Book Plates Part 10

The first Armorial ladies' book-plate is that of the Countess-Dowager of Bath, already very fully described. I will only add that readers who refer back to what I have said about her matrimonial arrangements (_vide_ p. 38), will see that she is heraldically accurate in not bearing her arms in a lozenge. The laws of heraldry do not allow ladies, while married, to place their arms in lozenge-shaped s.h.i.+elds; and this fact enables some feminine book-plate owners to demonstrate the possession of a virtue which women are often taxed with lacking--economy. Ladies frequently made the same designs do duty as their own book-plates which had served for their husbands. But, according to Miss Labouchere, the husband sometimes used his wife's book-plate; for the book-plates--identical, save for the inscriptions--of the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess of Beaufort, Lord and Lady Roos, and some others, show, on examination, that the words indicative of owners.h.i.+p by the lady have been erased, and over-engraved by those indicative of possession by her lord.

The lozenge really looks very well on a book-plate; and lends itself readily to the decoration usually bestowed upon it. Take, for instance, that of Dame Anne Margaretta Mason, dated in 1701. Her maiden name was Long, and the s.h.i.+eld shows us Mason impaling Long. Lady Mason's is a fair sample of a lady's book-plate of that date. The arms are contained in a lozenge, set in a Jacobean frame, which is lined with scale work, and adorned with ribbons and leafy sprays. There is no motto-scroll, but the name bracket comes up close to the base of the design (see also p.

52).

Indeed it may be said that the Jacobean style of ornamentation is that best suited to ladies' book-plates, especially when the arms are depicted on a lozenge-shaped s.h.i.+eld. The book-plate of the 'Hon. Anne North,' by Simon Gribelin, is another instance to prove this. I do not think that Chippendale decoration suits them at all, and, in the use of ornaments of that style, Englishwomen were as immoderate as Englishmen.

Lady Lombe's book-plate, designed in the later days of Chippendalism, is quite appalling from its over-ornamentation. The wreath of ribbon, or festoon, style of the close of the last century is more suitable for ladies' book-plates, and some very charming examples are known; equally suitable, it seems to me, would have been the picture or landscape style--the style in which, at the close of the last century, Bewick, and some few other English artists, were working with conspicuous success, and it seems strange that the ladies of Great Britain did not adopt it more extensively.

When we come to modern times we find ladies have run as wild as their lords over book-plates; there is the same peculiarity, the same mysticism, the same inappropriateness for book-plates in the designs of many book-plates of _fin de siecle_ English ladies. The few really artistic and appropriate book-plates stand out in marked contrast in Miss Labouchere's excellent little book, and amongst them may be noted Lady Mayo's, designed in 1894 by Mr. Anning Bell, which shows us a musician and a songstress within a frame composed of spring flowers and the national emblem of Ireland.

But let us go back a little in date, and look at a ladies' book-plate designed in the Allegoric style; what more striking example could be found than that furnished by George Vertue's charming piece of work engraved for Lady Oxford?

[Ill.u.s.tration]

It represents the interior of the library either at Brampton or Welbeck, probably the latter, which was Lady Oxford's own inheritance. Through a doorway, flanked by Corinthian columns, the curtain in front of which is drawn back, we obtain a view of a country house standing back in a well-kept park; a river crossed by a three-arched bridge meanders through this. But it is the occupants of the room that call for most attention. The prominent figure is that of Minerva, who has laid aside her arms, and stands sandalled and helmeted. She is busily engaged in instructing six cupids, who appear to be industriously following her injunctions. One of these is painting in oils, with an easel before him and a palette on his thumb; the G.o.ddess with her left hand points out some defect in his work, and apparently explains how it may be remedied. Another cupid plays the harp; two more sit on the frame of the design, weaving flowing festoons; another, also on the frame, near a celestial globe, copies the picture of a flute-playing satyr which a sixth cupid holds in position.

On the frame which surrounds the picture sit two figures--one of which is Mercury, with caduceus and winged hat--who act as supporters to a medallion bearing Lady Oxford's monogram; above is an urn, and from the sides fall bunches of grapes. Below the design is engraved 'Henrietta Cavendish Holles, Oxford and Mortimer. Given me by'--and then the donor's name and last two figures of the date, filled in by Lady Oxford herself.

Lady Oxford was the sole heiress of John Holles, last Duke of Newcastle of the Holles family, and was the wife of Edward, second Earl of Oxford, son of Queen Anne's minister, and the continuator and completor of the Harleian collections. Vertue's love of studying all kinds of antiquities brought him, at an early date, into contact with Lord Oxford, who proved one of his warmest patrons. The artist himself speaks of 'the Earl's generous and unparalleled encouragement of my undertakings.' Harley would take his friend with him on his various 'hunting' tours in England, getting him to sketch the numerous objects of interest that they came across. No wonder that the Earl's death, in 1741, was a heavy loss, in every way, to George Vertue.

It is noteworthy that there is no trace of heraldry in this remarkable book-plate. Book-plates free from anything armorial were not the rule in England in 1730, and Vertue was certainly proficient in heraldic engraving, or ought to have been so, since his earliest task in life was engraving coats of arms on plate, and his second engagement was with Michael Vandergucht, who, we know, executed a good deal of armorial work. It is probable, therefore, that the idea of the book-plate was Lady Oxford's own.

From this delightful specimen of a lady's book-plate in which heraldry is entirely absent, we may appropriately turn our attention to two examples which combine heraldry with a fanciful design--the book-plates of Lady Pomfret and the Honourable Mrs. Damer. The first of these is that which 'S. W.,' probably Samuel Wale, the Royal Academician, engraved for 'The R^{t} Hon^{ble} Henrietta Louisa Jeffreys, Countess of Pomfret, Lady of the Bed-chamber to Queen Caroline,' and is a very unusual piece of work, both in shape, design, and heraldry. There is a clear indication of 'Chippendaleism' about the s.h.i.+eld and sprays of flowers and leaves, which is certainly curious in view of what we must consider the approximate date of the book-plate; but the arms are in a Jacobean frame, which stands in a garden. On one side we have a cupid bearing aloft the lady's family crest, and on the other the husband's crest and helmet, situated just within the opening of a tent. Lady Pomfret was the granddaughter of James II.'s infamous Lord Chancellor.

She married Lord Pomfret in 1720, and was Lady of the Bed-chamber to Queen Caroline from 1713 to 1737, so that we are enabled to fix the date of this plate within seventeen years, indeed, probably within four years, for she had a less ambitious, and no doubt earlier, book-plate engraved for her, which bears the date 1733.

As might be expected, the book-plate of 'Selina, Countess of Huntingdon,' forms a striking contrast to that last described. Here we have a plain representation of a coat of arms in a lozenge, and supported in the orthodox manner. No cupids or other vanities intrude themselves into this sombre and coa.r.s.ely executed work, which may be dated, after the owner became a widow, in 1746, and therefore, after her 'call'--which is, I believe, the correct expression for a sudden conversion to the form of religion she embraced.

Probably of about the same date as Lady Huntingdon's book-plate is that of another famous woman of her day, Lady Betty Germain, about whom Swift has plenty to say in his _Journal to Stella_. On this book-plate a somewhat funereal effect is produced by the dark background, against which is the lozenge containing the arms Berkeley impaling Germain; but the ornamentation of the lozenge, of the name-scroll, and of the frame enclosing the design, is light and elegant. Poor Lady Betty! she had a good deal to live down: her girlhood had not been so moral as it might have been, and the d.u.c.h.ess of Marlborough did her best to make her friend's misfortunes as public as possible. But for all that, Elizabeth Berkeley made a good match in point of money, marrying--as his second wife--Sir John Germain, a soldier of fortune and repute. He left her a widow in 1718, with Drayton as her home and a vast fortune. Her widowhood lasted very nearly fifty years, during which she gave away large sums in charity, as well as spending them on ama.s.sing curios: these, in 1763, Walpole went to look at, and admired.

But we have been digressing, and have not yet spoken about the second of the two book-plates just now mentioned, that of the Hon. Mrs. Damer, which, in design and execution, certainly surpa.s.ses any ladies'

book-plate yet noticed; it is really a beautiful picture. First let me speak of Mrs. Damer and her surroundings; her book-plate becomes the more interesting as we call these to mind. The daughter of Field-Marshal Henry Seymour Conway, she made for herself, at an early age, a name, both in England and Italy, as an accomplished sculptress. From infancy--she was born in 1749--she was the pet of Horace Walpole, and throughout her life his intimate friend, living, after her husband's[14]

suicide, close to him at Strawberry Hill, which he bequeathed to her by his will, and where, by the way, the work of her artistic fingers might be seen in profusion. Friends of herself and of Walpole were Robert Berry and his daughters Mary and Agnes--'my twin wives,' Walpole calls them. Mrs. Damer's book-plate is the work of the latter of these two ladies--Walpole's 'sweet lamb, Agnes.' It shows us a kneeling female figure, pointing to a newly-cut inscription on a block of stone, 'Anna Damer';[15] above is a s.h.i.+eld bearing the arms of Damer, with those of Seymour-Conway on an escutcheon of pretence, and on the right and left of this are elegantly drawn dogs. The work was engraved by Francis Legat, and is dated '1793.' Miss Mary Berry's book-plate has been already spoken of (p. 177).

As an ill.u.s.tration to this chapter on ladies' book-plates, I have taken one which is both artistic and interesting, from the fact that it shows us--in the figure contemplating the bust--what is presumably a picture of the owner. I fear, however, that proof of its authenticity as a likeness sufficient to allow of its incorporation as a 'Portrait'

book-plate (see pp. 216-220) will not be forthcoming; but whether it is one or not, it is certainly a pleasing book-plate. Frances Anne Acland, the owner, was born in 1736, became the wife of Richard h.o.a.re of Barne Elms in 1761 and thus stepmother to Richard Colt h.o.a.re, the future antiquary and the historian of Wilts.h.i.+re; she died in the year 1800, and was buried at Beckenham.

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But all that has been said, so far, concerns the book-plates of English women. Foreign dames of various nationalities, and our feminine cousins across the Atlantic (see p. 150), have made a very generous use of these marks of book-possession. French women of the eighteenth century have, as the reader of Miss Labouchere's interesting pages on this part of her subject will see, for the most part, used book-stamps, many of the most beautiful French bindings gaining an additional interest and beauty from the coats of arms of their fair owners impressed upon them. There are, however, a fairly large number of book-plates known which have belonged to French women, or, at all events, to women resident in France, and amongst them one to which attaches pathetic interest from the tragic fate of its owner. I mean that of the Princesse de Lamballe, who fell a victim to her attachment to the reigning house of France during the revolting ma.s.sacres of 1792.

There are such things as 'joint' book-plates--book-plates which have belonged both to husbands and wives. We meet with some such in England, though not at a very early date; but in Germany they exist as far back as 1605. In England the first example, only a printed label, is in 1737--'Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Anne Pain.' Examples of this dual owners.h.i.+p occur frequently in modern book-plates.

For other points of interest in and about ladies' book-plates the reader must consult Miss Labouchere's work; all I will do, in concluding my remarks upon them, is to say that--as might perhaps be expected--in phrases of book-possession ladies are even more outspoken than gentlemen; few, however, are so much so as Lady Dorothy Nevill, who protects her books with the words 'stolen from' placed before her name: surely she can be no more troubled by borrowers than was the Cavalier Macciucca (_vide_ p. 171).

FOOTNOTES:

[14] She married, in 1767, the Hon. John Damer, a son of Lord Milton.

[15] A variety of this book-plate exists on which the inscription reads: 'Anna Seymour-Damer.'

CHAPTER XII

THE MORE PROMINENT ENGRAVERS OF ENGLISH BOOK-PLATES

WILLIAM MARSHALL heads our list of engravers of English book-plates. We know of but one specimen of his work, but it is exceedingly fine--the anonymous plate of the Lyttelton family, described on p. 32. Marshall's works are dated between 1591 and 1646. Next after him comes the well-known engraver of portraits, William Faithorne (b. 1633; d. 1691), whose Portrait book-plate of Bishop Hacket is figured opposite. David Loggan, the engraver of the Isham book-plates in 1676, is the artist next on our roll. How many book-plates he designed and engraved I do not know, but there are two or three early English examples which, in their arrangement and touch, resemble somewhat closely his work for Isham.

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About this same date Michael Burghers was engraving book-plates in England; he appears to have left Holland in 1672, and to have settled in Oxford. The earliest book-plate of his that I have seen is that of Thomas Gore, already described; perhaps he found the allegory with which he embellished it was not popular with Englishmen, and his other book-plates--we know of two or three--are in the 'Simple Armorial' style usual in English book-plates of the period. Lord De Tabley suggests that Christopher Sartorius, who worked at Nuremberg between 1674 and 1737, may be connected with the James Sartor who signed a fine English 'Jacobean' book-plate at the opening of the eighteenth century; of this James we know nothing except this piece of work, which is certainly good. After Sartor comes John Pine, whose pompous book-plate, engraved about the year 1736, to commemorate George I.'s gift of books to the University of Cambridge, has been described and figured (p. 75). He was born in 1690, and died in 1756. His engravings of the Tapestry in the House of Commons became so popular, that he was the subject of a special Act of Parliament securing to him the emoluments arising from the sale of the work. Pine, as we have seen, engraved other book-plates later on in the century.

Michael Vandergucht, the famous Antwerp engraver, was also working in England before the close of the seventeenth century, but his first book-plate is dated in 1716. This was engraved for Sir William Fleming, of Rydal, and is in many respects a striking piece of work. The style is quite English of the period: heavy mantling descends to the base of the s.h.i.+eld; but the inscription--'The Paternal Arms of Sir William Fleming of Rydal in the county of Westmoreland, Baronet,' with a description of the heraldry--savours much of being the work of a foreigner. It should be mentioned of this artist that he was pupil of one of the many Boutats who were active as engravers of foreign book-plates. He (Vandergucht) died in Bloomsbury in 1725.

After him we may appropriately mention his princ.i.p.al pupil--George Vertue. His most conspicuous book-plate is certainly that of Lady Oxford, which is already familiar to the reader.

Simon Gribelin is well known as a book-ill.u.s.trator, and finds frequent mention by Walpole. He was born at Blois in 1661, came to England when nineteen, and worked here till his death in 1733. Perhaps the earliest book-plate he engraved is that of Sir Philip Sydenham, which shows us the s.h.i.+eld and crest encircled with snakes and other ornaments,--a book-plate decidedly foreign in appearance, though Gribelin must have been nearly twenty years in England when it was engraved. He did two other book-plates for Sir Philip. He also engraved some of the Parochial Library plates described later on (pp. 225-227), and some others.

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Though 'J. Skinner'[16] (see pp. 81-86), an engraver who worked at Bath, does not find mention in any dictionary of engravers, yet he deserves notice from the student of book-plates for the great quant.i.ty of his work in that field--nearly all dated, and some really very excellent. Of Skinner, Lord De Tabley writes:--'I would gladly learn some biographical details'; but he failed to find any, and I have been equally unfortunate. At the British Museum there is no Bath newspaper or directory sufficiently early to contain either an advertis.e.m.e.nt by Skinner or a mention of his place of residence; in the _Bath Directory_ of 1812 the name is represented by two grocers, a publican, a gardener, and one private resident--a Miss Skinner who lived at 3 St. James's Parade. Sir Wollaston Franks tells me that, amongst the engravers who vouched for the perfection of _Sympson's New Book of Cypher_--'the most perfect and neatest drawn of any performance of the kind hitherto extant'--was one Jacob Skinner, and it is very likely this was our friend the engraver of book-plates, who laboured at Bath from 1739 to 1753. He worked in three successive styles of English book-plate engraving--the Armorial, the Jacobean, and the Chippendale; a fact which renders his plates of special interest to collectors, since it enables them to see how the same hand treats the succeeding styles when fully developed, and during their gradual change from one style into the other. His earliest dated book-plate that we know is that for the library of Sir Christopher Musgrave (figured opposite), and the next, five years later, that of 'John Conyers of Walthamstow in Ess.e.x, Esq.'

Here the ornamentation is quite Jacobean; the s.h.i.+eld is oval, with wing-like excrescences at the top and on either side--that at the top forming a background to the helmet which supports the crest. Next year (1738) Skinner produced the book-plate of 'Francis Carington, Esq., of Wotton, Warwicks.h.i.+re'--in appearance even earlier than that of Musgrave.

Some of this early appearance is perhaps due to an absence of indication of the tinctures on the s.h.i.+eld--a habit which, as we shall presently see, Skinner followed in one or two other instances. A slight mantling falls from an esquire's helmet and descends a little way down the s.h.i.+eld till it joins the Jacobean scroll-work, and the owner's name and description are upon a fringed cloth. But the feature to note in this book-plate is the monogrammatic form of the engraver's signature: '[Ill.u.s.tration: JS symbol].' It is the first time he uses it, and in his subsequent dated work he appears always to have adopted some similar form, this being the most frequent:--'[Ill.u.s.tration: JS symbol]kin^{r}.'

[Ill.u.s.tration]

I have spoken of J. Skinner as a Bath engraver, but the reader will observe that none of the book-owners, whose book-plates by him I have as yet named, are specially connected with Bath, and on none has the engraver mentioned it as his place of residence; but insomuch as then--in the palmy days of the reign of King Nash--all roads led to Bath, it is probable that, at the fas.h.i.+onable season, the c.u.mberland baronet, as well as the Ess.e.x and Warwicks.h.i.+re squires, found his way thither, and followed the fas.h.i.+on by having a book-plate engraved, just as he would follow it, during his sojourn in the ancient city, by squandering his time and injuring his digestion with late hours and a surfeit of generally unwholesome gaiety. The next dated book-plate by Skinner bears this out; on this, engraved in 1739, he gives Bath as his place of abode; but this book-plate is that of Francis Ma.s.sy of Rixton, Lancas.h.i.+re; it is similar in design to the Carington just mentioned and figured.

But earlier in style than any of Skinner's work yet mentioned is the book-plate of 'William Hillary, M.D.,' dated in 1743; here the mantling descends nearly to the base of the s.h.i.+eld, quite in the 'Armorial'

style. This seems to be his latest work in early fas.h.i.+on. In 1741 he had designed a book-plate for 'John William Fuhr,' in which there are clear indications of Chippendale ornamentation. This is indeed a transitional book-plate; it has a Jacobean s.h.i.+eld, which the artist has adorned with Chippendale ornament; the tinctures are only partially expressed and the s.h.i.+eld remains symmetrical, though the floral sprays and sh.e.l.l-work give it, at first sight, the appearance of not being so. Identical, almost, with this book-plate is that done by Skinner for 'Henry Pennant,' and dated in 1742; and like it, but weaker, is that of 'Tho^{s.} Haviland, Bath,' dated in the same year.

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Skinner's next book-plates are those of 'Charles Delafaye, Esq., of Wichbury, Wilts' (1743); 'Johnson Robinson' (1744); 'John Hughes of Brecon, Esq^{re.}'; and 'Benja: Adamson' (1745); 'Hen. Toye Bridgeman, Esq., of Princknash, Gloucesters.h.i.+re' (1746); 'Henry Walters, Esq.,' and 'John Wodroofe' (1747), and 'Tho^{s.} Fitzherbert, Esq.,' (1749). All these last-named book-plates are much on a level as regards artistic merit, and that level is not a high one; Benjamin Adamson's book-plate, figured on p. 209, is a fair example of it, though it is not so good as the Bridgeman book-plate of the same year. In 1750, however, we find a more noteworthy specimen of Skinner's work in the book-plate of 'Francis Fleming.' There is a Scotch look about this, which suggests that the owner, and not the engraver, was responsible for its design; the s.h.i.+eld is oddly shaped and is on a medallion, whilst musical instruments of various kinds are figured beneath; Sir Wollaston Franks points out to me that the Fleming coat of arms here represented is borne only by the family of the Earls of Wigtown. The same year (1750) Skinner did an ordinary Chippendale book-plate for Dr. Robert Gusthart, whose name appears in the _Bath Guide_ as a doctor in practice there in 1773.

In 1751 Skinner engraved a pleasing Chippendale book-plate for William Oliver, a son of his more famous namesake, whose book-plate, also by Skinner, has been already described in these pages (p. 85). Young Oliver's plate shows a remarkable fineness of touch, and is altogether in very good taste--not over-ornamented. Two years later we have the latest known example of Skinner's work: the book-plate of 'The Rev^{d} I. Dobson, A.M.,' which is coa.r.s.e in execution, and suggests that the artist's skill as an engraver was diminis.h.i.+ng.

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Of the twenty-two known book-plates by Skinner only two are undated, Dr. Oliver's, already described (p. 85), and that of Sir John Smyth, Bart., LL.D. This last he must have executed early in his career. The s.h.i.+eld bearing the arms stands upon a platform, and is Jacobean in shape and ornamentation; the background is shaded. Clumsily drawn and clumsily posed female figures, partly draped, stand upon bracket-like excrescences that spring from the s.h.i.+eld, whilst cupids recline below it and hold it aloft.

What happened to Skinner after 1753 I have failed to discover. He is certainly an interesting person from a book-plate collector's point of view, and it is to be hoped something more about him may some day be brought to light. In considering his ident.i.ty it is worth remembering that a little after his disappearance, viz. in 1755, another West of England engraver named Skinner--Matthew Skinner of Exeter, is found working on book-plates. He signs three examples, all designed in the Chippendale style--'Jean Eli Jaqueri de Moudon en Suisse, Ne en 1732'; 'S^{r} Edm^{d} Thomas, Bart.,' and 'Peregrine Fra^{s} Thorne.' The two first are ordinary Chippendale examples, but in the third many implements of the soldier's art are introduced.

Another very prolific engraver of book-plates--unknown except in that capacity--was 'Robert Mountaine.' His book-plates are frequently dated, but the dates are placed in the most obscure positions, and in the smallest of figures, so it needs a careful study of the engravings to discover them. He laboured wholly in the Chippendale style; his touch is peculiar, and his treatment graceful. Roughly speaking, he worked from 1740 to 1755. His signature varies--sometimes it is 'R.M.,'

sometimes 'Mountaine.'

The following are a few of his book-plates:--