CHAPTER IIIBOOKPLATES CHRONOLOGICALLY

Two of the best engravers were two brothers, Hans Sebald Beham, born in 1500, and Barthel Beham, born in 1502. Both were skilful engravers, and both were expelled their native city as heretics. The elder engraved the plate for one of Dr. Hector Pomer’s smallerex libris, and the younger brother engraved the two varieties of bookplates for Luther’s friend, Hieronymous Baumgartner. He also engraved a plate for Melchior Pfinzing, provost of a church in Mainz.

Here we will turn aside from Germany for a moment just to refer to an undoubted English bookplate of this early period. It remains to this day in a book known to have belonged to Cardinal Wolsey, and afterwards to Henry VIII. This, though not an engraving, is none the less a bookplate. Mr. W. J. Hardy, our best authority on Englishex libris, has described it: A carefully drawn sketch of the cardinal’s arms, with supporters, and surmounted by a cardinal’s hat, the whole coloured by hand.

Thus the very earliest Englishex librisof which we know was used by the more than princely Thomas Wolsey, and at some time between 1514 and his death in 1530, in which interval he was the arbiter of empires, sometimes journeying attended by a personal retinue of two hundred gentlemen in crimson velvet, and then, later, what a contrast—“He was without beds, sheets, table-cloths, cups and dishes!”

Matthias Jundt, born at Nuremberg in 1498, and died in 1586, engraved a good number ofex libris. He produced several for members of the Nuremberg family of Pfinzing, and in one of them, that of Seyfried Pfinzing von Henfenfeld, there is used one of those fanciful conceits so common of old; the motto “Saluti Patriæ Vixisse Honestat” is used to show the owner’s initials. Virgil Solis, born at Nuremberg in 1514, engraved both on copper and on wood, working mostly from his own designs. The engravings known to be by him number eight hundred. He engraved anex librisblock for Gundlach of Nuremberg in 1555. It represents Pomona, with the arms of Gundlach and Fürleger, in a beautiful landscape. In the same year he engraved an armorial and landscape plate for Andreas Imhof, another Nuremberger. This is our first mention of landscape bookplates, but it will be by no means the last. The last of this set of engravers whom we will mention was not a native of Nuremberg, but came there fromZurich, at the age of twenty-one, in 1560, and died there in 1591. His best work was in woodcuts. The curious in calligraphy will find that he signed his initials in twelve different forms. His name was Jost Amman.

InGerman Bookplates, translated for George Bell and Sons’ex librisseries, nearly twenty bookplates engraved by Jost Amman are enumerated, and good reproductions are given of several. There is the usual armorial shield, but a large amount of richly decorative renaissance engraving outside it. In the plate engraved for Veit August Holzschuher, the owner has evidently signed his name in a space at the foot of the block left for it. His arms fittingly display a pair of wooden shoes to fit his name. One cannot help wishing that more of these early privateex librishad such a space, bearing the ancient owner’s autograph.

Lucas Cranach—Charles V.—Hans Holbein—Early French and English bookplates—Sir Nicholas Bacon—Queen Elizabeth—Bookplates that are not armorial—Bookplates in Switzerland, Sweden, and Italy.

In theex libriswhich Jost Amman made for “Johann Fischart genannt Mentzer” the initial letters J.F.G.M. are the initial letters, too, of the owner’s motto: “Jove fovente gignitur Minerva.”

Leaving now the Nuremberg school, we come to Lucas Cranach the elder. He is just one of those figures of old time of whom one would like to know much more. His chivalrous attachment to Frederick the Magnanimous, the last of three Electors of Saxony, all of whom he served, points to noble traits of character. He shared all the sufferings of Frederick the Magnanimous in the five years that he was in the hands of Charles V., although himself an old man, went with him to Weimar on his release in 1552, and died there in his eighty—first year, on the 16th October, 1553. His paintings and engravings are without number, the latter mostly woodcuts. One special interest of his work is that he was fond of introducing homely portraits of his friends, and portraits always give great interest toex libris.

Among theex librisfrom the hand of Lucas Cranach the elder are the woodcuts, in four different sizes, engraved for the Library of Wittenberg University, and each bearing the portrait of Frederick the Magnanimous.

At the foot of each is the inscription—

“Et patris, et patrui, famam, virtutibus, æquat.Sui patris et patrui, nobile nomen habet.Adserit, invicto divinum pectore verbum,Et Musas omni dexteritate juvat.Hinc etiam ad promptos studiorum contulit usus,Inspicis hoc præsens quod modo Lector opus.”

Hans Holbein has been credited with the designs for two woodcutsex libris.

With the great amount and variety of work done by Holbein it would be most natural that he should have designed someex libris. We of to-day can only deal with what has survived. For instance, scores of precious works printed three hundred years ago have wholly passed out of knowledge.

What a charming bookplate Hans Holbein would have invented—who knows that he did not?—say, for his noble martyr friend Sir Thomas More—perhaps depicting sweet Margaret Roper reading to her father, adding at foot of the plate some quaint motto from Erasmus! Hans Holbein lived scarcely forty-six years.

Next we will mention Hans Burgkmaier, born, too, at Augsburg in 1473, and a son of Hans Holbein the elder’s father-in-law. Severalex librishave been assigned to his hand; but with no certainty. The Emperor Maximilian I. was his patron, and Albrecht Dürer his friend.

Now we reach about the time of what, until lately, was accounted the earliest French bookplate with a date. This bears the brief but comprehensive inscription: “Ex bibliotheca Caroli Albosii. E. Eduensis. Ex labore quies.” The earliest known dated Englishex librisis also of 1574; but we always, in courtesy, put our friends before ourselves, and remember Napier’s splendid remark on hearing that Lord Mahon had contemptuously spoken of Napier’s History as the best “French” history of the war: “I always thought that to be generous to a noble foe was truly English, until my Lord Mahon informed me it was wholly French.”

Sir Nicholas Bacon’s bookplate bears his arms with helmet surmounted by crest; the crest being, of course, the only crest that could belong to Bacon. The Germans very properly never dreamt that a crest ought to appear anywhere but on a helmet. We have not been so correct. This recalls the blank amazement of a German on beholding a British officer in plain clothes. I remember thirty years ago, in Germany, my friend FitzRoy Gardner happening to show a photograph of Field-Marshal Sir John Burgoyne in plain clothes. The exclamation came at once, “He cannot be an officer, he is not in uniform.” This was, of course, the chivalrous old warrior who, in his yacht, brought the lovely Empress of the French safely to our shores.

This very interesting and early English bookplate has at the foot Sir Nicholas Bacon’s motto: “Mediocria Firma,” and we need not go here in full into the point of its date, which is fairly established. It is with an inscription in books given in 1574 by Sir Nicholas Bacon to Cambridge University. Sir Nicholas, perhaps best known for being the father of Francis, was the close friend of Cecil, Lord Burleigh, and Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, fellow-ministers withhim of Queen Elizabeth. Queen Bess often made herself his guest, and after her visit of six days in 1577, her host had the door by which she had passed under his roof nailed up, so that no one, after her, might cross the same threshold. Oh for the picturesque days of old! Lord Beaconsfield alone, in our day, might have thought of such a graceful act.

The second dated engraved English bookplate known at present is that of Sir Thomas Tresham, knighted by Queen Bess in 1575. The plate is armorial, with a huge array of quarterings; helmet surmounted by crest in proper style. Inscription: “Fecit mihi magna qui potens est. 1585. Jun. 29.”, and below the arms: “S Tho: Tresame Knight.”

Sir Thomas married Muriel, daughter of Sir Robert Throckmorton, and their son was Francis, “a wylde and unstayed man,” who first engaged in, and then revealed, the Gunpowder Plot. The father’s dying, in 1605, was probably the cause of the son’s not going forward in the plot, as he inherited property which would steady his aspirations. Sir Thomas left interesting memories of himself in fine buildings; and particularly in his own county of Northampton, the market-house at Rothwell, and the triangular lodge at Rushton.

A characteristic German plate of about 1570 is that of Johann Hector zum Jungen, with his name thus engraved in full under his arms, and the Latin motto: “Memorare nouissima tua,” at the top of the plate. In the earliestex libriswe did not find the owners’ names engraved.

So far almost everything has been purely armorial, and now we will turn to something different. This is a 1588 German plate; certainly it bears a small shield of arms, but most of the plate is occupied with the following engraved inscription: “Reverendus et Nobilis Dominus Wolfgangus Andreas Rem à Ketz, Cathedralis Ecclesia August: Sum: Præpositus, librum hunc unà cum mille et tribus aliis, variisque instrumentis Mathematicis, Bibliothecæ Monasterii S. Crucis Augustæ, ad perpetuum Conventualium usum. Anno Christi M.D.LXXXVIII. Testamento legauit.”

We have noticed 1574 as the date of the earliest English dated bookplate, the next dated is not until 1585, and in France the gap is still wider; 1574 is the earliest dated French plate, and the next that has been found is dated 1611.

In Sweden, too, many years passed after the 1595 example without a dated successor. In Switzerland, also, where the earliest datedex libriswas in 1607, a long interval followed, inwhich we do not find dated Swissex libris. In Italy we do not find any datedex librisbefore 1623.

This 1611 plate is that of Alexandre Bouchart, Viscount de Blosseville. This was found in a folio copy of the works of Ptolemy printed at Amsterdam in 1605, in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. The graver-work and probably the design, too, was done by Leonard Gaultier, who also executed an engraved portrait of Alexandre Bouchart. Leonard Gaultier was born at Mayence in about 1561, and died in Paris in 1641, having engraved above eight hundred plates.

Herr Carlander, the chief authority for Swedish bookplates, finds 1596 the earliest date, and this on the plate of Senator Thure Bielke, of whom we do not know much more than that to his own cost he took the wrong side in politics, was beheaded in 1600, and had therefore no further use for his datedex libris.

A Germanex librisof near this date is interesting, as, like a good many others, it is to be found in three sizes. This is theex librisof Johann Baptist Zeyll, designed by P. Opel, and cut on wood by C. L. in 1593.

Of course now in the days of photography it is easy to have your bookplate in severalsizes; but it was far otherwise in these old times.

Next must be named a plate engraved in 1613 for placing in the books presented by William Willmer, a Northamptonshire gentleman, to his college library in Cambridge. Mr. Griggs reproduced it among his eighty-three armorial examples. It is inscribed “Sydney Sussex Colledge Ex dono Wilhelmi Willmer de Sywell in Com. Northamtoniæ, Armigeri, quondam pentionarii in ista Domi. Vizin Anno Domini 1599 seddedit in Anº Dñi 1613.”

In France, as likewise in England, there are hardly any dated bookplates at this period. Mr. Walter Hamilton, in writing of Frenchex librisbefore 1650, refers to three in different sizes, all engraved for Jean Bigot, Sieur de Sommesnil; and somewhat later, another set differing from the former, and with the owner’s name engraved as Johannes Bigot. After that we read of three bookplates engraved for the son, L. E. Bigot. In this connection the late Mr. Walter Hamilton is drawn on to give particulars of a family of ardent book collectors, thus incidentally illustrating very happily how the possession of one dirty scrap of paper—an oldex libris—may lead on from one fascinating inquiry to another.

A fine characteristic German ecclesiasticalex librisof 1624 is the plate given—page 330, George Bell and Sons—of Otto Gereon von Gutmann, Doctor of Theology, Electoral Councillor, and Suffragan Bishop of Cologne.

A very fine armorial plate, of which we do not know the designer, the engraver, nor the date, is that of Alexandre Petau. His father, Paul Petau, Conseiller au Parlement de Paris, died in 1613, bequeathing to his son a fine library of manuscripts and printed books.

A bookplate in two sizes, engraved for Claude Sarrau, Councillor to the Parliament of Paris. He died in 1651, and his son Isaac, in 1654, edited his father’s correspondence with the learned of his time. The larger Sarrau plate, and probably the smaller as well, were engraved by Isaac Briot, who was born in 1585, and died in Paris in 1670.

Reaching the seventeenth century, we find Germanex librismultiplying greatly, but not improving in design.

Armorial bookplates still predominate, but the shield is often in one way or another surrounded by wreaths of leaves and flowers. It can hardly be insisted on too clearly that there is nothing mysterious, though much that is interesting, about the varying modes and manners ofex libris. They, in fact, represented the art, customs, learning, and taste of successive ages.

Thus turn to Johann Sibmacher’s Wappenbüchlein, published in 1596, and you will find plenty of illustrations of these wreaths, though with no reference to bookplates.

The seventeenth century begins—German plates—William Marshall—Lord Littleton—Huet, Bishop of Avranches.

IN 1604 Egidius Sadeler of Munich engraved for Arnold von Reyger a plate which is both signed and dated. At the top of the plate is the Latin motto “Ad Deum Refugium,” and in another part of the plate are the letters “Z. G. M. Z.,” standing for “Zu Gott meine Zuflucht,” the German version of the Latin motto.

In 1619 Hans Hauer designed and Hans Troschel engraved a characteristic and very elaborateex librisfor Johann Wilhelm Krep von Krepenstein, of Nuremberg. Both designer and engraver were natives of Nuremberg, the former born in 1582, and the latter about six years later.

In about the year 1623 Raphael Sadeler engraved a bookplate in three sizes for the Electoral Library of the Dukes of Bavaria at Munich. He also engraved a plate for theElector Palatine’s libraries in Heidelberg and in Rome.

Raphael Sadeler and his elder brother Jan, and their nephew Gillis or Egidius Sadeler, were all skilful with the graver. Raphael was born at Brussels in 1555, and with his elder brother travelled through Germany, producing many engravings, and afterwards settling at Venice. Egidius, the nephew, was born at Antwerp in 1575; taught by his uncles Jan and Raphael, he lived to far surpass his teachers. After spending some time in Italy, he was invited to Prague by the Emperor Rudolph II. He died at Prague in 1629.

In 1640, or a little earlier, William Marshall engraved a bookplate for Edward, Lord Littleton, born in 1589 at Munston, in Shropshire, his father being Sir Edward Littleton, Chief Justice of North Wales, and his mother being a daughter of Edmund Walter, Chief Justice of South Wales. From Christ Church, Oxford, Littleton, in 1608, entered the Inner Temple. On his father’s death, in 1621, he became Chief Justice of North Wales. In 1625 he became member of Parliament for Leominster. He became counsel to the University of Oxford, Reader to the Inner Temple, and Recorder of London. In 1634 he was made Solicitor-General. In the meantime his great learning and high character made him much respected, and the City Aldermen sent him a courteous gift of two hogsheads of claret and a pipe of canary. Next, he became Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and soon Lord Chancellor. In February, 1641, he was created Lord Littleton of Munston. Happily for him he died young, as in those stormy times he was too just a man to be a good party politician. It is interesting to note that on May 21st, 1644, he was commissioned to raise a regiment of foot soldiers, consisting of gentlemen of the Inns of Court and Chancery and others, himself becoming colonel. The great Lord Clarendon wrote of Littleton as a “handsome and proper man of a very graceful presence, and notorious for courage, which in his youth he had manifested with his sword.”

Above all, Littleton was incorruptible, winning, and keeping the respect of such opposite men as Clarendon and Bulstrode Whitelocke. Here we get a glimpse of his library, as it is recorded that when the Commons seized his books Whitelocke interceded and got the books given into his own care, so that, as he expressed it, “when God gave them a happy accommodation” he might restore them torightful hands. The arms on the bookplate are the arms of Lyttelton of Frankley.

Littleton’s first wife was a daughter of John Lyttelton (spelt as you please) of Frankley, Worcestershire. Littleton died at Oxford on August 27th, 1645, and is buried in Christ Church Cathedral.

Not the least interesting point about this Littleton plate is that it was engraved by William Marshall, a name or initials found on such a great number of portraits and other book illustrations of this period. Not very much is known about him. The dates of his works range from 1591 to 1649.

A characteristic German plate, dated 1645, is, by the good authority of Warnecke, the work of the engraver Raphael Custos of Augsburg, eldest son of Dominicus de Coster, painter and engraver, and grandson of Pieter De Coster or Balten, poet and painter. This plate, engraved for Wilhelm and Clara Krep von Krepenstein, embraces the coats-of-arms of the small number of thirty-one ancestors.

“curæ numen habet justu move 4° eneid.inde cruce hinc trutina armatus regique deoquemilito disco meis hæc duo nempe librisex libris Petri Maridat in magno Regisconsilio Senatoris”

are the inscriptions on the plate here illustrated of Theophilus Raynaud or Raynald, born in Piedmont, and died at the age of eighty in Lyons on October 31st, 1663. He was a learned Jesuit, and a most untiring student all his life, but, unlike most inveterate readers, he was bitter and morose of temper. Perhaps this was caused by his reading excesses, as it is told that he thought fifteen minutes almost too much to give to any meal. His portrait is in his: “tractatus depileo, cœterisque capitis tegminibus tam sacris quam profanis. D. D. Petro de Maridat, in magno Regis Christianissimi Consilio Senatori dicatus.” Under the portrait is the shield-of-arms, as on the bookplate, and above it the motto: “Dextera Domini fecit virtutem.” Below is: “Non potuit cœlum Capiti par addere, tegmen, Hoc Cœli effigiem perficientis erit.” The engraving is signed “L Spirinx fecit.” Nagler gives Ludwig Spirinx as an engraver born at Lyons or Dijon, and working in Brussels from about 1640 to 1660.

Coming once more to Nuremberg, there is the 1674 plate engraved by D. Krüger for Colonel Georg Christof Volckamer. There is no inscription on the plate, which shows acherub sitting on a hill and holding a shield-of-arms. The colonel was not content to choose between helmet and coronet; he has elected to have both.

One of the many plates of which the engraver is not known is that of Franz Ludwig Anton Freiherr von Lerchenfeld-Prennberg. The shield is borne on two flags crossing one another. At the foot of the plate is engraved “Ex Libris, Francisci Ludovici,” etc., giving all the owner’s titles. He was Chamberlain of the Munich High Court of Appeal.

A well-known plate is that of Pierre Daniel Huet, Bishop of Avranches, and probably the best-remembered holder of that ancient See, and tenant of the famous Bishop’s Palace. He was Bishop of Avranches from 1689 to 1699, but, born at Caen in 1630, he was already, in 1650, a renowned savant, and twelve years later founded the Academy of Sciences at Caen. He did not become a priest until he was forty-six years old; but all his life he was an enormous reader, and gifted with a wondrous memory. Of course he wrote books as well as reading the lore of others.

At Avranches visitors, calling for advice from their bishop, were told “He cannot see you,he is studying”; and in vain they claimed that they wanted to see a diocesan who had finished his studies.

The plate was engraved in four sizes for the Jesuits’ College in Paris, to which he gave his library in 1692. As he spent the latter years of his long life with the Paris Jesuits he was not long separated from his books, and lived ninety-two years, so that none might say that in him much study had produced a weariness of the flesh.

In 1692 another library, left this time by will, and accordingly, too, anotherex libris, came to the Jesuits of Paris, and from a friend of Huet, Gilles Ménage. Like Huet, his appetite for study was vast and his memory unfailing. Born at Angers in 1613, he died in Paris in 1692. Thus he spent some eighty years among the shrewd litterateurs of that day, and the following conversation need not be taken as a sign of want of veracity on his part. Angers seems, like Crete of old, to have had a lying reputation. He, asking a lady to define untruthfulness, received for reply, that as for defining lying she did not quite know, but liar she would define as “Monsieur Ménage!”

It will be seen how little it had yet become the custom for bibliophiles to have bookplates.Neither Huet nor Ménage usedex librisfor themselves, and to this day no bookplate of Molière, or Racine, or La Fontaine, or of many other leaders of that age has been found.

After about 1650 a change is seen in the styles of Frenchex libris. Helmets go out of use, and, for lack of better ideas, coronets are assumed, often by those who had not the faintest right to them. The square shield, in time, gives place to the oval form.

Some French and some German plates—The cap of liberty—Buonaparte—Alsace and Lorraine.

AS a date is always a signal advantage, the bookplate “Petri Antonii Convers Laudonensis. L Monnier Divione. 1762” may be mentioned. It is, of course, topped by the irrepressible coronet. Louis Gabriel Monnier was born at Besançon in 1733, and died at Dijon in 1804. The Convers plate is wholly Rococo; but taking from Walter Hamilton another Frenchex librisengraved but nine years later, we see that with some artists the heavy brigade is already on duty. Here we have a big gun, an armorial shield flanked by three flags on each side, but without any graceful design. Still the inevitable coronet, and below all, the inscription: “Le Chᵉʳ. Dé Bellehache officier de Cavalerie au Regᵗ D’artois / 1771.” Here, after all, there is no possibility of mistaking for whom this plate was engraved,

and thus, though not beautiful, it quite fulfils its duty.

Sixteen years later we have a plate which also has these essential points, but is in the shell-work mode, light and elegant. Round the upper part is a label inscribed: “Ex libris Ant. Franc Alex Boula de Nanteuil,” and at the base: “Libellorum suplicum Magister. à mandatis Regiæ &ᶜ &ᶜ—et in supremà Galliarum curià senator ad horrorem. 1777.” The shield is azure, three bezants.

Here is an instance of anex librisnot inserted, but impressed, seemingly a copper-plate engraving. The design is simple; but quite serves its purpose. It is an oval frame surmounted by a ribbon tied in a bow, and in the oval the words “Ex Bibliotheca Ecclesia Aug. Conf. Posson.” The book is a copy of Prodromus idiomatis ... adparatus criticus ad linguam Hungaricam ... auctore Georgio Kalmar ... Posonii, ... 1770. The copy bears also another ownership inscription—in other words, anotherex libris: “Obtulit / Frider. Frank. / Posen. / 1789. /”

A curious plate here illustrated is that of Peter Mairdat.

Of about 1780 is the copper-plate of Klemens Wenzel, Duke of Saxony, Prince of Bland,Elector-Archbishop of Trier, and Bishop of Augsburg. The plate represents the arms of Augsburg, of Trier, of Saxony, and also of Poland.

This is not the place to write the story of the first great French Revolution; but it is to the point of our subject in hand to note that on June 20th, 1790, a decree was proposed and passed in the French Assembly suppressing the titles of duke, count, marquis, viscount, baron, and chevalier, and at the same time all armorial bearings were done away with. Now followed a bad time for bookplate artists and engravers. The cap of liberty and the bloody guillotine do not breathe high artistic inspiration.

The plate of Marshal Jourdan consists chiefly of a shield wholly occupied with the simple inscription “Bibliothèque du Maréchal Jourdan.”

Coming to the days of the first Empire, Buonaparte, the despot, ruled armorial insignia with the same iron hand as he regulated anything else. His orders and restrictions were numberless, and in particular he introduced the various forms of a headdress denominatedune toque. Cities under Buonaparte’s sway bore certain badges according to whether he ranked them as cities of the first, second, or third order.

Those of the first order had the honour of bearing the Napoleon badge—three golden bees on a chief gules.

The bookplate of the Bastille is well illustrated inFrench Bookplates(Walter Hamilton), but must not be quite passed over here. It represents a shield on a bracket, bearing the fleur-de-lis. The shield is ensigned with a crown and enclosed by the collars of the orders of S. Michel and the Sainte Esprit. Above all is the name “chateau royal de la bastille.”

In July of 1789 the Bastille was destroyed by the Paris mob.

I give a reproduction of the characteristic French “Ex libris du Comte Paul de Malden de la Bastille.”

In theex librisof Claude Martin, cannon, cannon-balls and flags, tents and scaling-ladders, are to the fore; whilst on a rock in the middle there is a lion rampant, holding up a sword in one fore paw and an ensign in the other. Since the Belgians disfigured the field of Waterloo with a huge mound to celebrate the tiny devotion of their race, a lion on a hill does not stand for much! At the head of this plate is the motto “Labore et constantia,” and at the foot “Ex libris Claudii Martin.”

In 1814 Napoleon Buonaparte abdicated, and in the same year Louis XVIII., the younger brother of Louis XVI., became king. In 1824 Louis XVIII. died, and his younger brother, Charles X., came to the throne, which he held until 1830, when he was deposed, and his cousin Louis Philippe sat on this unstable throne. In 1848 he in turn abdicated, and a Republic was proclaimed, with Louis Napoleon as President. During these foregone thirty years the old nobility, after a manner, recovered their ancient titles, and many new nobility were created; but it cannot be said to have been an age productive of fine or interestingex libris.

A variety from the sometimes too stern formality ofex librisdesigns is found in the plate engraved by D. Collin for Monsieur Riston. A fantastic R., or perhaps A. R., is figured on an oval, with child figures, a few books, and a pen and ink, all apparently in the open-air around.

Theex librisof Pierre Antoine Berryer is not of any striking character, but is a fair specimen. In 1855 he was elected to the Académie Francaise; but he was best known for his great defence of Count Montalembert before the French Courts in 1858.

Alsace and Lorraine have given us some good specimens of bookplates, and as might be expected, the manners and styles of several nations are here included. In some an interesting feature is the introduction of a view of the owner’s parish church.

Viscount Cholmondeley—James Loch of Drylaw—William Pitt of Binfield.

MR. G. F. BARWICK, to whom the Mercatorex librisbelongs, has kindly sent me the following:—

“Nicholas Mercator was born at Cismar, Holstein, about 1620, and after completing his studies in Copenhagen he continued to reside there until 1660, when he came to England. His fame as a mathematician was already well established, and he was almost immediately elected a member of the Royal Society, which had recently been founded. Some years later he entered the service of Louis XIV., and superintended the construction of the fountains at Versailles. For this work, however, he could not obtain payment, in consequence of his refusal to become a Catholic, and the trouble which it caused him is said to have shortened his life. He wrote a number of

small treatises and contributed to thePhilosophical Transactions, but his fame chiefly rests upon hisLogarithmotechnia, London, 1668-74, 4to, in which he developed the well-known formula which bears his name. A portrait of him was formerly in the possession of Mr. T. D. F. Tatham of Althorne, Essex, a collateral descendant of the Mercators, and passed at his death into the possession of his nephew, Mr. W. Tatham-Hughes of Chelsea Hospital.”

A bookplate with fine mantling and supporters is that of “The Right Honourable Hugh Lord Viscount Cholmondeley.” It occurs in a copy of “The causes of the Decay of Christian Piety ... London, Printed by R. Norton for T. Garthwait, in S. Bartholomew’s Hospital, near Smithfield, 1667.” This copy—it belongs to Mr. E. F. Coates—has been finely bound, probably by Charles Mearne. Hugh, first Earl of Cholmondeley, succeeded his father, Viscount Cholmondeley, in 1681. Objecting to the arbitrary measures of James II., he was soon honoured by William and Mary, who, in 1689, created him Lord Cholmondeley of Nantwich. In 1706 Queen Anne made him Viscount Malpas and Earl of Cholmondeley. Later he held the appointments of Comptroller and Treasurer of Her Majesty’s household.The book has underneath one another, both in old but different hands, two signatures—“Elizabeth Cholmondeley.” It has also an inscription—“Wm. Lemon, 1855”; since then it has travelled far, as it has twice inscribed on it “W. A. Rebello, Sylvan Lodge, Simla. October, 1864.”

“John Stansfeld,” an armorial plate with mantling. The arms are sable, three goats trippant argent. Crest a demi-lion rampant argent. An ancient family settled in Yorkshire at the Conquest. This modern plate is in a fine copy, belonging to Mr. E. F. Coates, ofThe Yorkshire Library, by William Boyne, 1869. I think that this John Stansfeld, Esq., was a collector of fine books, and especially about Yorkshire.

A nice plate here illustrated is that of Prescott Pepper.

A plate with good mantling is that of “James Loch of Drylaw.” Given by Burke as arms or, a saltire engraded sable, between two swans naiant in fesse proper. Crest, a swan with wings endorsed, devouring a perch, both proper. Motto, “Assiduate non desidia.” This is in a copy ofA Short Introduction to Moral Philosophy... Glasgow, Printed by Robert & Andrew Foulis, printers to the University. 1764. James

Loch of Drylaw, born in 1612, was treasurer of Edinburgh, and in 1851 his descendant was James Loch of Drylaw,M.P., son of George Loch of Drylaw, and his wife a daughter of John Adam of Blair Adam. The arms were confirmed in 1673 by Sir Charles Erskine of Cambo, Knight, Lyon King-of-Arms.

“William Pitt of Binfield, Berks Esqʳ—” here reproduced, has very full mantling and no crest, unless the Satyr-looking head in the top of the mantling be meant for a crest. This plate is taken from a copy of a 1648 edition ofEikon Basilike.

A good Scotchex libriswith mantling, and engraved by Lizars, is that of “Brown of Waterhaughs,” evidently connected with some scion of the clan Campbell. The crest is a lion holding a fleur-de-lis. The motto is “Tandem licet sero.” This is in a copy of a scarce little volume, Baxter’sAnacreon—“Londini Augustæ Imprimetatur Impensis Matthæi Hawkins, prostatque venalis ad Angelum in Areâ Paulinâ.” 1710. The “errata” note at the end contains some facetious expressions—in English thus: “Correct if you please, friendly reader, those heavy printers errors, which were printed when we were off our guard, and fell out when we were intent on blackberries.”

A plate with fine mantling is that of Richard Boycott. It is altogether a good plate. In an ornamental frame below the shield of arms is the engraved inscription: “Pro Rege et Religione / Richard Boycott.”

Gules, on a chief argent, three grenadoes proper, and the motto, “Pro Rege et Religione,” are of peculiar interest. These arms were granted by Charles II., in 1663, to Sylvanus Boycott of Hinton, and Francis Boycott of Byldwas, sons of William Boycott of Byldwas. The father had furnished Charles I. with grenadoes and other supplies. The sons had aided Charles II. when a fugitive wanderer. The family claim to descend from the ancient Norman house of Bygod. This worthy plate is in a rich red morocco bound copy of Sermons, by George Stanhope,D.D., preached at the Boyle Lectures in 1701.

A bookplate with rather curious mantling is that of “Rowland W. D. Collett.” The arms seem to be intended for those borne by Collett, who was Lord Mayor of London in 1486,—Sable, on a chevron between three hinds trippant argent, as many annulets of the first. The motto is “virtutis præmium honor.”

An armorial plate with heavy mantling—“Thomas Maitland, Dundrennan.” Burke’s

Armorial gives quarterly, first and fourth or, a lion rampant, déchaussé, within a bordure embattled gules; second and third argent, the ruins of an old abbey on a mound proper. Crest a demi-monk vested grey, holding in the dexter hand a crucifix argent, in the sinister a rosary proper. The motto is “Esse quam videri.”

In the same volume, the round armorial plate “Johannis Whitefoord Mackenzie Armigeri.”

It is most fitting that the book holding these Scottish bookplates is a fine copy of the first edition of the great Montrose’s Book, the book which the canting Covenanters hung round that hero’s neck as he proudly trod the bloody scaffold. It is clothed in fine contemporary morocco, richly gilt.

A modern bookplate with nice mantling is that of “Charles Lilburn.” The family hails from the county of Durham. The arms argent, three water-bougets sable. Crest, a dexter arm in armour proper, holding a truncheon or. The motto is “Vis viri fragilis.”

This is in a copy of Montrose Redivivus, or the Portraicture of James, late Marquess of Montrose, ... London: Printed for Jo. Ridley at the Castle in Fleet Street, near Ram-alley, 1652. The water-bouget was a mediæval vessel for carrying water, and was made of twoleather pouches appended to a yoke or crossbar.

The “Hampson” plate is, in its way, as good a bookplate as one need wish to see. The clearly cut mantling is tastefully decked with light sprigs of evergreen. The arms are argent, three hemp-brakes sable. The crest is out of a mural crown argent, a greyhound’s head sable collared of the first, rimmed or. Motto: “Nunc aut nunquam.”

Thomas Hampson, the son of Sir Robert Hampson, Knight, and Alderman of the City of London, was created a baronet on June 3rd, 1642. He died in 1655, leaving four sons and five daughters.

The hempbrake, or hackle, was an instrument used for bruising hemp.

The royal plate of Charles I. needs some explanation, as it is not a bookplate. It occupies the first leaf in the full-sized octavo issues in 1649 ofEikon Basilike. In photographing the Throckmorton bookplate the photographer, seeing this also at the beginning of the book, not unnaturally thought that it was a bookplate, and to be illustrated. This need not be regretted. It is a characteristic copy of anEikon. The surrounding lines are old red ink, and the old ownership signature—

“Fra: Vaughan”“:1656:”

is as true and perfect anex librisas the finest draughtsman and engraver could ever produce.

The very fine armorial plate of Sir Robert Throckmorton, Bart.—“Virtus sola nobilitas”—is here reproduced from the above-named 1649 copy ofEikon Basilike.

The armorial plate, with supporters, of Sir James Stewart Denholm, Bart., of Coltness and Westshiel, is here illustrated.

I do not know the history of the plate with the two oval shields here illustrated. The motto, “Mors sola resolvit,” seems rather to suggest a funeral hatchment.

The illustration here given of the plate of “Thoˢ. Beckwith, of York Painter & F.A.S.” is, of course, a piece of his own workmanship, and is inserted in a small, thick volume of manuscript genealogies, no doubt the work of T. Beckwith, and now in the library of Mr. Edward F. Coates. Thomas Beckwith was of an ancient, if not distinguished, Yorkshire family. He was born at Rothwell in 1730, “and served his time to George Fleming, an ingenious man and house painter, from whom he acquired his skill in drawing and painting,and imbibed a love for antiquities.” By means of his great knowledge of genealogies he composed manuscript pedigrees for some of the leading families of the North of England. He was not only an unwearied collector, but very generous in imparting information. He died at York on February 17th, 1786.

Some bookplates kindly lent by Mr. G. F. Barwick—Wrest Park plates—Sir John Lubbock.

THE following are all in a small collection ofex librisin a book kept for the purpose in the British Museum. The press mark is C 66 f3:—

“Frhr. v. Barckhaus Wiesenhütten Bibliotheck” is the inscription on the ornamental bracket of an elaborate armorial plate, with two most amiable-looking young lions holding up the shield.

On the same page in the same collection is a plate of somewhere near the same date, and hardly armorial. The form of the plate is, for the most part, a representation of carved stonework. In the middle is a sort of oval shield, and within that a shield with a figure of a man with a child on one shoulder. Along the base of the structure are the words: “Ex libr Chro TheopChristoff Ulme.” A few books are standing on the ground against the stonework, and, as oftens happens in looking at such plates, one hopes they are not rare books or in interesting bindings, as one would like to take more care of them.

In the same collection is a remarkable plate giving a view of a library interior, enclosed in a richly decorated oval frame. At foot the inscription: “Ex libris d. zach: conr: at uffenbach, m.f.”, and above: “non omnibus idem est quod placet petron fragm.” At the very bottom, in tiniest letters, is “J U Kraus sculp.”

Johann Ulrich Kraus was born at Augsburg in 1645, and died there in 1719. He was a pupil of Melchior Küsel; he imitated the manner of Sebastien Le Clerc and did a large amount of engraving for the booksellers.

A handsome plate is that “Ex Bibliotheca J. S. Ochs, at Ochsentein.” It is a plate with heavy mantling to the shield. An ox is, of course, prominent in arms and crest. “P Feber sc” is in the corner. There is another very much smaller, but almost identical plate.

From the same collection, and of rather uncertain date, is a plate subscribed: “Ex bibliotheca rosenbergiana.” A rose tree is appropriately prominent in arms and crest.

Another example is simply a Chippendalefancy shell frame enclosing the words: “Ex supellectile libraria Bened: Guil: Zahnii.”

A bookplate very roughly engraved, and with some very curious-looking heraldry, is that subscribed “malmendier. = de malmedye,” and “solum forti patria est.”

There is a circular plate with a Library view, and the library itself is evidently circular, the plate being engraved “Bibliotheca regia parmensis.” Apollo, looking very cold, stands on a pedestal in the middle, holding his garment instead of putting it on, and sitting down quietly to read the books. Round the upper part is inscribed “Apollini palatino sacram.”

An armorial plate with fine mantling, then a helmet: on that a crown, and over that, for crest, a man girdled, holding in right hand a mallet, and in left a flag. Under the shield is the name engraved: “A. W. Schlegel von Gottleben.”

Pasted on to the same page is a plain smallex libris—arms, a fleur-de-lis; name, “Franz Salmon Wüss.”

Here is a plate which appears to be round. In the middle is placed what seems to be meant for a tomb, with a book placed open at the words: “vita lux hominum Joh I v 4.” Near, and on the vault is engraved: “adhuc statterminus.” Round the outside circle of the plate is engraved: “lex est non poena mort.”

Other plates of interest in this collection are those of Christian Gottlieb Joher, on page5, Godefrid J. F. Thomas, on page23, and on page27a plate dated 1757.

Mr. Barwick’s plate of a Baron Bunsen is, he assures me, not that of the Baron Bunsen so familiar to, and appreciated by, cultivated English readers, not a generation ago. The plate is nice, as any approach to simplicity is always pleasing. The shield, hung from the coronet by the ribband of some order, is not loaded with charges. Dexter, a lion between two fleur-de-lis, sinister, three heads of barleycorn. The motto, too, is reverential and in keeping: “In spe et silentio.” Below all is the legend, “ex libris christiani caroli bunsen. Uratislaviæ ad eadem S. Elis Ecclesiastes.” J. B. Stracchusky Sc Urat.

Uratislavia spells Breslau, but very curiously the name Uratislavia seems to have some fitness on a bookplate; as in Zedler’s wonderfulLexicon, of some sixty-six volumes, it is recorded of Jacob de Uratislavia, a Benedictine monk who died in 1480, that his literary labours were so vast that seven powerful steeds could scarce drag his load of books.

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