. {He does not lend books.\ or the Censurce faciendce prcestitis of the plate devised by Mr. Laurence Housman for Mr. W. Pollard ; or yet again, of the Nunquam Ami- corum of a certain fierce bibliophile, may at times prove useful in facilitating the refusal of a loan. The mottoes directed against book-borrowers to be found in an extensive collection of plates are sometimes very quaint. For these as well as for the more or less pithy verses and aphorisms on the joys of reading, in praise of study ; for truisms on the subject of literature ; for pious or humorous sentiments, I must refer the reader to the standard work, Warren's "Guide," to Mr. Walter Hamil- ton's copious contributions in the " Book-Plate Collector's Miscellany" and to the "Ex-libris Journal." The subject would fill a long chapter in itself. All that need be said here is that in a matter of this kind, the most absolute freedom from conventionality should be cultivated; no adaptation of " sentiments " having already done Family Book-plates. 309 duty is acceptable any more than would be an allegory or rebus devised for another person. Such adjuncts to a plate must be strictly personal or they lose all meaning. Although this personal character is one which I III I I I i I I Blundell of Crosby. BOOK-PLATE OF THE CROSBY HALL LIBRARY. should, as a rule, be kept in view in designing a token of book ownership, there are circum- stances in which it is not required — in collegiate plates, for instance — and some, indeed, in which 'there is actually a greater fitness and a certain 3 1 o English Book-plates. grandeur in the simple statement of the sole patronymic. This is the case with the ex-libris of an ancestral library forming part of entailed pro- perty. Such a collection is no particular person's absolute property ; it is an heirloom, and should bear the family name and family arms only (i.e., without quarterings, which would at once make the plate personal). Of this kind is the Salisbury BOOK-PLATE OF FREDERICK HENRY HUTH. Reduced to one-third linear dimensions. Hatfield plate, which belongs to the past century, and as another example of modern die sinker style, illustrating this special category, may be taken the ex-libris of the Crosby Hall Library. It is evident that all the books accumulated yearly in this reading age do not find their way to the family library ; they remain the private pro- perty of the different members, and it is quite open to them, perfectly legitimate, and in fact advantageous (if they wish to preserve a distinc- "Process" Reproduction. 3ii tion between meum et tuum), to maintain their private tokens. The available choice of composi- BOOK-PLATE OF ELINOR SWEETxMAX. By Agnes Castle. tions is, as we have seen, adequate to meet the greatest variety of tastes. The multiplication of very perfect photographic '" processes" for the fat-simile reproduction of de- 312 English Book-plates. signs, their enlargement or reduction, has rendered the cost of all but line-engraved plates a matter of small consideration. 1 The great variety of devices in which so many amateurs of the present day indulge their fancy would have been thought a decided ex- travagance not so many years ago. Photographic process has given rise to a characteristic class of design, in which the original drawing can be made with freedom, even with dash, on a con- veniently large scale, and reduced to the required dimension without loss of distinctness. The mi- nuscule reproduction here given of a book-plate belonging to Mr. F. H. Huth, which would suit the smallest tome, whereas the original would have been quite too large for these pages, is an instance of the manner in which a given design can be made to do duty for books of all sizes. The genuine wood or copper-plate engraver looks, of course, with unconcealed disdain upon the achievements of process engraving. Process will never supplant hand-work, which must ever retain its intrinsic value, but it has come as a boon to the general artistic public, who can now obtain, with trifling cost and in briefest time, prints of charm- ing designs, such as that with which I conclude the illustrations of this chapter — the Sweetman book-plate. Book-plate collectors have been subjected to much bibliophilic abuse from people who know 1 See note, p. 325. Book-plate Collecting. 313 something about books, and to elaborate sneering from others who do not know quite so much. A book-plate (say the first) is part of a book and should not be removed, — such an act is rank Biblioclasm. What sort of interest can be found in a collection of such things as book-plates ? ask the latter. This question has, I think, been sufficiently answered in the Introduction to the present volume, and in every work devoted to ex-libris lore. Concerning the contention that it is not legitimate to remove a book-plate from a book, the only general answer possible is, that we should not push sentimentality about books, however much we may love them, to the ridicu- lous, nor apply a sound, broad principle, to petty and inadequate instances. When a book-plate really forms part of the history of a valuable volume, it were foolish to remove it, for " in the volume to which it properly belongs, the ex-libris is living ; apart from it it is but a dead leaf," as M. Bouchot pithily (but a little speciously) points out. Such a deed, however, is rarely done ; a fine book-plate may be a valuable chattel, but its money's worth must ever remain insignificant in comparison with that of a precious volume. And in any case, the process of removal, which is to convert the living plate into the "dead leaf," if performed with the requisite tenderness, need never injure a well-bound book. In short, the book-plates which fill collectors' cases and albums, do not come out of rare and valuable works, but rSther from the numberless 314 English Book-plates. odd tomes, which form the waste and rubbish of second-hand bookshops all over the world; from the discarded covers of books sent to be rebound ; from the libraries of men who are so full of pride in, and solicitude for, their new purchases that they hasten to replace the tokens of previous owners (about whom, as a rule, they know nothing, and care less), by their own mark of possession. Such men, certainly, do not "de- stroy " their books by the removal of an old label, and, when all is said and done, the process is doubtless more legitimate than the pasting of a new plate over an old one, according to a not uncommon practice. Large collections of ex-libris, it is well known, can only be accumulated either by the purchase of numerous smaller ones, or through the agency of dealers, who certainly are the last persons to discount the value of precious wares for the sake of such sums as even in these days are obtainable for ex-libris. Much more could be added on this topic, to show even that far from being destructive of books, the modern infatuation for book-plates has perhaps been the means of saving many a comparatively worthless tome from the paper- mill ; but I imagine that enough has been said at least to refute the opprobrious accusation levelled at ex-librists indiscriminately. Such denouncement coming from irresponsible and generally obscure persons, can, as a rule, be neglected. But what are we to say when no less an authority on library matters than Mr. Andrew Andrew Lang on "Ex-librists." 315 Lang finds it necessary to devote a page of his crispest writing to the wholesale defamation of book-plate collectors. " The antiquarian ghoul," asseverates Mr. Lang, 1 after giving a smart stab of his pen (whereat we must, of course, all be at one with him) to the " moral ghoul," who defaces those passages in precious volumes which do not meet his idea of propriety, " the antiquarian ghoul steals title-pages and colophons. The aesthetic ghoul cuts illumi- nated initials out of manuscripts. The petty, trivial, and almost idiotic ghoul of our own days, sponges the fly-leaves and boards of books, for the purpose of cribbing the book-plates/' Are we then to include in the fraternity of trivial and idiotic ghouls, all the bookmen and book- lovers I have mentioned in this book as authori- ties on ex-libris, because they have accumulated and jealously treasure collections of book-plates ? I myself (if I may compare the small with the great) repudiate the accusation of ghoulishness, and yet hope in due course to be owner of many more 4< dead leaves " than at the present time. And whilst on this topic, I would further point out, that it is strictly illogical to compare the " theft " of book-plates, which are essentially adventitious to a volume, with that of title-pages and colophons, which are integral parts of the same. But perhaps the writer only used this uncom- promising language for the purpose of introducing easily, and with appositeness, a certain quaint 1 " The Library," by Andrew Lang. Macmillan, 1881. 316 English Book-plates. Ballad of Books ; for he goes on to say : " An old ' Complaint of a Book-plate,' in dread of the wet sponge of the enemy, has been discovered by Mr. Austin Dobson." This charming conceit, which appeared some twelve years ago in " Notes and Queries," l has now become in a way classical in Book-plate literature, and I have, therefore, obtained Mr. Dobson's permission to reprint it in this volume. THE BOOK-PLATE'S PETITION. By a Gentleman of the Temple. While cynic Charles still trimm'd the vane 'Twixt Querouaille and Castlemaine, In days that shock'd John Evelyn, My First Possessor fix'd me in. In days of Dutchmen and of frost, The narrow sea with James I cross'd, Returning when once more began The Age of Saturn and of Anne. I am a part of all the past ; I knew the Georges, first and last j I have been oft where else was none Save the great wig of Addison j And seen on shelves beneath me grope The little eager form of Pope. I lost the Third that own'd me when The Frenchmen fled at Dettingen ; The year James Wolfe surpris'd Quebec, 1 "Notes and Queries," 6th S. IIT. Jan. 8, '8i, p. 31. The Removal of Book-Plates (6th S. ii. 445, 491). "As indigna- tion appears to have prompted verses in one of your contribu- tors, perhaps the following old-fashioned performance on this theme may be of interest." The Book-plate s Petition. 317 The Fourth in hunting broke his neck ; The Fifth one found me in Cheapside The day that William Hogarth dy'd. This was a Scholar, one of those Whose Greek is sounder than their hose ; He lov'd old books and nappy ale, So liv'd at Streatham, next to Thrale. 'Twas there this stain of grease I boast Was made by Dr. Johnson's toast. He did it, as I think, for spite ; My Master call'd him Jacobite. And now that I so long to-day Have rested post discrimina, Safe in the brass-wir'd book-case where I watch'd the Vicar's whit'ning hair, Must I these travell'd bones inter In some Collector's sepulchre ? Must I be torn from hence and thrown With frontispiece and colophon ? With vagrant £s, and /s, and 0s, The spoil of plunder'd folios ? With scraps and snippets that to Me Are naught but kitchen company ? Nay, rather, Friend, this favour grant me : Tear me at once ; but don't transplant me / Cheltenham, Sept r . 31, 1792." Ex-Libris. This is pathetic, and I hope it may not be thought too sudden an anti-climax if I reveal forthwith the best method of removing Book- plates from boards and fly-leaves. There is no necessity for the sponging alluded to above ; the sponging in many cases would be as tedious and inefficacious as it sounds brutal in connection with a book ; it would in many cases injure the plate itself, *and always leave unneces- 318 English Book-plates. sarily large traces on the lining of the book. No, the dealing adopted by experts is as follows :— A piece of flannel or woollen cloth is cut of the size of the plate which it is required to eradicate, and wetted thoroughly in water. It is then applied with tender care to the plate so as to cover it exactly, and pressed firmly with a smoothing-iron, heated to about the scorching point of paper. The rapid vaporization of the water in the rag prevents all possible injury from heat to the book itself, whilst the bubbling and hissing steam per- meates the plate irresistibly, and softens gum or paste (it would even soften glue) so satis- factorily that the label, if gently raised at one corner with a penknife, can be lifted away with no more than a slight unctuous resistance. The process is as expeditious as it is simple. There is a certain dull discoloration left on the boards (if the latter be coloured), where the late ex-libris had rested, but this slight blemish can easily be kept out of sight by the application of a new and personal plate. So much for the alleged " destruction " of books due to the " theft " of book-plates. And now to conclude this very elementary handbook may be added a few brief words on the management of a collection. So long as it remains small and select, there can be no difficulty in its arrangement ; from the moment, however, that it has to be reckoned in hundreds and in thousands, it becomes imperative on the collector to select one definite scheme of The Removal of Book-plates. 3 1 9 array. As the orderly disposal of plates always necessitates cataloguing, the most obvious arrange- ment seems at first to be the alphabetical pure and simple. This plan has certain advantages, espe- cially in the eyes of the " genealogist," who cares chiefly for the heraldic matters embodied in book- plates ; it also brings all the different tokens of a given family, or of families bearing the same name under the same rubric, a conjunction which is to some extent curious. But for the average ex- librist, the strictly alphabetical muster is insupport- able ; it gathers the most heterogeneous elements together into a hopeless jumble, in which ancient, artistic, or otherwise specially interesting examples are smothered among the most commonplace pro- ductions of the Modern Stationer. True, that given the name of a particular ex-libris, it can be found under such circumstances with special facility, but this result can almost as easily be secured by means of a carefully kept-up index ; and an index is always necessary, whatever be the system of classification adopted. The more usual, and no doubt the more ra- tional arrangement, is according to "styles" and " classes." This, as I have said, corresponds to some extent, to a chronological order, otherwise impossible to obtain (except in the case of dated plates — and dated plates are in the minority). The chief difficulty seems to be in the actual definition of styles and classes. On these matters, however, albeit almost every collector has a system and a nomenclature of his own, there is a certain general understanding cis to the broad categories 320 English Book-plates. into which book-plates can be mustered. These it has been my object to set forth as simply as possible. Concerning what might be called the mechanical arrangements of an extensive collection of " dead- leaves" (which, unless methodically dealt with, is very liable to become unwieldy., not to say be- wildering) it may from the first be argued that perhaps the worst possible system is the hard and fast pasting down in albums. To the possible accumulation of specimens there is practically no end ; they should therefore remain movable, or at least removable, either to make room for fresh members among their ranks and files, or for the purpose of new or temporary classification. When the album or scrap-book arrangement is preferred to that of the loose-box, it is most suitable to fix each plate lightly in its place, which can be but temporary unless the collector (most rare and fantastic instance !) has quite done with collecting, by means of thin strips of gummed paper. The leaves of the book should be tolerably stout, numbered, and toned in colour. According to the extent of the collection, one or several volumes can be allotted to each group, style or class, particular members of which can be then found by reference to an index ; or conversely, more than one category may be consigned to a particular tome. Book-plates may also, and with great advantage, be kept in, and distributed among, various boxes or pamphlet-cases, according to any special classi- fication. This gives, of course, the maximum of Arrangement of a Collection. 321 mobility. For the sake of special neatness, the specimens may be mounted lightly on pieces of thin cardboard, of suitable and uniform size ; this, of course, increases the bulk of the collection, but to a certain extent facilitates its handling. Even on these mounts, the plates should not be pasted hard and fast, but merely secured by one edge, — ex-libris never can be sure of any long resting- place, but may have to be removed and sent elsewhere, as gifts or exchanges ; and repeated soakings are not good for any paper that was ever made. The disposition of a collection is a matter which of course depends on the special fancy, as well as on the circumstances of the owner ; but I believe the movable arrangement, in historical and artistic categories assigned to separate receptacles, scrap- books, pamphlet-cases, or nests-of- drawers, is on the whole favoured by the majority of collectors. Book-plates rescued from the boards of waif and stray volumes in second-hand dealers' shops often require cleaning and mending. The preliminary process is best effected by laying the wetted leaf on some marble slab and gently rubbing it on both sides with pure soap which can subsequently be washed off (and with it the accumulated grime of destitution) by a stream of hot water. A certain amount of bleaching is in some cases required. For this purpose Mr. Vicars recommends a lotion compounded of a tablespoonful of " Permak's Bleacher " in a quart of water. This drug can be obtained of most chemists, but in its absence many Other equally efficient preparations are obtainable. Y 322 English Book-plates. Care is required not to overdo the bleaching operation. For the mending of torn plates any kind of clean tracing paper can be advantageously used. The most convenient material, however, is a certain tenacious tegument, ready gummed for applica- tion, prepared by Seabury and Johnson, known as " Music Mender." The identification of anonymous and undated book-plates is a subject requiring generally wide and peculiar information. Some clue to the period of a particular specimen is as a rule suggested at once to an experienced eye, by the nature and treatment of the design, the lettering, the character of the paper, etc. In heraldic compositions the charges, and the marshalling of combined coats in a shield can be interpreted by experts almost with certainty. Among the numerous books of re- ference indispensable to this department of in- vestigation, stands first of all Papworth and Morant's " Ordinary," 1 a tolerably complete index enabling the student to trace the name of a bearer of arms, from any given charge on his coat. Equally indispensable are Sir Bernard Burke's monumental heraldic and genealogical works. There are also numbers of similar works, covering the same ground in different manners, besides 1 "An Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms belonging to Families in Great Britain and Ireland, forming an extensive Ordinary of British Armorial"— by the late J. W. Papworth, F.R.I.B.A. Edited from p. 696, by Alfred W. Morant, F.S.A., F.G.S., London, T. Richards, 37, Great Queen Street, 4to. 1874. Identification of Plates. 323 County and Family Histories in plenty, disquisi- tions on the special usefulness of which, however are not within the limits of this work. 1 Definite evidence of place and date is often derivable from the signatures of designers and engravers. Of these latter a voluminous general list exists in Warren's " Guide," and various special accounts of Scottish, Irish, local, and " contem- porary " artists connected with book-plate en- graving, are being periodically contributed to the Journal of the Ex-Libris Society, by sundry specialists. From their very nature, however, these lists are rather barren ; but their information may, in many cases, be supplemented by reference to Bryan's " Dictionary of Painters and Engravers "—espe- cially the new edition, 1886, enlarged by R. E. Graves. This work is an almost indispensable companion to ex-librists whose special interest in book-plates is of the artistic order. Another work of smaller pretension, but with a similar scope, entitled " Engravings and their Value," has lately been compiled by Mr. J. H. Slater. As a kind of envoy in tail of this little hand- book, it has seemed to me suitable to quote what 1 It is for similar reasons that I have refrained from dwelling in these pages on specially heraldic matters. Technicalities of blazonry, on the one hand, being unintelligible to the uninitiated, whilst the expert, on the other, requires no accompanying text to interpret the heraldry displaced under his eyes. 324 English Book-plates. is apparently the latest literary allusion to book- plates artistically considered. In a curious volume, published by Messrs. Chatto and Windus, entitled, " Where Art Begins," Mr. Hume Nisbet devotes a paragraph on the subject at hand which I reproduce here without comment. " Book-plates. " This is an old art or taste, which is being once more revived with great activity, through the timely efforts of the ' Ex-Libris Society.' It is a pursuit which is most educative to the lover of books, because it is filled with symbols, and leads on to the noble art of Heraldry, and the spiritual intellectualism in which such men as Albert Diirer stand so pre-eminent. At first sight, it may appear like pandering to the vanity of book-possessors, but it is not so in any sense ; rather is it the con- necting link, which binds men of taste and re- search to each other, and which leads them on to that higher level of humanitarianism and faith, for which purpose the grand laws of Heraldry and Masonry were first invented." ENGRAVING AND -PROCESS" WORK, Note to p. 310. — To those unfamiliar with the details of photographic engraving it may be useful to point out the two best methods for the reproduction of Ex-Libris. The first, by one of the photogravure, photo-etching, or " intaglio " processes, (differing more in name than in essentials,) yields a plate from which prints are taken exactly as from one of copper or steel engraved by hand. The price of such a plate, ordinary size, would be about two guineas ; by the alternative method, a " relief" block should cost not much over a tenth of that sum. Not merely is there so great a difference in the price of the original, but the cost of printed impressions therefrom varies in about the same proportion. Drawings intended to be reproduced in photogravure or its kindred processes may be executed in colour, wash, or line ; they are best, however, in monochrome, whether in wash or line. For the cheaper "relief" process it is essential to make the drawing in line only, with absolutely black ink ; nearly all the modern pictorial plates in this book have been so produced, some from drawings at least four times the size of the block, others to exactly the same scale. Photo- lithography, employed for many of Mr. Stacy Marks' plates, good as it is for the reproduction of old examples, is not so cheap as a "relief block," and far less, satisfactory than an engraved plate. If those fortunate enough to possess an original impression of Mr. J. R. Brown's book-plate, will com- pare it with the impression of the block (page 240) made from the same original drawing by Mr. H. S. Marks, they will probably prefer the " relief." The so-called half-tone process (by which the block from the engraved plate of the Hon. Leicester Warren, page 233, has been reproduced here), admirable in its own way for pictorial work, is not adapted for bookplates ; it is too grey and flat to be decorative, and as its cost so nearly approaches that of a 326 English Book-plates. photogravure there is no reason for employing an ineffective process as regards an Ex-Libris, in place of the best This book contains many examples of the various modifica- tions of the two processes which are deservedly the most popular. In the Ex-Libris of Walter Herries Pollock we have an intaglio plate made by Messrs. Walker and Boutall from a pen' drawing, and in the Pepys portrait (facing page 1 30), a reproduction of a copper-plate engraving, executed in photo- gravure ; these two show another application of practically the same process. Nearly all the older examples in this book are printed from relief blocks reproduced from early impressions of the plates. The " rotten " line and lack of clearness in certain details of some of these must not be credited to any fault of the process employed, but should be attributed to the ink having spread into the paper of the originals, the yellow stain caused thereby telling as black to the camera. Mr. J. D. Batten's designs (pages 225, 245, 246) are examples of brush-work in solid black, but most of the modern blocks are from pen-drawings. The comparative merits of photogravure versus copper-plate engraving at its best may be tested by examining Mr. Sherborn's plates (printed from the original coppers) with the two quoted above, while the kindred process of etching may be seen in Mr. G. W. Eve's dragon design, page 160. But although the graver or the etching-needle in capable hands is still far superior to any mechanical substitute, a comparison of these plates with one of the modern die-sinker's class (of which the book contains no example printed direct from the copper) will show that common-place engraving by the ordinary mechanic is inferior in every respect to photo- gravure, always supposing it was made from an autograph drawing not only good in itself, but suitable in its technique. In the first instance we have dry hard lines, with a total lack of "colour" throughout the whole design, while the other will yield impressions rich and of as fine quality in most respects as the best copper-plate. im ■F^a^l ^4ii ^w^4 MO *"<■ -^JBbky>^ ■^Ov ^l^* g^-~»Cv^\w^P^^ Dpi' Tfffc^^ '*&%& \ySi9 - v ^^i p^lps ^li^ llMO ir^^^< llLf\ '^i* 9MB 1 v ^35?^ 1 '~ 109. "Die-Sinker" style, 154, 168. Doble, C. E., 222, 223. Dobson ; Austin, 146, 233, 290, 3 l6 > 3 r 7- Drummond, Dr. T., 137. Diirer, Albert, 12, 34, 36, 130, 3 2 4- Dyer, Charles, 112, 113. 346 English Book-plates. " Early Armorial," 25, 41, 56, 76, 160, 287. Early Georgian, 26, 58, 68, 69, 75, 76, 79- Ebner, Hieronymus, 35. Eisen, 82. " Eloges Mortuaires," 39. "Emblematic" plates, 27, 187, 208, 214, 221, 239. Eton College, 177. Evans, F. H., 261, 264, 267. Evans, Sir John, 182, 183. Eve, G. W., 160, 162, 326. " Ex-Libris," 1, 2, 4, 5, 28, 30, 286, 305. 3 2 5- "Ex-Libris Journal," 14, 20, 21, 204, 308, 323, 340. "Ex-Librism," 294. Ex-Libris Society, 20, 21, 239, 3 2 3, 324- Eynes, 51, 52. Faithorne, YY\, 130. Family book-plates, 309. Fane, 62. Farr, Samuel, 142. Fawkes, Richard, 38, 130, 181. Feminine plates, 62, 100. Ferguson, C., T65. "Festoon" style, 26, 76, 100, 106, in. Fincham, H. W., vii, 14, 20, 29, 132. Fitzgerald, Edward, 191, 192, 229. Fitzgerald, Rev. W., 265, 267. Floral-Rococo, 100. Folkard, Henry, 211, 212, 214. Foote, Benjamin Hatley, 88, 89. Ford, E. Onslow, 223, 224, 225^ Forestier, C, 243, 247. Foster, J., 162. Frampton, Christabel, 278, 283. Francis I., 31. Franks, A. W., 13, 17, 64, 131: Frederick, Sir Charles, 93, 101. French book-plates, 37, 38. "Funereal" plates, 113. Fust, Sir Francis, 67. Genouillac, Gordon de, 57. "Genre" plates, 23, 27, 214, 239> 268, 303. "Gentleman's Magazine," 15, 333- "Gentleman's Magazine Lib- rary, The," 340. Georgian, 25. "Georgian," Early, 25, 58, 68, 6 9, 75, 76, 79- Georgian, Later, 26, 102, 107, 117. Georgian, Middle, 26, 79, 81, 83. Gere, C. M., 257, 258. German book-plates, 31, 38. " German Style, Old," 36. Gibbons, Grinling, 26, 76, 102. Gibbs, James, 82. Gift plates, 33, 44, 62. Gladstone, W. E., 208, 209. Glazebrook, Swanbrook, 159. Goddard, W. K, 277, 278. Gore, 52. Index. 347 Gosse, Edmund, 192, 234, 2 35> 299. "Gossip in a Library," 235. Gravelot, 12, 82, 120, 121, 125, 126, 137, 280. Graves, R. E., 323. Gray, J. M., 248, 250. Gray's Inn, 123, 125, 126. Greenaway, Kate, 196, 199, 201. Gribelin, 280, 290. Griggs, W., 17, 18, 42, 48, 69, 33 1 - Groher, 31, 32, 306. Guigard, Johannis, 4, 15. Gulston, Elize, 99, 100. Gwyn, Francis, of Lansanor, 58, 60, 287. Hacket, John, 130. Haggard, H. Rider, 281. Halkett, C. R., 248, 249, 250, 251- Hamilton, Walter, 19, 20, 21, 290, 291, 308, 332. Hardy, W. J., 8, 9, 18, 19, 44, 130,136,254,255,256,332. Harrison, T. Erat, 208, 209, 211, 222, 223, 224, 292. Harvey, 144. Hawks, G., 147, 148. Heath, S. H, 259. Heckell, A., 82. Henshaw, 134. Henslow, J., 101. Hepplewhite, 105. " Heraldic - Allegoric," 171, 187. "Heraldic-Bucolic," 100. # Heraldic-Emblematic," 208, " Heraldic-Ruinous," 100. " Heraldic - Symbolic," 171, 187, 202. Heraldry, 24, 141, 160, 258, 2 99> 3°3, 3 2 4- Heriot, Chas., 97, 98. Hewer, William, 118, 119. Hieroglyphic plates, 280, 281, 282. Historic Society of Lanca- shire and Cheshire, 341. Hogarth, William, 9, 12, 134, 136, 290. Hogg, Warrington, 268, 271, 275- Holbein, 36. Holies, Lady Henrietta Caven- dish, 9, 136. Holme, C, 259, 260, 263. Home, H. P., 295, 303, 304. Housman, L., 308. IJowitt, 148, 149. Hubbald, 98, 100, 141. Huth, Henry, 310, 312. Hutton, Lawrence, 19. Identification of plates, 322, 3 2 3- "Igdrasil," 214, 216, 273. Igler, Hans, 32. Inglis, E., 236, 237. Ireland, John, 9. Irving, Henry, 239. Isham, Sir Thomas, 8. Italian book-plates, 38. Jackson, Robert, 239, 241, 305. Jackson, W. C, 20. "Jacobean," 16, 26, 58, 62, 68, 69, 71, 76, 78, 79, 102, *33> 1 34- Jewers, Arthur, 20, 44, 47. 348 English Book-plates. Jones, Inigo, 68. Keene, Charles, 295, 296. " Kernoozer," 13. " Kernoozer's Club," 300. Kildare Co. Arch. Ass., 179, 180. Kitchin, G., 264, 267. Kneller, 131. Knight, J., 132. Label, 32, 241. Laguerre, 136. La Joue, 82. Lake, Ernest, 219. " Landscape," armorial, 145. "Landscape," non-armorial, 149, 214. Landscape plates, 23, 27, 96, 100, 114, 117, 141, 251, 2 53> 2 59> 3°°- Lane, John, 216. Lane, W., 149, 150. Lang, Andrew, 315. Larking, John, 107, 109. Larking, J. Wingfield, 158. Larousse, Dictionnaire, 5. " Leather Label," 179. Le Clerc, Sebastien, 78. Leicester, Sir Peter, 55. Leighton, John, 2, 19, 20, 202, 203, 204, 205, 333. Leinster, Duke of, 179. " Library, The," 340. " Library Interior," 13, 23, 27, 117, 120, 122, 134, 214, 23°» 239, 245, 263, 267, 268, 269, 278, 297. Lichtenstein, R. C., 19. " Limner, Luke," 203, 204, 205. "Lining," 61, 72, 87. "Literary" plates, 117, 126, 330- " Little Masters," xiii, 36. Lloyd, Rev. J., 77, 79, 133. Locker, Frederick, 195, 196, 197, 201. Locker- Lampson, F., 196. Locker-Lampson, Godfrey, 199, 20T. Loftie, Rev. J., 184, 185, 186, 286, 281, 282. Loggan, David, 8. "Louis Quatorze," 77. Lumisden, A., 135, 137. Lyell, Sir C, 298. Lyon King of Arms, 165. Lyttelton, Edward, 48. Macdonald, W. Rae, 248, 249. Macgregor, General, 108. Maioli, 31, 32. Maister, Henry, 71, 73, Manning, W., 263. Marks, H. Stacy, 196, 197, 239, 240, 241, 242, 325. Marks, Walter D., 242, 305. Marshall, William, 48. Marsham, 52. Martin, John, 294. Mason, Dame Margaretta, 69, 70. Mathews, C. Elkin, 244, 248. Mayo, Earl of, 61, 179, 288, 289. Meade, L. T., 218. Meehan, J. F., 20. Meissonier, J. A., 82. Mending plates, 321, 322. Menestrier, 52. Menestrier, 297. Index. 349 Middleton-Wake, Rev. C. H., 184. Millais, Sir J. E., 187, 189. Miller, J. S., 82. " Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica," 15, 48, 335. Mock- Heraldry, 157. "Modern-Armorial," 25, 26, i5 2 > T 57 5 162, 168. "Modern Die-Sinker" style, 114, 153, 154, 305. Montagu, F. C., 295, 296. Morell, 293. Moring, A., 126. Morris, W., 257. Muilman, Peter, 255. Mynde, J., 255. Naas, Co. Kildare, 179. "Napkin," 59, 131, 248, 287. Nash, Robert, 85, 87. Neele, S., 114. Neild, Jas., 144, New, E. H., 256, 257. New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 342. Nicholson, Gilbert, 64, 65, 67. Nisbet, Hume, 324. Nixon, J. Forbes, 161, 162, 163. Nomenclature of book-plates, 24, 28, 168. Northbourne, Lord, 208. " Notes and Queries," 15, 316, 333- Oppenort, 82. Ord, John, 96, 100, 141. J3xford Univ. Arch, and Heraldic Soc, 15, 341. * Pain, Barry, 278, 279. "Palatine Note Book," 338. Papworth and Morant, 322. Parsons, Alfred, 233. Parsons, Rev. Daniel, 15, 61, 286, 287. Partridge, Bernard, 239. Paton, A. V., 258. Patterson, Jane, 274, 278. Pepys, Samuel, 7, 53, 56, 119, t3h 132, 3 2 5- " Periwig" style, 57. "Permak's Bleacher," 321. Perotte, 82. Perris, J., 230. "Personal" plates, 10, 214, 303- . "Perugini, Madame," 219. Petra Santa, Sylvester de, 48, 57, 167. Philpott, Rev. R. S., 256, 257. "Phiz," 212. "Phrases of Book-possession," 304, 306, 307. "Pictorial" plates, 27, 117, 214, 239, 296. "Pile of Books," 119, 126, 290. Pine, J., 123, 125, 126, 134, 136. Pinson plate, 37. Piranesi, 280. Pirckheimer, Bilibald, 34, 36, 130. Pollard, W., 308. Pollock, Sir Fred., 280. Pollock, W. H., 280, 281, 325. Pomer, Dr. Hector, 35, 36. Ponsonby, Hon. Gerald, xiii, 119, 138, 289, 290. 35° English Book-plates. "Portrait" plates, 27, 130, 239, 278. Poulet-Malassis, 15, 21. "Pounced" style, 181, 295. Prescott, Dr., 161, 167. Printers' marks, 27, 40, 167. "Printers' mark" style, 171, 181, 295, 296. " Printing Times and Litho- grapher," 339. " Process " reproduction, xiii, 159, 3 11 - "Processes," 311, 325. Proprietary formulae, 306, 3°7- Punning plates, 221. "Queen Anne" style, 6S, 75, 76, 77, 96. Queen, H,M. The, 182. Raby, Baron, 59. Railcon, H., 255, 256. "Rebus" plates, 171, 221, 279. " Regence " style, 80, 300. Removal of book-plates, 313, 314, 315, 316, 318, 319. "Restoration" style, 25, 41, 42, 56, 60, 64, 132, 289. Ricketts, Charles, 214, 215. Roberts, H., 82. Robertson, A., 248. Robinson, 160, 173, 177. " Rocaille," 80, 81, 92. "Rococo," 26, 77, 80, 81, 82, 117, 268, 297. early, 87. drooping, 97. later, 95. Rorfet, 31. Rogers, Samuel, 109, no. Royal Historical and Archaeo- logical Assoc, of Ireland, 342. _ "Rubaiyat," 191, 228, 229. " Ruin" plates, 149. Russell, John Scott, 207. Rylands, Harry, 296, 297. Rylands, J. Paul, ix, xiii, 16, 17, 18, 19, 24, 41, 132, 162, 186, 331. St. Quintin, Sir W., 118. Salisbury, Hatfield plate, 103, 107, 310. Samwell, T. S. W., 120, 125, 126. "Saturday Review," 341. Scarth, Leveson, 254, 268, 271. Scollop shell, 76, 80, 91. "Scotch Chippendale," 98. Scott, John, mark of, 39, 181. Scott, W. Bell, 132, 202, 203, 23 I >. 2 33> 2 34- "Scottish Review, The," 341. " Seal" class, 27, 171. plates, 173. Seaman, Mr., 192, 193, 195. "Sentiment" plates, 10, 28, 34, 202, 229, 242, 246, 260, 300, 308. " Sette of Odd Volumes," 239, 263. Seyringer, J., 16. Sharp, Charles, 224, 226. Sheldon, 52. Sheraton, 105, 106. Sherborn, C. W., xiii, 20, 159, 160, 208, 292, 326. Sherwin, 134. Index. 35i Shields, forms of modern, 168, 328, 329. "Ship Ex-libris," 204. Shorter, Clement, 228, 229, 246, 247, 255, 256, 257. " Silver Tray" plates, 114. Simcox, Martha, 63. Simienowicz, 298. Skeaping, K. M., 224, 226. Skelton, John, 139. Skinner, J., 91. Slater, J. H., 323. Slater, VV. Brindley, 242, 244. Smith, Egerton, 71. Smith, Matthew, 91, 92. Soane, Harry, 20, 182, 183, 184, 298. Solis, Virgil, 36. Solomon, Simeon, 220, 221. Somerset, Lady Heniretta, 70. Somervell, Arthur, 252. Southwell, 52. " Spade" style, 102, 107,114, 142. " Special " plates, 299. Spokes, Russell, 296, 298. " Sports," 23. Spray, 112. Stitt, Carlton, 290. Strange, Sir Robert, 12, 135, i3 6 > !37- Strawberry Hill Plate, 143, 146. "Studio, The," 341. "Styles," 16, 23, 26, 28, 3 J 9- " Super-libros," 4, 299. Sweetman, Henry, 88. Sweetman plate, 311, 312. Sydenham, Sir Philip, 119. • Sykes, Sir Christopher, 187, 188, 189. "Symbolic" plates, 27, 185, 214. Sywell, W. W. de, 48. Tabley, Lord de (see also Warren, Hon. J. L.), xiii, 16, 41, 55, 68, 159, 233, 2 35- Tadema, L. Alma, 236, 237. Tait, Henry, 225, 226. Tanrego, 141. Taylor, J., 141, 143. Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 167, 168, 169. Thackeray, W. Makepeace, 191, 192. Thibault, Master Girard, 300. Thorns, W. T., 132. Thornhill, Sir James, 135. Thornthwaite, 105. Tilney, F. C, 261, 264. Tinctures, 57. " Torce," 93, 204. Toro, 82. Tory, Geoffroy, 31. Towneley, 7. Townley, Charles, 139, 149. "Tree, bookseller's," 184, 248. of Knowledge," 185,216, 217, 220, 224. of Literature," 185, 216. of Wisdom," 248. Tregaskis, James, 20, 44. Treshame, Sir Thos., 44, 45. Treshams, 44. Trollope, Anthony, 155, 156. "Trophy" plates, 92. "Tudoresque" style, 25, 42, 47, 48, 56. 352 English Book-plates. Turnbull, A. H., 226, 227, Tyers, James, in. Types of shields, 328, 329. "Urn" style, 26, 102, ill, 142. Vallance, Aymer, 327. Vanderbank, 136. Vere, James, 95, 100. Vertue, George, 8, 12, 134, 136. " Vesicas," 171, 173. Vicars, Arthur, xiii, 125, 129, 265, 267, 321,332. "View" device, 254, 256 " Vignettes," 27. Vinycomb, J., 174, i75> x 77> 229, 230. Visiting cards, pictorial, 137, 138. "Wake Knot," 185. Walford, E., M.A., 339. Wall, T., 137. Walpole, Horace, 8, 146, 147. Walters, Henry, 88, 91. Walton, J., no, in. Ward, Marcus, 230. Warnecke, F., 19, 32, 34, 36. Warren, Hon. J. Leicester (see also Tabley, Lord de), 6, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 24, 26, 36, 68, 70, 72, 76, 81, 84, 134, 136, 145, 187, 231, 3°5> 3° 8 , 3 2 3, 3 2 5, 33 1 - Watteau, 82, 133. Wedgwood, Josiah, 105. Wentworth, Thomas, Baron Raby, 59. West, 182. " Western Antiquary," 21,241, 337. Wheatley, H. B., 34. Wheeler, E. J., 240, 243, 244. " Where Art Begins," 324. White, Gleeson, xiii, 214, 215, 216, 219, 220. . White, Sir Robert, 131. ? • Wilberforce, William, 83, 87. Wilson, John, 140. Windsor plate, 182. Winnington, Francis, 69, 72. Winsor, Justin, 337. Winterbotham, 243, 244, 245. Wolsey, Cardinal, 42. Wolseley, Gen. Lord, 159. "Wreath and Ribbon," 26, 102. "Wreath and Spray," 102. Wren, Christopher, 68. Wright, Alan, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220. Wright, W. H. K., 19, 20, 21, 330, 337. Wyndham,Wadham, 121, 125, i34. Yates, Edmund, 174, 177. Yeatman, Rev. H. W., 163, 167. Zaehnsdorf, 293. CHISWICK PRESS :— C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE. 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LIBRARY SCHOOL LIBRARY This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. JUL 1 rro ° 7 1Q7S PE.D ^ « »3'** SEP i g 1Q 7q A ° iy/y t r» o i * ru™ i ' « a General Library (H7452.10)476 University of California Berkeley u.c.^r' B«^«« ||»|P»- 829768, ^ THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY mam- mmm :