Hewer's
The book-plate of Sir Philip Sydenham, dated 1699, when he was, as he tells us, twenty-three years of age, offers another interesting example of the Book-Pile design; Sir Philip shows us his coat of arms on the face of the scroll, on the lower roll of which, in very small letters, is written the inscription. Apparently neither this nor any of his other book-plates completely satisfied him, for during the remaining forty years of his life he had more than half-a-dozen different plates designed, and nearly all of these are found in various 'states.' There are, Mr. Fincham tells me, some sixteen varieties of Sir Philip's book-plate; many of his books are now in Sion College Library. In the book-plate of White Kennett, who filled the See of Peterborough from 1718 to 1728, we see how the emblems of episcopacy are treated when introduced into book-plates of this type. White Kennett had other book-plates; the rarest and earliest, engraved when he was at college, is in the 'Simple Armorial' style. These 'Book-Pile' plates appear at intervals down to the close of the century, and the style has been recently revived by book-plate designers; it is simple and certainly appropriate. The approximate date of each example may be generally gathered from the shape of the shield containing the arms, or the style of decoration around it.
We have yet to speak of by far the most numerousclass of those English book-plates, which may be properly brought into our second division of 'Picture' book-plates—I mean the examples which represent upon them a landscape, either real or imaginary. The real landscapes represented have, of course, some direct reference to the plate; being a view, either of the owner's house, his park, his parish church, his town or village, of some particular spot in the immediate vicinity of his residence, or of some incident connected with his career or occupation—be it business, profession, or pleasure. For instance, Horace Walpole, in one of his book-plates, shows us a view of his 'Palace of Varieties' at Strawberry Hill (seep. 106). Again, Thomas Gosden, the angler sportsman and collector of angling literature, introduces into his book-plate all sorts of angling and sporting gear, even to a capacious whisky flask. 'The HonbleRobert Henry Southwell, Lieut. 1st Regiment of Horse, 1767,' flanks his shield with various kinds of military weapons and trophies; whilst 'Captain William Locker, Royal Navy,' shows us the swelling bosom of a man-of-war 'foretop gallant' sail, on which is figured his coat of arms.
We will speak first of those book-plates on which the landscape is real, and we will call them 'View' plates. Probably the earliest of these is the very interesting one (seep. 105), which was engraved by Mynde about 1770 for the Library of the Public Record Office, then in the Tower of London; here wehave a remarkably faithful representation of the historic building. The date at which the Tower book-plate was probably engraved adds to its interest. Plates in this style hardly appear at all before 1778 or 1780, and do not become common till five or six years later.
The book-plate of 'Peter Muilman of King St., London, and Kirby Hall, Castle Hedingham, Essex,' is one which, I think, may be classed among 'View' plates, since the ruins depicted on it have certainly the appearance of having been sketched from the remains of some feudal stronghold, perhaps from Castle Hedingham itself. In front of the ruins is a wooded lawn, on which two robust cupids are wrestling for the Muilman escutcheon. Kirby Hall is not shown: no doubt this was a comfortable Georgian house round the corner, where Peter and his family spent their summer holidays away from the bustle and smoke of King Street. Presumably, the ruins of the castle were left standing in the park for ornament's sake, to give a tone of feudalism to the Muilman domain, whose owner, save by his book-plate, is not known to fame. The plate was engraved by Terry of Paternoster Row, probably about 1775, so that this again is an early example of its kind.
Record office in the tower of London
Among other notable specimens of these 'View' book-plates may be mentioned that which Pye, a Birmingham engraver, executed for 'T. W. Greene' of Lichfield. Here we have an oval-shaped shield,bearing the arms of Greene, resting against a tree-stump. In the distance is a river, and Lichfield Cathedral. Later on, Pye engraved a very similar book-plate for another Lichfield man—an attorney named Nicholson, who went to live at Stockport. This shows Nicholson's residence on the margin of a sheet of water. The arms rest against a shattered oak-tree. A local view—one of Darlington—also appears on the book-plate of George Allen, who describes himself as of that town.
Collectors are wont to reckon as the most interesting example of a view book-plate the vignette of Horace Walpole's house at Strawberry Hill, with his arms hanging on a shield from a withered tree. Mr. Wheatley, however, who is inclined to attribute the design to Walpole's friend, Bentley, has suggested (Bibliographica, vol. iii. p. 88) that the vignette was never used as a book-plate, but was exclusively reserved as a kind of printer's device for the adornment of the books printed at the Strawberry Hill Press. Sir Wollaston Franks has four varieties of the vignette, one engraved on wood and three on copper; and I have certainly seen at least one of them doing duty as a book-plate, but whether rightfully or not it is impossible to say.
Modern examples of View book-plates were, till quite recently, rare. One of the quaintest is furnished by that used by the late Dr. Kendrick of Warrington, and engraved for him in 1855; here we have a view of the doctor's town as it was in 1783and a picture of a 'loyal Warrington Volunteer' of 1798. Quite a useful historical print!
Now let me say a word about the Picture book-plates on which the landscape is a fancy one. Prominent amongst these is that of 'Gilbert Wakefield,' which shows us a pretty scene: a stag stoops to drink from a rivulet that trickles through a wood. Very much later in date is a charming vignette, representing a rock, over which a stream of water trickles and sparkles as it falls into a pool below. Ferns and flags grow in the pool. The book-plate belonged to Joseph Priestley, and on that account we mention it after Wakefield's. Priestley was quite as bitter a Dissenter and as ardent a controversialist as Gilbert Wakefield, though it is more as a man of science that most people remember him. His name is so intimately associated with Birmingham politics at the time of the French Revolution, that the fact of his book-plate being engraved by a Birmingham man—it is signed 'Allen sct. Birmingm'—becomes the more interesting, and enables us to assign the engraving to a marked period in the owner's life—the time when his friendship with Lord Shelburne began to cool, and when, settling down at Birmingham, he began work on hisHistory of the Corruptions of Christianity. James Yates, who edited Priestley's collected works, used the same book-plate, after altering the name upon it.
Another delightfully rural scene is depicted on the book-plate of 'John Hews Bransby.' His mottoreads,Breve et irreparabile tempus;and he shows a rustic landscape, in which the figures represented have evidently learnt the truth of the assertion. The sower scatters seed, the ploughboy is engaged with his team,—all are making the most of their time, yet there is no sign of hurry or bustle. The day is fine, but clouds hover in the sky. On the left, a cottage nestles in the trees, and the smoke from its chimney tells of the housewife within preparing a meal for those who are earning it by their labour without.
So much for landscapes having direct reference to the book-plates on which they appear. Often, however, the landscape is purely a fancy one, as that on the book-plate of Gregory Louis Way. A river flows through fields, and beside it sits an armour-coated knight, who is either wearied with the fight, or bowed down by the fickleness of his lady. His shield rests beside him, and on it are depicted the arms of Way. The moon sheds upon the scene what light she is able, but the sky is overcast and stormy.
I must not close this chapter without reference to the book-plates produced by Thomas Bewick, many of which are familiar enough—as examples of Bewick's art—to those who know little about book-plates, and do not collect them. His are certainly for the most part 'Landscape' plates; but I do not know whether to class them with these examples of 'View' book-plates, or with those which I have christened'Fancy Landscapes.' They were chiefly engraved for northern book-owners, but one can hardly say that the particular bit of scenery on each—though, doubtless, in most cases drawn from nature—has any special applicability to the owner. I will therefore speak here of Bewick's book-plates as forming a class by themselves. His first was prepared for Thomas Bell, and is dated 1797, so that it is inaccurate to speak of Bewick as the originator of the Landscape style in book-plates; he found the style already followed by many engravers, and his taste and skill brought it to perfection. The Bell plate is not uncommon, as the books for which it was engraved were sold in 1860. It shows, in the foreground of a landscape, an oval shield, inscribed 'T. Bell, 1797,' and resting against a decayed tree. In the distance are trees, and above them rises the tower of St. Nicholas's Church, in Newcastle—a favourite object with Bewick. It is also introduced by Ralph Beilby into the book-plate of Brand, the antiquary.
Out of the hundred or so book-plates designed or engraved by Bewick, it is difficult to know which to select for comment; but from the interest which attaches to its owner, that of Robert Southey (figured onp. 111) suggests itself. Here we have a rock, thickly crowned with shrubbery, from which a stream of water falls into a brook below. Against the face of the rock leans an armorial shield, bearing the Southey arms—a chevron between three crosses crosslet. On theground to the right of the shield, and in contact with it, is the helmet, supporting on a wreath the crest—an arm vested and couped at the elbow, holding in the hand a crossed crosslet. Across the sinister chief corner of the shield, and trailing thence to the ground, is thrown the riband bearing the mottoIn labore quies. The date of the book-plate is probably about 1810.
Not only Newcastle itself, but the whole line of country along the river thence to Tynemouth, seems to have been Bewick's sketching ground, and many of his sketches he used for book-plates. Jarrow and Tynemouth itself were particularly favourite spots. Of the latter place his views were mostly taken from the sea, and afford us delightful pictures of water, shipping, and the ruins of Tynemouth Priory. The book-plate of 'Charles Charlton, M.D.,' is one of these.
shield leaning against a rock surrounded by bushesSOUTHEY'S BOOK-PLATE BY BEWICK.
A great many of the ordinary bits of landscape which Bewick used for book-plates he afterwards utilised as tailpieces for various books illustrated by him. The book-plate of the 'Rev. H. Cotes, Vicar of Bedlington, 1802,' which shows us the reverend gentleman busily engaged in fishing, doubtless a favourite sport with him, is an instance of this diverted use; but in this case we know the history of the plate. Mr. Cotes had practically edited the artist's second volume ofBritish Birds, and, as a slight return, Bewick prepared for him the book-plate in question; but, owing to a subsequent quarrel,the artist never gave the parson the block, turning it instead to his own account.
There are a great many more copper-plate book-plates by Bewick than is generally supposed. One of the most elaborate is that of 'Buddle Atkinson,' which represents a bubbling trout-stream, into which an angler casts his line: in the foreground is a crest enclosed in a shield. Other copper-plate work by Bewick is found in the book-plates of 'Edward Moises, A.M.'—a shield of arms, with books, pens, artists' tools of all kinds, and musical instruments; 'James Charlton' and 'A. Clapham'—Tyneside scenes; 'J. H. Affleck, Newcastle-upon-Tyne'—a shield of arms, in the midst of flowers and foliage; 'ThosCarr, Newcastle'—a spring of water flowing from a rock; and some few others.
Examples of the more unusual designs in Bewick's book-plates,i.e.those in which scenery is not depicted, are found in the book-plates of 'John Anderson, St. Petersburgh'—a sportsman on horseback, which was afterwards utilised as a vignette inBritish Birds;'Mr. Bigges'—a figure of liberty; 'AlexrDoeg, shipbuilder'—a just-completed ship, still standing on the stocks; and several others, which simply show the shield of arms and owner's name.
One reason why Bewick was so successful as an engraver of book-plates lay in the fact that his ability was most conspicuous in a small design. The work of such men as Hogarth or Bartolozzi seems crampedwhen it appears on the small scale which alone a book-plate can admit; but with Bewick, the smaller the size of the scene he desired to represent, the greater was his skill in introducing into it both originality and beauty.
GERMAN BOOK-PLATES
I havesaid that the use of book-plates, whether as commemorative of gifts or as marks of ownership, originated in Germany. Here, well before the close of the fifteenth century, we find at least three undoubted book-plates, examples of which have survived until the present day, and have recently been discovered fulfilling the function for which they were originally intended.
Fastened to the cover of an old Latin vocabulary was discovered the most ancient of these book-plates. It is printed from a wood-block, and is rough in execution. It shows us a hedgehog carrying a flower in its mouth, trampling over fallen leaves; above is the inscription, 'Hans Igler, das dich ein igel kuss.'
Angel holding shild with ox on itBOOK-PLATE OF HILDEBRANDE BRANDENBURG.
Following, in point of date, closely after this curious book-plate, comes a small woodcut, representing an angel who holds a shield, on which is displayed a black ox, with a ring passed through its nose—the arms of the Brandenburg family. A written inscription beneath it states that the book for which it was intended, and in which it was found, belonged to Hildebrande Brandenburg of Biberach, who presentedit to the Carthusian monastery of Buxheim, of which he was a monk. This book-plate, which is rudely coloured, is struck off on scraps of paper, printed on one side; a curious illustration of the then scarcity of that material. Oddly enough, another very early book-plate—probably of almost the same date as the last—was also found in a book which belonged to the same monastery, and which had been given to it by Wilhelm von Zell. This book-plate also is anonymous; but the volumes that contained it, as in the last case, bear a written inscription, recording the fact that they belonged to the monastery in question, and were the gift of the person whose arms are figured in the book-plate inserted.
From the fact that two of the three known fifteenth century book-plates are connected with the monastery at Buxheim, it would seem as if the use of a book-plate commended itself to the librarian of that monastery, who commemorated the gifts of volumes by a book-plate bearing the donor's arms.
In the sixteenth century, German book-plates became numerous, and of their beauty there can be no doubt. There is a difficulty, however, in accepting many of the early armorial woodcuts which one finds; and it is this: Suppose the example is no longer doing duty in a volume as a book-plate, there is really no means of being assured that the cut of arms is a book-plate at all; for very many of these plates are void of any inscription, save perhaps a text ormotto. Some of these book-plates are probably the work, or from the design, of Albert Dürer. He certainly produced some undoubted examples; the earliest, actually dated, in 1516. This is the Ebner book-plate (seep. 119). The inscription on this leaves us in no doubt as to its intended use: 'Liber Hieronimi Ebner, 1516.'
Eight years after completing the Ebner plate, Dürer engraved on copper a Portrait plate of Bilibald Pirckheimer, a Nuremberg jurist of some note, who became councillor to MaximilianI., and was the owner of a library, whose subsequent history has been told in 'Books about Books' by Mr. Elton in hisGreat Book Collectors. Now this Portrait plate, which is dated 1524, was undoubtedly used by Pirckheimer as his book-plate. There are plenty of known instances in which it may be still found fastened in at the end of a volume. Whether or not it was intended for any other purpose than that which I have here mentioned, we cannot say, for it bears no inscription expressing its use. However—very possibly at the same date—Dürer designed for Pirckheimer what was, without doubt, intended for a book-plate, since it bears the inscription, 'Liber Bilibaldi Pirckheimer.' This is, in many instances, found on the front cover of volumes which also contain the book-plate last described fastened on the back cover.
It is a very striking book-plate. A strangely large helmet, on which is placed an equally large crest,surmounts a pair of shields. The dexter one bears the arms of Pirckheimer—abirkeor birch-tree; whilst the sinister bears those of his wife, Margretha Rieterin—a crowned mermaid with two tails, each of which she holds in her hands. Pirckheimer's arms show the curious punning heraldry of the time, thebirkebeing, no doubt, a playful allusion to the jurist's name. Clasping the helmet are two angels. On either side of the shield is a large cornucopia apparently filled with grapes and vine leaves, and amongst these stands a smaller angel holding one end of a heavy festoon, the other end of which is fastened to a ram's head, the centre of the design. Angels, apparently at play, are also represented below the shield. Examples of this plate are not uncommon in English collections, many of Pirckheimer's books having passed into the Library of the Royal Society, and some of these having been sold as duplicates, when they were bought up by collectors for the sake of the book-plate. Sir Wollaston Franks points out to me that there is yet a third variety of Pirckheimer's book-plate, which is signed 'J. B. 1529,' and is not the work of Dürer.
EBNER
The book-plate of Hector Pömer, provost of the Church of St. Laurence at Nuremberg, dated in 1525, is also ascribed to Dürer, though it is signed with the initials 'R. A.' This signature is probably that of the artist who cut the design upon wood, for it is now maintained that Dürer himself only made the drawings for the woodcuts known as his; themechanical operation of cutting being handed over to assistants. The Pömer plate is the earliest dated book-plate which bears a signature either of the designer or the engraver.
The size of this really fine example of early wood-engraving is 13 inches by 9. On the principal shield in the design we have what are no doubt the arms of the monastery, the gridiron of St. Laurence, quartering those of Pömer. The gridiron is on the first and fourth quarters, whilst the second and third contain what is heraldically described asper bend sable (?) and argent, three bendlets of the first. We say 'sable,' because the dark mass which the artist has here shown is probably meant to represent this, but any dark colour may have been intended, as I have already endeavoured to show (seep. 23). These last arms are very probably Pömer's, for, in one of the small shields which appear in each of the four corners of the design, they occur again—the other three shields being most likely filled with arms quartered by the Pömer family. The helmet surmounting the principal shield is without wreath, and the crest is a demi-nun. The motto, 'To the pure all things are pure,' is given, as in other of Dürer's book-plates, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. In charge of the shield stands St. Laurence himself, dressed in a monk's garb, and holding in his right hand the instrument of his martyrdom, and in his left the palm of martyrdom. The nimbus appears around his head. The beauty of the design is apparent at the firstglance, and it becomes more apparent as we look into it.
Dr. Hector Pömer was the last Prior of the Abbey of St. Laurence in Nuremberg. To him Erasmus gave a copy of his edition of the works of St. Ambrose, issued from Froben's press. That very copy is in the possession of the Rev. H. W. Pereira, and in each of the two thick volumes in which the work is contained is Pömer's book-plate. One is struck with the exquisite detail and treatment; as Mr. Pereira says, in describing the plate, the expression and figure of St. Laurence is full of sweetness and tender pathos.
The list of 'Armories' by Dürer, as printed by Bartsch in vol. vii. of thePeintre-Graveur, gives us some twenty examples, any of which may have been used as book-plates. Some idea as to whether or not an early armorial plate is really a book-plate may, however, be gained by taking its measurement. A very large engraving should be regarded with suspicion, though not necessarily rejected as a book-plate on account of its size. Sir Wollaston Franks possesses a magnificent book-plate, measuring no less than 14 × 10 inches, which is at this moment still fulfilling its original functions. This is certainly the largest example yet discovered. It has been known to collectors for some time in what was believed to be a perfect state, but the copy just mentioned shows that what was thought to be the whole was in reality only a portion of the design, since it lackedthe elaborate framework, which is richly embellished with weapons and ensigns, as well as with musical instruments of every description. This book-plate belonged to Count Maximilian Louis Breiner, a distinguished official of the Emperor of Austria in Lombardy. A striking feature in it is the introduction, above the arms of the owner of the plate, of those of Austria, surmounted by the imperial crown, supported by a couple of cherubs. Both the design and engraving are the work of Giuseppe Petrarca, who probably produced them during the closing years of the seventeenth century.
SPERATUS
Quite in a distinct style from the other German book-plates mentioned is that figured opposite, which may be dated about the year 1530. It is interesting from its owner, one Paulus Speratus, an ardent preacher of the Lutheran doctrine at Augsburg, Württemberg, Salzburg, and Vienna, and afterwards Bishop of Pomerania, who proved himself ready to undergo suffering in the cause he imagined to be right. He was born in 1484, and died in 1554. The shading in the arms is very peculiar, expressing as it does, on the first and fourth divisions of the shield,argentandvertat a period, as we have seen, long anterior to the use of lines or dots to express the metals or tinctures in heraldry. An explanation is no doubt to be found in the fact that the artist only intended to represent some light colour in the shaded parts, in the same way as in the second and third divisions of the shield he desiredin the thickly inked parts to representsable. The book-plate is now preserved in a copy of the Psalms translated into Russian by Francis Skorina, and printed at Wilna about the year 1525. The peculiar inscription on this book-plate is referred to onp. 166.
We have spoken somewhat fully about these early examples of German book-plates, because, both from the fact that they are the earliest known to us, and that several of them are the designs of Albert Dürer, they have a very special interest. Space precludes the possibility of alluding in detail to later German examples, though they are, many of them, exceedingly beautiful specimens of the engraver's art, as indeed they may well be considering the men who engraved them—Lucas Cranach, Jost Amman, Hans Troschel, Wolffgang Kilian of Augsburg, and the uncle and nephew Giles and Joseph Sadeler.
Let me, however, speak very tersely of a few examples of the productions of these artists, in order that the reader's attention may be attracted should he come across a specimen of their work.
Two woodcuts by Lucas Cranach have certainly been used as book-plates, though not designed by the artist as such, for they both appear among other cuts in a work illustrated by him. Sir Wollaston Franks possesses both varieties. In one, we have a half-length figure of St. Paul. He is seated, and reading a book, the lines of which he follows with his finger. His head is surrounded with the nimbus,whilst a shaggy beard nearly covers the face. The right hand holds a double sword with the points upwards; beneath this is the shield of the Elector of Saxony. Above the upper line of the plate is an inscription, showing that it was intended to mark the volumes belonging to the 'preachership' ('Predicatur') at Oringen. The other woodcut by Cranach is very similar in design, but the figure represented is that of St. Peter, and it bears the inscription 'Stadt Orngau.'
It is worth remarking that in one instance at least, on removing the book-plate portraying St. Paul, a smaller hand-drawn book-plate was found, which consisted of a shield half red and half white, and upon it a key, placed in pale, countercharged. There is no inscription on this book-plate, nor is there any margin shown—the paper being cut close to the design.
Jost Amman is another German artist who leaves us in a difficulty as to deciding as to which of his many armorial engravings were really intended for book-plates. One undoubted book-plate by him, however, exists, and this was designed for a member of the Nuremberg family of Holzschuher—'Wooden shoes.' Wooden shoes, or sabots, appear as charges on the shield, and afford another example of the punning heraldry which was then fashionable in Germany. This is a fine book-plate, engraved on copper, and signed 'J. A.'; its size, 73/4× 61/8inches. The shield is supported by two angels and a lion.
Hans Sibmacher or Siebmacher was another Nuremberg engraver; he worked there quite at the close of the sixteenth century and in the early years of the seventeenth. He also executed a book-plate for a member of the Holzschuher family. This is a more elaborate piece of work than Amman's, though smaller (41/2× 33/8inches). Its characteristic feature is a closely-woven wreath of leaves, with clusters of fruit and ornaments introduced at intervals. Seated on this wreath, at the top of the design, are two reading cherubs clothed in 'nature unadorned.' Below the design is an oblong and indented bracket.
Hans Troschel's work as a book-plate engraver is illustrated by the book-plate of yet another Nuremberg man—John William Kress of Kressenstain, dated in 1619. In this we are shown a shield set in an oval wreath of leaf-work. The helmet which surmounts it displays some elaborate work; finely-cut mantling extends itself from this on the right side and on the left; and above is a cornet, which encircles the crest. The whole is enclosed in a circle of leaves and berries, somewhat similar to that just described in speaking of Sibmacher's work; but outside this, at each of the four corners of the plate, are small shields surmounted by helmets and crests, and containing the arms of the four families from which he immediately descended, their names being given. Nestling amongst the mantling on the left side of the design is a distinct shield, on which aredepicted the arms of Susanna Koler, wife of the owner of the book-plate.
Wolffgang Kilian (born 1581, died 1662) was an Augsburg man, and the book-plate which bears his signature and the date, 1635, is that of an Augsburg church dignitary—Sebastian Myller, suffragan-bishop of Adramytteum, and Canon of Augsburg. In its ornamentation it bears some resemblance to an English Jacobean book-plate. Above the shield is the head of a cherub, on which the episcopal mitre is made to rest in a somewhat comical manner; the cherub's wings protrude over the top of, and into, the shield. The inscription is contained in an oval band; outside this is an oval leaf-wreath, and outside this again an indented frame. Wolffgang was a younger brother of the more noted Lucas Kilian. Both brothers studied at Venice, and were pupils of their stepfather, Dominick Custos, who was himself a designer of book-plates.
Of Giles Sadeler's work—the Count of Rosenberg's book-plate—I shall speak directly (pp. 130,131). An example of his nephew's engraving is afforded by the book-plate of Ferdinand von Hagenau, dated in 1646.
In later times—the eighteenth century—other distinguished German artists 'stooped' to book-plate engraving. Amongst them was Daniel Nicholas Chodowiecki (the son of a Dantzig drug merchant), born in 1726. Chodowiecki is best known as a book-illustrator, in which his great knowledge of costume—ata period when the point was little studied—stood him in good stead. His book-plates are probably few; only four or five are known. One of the most elaborate in design is that of a German doctor of medicine, dated in 1792, nine years before the artist's death.
In this example much of the sensational style of the generality of his work manifests itself. 'The book-plate,' says Lord De Tabley, 'in its motive reminds us much of those allegoric framed certificates of membership which various sick clubs and benefit societies accord to their members at the present day. In the foreground, Æsculapius is pushing out a skeleton draped in a long white sheet, with a scythe across its shoulder. The god is sturdily applying his serpent-twined staff to the somewhat too solid back of the terrible phantom. Behind, beneath a kind of pavilion, lies a sick person in bed; his hands are upraised in silent thankfulness as he watches the prowess of the healing deity.' The book-plate was engraved for Dr. C. S. Schintz. Besides this, Chodowiecki engraved, about 1770, a book-plate for himself, and, about ten years later, one for the French seminary at Berlin.
WOOGIANA
The book-plate of Dr. Schintz calls to mind a somewhat earlier German example, engraved by Boetius from a design by Wernerin (whose signature appears on some varieties of the plate), about the middle of the last century. It is figured opposite, and is perhapsthemost gloomy book-plate that itever entered into the mind of man to conceive. A skeleton sits upon a coffin, or a coffin-shaped tomb, holding in his right hand a pair of scales, and in his left a scythe; in the lighter balance of the scales is a scroll, bearing the inscription, 'Dan. v. 25,Mene Tekel'; in the background we see monuments, Lombardy poplars or cypress-trees, and a distant landscape. This uninviting picture is contained in a frame, inscribed, in a medallion above, 'E Bibliotheca Woogiana,' and below,Nominor â libra: libratus ne levis unquam Inveniar, præsta pondere, Christe, tuo,—a motto in which the owner makes a play upon the derivation of his name fromwage, the German for a weight or balance, and asks the bestowal of divine weight on the day of soul-weighing.
As compared with German book-plates, those of other countries are sadly deficient in artistic composition. The former, particularly examples of the seventeenth century, are ornate and well designed.
Take, for instance, the really magnificent book-plate of Peter Vok, Ursinus, Count of Rosenberg, dated '1609.' It is engraved on copper, and measures 10 inches by 6. In a central circular medallion, 32/3inches in diameter, is depicted the owner, arrayed in armour, and seated on a richly caparisoned war-horse, plumed, and going at full speed across a landscape of hillocks. On his breastplate is an escutcheon bearing his arms; a knight's sword is in his hand. Round the margin of the medallion runs a wreath of roses. Platforms come out on eitherside of the medallion, and on each of these there stands a figure about 5 inches in height; the one on the left is a female symbolical form, clad in flowing drapery, and holding in one hand the cup of the Eucharist, and in the other a cross. A somewhat similar figure stands on the right, holding in her hand a tablet, inscribedVerbum Domini manet in eternum.
The medallion rests upon two bears—an allusion, of course, to the family name of the owner,Ursinus—crouching between the two female figures described. The face of the altar-like platform below is divided into one central and two lateral compartments, of which the side ones project forward. On the right lateral slab is an escutcheon, charged simply with the Rosenberg rose; whilst on the left we see the family arms, as on the breastplate, but surmounted with an ermine-faced crown. On the central slab is a skull resting on two shin-bones.
Reaching across the upper portion of the design is an oblong tablet, with indented shelly scroll-work edges, and a background border of large full-blown roses, with thorny stems. With the inscription, which is appropriately pompous, I need not trouble the reader; but I have thought it worth while to give here (following Lord De Tabley's example, and using sometimes his words) a very full verbal picture of this truly magnificent book-plate, in order that the pitch of elaboration to which a German book-plate can be carried may be understood. Suffice it to add thatthis work of art was engraved by Giles Sadeler, the Antwerp-born engraver, who, after studying in Italy, was invited by the Emperor RudolphII.to enter his service at Prague; in short, to become what he styles himself in his signature to this book-plate—'Engraver to His Imperial Majesty.'
Less elaborate, yet very beautifully engraved, are the book-plates used in the Electoral Library of the Dukes of Bavaria at Munich. On one, dated in 1618, the largest variety of which is 7 inches high and 5½ broad, we have the arms of the Duchy enclosed by the collar of the Golden Fleece. Winged Caryatides support the Electoral crown, whilst below is an arabesqued platform, on which is the inscription:Ex Bibliotheca Serenissimorum Utriusque Bavariæ Ducum, 1618. A smaller variety of this plate is figured opposite. Some twenty years later, a still larger and more ornate book-plate (10 × 7 inches) was designed for use in the same library. Here the arms are in an oval frame, surrounded by the Golden Fleece; on the right and left are inverted cornucopiæ, and the crown is held aloft by four cherubs. All the book-plates of this library exist in a great variety of design, and nearly all the varieties are found in different sizes.
ELECTORAL LIBRARY OF BAVARIA
These examples are typical of many other German book-plates; the conception of the design is excellent, and its working out is equally good. In later times, the work on book-plates perhaps deteriorated, because it fell, to a large extent, into inferiorhands. Yet Germany can show several very creditable examples in the eighteenth century. Some of those which give the view of a library interior are decidedly pleasing; they appear soon after the commencement of the century. The libraries represented have usually one or more mythological inmates; but, in one instance, the owner is in possession, and is seen hard at work amongst his volumes.
In concluding this chapter, it may be noted that examples of name-tickets are found in Germany as in other countries. Perhaps the earliest is one (first noticed, I believe, by Mr. Weale) in a copy at the Bodleian Library of a German Psalter printed at Augsburg in 1498. This reads, 'Sum Magistri Georgii Mayrii Monacencis' [i.e.of Munich], with the motto, 'Melius est pro veritate pati supplicium, quam pro adulatione consequi beneficium.' The same inscription has been written in ink on the title-page, with the added date 1513, and afterwards—no doubt a few years later when the label was printed and placed in the book—crossed through.
The most complete work on German book-plates that has yet made its appearance is Herr Warnecke'sDie Deutschen Bücherzeichen, Berlin, 1890; but a work properly classifying the different styles of German book-plates, and affixing to these styles covering dates, has yet to be written.
THE BOOK-PLATES OF FRANCE AND OTHER COUNTRIES
France, so far as a generally descriptive account of her book-plates is concerned, is certainly more fortunate than her neighbour Germany. French book-plates received attention, in the shape of a capital work upon them, before those of any other country were similarly honoured. M. Poulet Malassis'sLes Ex libris Françaismade its first appearance in 1874, and bears evident testimony to the fact that the author had for many years previously made an attentive study of his native book-plates.
Since the appearance of M. Poulet Malassis's work, book-plate collecting in France, as well as in other countries, has been vigorously carried on, and earlier examples of dated French book-plates than those then known have come to light. The most ancient of these is one dated 1574 (the same year, it will be noted, as that of the plate of Sir Nicholas Bacon), but it is simply typographical, having no kind of design whatever. It reads: 'Ex bibliotheca Caroli Albosii E. Eduensis. Ex labore quies.' No Armorial book-plate bearing an engraved date appears in France until thirty-seven years later, when we, at last,meet with that of Alexandre Bouchart, Vicomte de Blosséville, engraved by Léonard Gaultier, and, in the copy in the Bibliothèque Nationale, dated 1611. A variety of this book-plate, undated, unsigned, and probably not by the same hand, exists in the collection of Sir Wollaston Franks. The field in the Bouchart arms is gules, though the lines shown in the engraving of the undated plate would, according to the present system, represent it as azure (see remarks on this point atp. 22). After the Bouchart book-plate, we have, in 1613, that of Melchior de la Vallée, Canon of Nancy, given by M. Poulet Malassis as dated in 1611, and then, in 1644, a roughly-executed anonymous book-plate signed 'Raigniauld Riomi, 1644.' The arms are untinctured, and leaflike mantling falling from the helmet surrounds the shield; there is no crest. Raigniauld—or, as the modern spelling of the name is, Regnault—is not a known engraver. Riomi is an old-fashioned town of Auvergne.
Other French book-plates of the seventeenth century, both dated and undated, exist; but France is undeniably behind Germany both in the number of her early book-plates and in their beauty; for instance, we do not in France find those numerous book-plates of ecclesiastical corporations which so much swell the list of early German examples. The subject of French ecclesiastical book-plates has, indeed, received special treatment from Father Ingold, himself a French ecclesiastic; and he is compelled toadmit that such book-plates are not numerous and not ancient. The old way seems to have been for the monastic official in charge of the convent library to inscribe each volume with some appropriate inscription. These are in themselves interesting; but book-plate lovers must regret the existence of the fashion. The earliest French ecclesiastical book-plates belong to the middle of the eighteenth century, and, like the 1574 example already noticed, they are mere typographical labels, possessing little more artistic merit than is usually displayed in a post-mark.
With regard, however, to the book-plates of ecclesiastical individuals, the case is different; some of them engraved during the seventeenth century are ambitious and interesting. A particularly quaint example is found in the book-plate which an Annecy engraver, named Sinton, executed for Charles de Sales, the energetic labourer in the cause of religion, brother of St. Francis de Sales, and his successor in the Bishopric of Annecy. Lord De Tabley thus describes the book-plate:—'The family arms are shown in a shield, which appears very gigantic, in a frame of heavy curves, which is set in the centre of a huge sideboard-like monumental structure. On the top ledges of this, two full-grown, long-skirted angels, seated right and left, uphold the episcopal hat (with its usual knotted ropes and tassels) in air above the escutcheon.
'At the base of the structure, to the right, appears a figure of St. Francis de Sales, seated, holding anolive branch in one hand, while beneath his other arm is a profuse cluster of fruit. To the left, also seated, is a portrait of St. Jane Frances De Chantal, holding a palm-branch, also with fruit beneath her other arm. Each portrait is realistic, and not in the least flattered. Between them is a medallion bearing the crossed papal keys.'
The probable date of this very curious book-plate is 1642. It appears earlier, but this may be accounted for by the fact that the work is provincial. Students will do well to remember that provincially executed book-plates, English or foreign, are often misleading in this respect.
There is a somewhat elaborate book-plate, engraved in several sizes, and dated in 1692, which introduces the cardinal's hat, mitre, and crozier, and which was prepared to place in the books given by Dr. Peter Daniel Huet to the Paris Jesuits. Huet is himself an interesting figure in French literature. In 1670 he was made tutor to the Dauphin, and whilst so employed he assisted in bringing out the sixty-two volumes of classics, specially prepared for his pupil, known as theDelphinedition. He became Bishop of Avranches in 1689, but ten years after resigned his see in order to devote the remainder of his life to literature, which he did, completing amongst other voluminous works a defence of the doctrine of Christianity.