BOOK-PLATE OF CLAUDE MARTIN.
BOOK-PLATE OF THE COLONEL DE CUZIEU.
As it was, the Marquis behaved during a trying time as a brave soldier and a humane gentleman. At length, but only when his scanty provisions were exhausted, he yielded up the castle on condition that the lives of the garrison should be spared. But the inrushing crowd cared nothingfor conditions, nor for the rules of civilized warfare, and in a few minutes nearly every man was killed. De Launay himself was aimlessly dragged about for some time, then killed, and his head paraded on a pike round the streets of Paris.
BOOK-PLATE OF THE CHÂTEAU ROYAL DE LA BASTILLE.
The Bastille itself was demolished by the people, the place where it stood alone preserves its name, and the stones which once formed its melancholy walls are now trodden under foot by the countless myriads who pass over the Pont de la Concorde.
Most of the books found in the prison were destroyed, but a few escaped, and these contained the ex-libris of the Château Royal de la Bastille,certainly one of the scarcest and most interesting in the world.
The accession of Louis XVI. gave rise to great hopes for the regeneration of France, retrenchment in her finances, and reformation in the morals of her court.
The king was young, married to a beautiful and virtuous princess, and was himself credited with the domestic virtues of chastity and sobriety. Indeed, as a master locksmith he might no doubt have earned a comfortable livelihood, for in that occupation, if in no other, he displayed considerable skill and dexterity.
The French have always had a knack of affixing very humorous and catching nicknames to their kings and public men; they might appropriately have christened their new king Louis Trop-tard. He was always Lewis the Too-Late; he was born too late, he resisted the wishes of his people till it was too late; he made concessions when they were too late to conciliate anyone; he practised economy when it only brought him into ridicule; too late he fled from Paris; drank Burgundy, and ate bread and cheese at Varennes until it was too late to escape across the frontier, and finally he died when his death was too late to save his good name, his family, or the monarchy.
He lacked decision of character, and clearness of purpose or perception. He was incapable of reading the signs of the times, or of reforming the vicious system of government he had inherited from his forefathers. So he, who was in many respects the best of the later Bourbons, had topay the penalty for the crimes, the cruelty, and the follies of his ancestors.
BOOK-PLATE OF PASQUIER DE MESSANGE, 1792.
In the best period of French heraldry, supporters were less frequently found than in British heraldry, and it was a rule, or a tradition, that, as marking the divine right of kings, only members of the royal family of France should carry angels as supporters. They were, however, assumed by the illegitimate descendants of the kings, who carried the royal arms with the usual differences.
THE ACHIEVEMENT OF LOUIS XVI.
BOOK-PLATE OF MONSIEUR LEJOURDAN, CONSEILLER EN L’AMIRAUTÉ, 1786
IN Great Britain political changes have had comparatively little effect upon the development of art, whereas in France the great events of her history have left their impress deeply on her arts, and during the last hundred years especially, nearly every political convulsion (and there have been many) has been rapidly followed by some great change in the fashion of her book-plates. It therefore becomes absolutely necessary to refer to some of the leading features in French history in order properly to appreciate the ex-libris of the various periods.
For the antiquary, the prints produced in France before the Revolution must ever possess the greatest interest, indicating as they do so clearly the tastes, the vanity, the luxury of thatbeau mondewhich was the France of those days when the lower orders counted for nothing, being but the hewers of wood, the drawers of water, andthechair-à-canonwith which her kings and marshals won glory.
No attempt was made to hide the corruption and immorality which prevailed at Court—the amours of the kings were openly acknowledged, the highest titles were bestowed upon their mistresses, and the royal arms of France were borne by their almost innumerable offspring.
Although some of these women were of the humblest origin they affected a taste for literature and art, and the names of Diane de Poitiers, duchesse de Valentinois; Gabrielle d’Estrées; Marie Touchet; la Duchesse de la Vallière; la Marquise de Maintenon; Madame de Montespan; la Marquise de Pompadour; la Comtesse du Barry, with many others of lesser note, remind us that they formed extensive libraries. Books bearing their arms and ciphers on the bindings, or their book-plates, are still those most eagerly sought for by collectors of to-day. But what abagatellewas all this as compared with the vast sums these courtesans drained from the nation, and the degradation they inflicted upon the aristocracy into whose ranks they and their children were elevated. Whilst on the other hand, the arrogance of the old nobility, their selfishness, their cruelty to their dependants, and their refusal to forego any of their pay or privileges in the black days of famine and national bankruptcy towards the close of the eighteenth century, hastened their fall and that of the monarchy.
Sir Walter Scott states that at the outbreak of the Revolution there were about eighty thousandfamilies enjoying all the rights and privileges of nobility; and the order was divided into different classes, which looked on each other with mutual jealousy and contempt.
On this point let us quote the reports of two acknowledged authorities. M. de Saint-Allais, in his book “L’Ancienne France,” observes: “Nos historiens les plus accrédités ont remarqué qu’il existait en France,avant la Révolution, environ soixante dix mille fiefs, ou arrière-fiefs dont a peu près 3,000 étaient érigés en duchés, marquisats, comtés, vicomtés et baronies, et qu’ils comptaient aussi en ce royaume environ 4,000 families d’ancienne noblesse, c’est-à-dire de noblesse chevaleresque et immémoriale, et environ 90,000 familles qui avaient acquis la noblesse par l’exercice de charges de magistrature et de finances ou par le service militaire ou par des anoblissements quelconques.” Whilst in his “Nobles et Vilains,” M. Chassant states: “Il y avait en France, en 1788, au moins 8,000 marquis, comtes, et barons, dont 2,000 au plus l’étaient légitimement, 4,000 bien dignes de l’être, mais qui ne l’étaient que par tolérance abusive.”
From these statements it is evident that the number of nobles, or soi-disant nobles, was enormous; that their privileges (many of them grossly immoral) caused them to be extremely unpopular; that to keep up some kind of state and show made them exacting as landlords, whilst the etiquette of their rank prevented them from embarking in any kind of trade or business, so that employments in the Court, the Church, the Army, Law and theCivil Service, were almost entirely monopolized by this class. These offices, though highly paid, were, of course, totally unproductive, and created still further burdens to fall on the shoulders of the overtaxed lower orders.
Nor were the nobles themselves altogether to be envied—many of them were miserably poor, and were yet compelled to support the dignity of their rank, and to appear in state at a court, at once the most splendid and most improvident in the world.
They had not the resources possessed by the poorer scions of the British nobility, who are free now to act as directors of public companies, stock-brokers, wine merchants, or railway managers; who may own collieries, or hansom cabs, or breed cattle without loss of caste or privilege.
As to the king, Louis XVI., he was a man of no decision of character, incapable of reading the signs of the times, or of realizing that the future of the monarchy, of France itself, depended on the reforms required in the State. So little did he appreciate the serious position that when, in 1788, his ministers were discussing where the Etats Generaux (nobles, clergy, and tiers états) should assemble in the following May, Louis suddenly cut short all their arguments by exclaiming that they could only meet at Versailles because of the hunting (à cause des chasses).
“C’était bien de chasser qu’alors il s’agissait.”
“C’était bien de chasser qu’alors il s’agissait.”
At length the storm, which had long been foreseen, burst over their heads, and in less than twoyears a decree was proposed (on June 20th, 1790) by Lameth, that the titles of duke, count, marquis, viscount, baron, and chevalier should be suppressed. This was carried by a large majority in the French Assembly, and all armorial bearings were abolished at the same time.
When all around was in a state of turmoil and revolution, armorial book-plates became dangerous to their owners. Many were torn out and destroyed, others were altered and adapted to the feelings of the time by changing high-sounding titles into the simple style of a French citizen.
The ex-libris of the Citizen Boyveau-Laffecteur may be cited as an example. Before the Revolution he used an allegorical plate on which was shown a young calf drinking at a fountain (Boyveau); on his shield he carried a stork, as an emblem of prudence and wisdom, and the whole was surmounted by the handsome coronet of a count. Now, Monsieur Boyveau-Laffecteur was a doctor of medicine, and the inventor of useful medical receipts, but whether he ever was a count, or entitled to carry the coronet of one, is more than doubtful. These are minor details, however, for when the Doctor found that coronets, and the heads that wore them, were going strangely out of fashion, he effaced the obnoxious emblem of nobility, placing in its stead an enormous and aggressively prominent cap of liberty. This altered plate is found less frequently than the former; it may be that on the restoration of the monarchy he replaced the coronet, and re-elected himself a count.
BOOK-PLATE OF THE VICOMTE DE BOURBON BUSSET, 1788.
Another altered plate is rather less striking in its political inconsistency: “De la Bibliothèque de Nic. Franc. Jos. Richard, avocat en Parlement, Président à St. Diez.” Simple and inoffensive as was this label, the owner thought it safer during the Revolution to cover it with another, thus: “De la Bibliothèque de Nicholas François-JosephRichard,Citoyen de St. Dié.”
But a far more interesting souvenir of the Reign of Terror is the second book-plate of the Vicomte de Bourbon Busset.
BOOK-PLATE OF L. A. P. BOURBON BUSSET, 1793.
The first, which is signed “Fme. Jourdan sculp., 1788,” shows his armorial bearings surmounted by his coronet, whilst beneath are enumerated his titles and offices.
Over this plate is generally found pasted a muchsimpler design, showing how that the grand noble of 1788 under the monarchy had, in 1793, become plain Bourbon Busset, a French citizen.
Now the Vicomte de Bourbon Busset was an aristocrat (even if an illegitimate one), for on his first book-plate he bore the royal arms of France, (debruised by a baton), with the cross of Jerusalem in chief, and his two supporters the angels hitherto carried only by members of the royal family. Yet he managed to escape the horrors of the revolutionary period, and survived the Reign of Terror, probably by studying the signs of the times, and by casting his lot in with thesans-culottes. In any case, he lived in Paris until the 9th of February, 1802. The bindings on his books were stamped with the arms, as on his book-plate, but without the supporters.
His library was sold in Paris; the catalogue was headed, “Catalogue des livres de la bibliothèque de feu le citoyen Bourbon Busset, 20, nivose an XI.”
Another curious souvenir of the reverses sustained during the revolutionary period exists in the plate of “André Gaspard Parfait, Comte de Bizemont-Prunelé”. Dessiné et gravé par Ch. Gaucher, de l’Acad. des Arts de Londres, 1781.
In the same year the Comte de Bizemont-Prunelé etched an ex-libris for his wife, Marie Catherine d’Hallot, with a design of a somewhat remarkable nature considering the period. He represented himself amongst some ruins carving their arms on a pedestal. Thirteen years later we find this nobleman, a refugee in England, earninghis living as a drawing master. His business card, of ornamental design, bears the words: “M. Bizemont, Drawing Master, No. 19 Norton Street, near Portland Street. Bizemont Sc. London, 1794.”
BOOK-PLATE OF THOMAS PAPILLON, ESQ.
Alexis Foissey, of Dunkirk, removed the coronet from his ex-libris to make way for “Equality”; P. M. Gillet, deputy from Morbihan, adopted the cap of liberty, with the motto, “Liberté, Egalité”; and J. B. Michaud, on his plate, dated 1791, also has the Phrygian cap, with a ribbon inscribed, “La Liberté ou la Mort.”
Above is the book-plate of Thomas Papillon, Esq., evidently engraved in England within the last century, bearing on the first and fourthquarters the canting arms of the old French family of Papillon (Butterfly).
The last Papillon of whom we read in French history was one Denis-Pierre-Jean Papillon de la Ferté, intendant des Menus-plaisirs du Roi, who was born in 1727, and guillotined on the 7th of July, 1794, by the Republicans. Probably Thomas Papillon was a relative who managed to escape, or one of his descendants, as the arms are very similar, being thus blazoned by Guigard:D’azur, au chevron d’argent accompagné en chef de 2 Papillons d’or, et en pointe d’un coq hardi du même. The last charge being the only dissimilarity.
A short time since, a collector in Paris purchased a cover on which was a small mean-looking, printed book-label, under which showed the edges of another. On putting the cover to soak no less than three plates were found, the lowest one being as follows; an armorial plate, below the shield “Bibliothèque de Mr. de Villiers du Terrage, Pr. Commis des Finances.” This plate, signedBranche, had been covered during the revolutionary period by a simple typographical label, reading “Bibliothèque du Citoyen Marc-Etienne Villiers,” omitting all titles, and heraldic decorations, substituting the word “citoyen” in their place, and the whole surrounded by plain border lines.
Later on the book passed into other hands, and a still more humble plate was placed upon it, a small label having only the words “Bibliothèque Le Cauchoix Ferraud.” This democratic individual, who suppressed even the word “citoyen” on his label, does not live in history, nor would hehave been mentioned here but that his poor little ticket probably saved two interesting plates from destruction.
“Ex libris Rihan de la Forest” with arms and coronet; then over that was a plain label with the simple inscription, “Ex libris la Forest”; that again covered by a lugubrious-looking plate, “Ex libris la Forest,” surmounted by a cap of liberty, on a pike, and “La liberté ou la mort” printed around it.
To these many others may be added, such as the ex-libris of “Le Prince de Beaufond,” which was altered to “Charles-Louis Le-prince,” and the elaborate heraldic book-plate of the Marquis de Fortia, which was covered by a simple printed label: “Ce livre fait partie de la bibliothèque de M. de Fortia d’Urban, demeurant à Paris, rue de la Rochefoucaud (sic), No. 21, division du Mont Blanc.”
M. Pigou covered his arms and coronet of a Marquis with a plain label in which the namePigouwas surrounded by a garland of roses.
But in those troubled times most men of any position had far more serious topics to occupy their minds than the planning of ex-libris for their books, and indeed the poor heraldic engravers found their business coming to an end, and one of them, M. Crussaire, finding himself without work, advertised that he would gladly execute “tout espèce de sujets sérieux ou agréables relatifs aux diverses circonstances de la Révolution, pour boites, bon-bonnières, boutons, medaillons.”
One of the last ex-libris belonging to the periodof the First Republic, and carrying republican emblems, is that bearing the name of Adjudant Général Villatte, who was promoted to that rank on February 5, 1799. His plate bears the Roman fasces surmounted by the cap of liberty, and, oddly enough for a military man, a shepherd’s crook and hat, whilst two doves, or pigeons, complete this incongruous design.
From 1789 to the coronation of Napoleon I. as Emperor in 1804, the use of book-plates was considerably restricted.
Pauline Burghese, a sister of Napoleon, rose superior to heraldic or titular pretensions. She was a sister of Napoleon, that was enough, and her gift book-plate, dated 1825, is but a plain little label:
EX LEGATOSororis NapoleonisPaullinæ BurghesiæA.D. MDCCCXXV.
Charles Ambroise Caffarelli, whose plate is in what has been calledle style panaché de l’Empire, was Canon of Toul in 1789, but took the oath to the Constitution on the outbreak of the Revolution. He suffered imprisonment in 1793, gained favour under Napoleon, who created him a préfet. He afterwards devoted himself to the study of political economy, and died in 1826 (after seeing many changes of government), under the rule of the Bourbons, his first patrons.
BOOK-PLATE OF CH. AMB. CAFFARELLI.
Jean Baptiste Jourdan, who was one of the most famous marshals of Napoleon’s army, beganlife as a private soldier; under the First Republic he obtained promotion, and swore that his sword should always be drawn in defence of the rights of the people, and against all kings. Yet he afterwards accepted titles and honours from Napoleon, whom he deserted to serve under Louis XVIII., and issued a manifesto to his soldiers asking their fidelity to the restored Bourbons. For this he wasrewarded by being created a Chevalier of the Royal and Military Order of St. Louis. When Napoleon returned to Paris from Elba the Maréchal Jourdan was again ready to do him service, and his fidelity was rewarded by an imperial decree dated 4 June, 1815, creating him a Count and Peer of France. Jourdan was born at Limoges in 1762; he died in 1833.
BOOK-PLATE OF THE MARSHAL JOURDAN.
The Baron de Marbot was one of the soldiers ennobled by Napoleon I. He left some memoirs which have points of resemblance tothose written by the more celebrated Baron Münchausen.
The short and troubled reign of the Emperor Napoleon left little lasting impression upon the heraldry of France. It is true he introduced some system, and a few innovations, but at the Restoration his innovations were rescinded, and with the Bourbons in power it need hardly be said that no kind of useful system could long exist.
BOOK-PLATE OF THE BARON DE MARBOT.
For the heraldry of the First Empire a studentcannot do better than consult the fine folios entitled “Armorial Général de l’Empire Français. Contenant les Armes de sa Majesté l’Empereur et Roi, des Princes de sa famille, des Grands Dignitaires, Princes, Ducs, Comtes, Barons, Chevaliers, et celles des Villes de 1ere2meet 3meClasse, avec les planches des Ornemens exterieurs, des Signes intérieurs et l’explication des Couleurs et des Figures du Blason, pour faciliter l’Etude de cette Science. Présenté à sa Majesté l’Empereur et Roi par Henry Simon, Graveur du Cabinet de sa Majesté l’Empereur et Roi, et du Conseil du Sceau des Titres. Chez l’Auteur, Palais Royal, No. 29 à Paris.MDCCCXII.” The title-page is quoted in full; it is a curiosity in its way, the whole being beautifully engraved on a plate measuring 11½ inches by 8½ inches; all the other plates are of the same size and many hundreds of armorial bearings are accurately engraved and described. The work is a monument of patience and skill, and serves as a record of many princes, nobles, marshals, and generals, whose names and deeds were, during the Napoleonic period, as familiar as household words, but the majority of whom are now almost forgotten.
Napoleon decreed that order should exist in heraldry, as in every other branch of the State. His favourite artist, David, was called in to assist in devising new decorations, head-dresses, etc. The curious head-dress, invented by David to replace coronets, is called in French heraldry “une toque;” this somewhat resembles a flat Tam O’Shanter cap, slightly elevated in front, and,though no longer used, its varieties must be described, as it often occurs on book-plates of the period.
Princes carried a toque of black velvet, with a band around the brim of vair. In front a golden aigrette supported seven ostrich feathers.
Dukes wore the same, simply replacing the band vair by a band ermine.
Counts carried a toque of black velvet, with a band ermine. An aigrette, gold and silver, supported five feathers.
Barons wore the toque with a band counter vair. A silver aigrette supported three feathers.
These were further subdivided and distinguished, so as to show whether the rank was senatorial, military, ecclesiastical, or civil.
Chevaliers carried a black velvet toque with a green band. A silver aigrette with one upright feather.
Further, there were grants of arms for Préfets, Sous-Préfets, and Maires of towns, whilst the towns themselves were divided into classes, each class having on a chief, or a canton, a distinctive badge.
Thus, cities of the first order, such as Amsterdam, Antwerp, Bordeaux, Brussels, Ghent, Geneva, Hamburg, Lyons, Lille, Liège, Montauban, and Paris, bore three golden bees (the Napoleonic badge) on a chief gules, in addition to the arms of the cities here cited, whose names recall the extent of territory over which at one time Napoleon held sway.
Second class towns bore a golden N on a dextercanton azure; and third class towns had a sinister canton gules, on which was a silver N.
Quite recently the French Government conferred the Cross of the Legion of Honour on the town of Belfort, and on Rambervillers, a small place in the Vosges Mountains, as a recognition of the gallant resistance they offered to the Germans in 1870 and 1871. Belfort surrendered only under orders from the French Government, the peace armistice having been concluded. Its garrison left with the honours of war, and, although part of Alsace, it was left to France on account of the indomitable courage of Colonel Denfert-Rochereau (a Protestant of Rochelle), of the garrison, and also of the townspeople, who allowed their houses to be battered to pieces without once speaking of capitulation. The town of Châteaudun was “decorated” with the Legion of Honour by Gambetta, having signalized itself by its resistance to the invader, followed by reprisals. Two or three other towns were decorated with the National Order of Knighthood by Napoleon I. in 1815 for heroic resistance to the Allies in 1814. Altogether nine towns in France have the Cross of the Legion of Honour on their coats-of-arms.
Another feature in Napoleonic heraldry was the revival of an ancient ordinary, entitledchampagne, occupying a third of the shield in base; it frequently occurs in arms granted under the Empire, but is now obsolete. In fact, on the restoration of Louis XVIII., an ordinance was issued abolishing all the innovations introduced by Napoleon, some of which deserved a better fate.
One of the most delightfultraitsin the character of the French people is their readiness to laugh at their own little national failings, their vanity, their volatility, and their political instability.
This power to see and appreciate the humorous side of events was never better shown than in a work entitled “Dictionnaire des Girouettesou nos contemporains peints d’après eux-mêmes,” published in Paris, anonymously, but ascribed to the Comte de Proisy d’Eppe.
This little book is at once one of the most comical and one of the saddest ever written, being a kind of biographical dictionary of the political turncoats of the period embraced between the years 1790 and 1815. It contains notices of all the leading Frenchmen of the day, with extracts from their political writings and speeches, more especially those containing allusions, complimentary or the reverse, to the heads of the Government. Now, when we consider that during that quarter of a century France experienced a number of sudden and violent changes in her political constitution, going from the extreme of absolute Monarchy to the utmost licence of Republican liberty, it will easily be recognized that this book contains instances of the most astounding weakness of character and political vacillation ever chronicled.
Starting from 1790, when the Government was Royalist, indeed an absolute Monarchy, in 1792 it became Republican, under the Convention, and later, in 1795, underle Directoire.
1799. The Consulate. Napoleon First Consul.
1804. Imperial. Napoleon Emperor.
1814. Royalist again. Restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, Louis XVIII.
1815. The Hundred Days. Flight of the Bourbons, restoration of Napoleon.
1815, July. Deposition of Napoleon; return of Louis XVIII.
Each of these changes, as it occurred, was hailed with rapturous applause, and with that form of gratitude which consists in a lively sense of favours to come.
Now, as this dictionary contains the names of nearly all the eminent Frenchmen of the period, it follows that there are many in it whose book-plates are of interest, concerning whom a few extracts may be given, taken from the second and enlarged edition, published in Paris in 1815. No month is named, but evidently it appeared soon after the final downfall of Napoleon, as it mentions the marriage of the Turncoat Fouché, Minister of Police, in July, 1815, and that the king (Louis XVIII.) signed the marriage contract.
The two plates here introduced (they belonged to Turncoats) show the stiff and formal heraldry of the Empire, and the characteristic toque.
The De Portalis family were rich bankers at Neufchatel in the time of the first Napoleon. This particular member of the family married aDame d’honneurof the Empress Josephine, and was created a count of the Empire, and an officer of the Légion d’Honneur, as is shown by the title and star on his book-plate.
He was associated with the Casimir-Periers infounding the Bank of France, and died enormously wealthy.
BOOK-PLATE OF COUNT J. M. PORTALIS.
His name occurs in theDictionnaire des Girouettes, but without any special circumstances; he simply accepted favours and titles from whatever hand they came, royal or imperial, with equal condescension.
Now the plate of Ch. Amb. Caffarelli, given on page 121, is a little puzzling; it is evidently of the First Empire period, and bears the toque of a Baron; whilst the second quarter on the shieldshows the arms assigned in Napoleonic heraldry to a Préfet, namely: “De gueules à la muraille crénelée d’argent, surmontée d’une branche de chêne du même.”Armorial Général de l’Empire Français, 1812.
BOOK-PLATE OF M. DUBUISSON, 1805.
In theDictionnaire des Girouettesmention is made of a Caffarelli (no Christian name) who was created a Count of the Empire, and Grand Eagle of the Légion d’Honneur by Napoleon. The king afterwards created him Chevalier of theOrder of St Louis, and Commandant at Rennes; whilst in 1815 he again reverted to the service of the Emperor. There was also a Baron Caffarelli who bore similar arms, but he was Bishop of Saint Brieux, whilst on this plate no ecclesiastical emblems are shown. He, too, was a member of the Légion d’Honneur.
To which of these two this plate belonged I cannot decide, nor is the matter of the first importance.
BOOK-PLATE OF LUCIEN BONAPARTE, PRINCE OF CANINO. BROTHER OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.
One plate may be named which forms an exception to the monotonous regularity of the heraldic style under the First Empire; it is that of Antoine-Pierre-Augustin de Piis, a dramatist. His monogram hangs on a palm tree, each branch of which bears the name of some well-known singer,—Panard, Favart, Collé, etc., whilst beneath are the titles of the vaudevilles he had himself written. Another artistic little plate of this period is that of M. Dubuisson, dated 1805, on page 130.
EX-LIBRIS IMAGINAIRE DE NAPOLÉON I.
Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Canino, younger brother of Napoleon, resided some time in England, but died at Viterbo in 1840. His son, Charles, Prince of Canino, distinguished as a naturalist, died in 1857, and it is not easy to decideto which of the two this quiet, unpretentious little Canino plate belonged.
The books of the first Napoleon were sumptuously bound, but he used no book-plate. Monsieur L. Joly, in hisEx-Libris Imaginaires, furnishes one such as might well have been used by the great soldier and law-maker. An imperial eagle casts a thunder-bolt, which illuminates the peaks of the Alps; below are seen the emblems of war, the owl, symbolic of wisdom, the Cross of the Légion d’Honneur, and the books of the Code Napoléon.
BOOK-PLATE OF JOACHIM MURAT.
ON the abdication of Napoleon, Louis XVIII. was placed on the throne of his ancestors, and reigned over France by the Grace of God and the Holy Alliance.
He had learnt nothing and forgotten nothing during his exile, and notwithstanding the strong advice of the Powers who had set him up in business as a monarch, he encouraged a steady reaction against the improvements that had been so liberally encouraged in the State by Napoleon and his ministers.
The French nation had but little loyalty or affection for this gouty, gluttonous, fat old man, but they ridiculed him, and bore with him, till his death in 1824.
His brother, the Comte d’Artois, who succeeded him as Charles X., a narrow-minded, obstinate, and priest-ridden man, persevered in the same course as Louis XVIII., and was even more unpopular.
Under these two Bourbons, who strove hard toundo all the reforms that the Revolution had effected, those of the old nobility who had survived the Terror and the Wars were encouraged to return to France, and once again the refrain was:
“Chapeau bas, chapeau bas!Gloire au Marquis de Carabas.”
“Chapeau bas, chapeau bas!Gloire au Marquis de Carabas.”
They resumed their ancient titles, estates, and family arms, but the bulk of the French nation declined to consider them, or their claims, seriously. Both Louis XVIII. and Charles X. created new nobles from amongst their personal and political adherents, but few men of worth or importance were willing thus to be ennobled.
The rules of heraldry devised by Napoleon were annulled, and the old system revived. But though the wealth of the nation had greatly increased during the few years of peace, whilst the taste for literature and the formation of large collections of books had once again come into fashion, the book-plates of this period show no improvement in taste, and no originality in design. They are either overladen with meretricious ornamentation, or simple name labels possessing no artistic interest whatever.
One of the very few plates of the time worth naming is that of the Duchesse de Berry for her library at Resny, on which we find the lilies of the French royal family. The Duchess also used a simpler plate similar to a book-binding stamp.
Probably Berryer the famous advocate, had his plate engraved about this time; it is in the Louis XVI. style. (See page 149.)
The pretentious plate of Victor, Duc de Saint Simon Vermandois, Pair de France, Grand d’Espagne, is an example of the want of taste of the Restoration, as is also that of theBibliothèque de La Mottewhich is destitute of grace or finish.
BOOK-PLATE OF THE DUCHESSE DE BERRY.
At length, in July, 1830, the French, weary of the reactionary rule of Charles X. and of his breaches of faith, drove him from the throne, and he sought refuge in England.
His cousin Louis Philippe was elected king of the French, and for eighteen years the country enjoyed comparative peace, and great commercial prosperity.
Then at last was France released from the nightmare pressure of theancien régime, and free to choose a constitutional government suited to her requirements and the progress of modern civilization.
During his reign Louis Philippe created a number of new nobles, the chosen men being for the most part politicians who supported the government in parliament, rich tradesmen, office holders, and a few literary men.
Two of the greatest men of the day, Thiers and Guizot, bluntly refused to be ennobled, as later on did Mons. Rouher. The assumption of false titles still continued, whilst the prefixdewhich had formerly indicated gentle birth or landed estates, came to be so commonly employed as to carry no signification whatever. Book-plates of this period have little to distinguish them from those of the Restoration, except that the seal pattern, or the plain shield within a belt or garter became more common, whilst some artists affected a revival of a kind of Gothic ornamentation, with the inscription in archaic phraseology.
Of this latter style a beautiful example is the plate designed for himself by the late Mons. Claude E. Thiery, of Maxéville.
It represents the interior of a mediæval library, the walls of which are decorated with the arms of Lorraine. A reader is seated in front of two open folios, and above the design the inscription is:
“Cestuy livre est a moy Claude Thiery ymaigier de moult haust et puissant Seigneur Mon seigneur Françoy Joseph empéreur,” etc.
It is unnecessary to quote the whole of the somewhat lengthy inscription, as prints from the original plate were issued with the “Archives de la Société Française des Collectionneurs d’Ex Libris,” January 1895, together with a somewhat indignant letter from its owner pointing out several inaccuracies which had been made in an article describing the plate in “Ex Libris Ana,” page 73.
The description was certainly curiously inexact, but that these laborious imitations of the crabbed handwriting, the archaic phraseology, and the miniature painting to be found on ancient manuscripts are lacking in originality, and out of place on modern book-plates, as says the writer in “Ex Libris Ana” (and herein lay the sting of his remarks), is a conclusion in which many collectors will certainly agree.
Other well-known plates of this period are those of Aimé Leroy, A. Mercier, Viollet Le-Duc, Gabriel Peignot, Milsan, Ambroise Firmin-Didot, Desbarreaux Bernard, Pixérecourt, and Bazot, Notaire à Amiens. Yet even these present few points of interest, literary or artistic.
Aimé Leroy had a Gothic window, through which a student is seen reading. Motto:Mes livres sont ma joie. The plate of Gabriel Peignot was also what we should style a library interior, as was appropriate to its owner who had been for years connected with the libraries of Vésoul and Dijon, and had made bibliography the study of his life which extended to the good old age of eighty-two. He died in 1849.
Bazot, Notaire Amiens, had an imitation of theold style of armorial plate, with a ribbon on which the dates 1548 and 1848 appear. There is no explanation known of the first date, 1548.
Milsan attempts a weak pun on his name, bank notes for 1,000 and 100 francs represent the wordsMille cent. This is the kind of joke that even a virtuous man might make in the seclusion of his own family circle, but that any sane man should engrave, revise it, print it, and finally paste it in all his books is something which almost destroys our faith in human nature.
A member of the famous publishing house, Mons. Ambroise Firmin-Didot (author of a “History of Wood-Engraving”) had an original and very appropriate design printed in gold on red morocco. In allusion to the date of the foundation of his firm, and their ancient sign, it bore the device:à la bible d’or1698, and the inscriptionBibliotheca Ambrosii Firmini Didoti, whilst in the centre was an open bible. This is just one of the few plates of this period, interesting for its owner’s sake, and for its originality, which collectors would wish to have, but it is rather difficult to obtain.
R. C. G. de Pixérecourt is found on the book-plate of the prolific dramatic author whose real appellations were René Charles Guilbert. As he was born at Pixérecourt he ennobled himself by calling himselfde Pixérecourt, a piece of vanity which probably deceived no one. If the State were to tax all these assumptions of nobility, a good addition would be made to the French revenue. In other respects his ex-libris was modest enough; he did not steal a coat-of-arms, but had the simpleCross of the Legion of Honour with two branches of oak, and for motto the last line of the following charming sonnet by Desbarreaux Bernard.
SONNET.Mes livres sont ma joie! aussi sur eux je veilleComme veille l’avare auprès de son trésor;Et mon esprit charmé, qui rarement sommeille,Les prend, les lit, les quitte et les reprend encor.Ne ménageant pour eux, ni prix, ni soins, ni veille,Toujours prompt, toujours prêt à prendre mon essor;Aux timides conseils fermant surtout l’oreille,Nouveau Jason, je cours, ravir ma toison d’or!Tout nous trompe ici-bas, les hommes et les choses,La vipère et le taon s’abritent sous les roses,Le peuple à la vertu ne crois plus désormais,Le trompeur, le trompé, conspirent à portes closes,Du sexe on sait la ruse et les métamorphoses,Un livre est un ami qui ne trompe jamais.
SONNET.
Mes livres sont ma joie! aussi sur eux je veilleComme veille l’avare auprès de son trésor;Et mon esprit charmé, qui rarement sommeille,Les prend, les lit, les quitte et les reprend encor.
Ne ménageant pour eux, ni prix, ni soins, ni veille,Toujours prompt, toujours prêt à prendre mon essor;Aux timides conseils fermant surtout l’oreille,Nouveau Jason, je cours, ravir ma toison d’or!
Tout nous trompe ici-bas, les hommes et les choses,La vipère et le taon s’abritent sous les roses,Le peuple à la vertu ne crois plus désormais,
Le trompeur, le trompé, conspirent à portes closes,Du sexe on sait la ruse et les métamorphoses,Un livre est un ami qui ne trompe jamais.
Owing to a variety of circumstances Louis Philippe became unpopular, and at length in 1848 there were serious disturbances in Paris. It is probable that a man of strong will might have put these down with some little bloodshed, but Louis Philippe was a kindly, peace-loving man, and rather than face the horrors of a civil war he abdicated, and the second Republic was proclaimed, to be quickly changed into the Second Empire, under Napoléon III.
Par le temps renversé, quand cet empire immense,Chef-d’œuvre de génie autant que de puissance.Un jour n’offrira plus aux siécles à venirQue de grandes leçons et qu’un grand souvenir.
Par le temps renversé, quand cet empire immense,Chef-d’œuvre de génie autant que de puissance.Un jour n’offrira plus aux siécles à venirQue de grandes leçons et qu’un grand souvenir.
These lines were written about the First Empire, but are still more appropriate to the Second, which is now, indeed, nothing more than a name connected with the saddest of souvenirs.
BOOK-PLATE OF MONSIEUR RISTON.Engraved by D. Collin.
Under the Second Empire book-plates began to have a distinctly personal character, more originality in conception, together with much greater freedom andabandonin execution. Humorous designs also occasionally appear, where all had hitherto been formal, cold, pompous, or severe. The simple heraldic plate falls into disfavour amongst those who are entitled to bear arms,though curiously enough the assumption of false arms and titles goes on exactly as before.
BOOK-PLATE OF THE VICOMTE BEUGNOT.
In 1857 the Minister of Justice addressed a report on this topic to the emperor, asserting “que jamais peut-être la tendance à sortir de sa position et à se parer de titres auxquels on n’a pas droit ne s’est manifesté d’une manière plus regrettable que depuis ces dernières années.”
But the evil had existed, still exists, and will continue so long as the vanity of human nature prompts men to lay claim to ancient descent, and to assume arms and titles either stolen, readymade, or purchased at theBureaux de Généalogisteswhich abound in Paris as in London.
It is no new crime, this snobbism—Molière jested at it two centuries ago: