Book Plates Part 3

As a rule, too, an escallop-sh.e.l.l forms the centre of the bracket in Jacobean book-plates. In some instances it is placed in the centre below, but more usually in the centre above; and then in the centre below we have the head of some mythical and uninviting monster. Either as quasi-supporters on the ledges of the bracket, right and left, or on the side ledges of the s.h.i.+eld, if the bracket is amalgamated with the frame, are 'things' selected from the following miscellaneous collection--lions; cherubs, male and female; term-figures; busts of fairies, with b.u.t.terfly wings; angels, generally engaged in trumpet-blowing, etc.

The student should notice this escallop-sh.e.l.l, because we shall see it introduced into the style of decoration that succeeded the Jacobean--there it became a sh.e.l.ly border rather than a distinct sh.e.l.l.

On the whole, then, the usual ornamentation of a Jacobean book-plate renders it easily recognisable. The decoration is stiff and conventional, displays more solidity than grace, and altogether seems less appropriate to a book-plate than the heavy rolls of mantling, which, as we have seen, surrounded the s.h.i.+eld during the prevalence of the preceding style. As for the t.i.tle 'Jacobean' which has been bestowed upon it, it should be explained that the reference is rather to the style of decoration in vogue in the days of James II. than to anything in the days of James I. Lord De Tabley has pointed out that, as compared with the woodwork preserved in churches of the latter half of the seventeenth century, and as compared with the mouldings on monuments of the same period, a practical ident.i.ty of decoration cannot fail to strike the antiquary, and his choice of the name 'Jacobean' for this cla.s.s of book-plates is thus abundantly justified.

Examples of Jacobean book-plates are numerous in most English collections, for the style continued long in fas.h.i.+on; indeed, it lasted, in more or less purity, down to 1745, or even later, and I think it quite likely that some of the evidently early undated examples may really have been executed during the last quarter of the seventeenth century. The similarity, to which we have just alluded, between the ornamentation shown upon Jacobean book-plates and that displayed in ecclesiastical decoration of the time of Charles the Second as well as James the Second, makes it very probable that this is so.

The few book-plates which are known to have been designed or executed by Hogarth (see p. 79) are in the Jacobean style; but, with the exception of that eminent artist and George Vertue, the men who worked upon Jacobean book-plates were not distinguished engravers. Nevertheless, some of their productions are distinctly good, though the decoration was, perhaps, too often overdone. The touch, in many, suggests that the artist was accustomed to engrave on gold or silver plate. This is notably the case in the book-plate of 'Charles Barlow, Esq., of Emmanuel College, Cambridge,' engraved in, or immediately after, 1730. This book-plate is worthy of observation, should the reader meet with it, as a particularly exaggerated example of the Jacobean style: the framework seems scarcely able to support the decorative accessories with which it is laden, and which include representations of birds, beasts, mythical figures, stony flowers in festoons or baskets, heads, sh.e.l.ls, and what not!

The earliest dated Jacobean example is that of 'William Fitz Gerald, Lord Bishop of Clonfert,' which is inscribed '1698.' Here the escutcheon is of the 'Simple Armorial' shape, but set in a Jacobean framework, decorated with leafy sprays, and surmounted by a mitre, the ribbons of which terminate in ta.s.sels. Next we have the book-plates of five Cambridge Colleges,--Jesus, Pembroke, Queens', St. John's, and Trinity Hall; all bear the same engraved date--1700. These, and many like them dated in subsequent years, are no doubt the work of one man: the design consists of an escutcheon, on which are the College arms, set in a finely-drawn, scale-patterned frame, bedecked with hawk-bells, ribbons, wreaths, and sprays of flowers. Other College plates--except that of New College, Oxford, which is 'Simple Armorial' in its style--are Jacobean.

In 1701 comes the book-plate of Dame Anna Margaretta Mason. Here the lozenge, in which she bears her arms, appears with decoration very similar to that just described, though slightly more elaborate. In 1703 the book-plate of Philip Lynch shows how similar decoration is bestowed upon an oval escutcheon; whilst, in 1713, the book-plate of Henry, Duke of Kent, furnishes an early dated example of the introduction of the bracket, which is, as we have seen, a leading feature in Jacobean ornamentation.

This is really a remarkably fine book-plate. The escutcheon, indented in a somewhat peculiar fas.h.i.+on, is surrounded by the Garter, and fastened to the front of the bracket, a highly ornamented piece of work, on which stand the two supporters. Above is the ducal coronet; below, in an oblong Jacobean frame, is the inscription. The family of Grey, Dukes of Kent, is prolific in book-plates; that, dated five years later, of 'Mary, Countess of Harrold,' daughter-in-law to Henry, Duke of Kent, is a more elaborate, though less finely executed, piece of Jacobean work.

Her arms, and those of her husband, appear side by side in separate oval s.h.i.+elds; angels hold aloft an earl's coronet over both, while below, between the s.h.i.+elds, is the head of a cherub, whose wings are arranged as a collar.

Other conspicuous Jacobean book-plates are those of Ellerker Bradshaw; Dr. Philip Bisse, Bishop of St. David's; Richard Ma.s.sie of Coddington, Ches.h.i.+re; 'James Hustler,' 1730; 'Sir Thomas Hare, Baronet, of Stow Hall, in Norfolk,' dated in 1734 (see p. 61); 'Francis Winnington, of Lincoln's Inn, Esq.,' dated in 1732; 'Saml. Goodford of ye Inner Temple, Esq.,' dated in 1737; 'John Robinson, M.D.,' dated in 1742; 'St.

Thomas's Hospital Library;' and 'Lucius Henry Hibbins, of Gray's Inne, Esqe.'

A little before, and a little after, 1720 there was a fas.h.i.+on in English book-plates, which may almost be called a style: it was to place the s.h.i.+eld of arms in a medallion, the background of which is shaded.

Beneath, is the owner's name and description. The term 'Tombstone Style'

might not sound an agreeable designation for these book-plates, but it would be very accurate; for, really, there is a strong likeness between them and the monumental slabs placed over deceased persons, whose social status rendered them eligible for interment in positions where they would be walked over by future generations of church-goers. We may mention three such book-plates: Edward Haistwell, dated in 1718, Sir John Rushout and John Lethieullier, Remembrancer of the City.

So far the shape of the s.h.i.+eld used has been perfectly symmetrical. We now come to speak of the third style adopted by English book-plate designers, the leading feature of which is an absence of symmetry. This style has been christened 'Chippendale'; and when its characteristics have been described, and the leading features in Chippendale furniture remembered, we shall see the appropriateness of the name.

'The mark and stamp of a Chippendale _ex libris_,' says Lord De Tabley, 'is a frilling or border of open sh.e.l.l-work, set close up to the rounded outer margin of the escutcheon, and, with breaks, more or less enclosing it. This seems to be a modification of the scallop sh.e.l.l, so normal at the base either of frame or bracket on a Jacobean plate. It is, in fact, a border imitating the pectinated curves and grooves on the margins of a scallop-sh.e.l.l. Outside this succeed various furniture-like limbs and flourishes, eminently resembling the triumphs of ornate upholstery which Chippendale about this time brought into vogue.' The helmet and mantling are quite exceptional in book-plates of this style, except in examples which were probably designed and executed by Scotch artists.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Although it was not until 1754 that Chippendale published, in folio, _The Gentleman's and Cabinetmaker's Director_, 'being a large Collection of the most useful Designs of Household Furniture in the most fas.h.i.+onable taste, with 160 Plates of elegant designed Furniture,' there was probably by that time a good deal of Chippendale furniture already in the market, and we are therefore not surprised to find a book-plate designed in the Chippendale style, dated in 1714--that of 'East Apthorpe.' True, the style there shown is not at all 'advanced,' yet there are decided indications of it, and for that reason it deserves attention. Although the s.h.i.+eld is sh.e.l.l-shaped and ornamented with flowers, yet there are upon the plate indications of a horizontally-hatched Jacobean lining to the frame. We may, I think, consider this one of the earliest attempts at designing a Chippendale book-plate.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The style improved during the next ten or fifteen years, and then began to deteriorate. As an escutcheon, the sh.e.l.l-shaped or non-symmetrical s.h.i.+eld is unnatural and even ugly, but it lends itself to an artistic treatment which the previous styles in English book-plates certainly did not. For example, flowers--of which there are always many in this style of book-plate--can be represented as in nature; roses blossom on sprays or branches, instead of being woven closely together in conventional festoons, lilies are left to droop their heads, whilst bunches of gra.s.ses or leaves are bound so loosely together that they forfeit nothing of their natural elegance. Allegoric figures also find place in Chippendale book-plates, but they are of a much more attractive kind than those displayed in the Jacobean plates. Cupids or nymphs are sometimes really graceful bits of drawing when depicted in the better specimens of the style of which we are now speaking. The book-plate of 'James Brackstone, Citizen of London,' dated in 1751--figured opposite this page--is as good a specimen of a pure Chippendale book-plate as could be found; whilst that of John Ord of Lincoln Inn, dated ten years later, betrays some signs of a decadence which soon afterwards became general.

'The fas.h.i.+on,' as Lord De Tabley remarks, 'began to be vulgarised in the hands of weak designers, who bestowed floral embellishments upon the framework of the s.h.i.+elds, without any moderation whatever, endeavouring by a crowded decoration to mask the real weakness and poverty of their powers of design.' As a consequence, we have in the later Chippendale book-plates, those, say, from 1760 to 1780 or 1785, some very terrible productions. Sh.e.l.l-work and flowers are retained, but they are regarded as inadequate, and cherubs, dragons, 'nymphs in kilted petticoats,'

sheep, cattle, trees, fruit, fruit-baskets, portions of buildings, fountains, books, implements of husbandry, and a host of other miscellaneous objects appear as decorations. Indeed, it is wonderful what a strange medley a designer in the later days of Chippendaleism could produce for a customer willing to pay for it!

We may as well here point out a few interesting examples of English book-plates designed in the Chippendale style. A prolific worker in it was J. Skinner of Bath (see pp. 81-86; 203-212), who followed the excellent plan of dating nearly all his work, which should, therefore, be carefully observed when met with. In one of his book-plates, that which, in 1743, he produced for 'Charles Delafaye, Esq., of Wichbury, Wilts.' it is curious to note with what evident diffidence the designer uses the graceful sprays of natural flowers in ornamenting the sh.e.l.ly s.h.i.+eld. Yet in another book-plate, that of Benjamin Hatley Foote, engraved in the same year, the anonymous artist uses these ornaments without hesitation, and produces a book-plate which might have been engraved many years later. Two very noticeable examples are also supplied by the fully developed Chippendale book-plates of Richard Caryer and Joseph Pocklington. In each the crest is placed on a miniature representation of the s.h.i.+eld, which contains the arms. Of the debased Chippendale book-plates, of which we have had to speak, it is hard to select examples for particular reference, for they are sadly numerous, and seem to vie with each other in ugliness and vulgarity; the prize may, however, be claimed by 'C. Eve', who, conscious, perhaps, of the atrocity he was committing in using such a book-plate, makes an attempt at disguising his name. To describe his plate is nearly impossible; suffice it to say that, built on to the frame are sundry stages on which a variety of pastoral scenes are depicted, and that any beauties which the floral embellishments might in themselves possess are effectually obliterated by overcrowding.

Before Chippendaleism had died out, another marked style in English book-plates had already come in, and was getting to be generally adopted. We will call this the 'Wreath and Ribbon' or 'Festoon' style, and probably one of the earliest examples of it is that figured opposite, which shows us the book-plate of George Lewis Jones, Bishop of Kilmore, dated in 1774. There is a good deal of grace in these 'Wreath and Ribbon' book-plates. The s.h.i.+eld is again symmetrical, and of a shape that a s.h.i.+eld might possibly be; the flowers and leaves that decorate it are for the most part still left free and unconfined, and even when woven into festoons they are somewhat less conventional than those which compose the festoons of the Jacobean period. These festoons, and a labyrinth of floating ribbons, were intended to compensate for the loss of the sh.e.l.ly border and its adjuncts of the 'Chippendale' style.

Just in the same way as the Chippendale book-plates very closely resembled in their decoration the furniture with which Chippendale filled the fas.h.i.+onable drawing-rooms of his time, so in their turn those designed in what we have christened the 'Wreath and Ribbon' style very closely resembled the decoration which Thomas Sheraton suggested for contemporary furniture. This the reader may see for himself, if he will turn to Sheraton's work, _The Cabinetmaker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

I do not know that there are many examples of the 'Wreath and Ribbon'

book-plates which call for special attention. Though several are pretty, there is a strong family likeness between all. Perhaps the most conspicuous is that of 'John Symons, Esq^{r}.' In this, prettily drawn cherubs, descending from the sky, hold the corners of a mantle, which surrounds the s.h.i.+eld. The book-plates of 'Sir Thomas Banks I'Anson, of Corfe Castle, Dorset'; of the 'Rev. George Pollen'; and of 'John Holcombe, New Cross,' are useful for comparison, on account of the engraved dates which they bear--1783, 1787, and 1799 respectively; whilst that of 'Robert Surtees, Mainsforth,' is interesting both from its possessor, the historian of Durham, who was also its designer, and from its unusual hatched background.

By degrees the festoons of flowers and entanglement of ribbons were discarded, and the s.h.i.+eld, similarly shaped, appeared dest.i.tute of ornamentation. The helmet was omitted, and the 'wreath' on which the crest should properly rest was placed, in a meaningless way, the fraction of an inch above the upper line of the s.h.i.+eld, and entirely without support. After this, quite early in the nineteenth century, and during its first fifteen or twenty years, there came into fas.h.i.+on a design in English book-plates which we may term the 'Celestial' style.

In this the s.h.i.+eld is depicted as suspended in mid-air, with a background of sky or clouds, or else resting upon a cloud-built bank. It gave the designer very slight opportunity for the display of artistic taste; had it done so, the opportunity would probably have been neglected, for the designers and engravers of book-plates in this style were men of whom the world at large knows nothing. The s.h.i.+eld, in book-plates of the time of which I am now speaking, was entirely without ornament, and of this shape--

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The helmet was seldom introduced, so that the crest was placed in the same absurd position as that just described. The s.h.i.+eld figured above is a fair specimen of that in vogue between 1810 and 1830. From the latter date to within a few years ago, the arms, in the majority of English book-plates, were represented in a more ornate s.h.i.+eld. The helmet was reintroduced, and from it fell a slight mantling, somewhat similar to that which appears in our earliest examples. It is hardly necessary to indicate any particular specimens designed in these last-mentioned styles.

Before closing this chapter, I ought, perhaps, to say a word about Scotch and Irish book-plates. It cannot be said that in these there was ever a style distinctively national. The style fas.h.i.+onable in England at a particular time was also fas.h.i.+onable in Scotland and in Ireland; yet there is a perceptible difference in the way in which its details were carried out, especially in Scotland. In Edinburgh there were several book-plate engravers, and their work possesses a characteristic touch;[6] the 'Simple Armorial' style is rendered much more stiffly, and the s.h.i.+eld is often round. 'Jacobean' book-plates are very uncommon, but the 'Chippendales' are an odd mixture of that style as we know it in England and the 'Jacobean.' The presence of a helmet and mantling in a 'Chippendale' book-plate engraved in Scotland is not unusual, and the s.h.i.+eld is always very soberly placed. I do not know of a 'Library Interior' plate that hails from north of the Tweed; but, if one ever be discovered, depend upon it no Cupids will frolic there. A few Scotch book-plates are, perhaps, emblematic; that is, display emblems of the possessor's art or trade. Dr. John Bosworth's, in which are figured the staff of aesculapius, a c.o.c.k, a serpent, and an owl, is an instance of this; but allegory is almost unknown. No mythological figures sit among the floral decorations of Scotch Chippendale book-plates, as they do so frequently in later Chippendale work in England. The only instance that I can call to mind of the introduction of figures at all into the decoration of a Scotch book-plate, is that of 'Birnie of Broomhill'

(_circa_ 1715), reproduced opposite, and in this the figures are sombre enough,--two ministers of 'the kirk' kneeling at their desks. Irish book-plates have even less individuality than Scotch, and are chiefly recognisable by the coa.r.s.eness of their work, and their dark printing.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

FOOTNOTE:

[6] A list of some Scottish book-plate engravers, compiled by Mr. J.

Orr, is printed in the _Ex Libris Journal_, ii. p. 41.

CHAPTER IV

ALLEGORY IN ENGLISH BOOK-PLATES

IN the last chapter I spoke of the leading styles followed in designing English book-plates, in, as far as possible, chronological sequence, though the reader will have noticed that such styles overlapped each other, often by a considerable number of years. Concurrently with these distinct styles, or with nearly all of them, there are to be found many English book-plates which may be appropriately called 'picture'

book-plates, and which may themselves be divided into two cla.s.ses: those which, quite apart from the heraldry upon them, show things unreal, or combinations of things real and unreal; and those which, apart from the heraldry, show things wholly real. Let us speak, first, of the former of these divisions--'Allegoric' book-plates we will call them.

The collector will soon discover that in England allegory formed at no period, except, perhaps, in the days of Bartolozzi and Sherwin, a really national style in book-plates, but rather an occasional fancy indulged in by a particular individual here and there. Whilst in France book-plates on which was displayed allegory, and the wildest allegory, were actually abundant, in England they are decidedly rare; and it is indeed interesting to see how our English artists set to work when called upon to design them.

So far as I am aware, the earliest example of an English Allegoric book-plate as yet brought to light, is that of Thomas Gore of Alderton, which is fully described on p. 34. This may be dated somewhere about 1675, and was, as the signature shows us, the work of a Dutch artist, Michael Burghers; so that we may, perhaps, regard the allegory upon it rather as the outcome of Michael's brain than the carrying out of instructions given him by a Wilts.h.i.+re squire!

The date of the next English book-plate I have noticed, in which allegory is introduced, is also the work of a foreigner,--a Frenchman,--Louis du Guernier, who, at the age of thirty, came over from Paris in 1708, and who died here in 1716. Soon after his arrival he executed a book-plate, decidedly foreign in appearance, for Lady Cairnes, wife of Sir Alexander Cairnes of Monaghan. The Cairnes arms, impaling Gould, are on a round s.h.i.+eld in a scaly frame; this is placed on steps, at the back of which is cla.s.sical masonry. The s.h.i.+eld is kept from falling by three cupids,--two seated and one standing,--whilst two flying ones hold aloft a ribbon bearing the owner's name, thus: 'Lady Elizabeth Cairnes.' She was a sister of Sir Nathaniel Gould, so that her description on the book-plate as 'Lady' is clearly wrong; she should have been called 'Dame.' The error arose, most likely, from the engraver's imperfect knowledge of English t.i.tles,--a very general stumbling-block to foreigners. The book-plate is an exceedingly pretty piece of work. There is some of the Jacobean scale work used in it which English engravers were beginning to introduce into their designs; but the employment of allegory is certainly the most striking feature it possesses. I do not know of any other book-plates executed by Louis du Guernier while in England, and probably the people of this country were not yet quite prepared to confide--as Lord De Tabley puts it--their family escutcheons 'to the care of Minerva or the Delian Phoebus himself.'

But though Michael Burghers's somewhat unbeautiful allegory may not have pleased Thomas Gore or his other English clients in 1675, nor the prettier allegory of Louis du Guernier have generally commended itself to people in this country in 1710, allegory, if not in the work of these artists, was bound sooner or later to come into fas.h.i.+on on English book-plates, seeing that it was, and for long had been, fas.h.i.+onable across the Channel. There have been few outbreaks of disease on the Continent that have not infected this country,--at all events, slightly.

The foreigners whom the foreign king, on his arrival in England in 1688, brought with him engendered foreign ways and foreign fas.h.i.+ons at Court, and these ways and fas.h.i.+ons were in turn adopted by people who did not go to Court, and that is how allegory crept into the book-plates of the rank and file of Englishmen.

The first English engraver, born and bred, to execute an Allegoric book-plate was John Pine, himself a man of letters, and one with whose features Hogarth has made us familiar. In 1736 he was employed to design and engrave a book-plate to place in the thirty thousand volumes of Bishop Moore's library, which George I. had bought, in 1715, to present to the University of Cambridge, but which were not suitably housed till 1734. No doubt Pine was fully impressed with the munificence of the gift,--a ma.s.s of volumes which the heavy-headed king would have never opened had he kept, and never understood had he opened them. His task was to design a book-plate commensurate with the royal munificence, and he probably considered he had been equal to the occasion when he produced what we see opposite the next page. Lord De Tabley's words so accurately describe this pompous production, that I will quote them:--

'The design represents a vast structure, rather like an ormolu chimney-piece clock, of which the arms of the University of Cambridge, in a plain, solid frame, represent the face. Behind this towers up a vast pyramid, on which the brick work is distinctly marked. As dexter supporter stands Phoebus Apollo in person, reaching out a wreath. A clouded sun rays out behind him. At his feet are deposited samples of the book collection of late so munificently bestowed. As sinister supporter sits Minerva with helm and spear and Gorgon-headed s.h.i.+eld. Her feet are wrapt in cloud. In the centre of the bracket, beneath these G.o.ds, is inserted a medallion portrait of royal George, reading round its exergue, _Georgius D.G., MAG. BR. FR. ET HIB. REX F.D._ This is flanked by a laurel and a palm branch.' Pine--who had submitted proofs of this book-plate before August 1736, for at that date he offers to make George's portrait more accurate--engraved four sizes of this plate.

The design is similar in three, but in the fourth, and smallest, the artist evidently felt that, in so limited a s.p.a.ce, he could not do justice to Apollo and Minerva, and discreetly omitted them. He signs this smallest plate in full, 'J. Pine, Sculp.'

There may now be seen at Cambridge, in many of the books which George I.

presented, book-plates which at first sight appear to be modern impressions from Pine's plates, but, on examination, prove to be copies, though not exact copies, of Pine's work, and on these the signature is 'J. B.' The late Mr. Henry Bradshaw discovered that these copies were the work of John Baldrey, a Cambridge engraver, at the close of the last century. At the time that he was working for the University, a large number of the volumes given by George I. required re-binding, and, as Pine's plates were worn out or lost, Baldrey was commissioned to execute a copy of the earlier design, in order to supply a book-plate for the re-bound volumes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE FOUND IN BOOKS GIVEN BY GEORGE I. TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.]

Very soon after the 'Munificentia Regia' to Cambridge in 1715, the loyalty of Oxford to the 'ill.u.s.trious House of Hanover' was seriously doubted, and the King sent a squadron of horse into the city, whereupon an Oxford 'varsity wit composed the following epigram:--

'The King, observing with judicious eyes, The state of both his Universities, To one he sends a regiment;--For why?