image of book-plate not available: IsaiahThomas
Prince, who was for forty years the pastor of the Old South Society in Boston, is a simple label dated 1704. The plate ofThomas Dering, signed by Hurd, and dated 1749, is the first American plate by an American engraver that is both signed and dated. TheJohn Burnet, by Dawkins, dated 1754, is next in order; then comes theGreeneplate, by Hurd, 1757, theAlbany Society Library, 1759, concerning which very little is known, and every few years an example until we come to the opening of the century.
image of book-plate not available: AlbanySociety Library
Naturally the artistic quality of a book-plate influences its value; the more elaborate designs are preferred to the plain armorials or the printed labels. Pictorial plates, introducing bits of landscape, interiors of libraries, or allegorical subjects, are sought for, as are plates which are accepted as particularly good types of the different styles. In addition to these technical reasons for valuing one plate more highly than another may be given others which will appear more reasonable perhaps to the general reader. All articles belonging to the noted men of the past have a certain antiquarian value greater than attaches to the kindred belongings of their contemporaries of lesser or no fame. So with book-plates.
A glance at the list will show a goodly number of names which we remember with pride and interest; the names of patriots, orators, lawyers, statesmen, officers of the army, officers of the state and nation, members of Congress, signers of the Declaration, governors, old-time merchants, authors, divines, physicians, and not a few of that plucky number who stood by the King in trying times—the American Loyalists. Quakers, too, as well as royal office-holders, and titled Americans are among those whose book-plates have come down to us.
Of our early Presidents, the plates of George Washington, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and John Tyler are known to us. All of these except the last, which is a plain printed label, are armorial.
Members of the Boston Tea Party, of the Constitutional Convention, and of the early Assemblies are among those whose plates we know.
image of book-plate not available: JohnQuincy Adams.
Of royal officers we have: Craven, one of the Lords Proprietors of South Carolina; Elliston, Collector of His Majesty’s Customs at New York; Sir William Keith, Governor of Pennsylvania; John Tabor Kempe, Attorney-General under the Crown at New York; and William Penn, Proprietor and Governor of the colony which bore his name.
Owners of large estates, employers of numbers of slaves, merchants whose vessels carried on atrade with remote and prosperous shores, and who established names that have endured, used book-plates which are still known to us. Among these are the plates from the following families, well-known in New England: Ames, Bowdoin, Cabot, Chandler, Chauncey, Coffin, Lodge, Lowell, Minot, Quincy, Sears, Winthrop, Barrell, Greene, Perkins, Swan, Vassall, and Vaughan.
image of book-plate not available: JosiahQuincy
Of those well-known in and about New York may be mentioned, Clinton, Colden, Constable, Cutting, De Peyster, Duer, Ellery, Goelet, Hoffman, Ogden, Paulding, Phillipse, Pintard, Van Cortlandt, and Van Rensselaer. To these should be added the Livingstons, which family had the largest number of book-plates of any we know.
In Philadelphia were the Logans, Morgans, Powels, Banckers, and Hamiltons; while further South, the Lees, Lightfoots, Tayloes, Wormeleys, Pages, Cabels, Tubervilles, Armisteads, Byrds, Blands, Bollings, Dinwiddies, Fitzhughs, Hubards, Magills, and Randolphs used plates and were families of prominence and distinction.
image of book-plate not available: Livius
Among the prominent Loyalists are Chalmers, Cooper, Hallowell, Hamilton, Livius, Lloyd, Oliver, and Robinson. Of titled Americans the following used book-plates: Fairfax, Gardiner, Murray of Dunmore, and the Pepperrell families.
Of the early authors we can mention Alsop, Antill, Bozman, Byrd, Dana, Key, Stith, and Abercrombie; of physicians, Assheton, Bond, Beatty, Holyoke, Middleton, and Jeffries; of the statesmen, Bayard, Carmichael, Dana, Duane, Gallatin, Jay, Lewis, Marshall, Norris, and Randolph.
image of book-plate not available: Dr John Jeffries
Among the early clergymen can be named Apthorp, Boucher, Williams, Jarvis, and Provoost.
Allen and Thomas, early printers; Aitkin, who made the first American edition of the Holy Bible; and Bartram, the great botanist, used plates, which are described in the list.
Bloomfield, Brearly, Banister, Chester, Eustace, Hale, Mercer, Schuyler, Sullivan, and Varick are among the soldiers of the Revolutionary army; and of the orators we have Otis and Randolph.
Coming now to the signers of the Declaration, we find that we know thus far the plates of eleven of them: John Adams, Charles Carroll, Samuel Chase, Thomas Hayward, William Hooper, Francis Hopkinson, Benjamin Rush, Richard Stockton, George Taylor, Oliver Wolcott, and George Wythe.
Surely the book-plates of all these men whose mention stirs patriotic feeling, are of exceeding interest, and worthy to rank with any in point of value and appreciation.
No book-plate, however, is of greater interest to the American collector than that ofGeorge Washington, not alone by reason of the prominence of that eminent man, but because of the scarcity of the plate, the high price it brings, and the interesting fact that it is the only American plate which has been deemed worthy of counterfeiting.
A genuine contemporary print of this plate is readily recognized by the connoisseur. The plate has no striking features, but is a regular design in the pure Chippendale style. The arms are displayed upon a shield of the usual shell-like form, and the sprays and rose branches of this style are used in the ornamentation of the sides of the escutcheon. The motto,Exitus acta probat, is given upon its ribbon at the base of the shield, and the name is engraved in script on
image of book-plate not available: EdwardHale Bierstadt
the bracket at the bottom of the design. In general appearance the plate is like scores of Chippendale plates of the period.
image of book-plate not available: GeorgeWashington
The interesting question of the probable engraver of the plate has arisen, and in a most readable article from the pen of Mr. R. C. Lichtenstein, in the “Curio,” on the Library of Washington, the following opinion is advanced: “It was his [Washington’s] habit as a general rule to write his name on the right-hand corner of the title-page and place inside his book-plate. It has been a matter of uncertainty as to whether thatbook-plate was engraved in England or in this country. Washington, like other Virginia gentlemen before the Revolution, was in the habit of ordering goods every year from London; but we have searched the various orders to his agents in London, and examined as far as practicable the items of his household expenses, without finding any such item. The strongest argument that can be said in its favor proving it to be American work is the poor heraldry displayed in its coat-of-arms, general make-up, and drawing. It will be noticed that the engraver has placed a wreath under the crown (an absolute heresy), and this, with the faulty drawing of the raven, makes the whole plate a very slovenly piece of work. No engraver with any knowledge of the fundamental laws of heraldry would be guilty of drawing such a coat-of-arms as this. The arms of Washington engraved on his seal and ring, undoubtedly cut in England, are correctly done. It seems more than probable, if the plate had been done in England that the engraver would not have been guilty of making such blunders. We have seen a great many English plates, but have never noticed one bearing these peculiarities. From its general appearance we should say that the plate was made in America somewhere between the years 1777 and 1781.”
Collectors are divided in their opinions upon this question, and although not ready to hazard a guess at the engraver, the present writer believes the plate was engraved in England, and would place the date nearly a decade earlier. As thefriend of the Fairfax family, Washington might have had the plate made upon the occasion of their ordering work of the same kind from England, or, indeed, it might have been a gift to him from them, or from some admiring friend. As he was a methodical man, the fact that no entry of an expense for such an article is found in his records may lend color to the presentation theory. As to the errors in heraldry, there is a plate of one Richard Washington, which has all the peculiarities of this plate, and this is signed by Bickham, who was an English engraver of some note. He was a trifle early perhaps to have been the engraver of theGeorge Washingtonplate, but he may have made the plate which served as a copy for it. But whether the plate was of domestic or foreign make, we know that the copper was in this country, and that impressions were made from it not so very many years ago. The late Mr. Mauran of Newport knew the man who owned this, and it seems that having printed what he deemed a sufficient number of re-strikes from it, this man, fearing lest others would in time get it and make more prints, cut the copper into pieces and going out on a bridge over the Schuylkill River, threw them in! There they may be looked for by any who choose.
The counterfeit of this plate appeared in an auction sale of books, in the city of Washington, about the year 1863. The late Dr. W. F. Poole with Dr. J. M. Toner was present at the sale. The plate was placed in these books for the purpose of getting a higher price for them than could
image of book-plate not available: GeorgeWashington
otherwise have been obtained. These gentlemen detected the fraudulent plate, and denounced it as such in the auction-room, and the books brought only their actual value as books. Copies of this plate turn up now and then, and the unsuspecting are still deceived by it. It is readily detected if one is forewarned. The work is manifestly inferior to the good plate, the alignment of the name is poor, the quality and appearance of the paper belie its professed age, and the printing is of decidedly different appearance, being bold and strong in the genuine, and weak and thin in theforgery. A further difference is noted in the crest, which is tincturedgulesin the forgery andsablein the genuine. These plates are sometimes claimed to be genuine and to be an early and unsatisfactory piece of work, which Washington rejected, and which was replaced with the other and accepted plate. This idea is plausible perhaps to some, but to any who had information from Dr. Poole it is an impossible theory. Another source of confusion is in the reproductions of the plate which have been made from time to time to illustrate works on the life of Washington, some of these being quite faithful duplicates of the genuine plate with its trifling flaws; but the paper and the printing are usually conclusive proof of the age of the print. It is safe to say that there is but one genuine Washington plate. It is true that the re-strikes of the original copper are about, but these, too, are readily distinguishable by the printing and paper.
The plate ofBushrod Washington, nephew of George, is also of much interest, and the manifest similarity of its design to some of the plates by Dawkins has led to the suggestion that he made this plate. But to the mind of the writer, Dawkins was not a man of originality, and was a regular copyist when it came to book-plates; the similarity of the plate ofJames Samuelsto this plate is rather to his mind a further evidence of the clever adoption of a reasonably good design by Dawkins, than of his having been chosen by Judge Washington to engrave his book-plate. The design of this plate is more spirited than anyof the authenticated work of Dawkins; indeed, it surpasses the plate of the General in that respect.
image of book-plate not available: BushrodWashington.
The arms are the same in these two Washington plates. In his “Barons of the Potomac and the Rappahannock” (published by the Grolier Club, 1892), Mr. Moncure Daniel Conway has referred to the older form of the arms as used by earlier members of the family. The earliest shields held “Gules on a barre argent 3 Cinquefoiles of ye first.” The second step was made by changing to thefollowing, “Gules on a fesse sable 3 mullets.” The last and present form is, “Argent, two bars gules: in chief three mullets of the second.” These last, it is claimed, suggested our national flag.
The plate ofElizabeth Graemeof Philadelphia should be noted here, as it is the only example of an heraldic plate used by a lady of colonial times. It is fully described in the list.
Leaving now these older plates of special interest to be discovered in the Lists, we turn to a few modern plates which are worthy of particular attention.
image of book-plate not available: DanWebster
The plate ofDaniel Websteris a plain armorialwith the motto,Vera pro gratis, on the ribbon below the shield.
The etched plate of the lateJames Eddy Mauran, the early collector of American and other book-plates, was an armorial of very handsome appearance. The shield is surrounded with the style of decoration used on the Chippendale examples, oak leaves being used in lieu of mantling.
An earlier plate in two sizes shows some differences in the design.
The plate of the lateGeorge W. Childsseems wholly in keeping with the career of its distinguished owner. The sword, broken into pieces by the quill, is depicted within an oval garter which bears the motto,Nihil sine labore. The words from Lytton’s Richelieu,The pen is mightier than the sword, are also given just within the frame.
Coming now to mention a few plates of our well-known men of letters, we naturally accept the plate ofOliver Wendell Holmesas worthy of the chiefest place. In this the motto,Per ampliora ad altiora, is given on a ribbon beneath a beautiful representation of the “Chambered Nautilus,” the
Ship of pearl, which, poets feign,Sails the unshadowed main,—The venturous bark that flingsOn the sweet summer wind its purple wingsIn gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,And coral reefs lie bare,Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.
Ship of pearl, which, poets feign,Sails the unshadowed main,—The venturous bark that flingsOn the sweet summer wind its purple wingsIn gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,And coral reefs lie bare,Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.
Ship of pearl, which, poets feign,Sails the unshadowed main,—The venturous bark that flingsOn the sweet summer wind its purple wingsIn gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,And coral reefs lie bare,Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.
“If you will look into Roget’s ‘Bridgewater Treatise,’ ” said the Autocrat one morning, “you
image of book-plate not available: OliverWendell Holmes.
will find a figure of one of these shells and a section of it. The last will show you the series of enlarging compartments successively dwelt in by the animal that inhabits the shell, which is built in a widening spiral. Can you find no lesson in this?
“ ‘Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,As the swift seasons roll!Leave thy low-vaulted past!Let each new temple nobler than the last,Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,Till thou at length art free,Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea.’ ”
“ ‘Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,As the swift seasons roll!Leave thy low-vaulted past!Let each new temple nobler than the last,Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,Till thou at length art free,Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea.’ ”
“ ‘Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,As the swift seasons roll!Leave thy low-vaulted past!Let each new temple nobler than the last,Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,Till thou at length art free,Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea.’ ”
image of book-plate not available: JB
A plain armorial plate with the motto,Vitam impendere vero, and the name in fac-simile of his autograph, was used byJ. G. Holland.
The plate ofBrander Matthews, designed by Edwin A. Abbey, represents the discovery of a mask of the old Greek comedy by an AmericanIndian. With feathers stuck in his scanty hair, and his tomahawk laid on the ground beside him, he appears to deliberate upon the possible use of the enormous face which grins at him from his knee. On a circular frame surrounding this picture the following words from Molière are given,Que pensez vous de cette comedie. The appropriateness of the design is apparent for one who is a collector of the literature of the French drama, and the author of several books relating to the stage both in America and France.
image of book-plate not available: STEDMA
In the plate ofEdmund Clarence Stedman, the author of “The Poets of America,” we see Pan piping in the sylvan glades; the shepherd and the nymph are charmed by the music, and the god is apparently at the height of his effort. The frame surrounding the design bears the words,Le Cœur au Metier, which were suggested by the address of Matthew Arnold to the Authors’ Club in 1883. This plate is made in three sizes.
The plate ofThomas Bailey Aldrichpresents within a square frame a picture of a black bird resting upon a comic mask; the heavy panelled frame bears the owner’s name and the words,His Mark. In his essay on American Book-plates, Mr. Laurence Hutton questions whether this black bird is representative of the Daw, and symbolic of Margery of that name.
In the plate ofEugene Fieldwe have a beautiful example of the plain armorial, unaccompanied by motto or ornamentation of any kind.
Of similar character is the plate ofRichard Grant White. This is armorial, but the motto,The right and sleep, is given, and the shield is decorated in a conventional manner, with mantling and scrolls.
A pleasing library interior is used byArlo Bates. This represents an Oriental interior; a youth in scull-cap and flowing hair is reading a large book; a lily stem rises from a vase of striped Tyrian glass at his side; rows of books are seen at his back; and out of the arched window the distant fields are seen, with the palm and cypress trees on the hillside. This plate is produced in a new manner, being a gelatine print or half-tone direct from the pencil sketch. It preserves a very soft and pleasant effect; indeed, one feels sure it will smirch if rubbed.
Laurence Huttonin his plate places a full-length statue of Thackeray within a canopy, which seems to be a niche within a book-case. Volumes flank both sides, and the amiable face of the drastic writer looks directly at the beholder.The name of the owner is given on a ribbon at the bottom of the design.
image of book-plate not available: LaurenceHutton
The books of the lamented actors,Edwin BoothandLawrence Barrett, were marked with book-plates, the former using a plain armorial with no name engraved upon it, and the latter showing the mask of Tragedy upon an open volume, with the motto,Esto quod esse videris.
The reading monk, with the nimbus and star over his head, is seen in the plate ofEdward Eggleston. The sentiment,Flie fro’ the presse and dwell with sothfastnesse, is given in old English letters.
Mr. Rossiter Johnsonuses a very plain but effective label bearing the initialsR. J.printed within a plain ruled border: all in red ink.
The patriotic motto ofGeneral Winfield Scottis the family motto of the Scots of Whitislaid, Scotland, and well did the character of the man who used the book-plate depicted below coincide with its meaning.
It would be interesting to extend this list of plates used by men well known throughout the length and breadth of our land, but, unfortunately, many whose names will occur to the reader do not use a book-plate.
image of book-plate not available: WinfieldScott.
NATHANIEL HURD, who was born in Boston, Feb. 13, 1730, and who died in 1777, was the best of our early engravers of book-plates. Very little is now known of him, the principal source of information being an article in the third volume of “The New England Magazine,” published in Boston in 1832 by J. T. and E. Buckingham. The only known portrait of Hurd, which is copied from an original painting of him by Copley, and which in 1832 was owned by a descendant of Hurd in Medford, Mass., also accompanies this article, and shows him as a young man with smooth face, very pleasing and intelligent features, and wearing a cap, white neck-cloth, and clothes of a pattern which give him a decidedly clerical appearance.
The only book-plate work mentioned in this article is the large plate for Harvard College. It is said that the prints done in red ink were for use in the highly valuable books which the students were not allowed to take from the library. Several brilliant caricatures, a portrait of the Rev.
image of book-plate not available: W F. HOPSON
Dr. Sewell of the Old South Church, done in 1764, and a few other examples of his art are mentioned. He is (probably inaccurately) claimed to be the first person who undertook to engrave on copper in the United States. He was a man of natural talent and real genius, was self-instructed in his art, and was regarded as the foremost seal-cutter and die-engraver of his time, in this country.
The following advertisement from the Boston “Gazette” of April 28, 1760, is of some interest:—
“Nathaniel Hurd Informs his Customers he has remov’d his shop from Maccarty’s Corner on the Exchange to the Back Part of the opposite Brick Building, where Mr. Ezekiel Price kept his Office, where he continues to do all Sorts of Goldsmiths Work. Likewise engraves in Gold, Silver, Copper, Brass, and Steel, in the neatest Manner, and at reasonable Rate.”
“Nathaniel Hurd Informs his Customers he has remov’d his shop from Maccarty’s Corner on the Exchange to the Back Part of the opposite Brick Building, where Mr. Ezekiel Price kept his Office, where he continues to do all Sorts of Goldsmiths Work. Likewise engraves in Gold, Silver, Copper, Brass, and Steel, in the neatest Manner, and at reasonable Rate.”
Hurd worked principally in the Chippendale style; he made some plates in the Jacobean and a few in the Ribbon and Wreath styles, but he died before the latter was much in use, and the former was really going out when he took up the making of plates. Judging from the appearance of his work, his first attempts were in the Chippendale style, and the few Jacobeans he made were done after he had attained considerable efficiency.
One of his earliest specimens was undoubtedly the plate ofEdward Augustus Holyoke, the famous doctor of Boston, who lived to be one hundred years old, and who was but a year or two the senior of Hurd. In this plate he used a design which he evidently believed he could improve upon, and in which he felt there were goodfeatures, for we find a number of future plates of very similar design but much better execution. In the Holyoke plate the work is very crude, the lines are stiff, the drawing is poor, and the lettering of the motto and name are not good. An ugly scroll is placed under the name, and the festoon of cloth which is draped at the bottom of the frame and around the motto ribbon is especially poor; the shell at the base of the escutcheon which figures so often in future plates is here used, and the queer little flow of water from it would not be recognized as such were this the only specimen in which it occurs; the arrangement of the rose sprays, the form of the shield, and the employment of the shelly edge show a thorough study of the elements of this style. Very likely this design was copied in great part from some foreign example which had come into his possession.
In theThomas Deringplate, which is the earliest plate dated and signed by an American engraver, this same design is improved upon; it is more compact in appearance, a little freer in execution, and the drawing is improved. The name is still not very well engraved, and top-heavy flourishes weigh down the capitals.
In theTheodore Atkinsonplate the same design is still further improved upon; the flow of water from the scallop shell is here caught in a little bowl, a little additional flowery ornamentation is added, and the heraldic drawing is better. The name is again embellished with graceless flourishes.
The design seems to reach perfection in theWentworthplate; every feature is markedly better, the water still flows out of the scallop shell, the same shaped shield is used and the motto is placed upon a graceful ribbon with ends which run off into fancy foliations. The name is neat in appearance, but still there are too many scrolls.
image of book-plate not available: RobertHale Esqr. OF BEVERLY
In the plate ofRobert Hale of Beverly, the old festoon of cloth noticed in the Holyoke plate is seen again, and no motto is given. The name is fairly well engraved.
Later developments of this style are seen in the plates ofHenry Marchant,Danforth,Nathaniel Tracy, andJohn Marston; in these some of the features of the former are wanting, but they are evidently a legitimate progeny in the matter of style.
image of book-plate not available: JohnChandler Junr. Esqr.
Another, and without doubt the highest type of the Chippendale plate which Hurd made, is seen in theJohn Chandler, Jr., theDana, thePhilip Dumeresque, theVassall, and theWilsonplates. In these the shield becomes larger, the whole scheme of decoration shows more fine detail work, and the effect is lighter, more graceful, and seems at once the work of a master. The names are engraved in large bold type, with a characteristic dash after the last period.
image of book-plate not available: Lews. De Blois
In the Jacobean style, the earliest of Hurd’s work is undoubtedly theLewis De Blois. This is crude in workmanship, not very good in drawing, but excellent in design, and faithful to the characteristicsof the style; the shield is placed against a frame which is lined with the regulation fish-scale pattern; the sides are richly foliated, the mantling is profuse and very well drawn, and the name is placed upon a fringed curtain which is tied up at the ends with ribbon.
image of book-plate not available: JoshuaSpooner.
The handsomest Jacobean plates by Hurd are theRobert Jenkins, theSpooner, and theAndrewTyler. In the former the lining is diapered, the scroll work at the side of the arms is very fine, and at the bottom, under the shield, a small vignette of a ship under full sail is very pretty. At the top of the scrolls on either side two turbanded female heads peer at each other across the crest.
In theTylerplate the frame is very similar to the Jenkins, the lining is diapered, and the scroll at the side are the same. The little vignette at the bottom, however, is displaced by a sour face with gray hair. The two faces are replaced by urns filled with flowers, and the old cloth festoon is draped below the whole design. TheSpoonerplate bears no resemblance to the others, and is a more graceful design. The lining is latticed, the Sphinx head under the shield is enclosed within a frame of its own, and at either side are term figures from whose hands depend bouquets of flowers; the crest is overarched with a bit of the old scallop shell, and the motto is on a ribbon, which, wholly unsupported, maintains a curved position under the frame.
The Jacobean plates ofBenjamin GreeneandPeter R. Livingstonare almost identical in design; the small frame which encloses the shield is lined with the fish-scale pattern, the mantling is handsome and profuse, and the motto ribbon is stretched in rather stiff manner below the frame.
Only two examples of the Ribbon and Wreath style are known as Hurd’s work, theJohn C. Williamsand theJonathan Jackson. These are both signed, and are very similar in design. Garlandsof roses depending from rings above follow closely the outline of the heart-shaped shield, and the ribbon for the motto is placed beneath, and is ornamented with fancy ends.
In the “detur” plate forHarvard CollegeHurd conformed to the English manner and adopted the seal-shaped design. The arms are displayed upon a heart-shaped shield which is enclosed within a circle which bears the name and motto, and this again is enclosed by a wreath of holly branches.
image of book-plate not available: HarvardCollege
Hurd’s work is the most interesting found in our early days, and a study of it shows him tohave been progressive as well as painstaking. The Ribbon and Wreath style did not come into general use in England until about 1770, yet Hurd, who died in 1777, had used it. The colonies could not be expected to adopt the new styles of the old country immediately, and the condition of things from 1770 on to the time of Hurd’s death was not such as to encourage the introduction of “fads” or to allow much time for the development of the fine arts.
A word must be said about the heraldry on Hurd’s book-plates. This science, heraldry, was not held in such general esteem among the New Englanders as it was further south, and while many of the governors and men of high standing in the Northern colonies brought armorial seals with them, a great many who used them did so without strict heraldic authority, and when it became the fashion to use coats-of-arms in various ways, the herald painters of those days, who had but slight knowledge of heraldry and who were possessed of a copy of Guillim or some other writer on the subject, would find therein the arms of some family bearing the name of their prospective customer, and without further research would proceed to produce the coat as described. Not always were these arms so ordered correctly borne; indeed, there is much uncertainty about the arms used after about 1730 when our native engravers and painters took up the work of producing arms upon orders. Such seals as were brought by the colonists from England, and such as were used by their descendants are undoubtedlycorrect, but the questionable arms are those which, as mentioned above, were looked up in this country only, by means of such heraldic works as were at hand. The presence of the arms then on some book-plates cannot be relied upon as sufficient and indisputable proof of their owners’ right to them.
image of book-plate not available: JohnVassall Esqr.
A list of the book-plates signed by Hurd is appended.
image of book-plate not available: JohnLowell
OfJames Akin, who signs theCoffinandBrowneplates, nothing is learned. TheHector Coffinbook-plate is also signed by Francis Kearney, which would seem to indicate that Akin was associated with him. TheBrowneis a Philadelphia plate, and Akin may have been employed by the firm of Tanner, Vallance, Kearney and Company, which was in successful operation in Philadelphia for some years.
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S. Allardicewas apprenticed to Robert Scott, who had been a pupil of Robert Strange, and who, coming to America, was made die-sinker to the Mint. He had previously made the architectural plates for Dobson’s Encyclopædia.
Only one example of the book-plate work of Allardice is now at hand, and that is simply an engraved label for theLibrary Company of Baltimore. Ornamented with flourishes, and some fancy work, it is yet of no merit as a book-plate or an example of art.
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Alexander Anderson, who was the first American wood-engraver, was born in the city of New York, April 21, 1775, and lived to the advanced age of ninety-five years, dying, in 1870, in Jersey City, N.J., on the 17th of February.
At the age of twelve, with the spring of a pocket-knife, sharpened for the purpose, he tried
image of book-plate not available: PeterA. Browne
to engrave on copper pennies rolled thin. In this way he made his first plate, which was a head of Paul Jones; and his first impression from it was made in red oil paint by a rude kind of a press of his own contrivance. With tools made by a blacksmith, he went on to cut little ships and houses on type metal for the newspapers. Being in some way led to take an interest in certain medical works, he copied many of the plates, and his father, feeling that this was a true sign of his fitness for the profession of medicine, and not discerning the talent for engraving, placed him with Dr. Joseph Young, as a student of medicine.
This step was taken with great reluctance by the youth; but he found time for both the cares of his new study, and for the pleasures of his old pastime. Various successes encouraged him, and in 1793 he cut a tobacco-stamp on wood, which appears to have been his first use of that material. Soon after this, he obtained a copy of Bewick’s “Quadrupeds,” and with the cuts found therein he was delighted. They had a strong influence upon his later work, and he has been well called the “American Bewick,” for his small wood-cuts closely resemble those of the English master in design, and his prominence in this country was equal to Bewick’s in England.
A life of Dr. Anderson has lately (1893) been issued in New York; but, to the disappointment of book-plate collectors, not a word is said of his making book-plates.
Of the seven plates by Anderson known at present, four are on wood, and three are on copper.
image of book-plate not available: JOHNPINTARD, LL. D.
Only one of those on wood is signed. TheLot TrippandJosh. Russellplates are simple labels, and theTypographical Society of New Yorkand theJohn Pintard, LL.D., which is signed, are pictorial. In the former, the emblems and implements of the printing trade are prominent, and in thePintard, which is a fine example