Mr. G. F. Barwick has lent me three quite different Wrest Park bookplates. In an ornamental frame, which forms the lower part of one, is engraved “Thomas Philip, Earl de Grey, Wrest Park.” Two fearful-looking dragons support the shield, or rather seem bent on devouring the shield and then each other. Above is an earl’s coronet, and below the motto, “Foy est tout.”
Thomas Philip, Earl de Grey, was born in 1781, and was the elder son of Thomas Robinson, second Baron Grantham, and his wife the second daughter of Philip York, second Earl of Hardwicke. He was therefore a descendant of Henry Grey, ninth Earl of Kent. In 1833 his maternal aunt, Amabel Hume Campbell, Countess de Grey of Wrest, in Bedfordshire, dying, he became second Earl de Grey and Baron Lucas of Crudwell, Wiltshire. From 1841 to 1844 he was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and achieved great success in his administration there. In 1844 he was made a Knight of the Garter.
The second of these plates consists of two crests, a dragon and a stag, encircled by the garter. Above is the earl’s coronet, and over that the inscription “Wrest Park.” Neither of the other plates has the garter.
In what, for distinction, may be called the third plate, the outspread and double-headed black eagle holding the shield-of-arms is the most prominent object, and in each beak it holds what, as argent, no doubt is a silver coin, but looks rather like an Osborne biscuit.
Mr. Barwick has also two bookplates of “Sir John William Lubbock. Bart.” Below the shield is the happy motto: “Auctor pretiosa facit.” John William Lubbock was born in 1803, and in 1840 succeeded his father in the baronetcy. He died in 1865. His scientific tastes and cultivated habits were just such as his own son, Sir John Lubbock, has pursued happily for so many years, in the knowledge of many now living. The other plate is evidently what he used for his books in his earlier years. The bloody hand of Ulster is absent from the shield, and below the shield is simply the monogram “J. W. L.”
The Sir John Frederick, Bart., plate of Mr. Barwick’s is quite a change from the customary conventions. The shield fills a very small part of an oblong oval frame. The arms are by Burke, or on a chief azure, three doves argent. Crest on a chapeau azure turned-up ermine, a dove, within the beak an olive branch.
Mr. Barwick has twoex librisof Thomas
James Tatham, Esq., a gentleman of Bedford Place, Russell Square, London, and a third which has belonged to some near kindred. It agrees with that which has merely the crest, but has engraved underneath: “T. D. F. Tatham.” His chief plate has dexter, argent a chevron gules between three swan’s necks, coupled sable. Sinister are presumably his wife’s arms. Crest on a trumpet or, a swan’s wings displayed sable.
Mr. Carruthers has, with great kindness, contributed the following in reference to his interesting bookplate:—
“The notion of the plate was to introduce two plants named by botanists after me. Many genera of plants have received their names in this way.
“The outside plant was calledCarruthersia scandius Seem.by Dr. Seemann in hisFlora Vitiensis, London, 1865-73. I described the ferns in this work (pp. 331-378), and otherwise had given assistance. The plant is described on pp. 155, 156, and figured on Table XXX. Appended to the description of the genus is this note: ‘I have named this new genus in honour of my esteemed friend William Carruthers, Esq.,F.Z.S., of the Botanical Department, British Museum, to whom I am indebted formuch kind assistance in working up the South Sea flora.’
“The inner flower was named by Otto KunzeCarruthia Capensis, O.K.It was originally calledAitonia Capensisby Linnæus the younger, but a different plant had been previously namedAitonia. Botanists do not allow the same name to be applied to different plants that are widely separated. O. Kunze wished to associate the plant with my name, and, following an example set by Linnæus, he cut off the last syllable and formed a generic name which could not be confounded with Seemann’s generic name. This arose from a curious accident. O. Kunze called on me at the Natural History Museum, and asked me to let him see the specimens ofAitonia. I inquired whichAitonia, and, showing him a seal I was wearing which belonged to Aiton, who had engraved on it the Cape plant named after him, I asked if that was the plant. He exclaimed ‘How strange! that is the plant.’ I showed him the specimen that the younger Linnæus had named, which was in the Herbarium. When Kunze published the results of his work on these plants he gave it the nameCarruthia Capensis. The seal was oval, and the drawing in the
centre is taken from the seal. I used for separation of the two plants an ornamental border of an early Edinburgh printer, I believe, for I got it in the binding of an old Edinburgh book. And the motto belongs to the section of the Carruthers tribe to which we belong.
“The drawing was made by W. G. Smith,F.Z.S., a good botanist and an excellent draughtsman.”
William Sharp the Engraver—The Rev. John Watson—Edward Trotter—Patrick Colquhoun.
THE few following bookplates are all in the manner known as Chippendale:—
The Chippendale bookplate here given, with “Wm. Sharp” engraved at the foot of it, was one, we may suppose, engraved by William Sharp, the engraver, for himself. He was the son of a gunmaker, in days when gun-barrels and other parts of guns were often finely engraved.
William Sharp was born in 1749, died at Chiswick on July 25th, 1824.
Seeing that he became an engraver of very great skill and originality, the main points of his life are well worth recording. Born in Haydon Yard in the Minories, his father apprenticed him to Barak Longmate, an engraver and genealogist. Out of his indentures, he
soon married a Frenchwoman, and set up in Bartholomew Lane as a writing engraver.
About 1782 he sold this business and migrated to Vauxhall, where he now pursued the higher branches of his art. True to the prophet’s fate, he was in due course elected an honorary member of the Imperial Academy at Vienna and of the Royal Academy at Munich. In early days he had been a friend of Thomas Paine and Horne Tooke, and was, in fact, examined before the Privy Council on treasonable charges, but soon dismissed as a harmless enthusiast. After becoming a convert to Swedenborg, he became a brave upholder of Joanna Southcott, and was the very last of her adherents to admit the reality of her death.
A good Chippendale plate is that of “The Rev. John Watson.” He was born on March 26th, 1725, at Lyme Handley in the parish of Prestbury, Cheshire, and became a learned antiquary. He was elected F.S.A. in 1759, and contributed six papers toArchæologia. In 1775 appeared his best-known work.The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax, Yorkshire, where he had held a curacy from 1750 to 1754. In 1782 he brought out two fine quarto volumes,Memoirs of theAncient Earls of Warren and Surrey. He died at Stockport on March 14th, 1783.
A good Chippendale bookplate is that of “Edward Trotter, A.M.”
In the Lyon Register the arms are given as of Trotter of Gatchibraw, in Scotland, argent a chevron gules between three boars’ heads, couped sable. Crest a horse trotting proper.
This is in a copy ofEssay sur l’histoire générale, et sur les mœurs et l’esprit des nations, depuis Charlemagne jusqu’à nos jours. 1756.
A pleasing plate of late Chippendale style is that with the monogram “J. B. W.” at the foot. On the title-page of the book “Six Discourses” ... “Temple Church” ... “Thomas Sherlock ... 1725,” is the autograph “J. B. Watkin.” Burke’sArmourygives azure a fesse between three leopard faces, jessant de lis or.
An unpretending little Chippendale bookplate, with crest only, is that of “Patk. Colquhoun.” A stag’s head, with above it the motto “si je puis.” Patrick Colquhoun, Minister of the Hanse-towns, was born at Dumbarton on March 14th, 1745, and died at Westminster on April 25th, 1820.
The following are a few crest bookplates named together:—
The Marshall crest, a man in armour proper, holding in the dexter hand a truncheon or, forms the very picturesque modernex librisof “F. A. Marshall.” The motto is fitting: “Nunquam sedeo.” This in a collection of Actes, printed by Pynson in 1512-1514, “concernynge—Archerye—Crossbows—Mummers,” and other quaint subjects.
As a specimen of a crest bookplate there is the “Beavan,” which is simply the name Beavan under two crests, one a dove with outspread wings and a ring in its beak, the other a lion. This can hardly be called a satisfactory plate. It is in a volume ofThe Edinburgh Reviewof 1826.
A pretty crestplate is that of “Henry St. Clair Feilden.”
The crest is a nuthatch feeding on a hazel branch. The crest is enclosed in an oval belt inscribed with the motto, “virtutis præmium honor.” This plate is in a copy of Benjamin Thorpe’sHistory of England under the Norman Kings. Oxford, 1857.
Another crest bookplate, that of “Walter Farquhar.” The crest is an eagle rising, proper. The motto, “mente manuque.” This plate is in acopy of Sermons preached in the Parish-Church of Olney, ... By John Newton, Curate of the said Parish ... 1767.
A good crestplate is “John Savill Vaisey”’s, presumably of the race of the Viscounts de Vesci. The crest is a hand-in-armour, holding a laurel branch, all proper. Over the crest is the motto, “sub hoc signo vinces.”
“Brownlow William Knox”’s bookplate is simply the Knox crest, a falcon close on a perch, all proper. It is in a copy of that work, which is so curious to study now, “Catalogue of five hundred celebrated authors of great Britain, now living; ... London 1788.”
“Burns, Robert. A ploughman in the county of Ayr in the kingdom of Scotland.” A good simple plate, merely a crest, below that a motto, and then at the foot of all, the name,—is theex librisof “William J E Bennett.” The crest is in a mural crown, or, a lion’s head, gules. The motto is “de bon vouloir servir le roy.”
There was a nice bookplate in the volumes of the first work which I ever bought.Don Estebanwas the title, and the date 1825. I was thirteen years old, and bought this in an auction in Mr. A. H. Beesley’s, House Class-room, in that fine old home of the Seymours, then and now a part of Marlborough College. Theex librisis a simple name, crest, and motto: “Champion,” a family belonging to Berkshire and Essex. The crest is an arm embowed and erect, in armour proper, garnished or, holding in the gauntlet a chaplet of laurel, vert. Motto: “Vincit veritas.”
Marlborough, with the glorious beech avenues of Savernake Forest, is the home of the Ailesburys, and in this connection the family bookplate should always be remembered, with its pathetic motto at the foot of it. They are Bruces, and the motto is “Fuimus.”
One day the then Marquis, alighting from his carriage and pointing to the motto beneath the arms, asked a small boy to translate it.
“Fui, I was; mus, a mouse,” was the ready reply.
No Bruce of old could have behaved more honourably than the Marquis of those days, for when some boys had worried some of the deer, and Bradley said that he was afraid he would have to put the forest out of bounds, the Marquis replied: “No; Savernake Forest shall always be free to every boy of Marlborough College.”
A modern neatex libris, with only the two family crests and mottoes, is that of the lateSir “Wroth Acland Lethbridge,” Baronet. The baronetcy was created in 1804. The crests are: First, out of a mural crown, or, a demi-eagle displayed proper; and second, out of a ducal coronet, two arms in armour, holding a leopard’s face. Mottoes: “Truth” and “Spes mea in Deo.” The owner of this plate was born in 1831, and, after serving in the Rifle Brigade, succeeded his father as fourth baronet on 1st March, 1873.
A pretty crestplate of perhaps about 1770 is theex librisof “Thoˢ Wᵐ Plummer.” The crest is a bird’s head, and the bird seems very properly to be about to devour a plum. The crest is framed by two branches, presumably of plum trees.
Remarks on examples given inThe Studio, special winter number, 1898-9.
MODERN bookplates are not easy to discuss satisfactorily. The following are some of the plates which were named or illustrated inThe Studiospecial winter number, 1898-9, which went out of print at once. Mr. Gleeson White, who was by no means blind to the failings of up-to-dateex libris, wrote this, and gave with it the large number of one hundred and forty-nine illustrations.
On page3is given theex libris, “T. Edmund Harvey,” a gruesome jumble of sticks and bones. This plate is by Cyril Goldie. In any comments now written no injurious reflections are intended; as, for one thing, it is impracticable, and probably undesirable, to know whether, and in what proportions, owner, artist, or manufacturer, are responsible. Besides these three, there is a fourth and oft-predominating partner to be considered, namely, fashion. Probably the only value of the impressions here written is that they are formed by one who is an entirely independent critic and a true lover of beautifulex libris. The phrases of professionals will not therefore be expected.
On page4is given theex libris“Eduard John Margetson,” by W. H. Margetson. This plate seems simple and pleasing enough. On the other hand, it is not exhilarating to find in this evidently very fair sample volume no less than twenty-seven bookplates, each depicting a female and a book.
On page5theex libris“Richard Trappes Lomax,” by Paul Woodroffe, is very refreshing to look upon. It has all the familiar points of a bookplate, in that it is armorial, with mantling, and flowery foliage. At the same time the plate is not common, crowded, or eccentric. Now, on the other hand, turn to page 7, where is a plate “From among the books of Fred. W. Brown.” In this there is doubtless some good work, but in looking at the plate the eye and brain at once feel tired and bewildered; you seem to long to turn from a crowded hotch-potch, if only, it might be, to stare for a while at a blank barn door.
On page9are three plates by W. R. Weyer. These are distinctly good to look at; there seems a wholesome taste about them; there is plenty of decoration, without any attempt to crowd a volume of emblems and a market-gardener’s flower-show into two inches by one and a half. In each the owner’s name is clearly given, and, of course, no bookplate ought to want this. In addition, two are dated—that of Richard Chapman, 1892, and Reginald Balfour’s, 1898.
On page12is a distinctly satisfactory modern plate. It is a portrait-plate, and is by J. W. Simpson, for himself. He has depicted himself enjoying a long clay pipe. Beneath is the simple record in the plainest of letters: “J. W. Simpson His Book.”
On page14are the presumably portrait-plates of “Mary A. Bridger” and “Julia Eustace,” both by M. E. Thompson. These may be pretty, but seem, as in so many modern bookplates, to lack simplicity.
On the next page is a portrait-plate, “Edith E. Waterlow,” by J. Walter West. This, although the portrait is only a face in an oval, and outside the constant florist’s paraphernalia, still the plate has some saving simplicity.
On page16is what seems a sensible bookplate. It is by E. H. New, for Edward Morton, and seems to give simply a view of Edward Morton’s home, a modern house built in old style, and named Kingsclere.
On page48is shown a plate to which we would gladly give the palm for ugliness. We suppose it is meant for a bookplate, as it is given in this volume, and the wordsex librisare distinguishable through the gloom.
On page49is a plate, Aubrey Beardsley, inscribedex libris“Olive Custance.” It is not much to be admired.
On pages50and51, where we are among the Frenchex libris, may be seen at one glance some half-dozen plates, which all happen to illustrate what is a marked eyesore in many bookplates, but has not been seriously noticed. A bookplate is naturally designed for use in a book. Now, with books should always be associated the idea of something to be valued and taken care of. How does this agree with the plates here shown? I think that symbolism should avoid this disturbing element.
There is water to drown the precious volumes, and there are beasts to devour them. In one a poor disconsolate-looking tome is shown trying to float on the dark cold waters of thedeep, and as if that were not a sufficiently uncomfortable position for a book, a bird seems to be flying down, with open beak, to have a peck at it. In another cheerful composition, an angry tiger is in charge of the library of precious volumes, and has the talons of one paw on a beautiful binding, while it sticks the talons of its other paw into the leaves of an open volume.
In a third plate, a wolf is in a library, and, of course, behaving there as a wolf would. In yet another plate, a wolf is playing with a fine folio, and forming altogether as incongruous a picture as a bull in a china shop.
On page54is reproduced a plate, by Léon Lebègue. This may be, in disguise, a lovely creation of modern art; but the ordinary observer would take it to be a muddled map of everything or nothing, and would not paste it inside the cover of any book he or she hoped ever to open again.
As another painful instance of bookplates exhibiting books in the very last position anyone would care to see them in, on page56, is shown a book being drowned in a pond. This is by Bracquemond.
From page 58 to page 60 some Americanex librisare pourtrayed. Among these generally there is, as should be where books are thought of, a feeling of rest and refinement.
Between pages 61 and 68 are given a number of plates of modern Germanex libris, thanks, as we are reminded, to the inspiriting influence of Warnecke, Leiningen-Westerburg, Doepler, and Hildebrandt. Germany, and to some extent Austria, too, have produced some very original and interesting bookplates within the last few years.
Illustrated on pages61and65are two plates which should surely come under the category of the error of associating books with incongruous surroundings. In the one, by Doepler for the Bibliothek des Koeniglichen Kunstgewerbe Museums, Berlin, the centre represents an open book—that would be well enough; but the leading feature of the plate is a great, rough, brawny hand holding a big hammer and pressing on the open volume.
In the plate on page65, by Sattler, the design pictures a human skeleton bearing a pile of books.
Between pages 64 and 65 is a leaf bearing three pleasing plates, by Paul Voigt. One of the three is apparently for his own books. It depicts a room with, of course, some very old books, and the most prominent is in a positionwhich would break the back of a modern book; but not much fault need be found. In those good times books were not bound in a day or for a day. The hides were well chosen, well seasoned, and good workmanship was put into the binding.
Facing Paul Voigt’s own plate is a good plate by him for W. L. Busse. This has a fine smell of the sea about it. Tossing in the frothy deep is an ancient ship, which but for masts and sails might be a nautilus shell. Below is a rugged anchor, and around all a stout cable serves to frame a pleasing picture.
On page68is a cleverly designed plate by Joseph Sattler. There is an altogether pleasing absence of misty, mystic, mythological allusions and complications. On the other hand, an hour-glass indicates the sands of time, and the simple word “Jetzt” (now) points a simple moral, irresistibly apt for the book-lover. There is no pursuit of which it can be more truly said—that he (the book-collector) who hesitates is lost.
The proper place for a bookplate is in a book—Gordon of Buthlaw—Spencer Perceval—William Wilberforce—A bookplate for a special purpose—George Ormerod—Robert Surtees—Cathedral plates.
The proper place for a bookplate is in a book—Gordon of Buthlaw—Spencer Perceval—William Wilberforce—A bookplate for a special purpose—George Ormerod—Robert Surtees—Cathedral plates.
In the pages here following are recorded many British bookplates, none of them very early; but they are referred to here, as, after all, this book must chiefly appeal to readers in our own tongue.
If in this and other parts of this book the writer be thought to mention too much of books and owners, it must be borne in mind that to the writer a bookplate is first of interest as connected with a book, and a book is of interest for its subject and its owner’s identity.
Gordon of Buthlaw. In theGeneral ArmouryGordon of Lessmoir, Aberdeenshire, is described as descended from William, second son of John Gordon of Scudargue, Baronet, 1625, and title dormant since 1839. The arms
are given as azure, a fess chequy argent and of the first, between three boars’ heads erased or. Then the Gordon of Buthlaw arms are distinguished from Lessmoir, with a mullet argent in chief for difference. Crest a Doric pillar or. Motto: “In recto decus.” This old bookplate here given is in a lately unearthed contemporary manuscript, headed: “Observations upon the arise and progresse of the late Rebellions against King Charles the first: In so far as they were carried on by a male contented party in Scotland, under the pretext of Reformation.” This is really the Memoirs of Henry Guthry, Bishop of Dunkeld, and differs in some points from the printed version. On the first leaf, down the margin, is written “Joannis Gordonii Buthlæi 1761.”
The Perceval arms, given by Burke, are argent on a chief indented gules, three crosses pattée of the field. Crest a thistle erect, leaved proper.
The Wilson arms are sable, a wolf salient or; in chief three estoiles of the last.
Spencer Perceval, born in Audley Square, London, in 1762, was the second son of the second Earl of Egmont. At only ten years old he was sent to Harrow School, and then toTrinity College, Cambridge, where in December, 1781, he graduated M.A. In 1790 he married Jane, second daughter of Sir Thomas Spencer Wilson, and then had six sons and six daughters. Mr. Spencer Walpole, son of the fourth daughter, wrote, in 1874, a full biography of Spencer Perceval. When first married Spencer Perceval and his wife lived in lodgings in Bedford Row; but in about 1793 they bought a good house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and it is just a little curious that I bought this book, with his bookplate in it, but a few yards from Lincoln’s Inn Fields close on thirty years ago. Spencer Perceval, England’s Prime Minister during the Peninsuula War, was shot dead as he passed through the lobby to the House of Commons on May 11th, 1812, and Bellingham, his assassin, was hanged a week afterwards.
Theex librishere reproduced looked at first a puzzle; but Mr. Procter, at the British Museum, soon read the riddle. He made it an Earl of Guildford, and then it was very easy sailing for me to come to anchor at Frederick North, fifth Earl of Guildford, born 7th February, 1766, Chancellor of the University of the Ionian Islands, and Knight Grand Cross of the Ionian Order. There is a good account
THE EARL OF GUILDFORD
THE EARL OF GUILDFORD
THE EARL OF GUILDFORD
of him by J. M. Rigg in theD. N. B.At Oxford he became an accomplished Grecian, and an enthusiastic Philhellene. In 1791, on the conclusion of the peace of Galatz, he evinced his accomplishment in classical Greek by a scholarly and spirited Pindaric ode in honour of the Empress Catherine.
In 1814 he was elected the first president of a society for the promotion of culture, founded at Athens. Later he was active in the formation of the British Protectorate over the Ionian Islands, in the scheme to form an Ionian University. In 1824 the University, with him as Chancellor, was established in Corfu. He lived there, spending money on the University, and giving valuable printed books, manuscripts, and other treasures to it.
In 1827 his state of health caused his recall to England. As a child he had been exceedingly delicate. In England he still wore constantly the classical costume, which had been adopted as the academic dress. He died on October 14th, 1827. “He was a brilliant conversationalist, and ... wrote and spoke German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Romaic with ease; he read Russian, and throughout life maintained his familiarity with the classics unimpaired.”
The next surname we come to in bookplates has been most familiar to the present and immediate past generation, in the person of Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford. These few following remarks are from private recollections. In the power of getting through a day of hard labour, of mind and body, he was unequalled, and to the end of the hard day’s work, with similar laborious days preceding and following, he could display a marvellously ready wit. One evening at a dinner-party at Cuddesdon Palace, the two lady guests on each side of the Bishop were suddenly startled by the crashing fall of a pile of plates. The Bishop, utterly unmoved, instantly remarked, “Oh, it’s nothing; it’s only the coachman going out with the brake.” It was the coachman, and the brake was the vehicle in frequent use. He would do some hours’ work no doubt after his guests had retired, and do some good work before breakfast the next morning. At Bisham Abbey, meeting at dinner two irrepressible spinsters who would argue of ages, he drily remarked, as if addressing the moon, the extraordinary fact in nature, that ladies’ ages always ran thus: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23, and so on.
The bookplate of William Wilberforce is
from a fine large volume all in manuscript, giving a very full account of the Yorkshire election contest, the poll opening on 20th May, 1807, and only finally closing on the 5th June. This volume belongs to Mr. Edward Feetham Coates, as does also an exquisite volume in pen-and-ink, the work of the late Dr. Howard, who has taken Glover’s visitation of Yorkshire, from MSS. Harl., No. 1,394, and besides drawing the arms most exquisitely, and “Wilberforse” among the rest, has given most ample pedigrees and an index. Dr. Howard gives the field argent and the eagle sable; but otherwise Old Guillim’s account of Cotton would nearly hold good:—
“The field is sapphire, an eagle displaied; Pearle, Membred Gules. These armes appertaine to the Right worthy Sir Robert Cotten, of Connington, Knight, a learned Antiquary, and a singular fauorer and preseruer of all good learning and antique monuments. The eagle ... continually practiseth that course of life whereunto nature hath ordained her: ... her sharpnesse and strength of sight is much commended; and it is a greater honour to one of noble offspring to be wise and of sharpe and deepe understanding, then to be rich or powerfull, or great by birth.”
William Wilberforce, the owner of this plate, was born in the High Street, Hull, on the 24th August, 1759, and came of a family settled at Wilberfoss, eight miles from York, for many centuries. The election which this volume above-named commemorates was very remarkable. Wilberforce had a few months earlier had the satisfaction of seeing his Bill for the abolition of the slave trade finally passed into law. Lord Milton and Mr. Lascelles, who had been Wilberforce’s colleagues from 1796 to 1806, opposed him. A subscription of £64,455 was voluntarily raised to pay his expenses. At the end of fifteen days he had scored 11,806 votes against his opponents’ 11,177 and 10,989. The story of Miss Wilberforce recognised driving through York at election time is too redolent of Wilberforce’s ready humour and Yorkshire heartiness to be forgotten. The crowd welcomed her with the cry: “Miss Wilberforce for ever!” She rejoined: “NotMissWilberforce for ever, thank you!”
A fine plate is the circular armorialex librisof “Charles, Marquis of Northampton.” The owner of this plate came of a noble house, worthy, indeed, of a fine bookplate. A few notes about his forefathers may be recorded.
Edmund de Compton’s son, Sir William Compton, Knight, was employed about the household of bluff Harry the Eighth when Duke of York, and thus winning his confidence, became the king’s companion in tournaments. Sir William held high offices under the king, and fought with great bravery in the Battle of Spurs. He died in 1528, leaving one son to succeed him, who again left a son, Sir Henry Compton, Knight, who, in 1572, was summoned to Parliament as Baron Compton of Compton. He married first a daughter of the Earl of Huntingdon, and secondly a daughter of Sir John Spencer of Althorp. By his first wife he left a son, William, who inherited the title, and was in 1618 created Earl of Northampton and installed Knight of the Garter. A letter bearing date 2nd July, 1630, tells of his death: “Yesterday se’nnight the Earl of Northampton, lord president of Wales, after he had waited on the king at supper and had also supped, went into a boat, with others, to wash himself in the Thames; and so soon as his legs were in the water but to his knees, he had the colic, and cried out—Have me into the boat again, for I am a dead man.” His son, Spencer Compton, the second Earl of Northampton,risked and gave all for his sovereign’s cause. On March 19th, 1643, he marched his men out of Stafford and fought the Parliament forces on Hopton Heath. Although he had so few troops he routed the enemy’s cavalry and took from them eight guns; but their infantry stood firm, and finally he was himself killed, proudly refusing to surrender to base rogues and rebels. He left three sons to nobly emulate, as brave cavaliers, their father’s loyalty and valour. The second of them was at Edgehill and Hopton Heath; and later, after engaging in many fights, he, disguised and with only six men, surprised Beeston Castle in Cheshire, cut down the drawbridge, seized the governor’s troop-horse, and took thirty soldiers prisoners in their beds.
There is also a Northampton monogram bookplate. Above is an earl’s coronet, and below a vast “N,” with the name “Castle Ashby” engraved across it. In 1695 King William III. visited the Earl of Northampton at Castle Ashby.
The following is an instance of a bookplate printed for a special purpose. The block measures about five inches by two and a quarter, and represents an ornamental frame enclosing the following printed inscription:—
“Daily take Care to spend your Time and BreathIn right preparing for the Hour of Death.So wish’d your deceas’d Friend,S. Moore.”
“Daily take Care to spend your Time and BreathIn right preparing for the Hour of Death.So wish’d your deceas’d Friend,S. Moore.”
“Daily take Care to spend your Time and BreathIn right preparing for the Hour of Death.So wish’d your deceas’d Friend,S. Moore.”
It suits the size of the book into which it is pasted in its proper place inside the front cover. On the last page of the book is printed a list of “Some Books proper to be given at Funerals,” and lower down the page, as a good catalogue note: “We may say of a Book, given at Funerals, what the Divine Herbert says of a Verse. A Book may find him who a Sermon flies, and turn a Gift into a Sacrifice.”
The leaf before the title-leaf is engraved with the tomb of the author: “Edward Pearse, a servant of Jesus Christ. Obiit 1673: Ætat 40.” The title reads: “The Great Concern: or, a Serious Warning to a timely and Thorough Preparation for Death with Helps and Directions in Order thereunto. By Edward Pearse. John ix. 4.... Recommended as proper to be Given at Funerals. The twenty-eight Edition. London: Printed for R. Robinson, at the Golden Lion in St. Paul’s-Churchyard. 1735.”
The author, a Nonconformist Divine, matriculated as a servitor from St. John’s College,Oxford, in 1652, and graduated B.A. on 27th June, 1654. In June, 1657, he was appointed Morning Preacher at St. Margaret’s, Westminster.The Great Concernwas reprinted as lately as 1840.
A good characteristic English, or shall we say Welsh, plate is that of “Morgan Thomas,” “Palmer sculpsit,” with a floral-wreath decoration. The arms were granted 8th September, 1768, to Thomas of Lettymaur, in Carmarthenshire. Rees Thomas of Lettymaur died in 1759, leaving three sons, one of whom was Morgan Thomas of Llanon, in the parish of Lettymaur. He, in 1768, married Frances, the only child of Henry Goring, of Frodley Hall, Staffordshire. Their grandson was Rees Goring Thomas of Llanon, and of Tooting, Surrey, who was High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire in 1830. This family, besides having a wreath in their crest and flowers round their shield, perhaps had fine tastes, as the book in which I have this Morgan Thomas plate is a very beautiful piece of English dated binding. It is a 1660—Henry Hills and John Field—Bible, bound in black morocco, beautifully blindtooled in Mearne style, and with initials “M. M.” and date “1673” in the middle of each cover. The four outside corners of the binding are covered
with silver on which are engraved flowers similar to those designed on the leather.
The bookplate over the inscription—“The Revᵈ John Constable, Ringmer”—is simply a ship in full sail, and this is the crest of one of the families of Constable. This plate is in a copy of Parson’s—His Christian Directory, London, 1754. The volume also contains the autograph “William Constable.” It so happens that another crest borne by the Constables was a dragon’s head, and this may be seen on the bookplate of William Constable,F.R.S.andF.S.A., pasted into an old volume of manuscript escheats and inquiries in the county of York, which belongs to Mr. E. F. Coates, and is probably one of the Dodsworth volumes, which posterity owes to the thoughtfulness of the great Lord Fairfax, who, when war was raging and devastation threatening, had copies made of many old manuscripts for fear that the originals might be lost.
It always adds to the interest when there is the owner’s signature to his own bookplate. This is the case with a volume of a small topographical work. The bookplate represents the arms and crest of the famous clan Macintosh, with “C. C. M.” below, probably standing for Charles Calder Macintosh. The owner anddonor has made it read, “From C. C. Macintosh to Charles Forbes. Bombay, 17th April, 1811.” This would, of course, be Sir Charles Forbes, of Indian fame.
The arms of the ancient clan Macintosh are: Quarterly, first, or, a lion rampant gules; second, argent, a dexter hand fesseways, couped at the wrist, and holding a human heart gules; third, azure, a boar’s head couped, or; fourth, or, a lymphad sable, surmounted by two oars in saltire, gules. Crest a cat-a-mountain salient guardant proper. Over the crest the motto: “Touch not the cat, but a glove.” The charge or, a lion rampant gules, is on account of the descent from MacDuff. The third, azure, a boar’s head couped, or, is for Gordon of Lochinvar. The fourth, a lymphad, oars erect in saltire, sable, is for Clan Chattan. The lion rampant of the ancient MacDuffs may be well accounted for, as King Malcolm III. gave to MacDuff and his descendants the privileges of leading the van of the Scottish army whenever the royal standard was unfurled, and of placing the crown on the heads of the kings at their coronation.
George Ormerod, well known as the historian of Cheshire, was the only son of George Ormerod of Bury, Lancashire, and his wife
Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Johnson of Tyldesley, and was born in High Street, Manchester, 20th October, 1785.
In 1803 Ormerod matriculated from Brasenose College, Oxford. In 1807 he received the honorary degree of M.A., and in 1818 was made a D.C.L. Becoming the owner of Sedbury Park on the beautiful peninsula of Beachley, between the Severn and the Wye, he lived there until his death in 1873, nearly ninety years of age. In 1808 he married the eldest daughter of John Latham,M.D.,F.R.S., of Bradwall Hall, Cheshire. His library was sold in 1875.
Arms as Ormerod of Ormerod (or three bars and a lion passant, in chief gules), quartering Johnson of Tyldesley, Wareing of Walmersley, Crompton of Hacking Hall, and Nuttall of Walmersley. Crest a wolf’s head couped at the neck, barry of four, or and gules, holding in the mouth an ostrich’s feather erect proper. This plate is in a book, the fine black morocco gilt binding of which was reproduced by Griggs for the Bibliography ofEikon Basilike.
In May, 1893, Sothebys sold the Bateman Heirlooms, the valuable library of Printed Books and Manuscripts formed by the late Mr. W. Bateman, and Mr. T. Bateman, ofLomberdale House, Youlgrave, Derbyshire. The books had been well cared for, and sometimes annotated and extra illustrated. Such was the case with the copy ofReliquiæ Sacræ, 1651, with armorial bookpile bookplate: “Wm. Bateman,F.A.S., of Middleton by Yolgrave in the County of Derby.”
Another plate is armorial. Burke gives the arms as or, three crescents, within the horns of each an estoile gules. Crest a crescent and estoile, as in the arms, between two eagles’ wings or. Motto: “Sidus ad sit amicum.”
William Bateman, of Middleton-by-Youlgrave, married Mary, daughter of James Crompton of Brightmet, Lancashire. He died on 28th August, 1861, at Lomberdale House, near Bakewell. William Bateman’s father and grandfather had both done much towards founding the family library and museum.
A fine plate here illustrated is that of the Duke of Beaufort, from a fine copy of the first edition ofEikon Basilike.
Mr. H. B. Wheatley, of Pepys fame, has kindly written me the following notes regarding Conduitt bookplate:—
John Conduitt was born in the year of the Revolution, and was at Westminster School in 1701, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, in