Book Plates Part 4

That _learned_ body wanted _loyalty_; To th' other books he gave, as well discerning How much that _loyal_ body wanted _learning_.'

Which drew from a champion of Cambridge the reply:--

'The King to Oxford sent his troop of horse, For Tories own no _argument_ but _force_; With equal care, to Cambridge books he sent, For Whigs allow no _force_ but _argument_.'

Though much later in date than the design just noticed, it may be as well to mention here another book-plate--also 'Allegoric'--which, was engraved by John Pine. This was executed by him from a drawing by Gravelot, for Dr. John Burton, about the year 1740. It shows us the interior of a library, presumably the doctor's, with a couple of cupids supporting a shield bearing the Burton arms. This design, which was subsequently appropriated by 'Wadham Wyndham, Esq.,' as his book-plate,[7] is a very 'slight' affair after the Cambridge plate; but Pine no doubt possessed a fitting sense of the difference to be observed in designing a book-plate for a mere Doctor of Divinity and in commemorating the gift of a royal donor.

After John Pine, the next designers of English book-plates in the Allegoric style are both famous men,--William Hogarth and George Vertue.

We will speak of the works of the greater man first: they consist of two undoubted book-plates and of a few more possible ones, and were executed quite at the outset of Hogarth's career, say, about 1720. The first is described as done for the books of John Holland, herald painter. Minerva is seen seated among cupids, four in number, with her hand placed upon a shield bearing the family arms. The chief interest in Hogarth's other undoubted book-plate--that of George Lambart, the landscape painter, one of Hogarth's convivial crew--lies in the female figures, which sit right and left of the shield. It is figured over leaf, from the copy in Sir Wollaston Franks's collection, which is the only original example known to exist--other copies are from the plates in Ireland's work, and bear his initials. The collector is cautioned against certain plates signed 'W. H.,' which have been attributed to Hogarth, but are in reality the work of William Hibbart, a Bath engraver, working about the middle of the eighteenth century.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Turning now to the work of George Vertue in designing English Allegoric book-plates, we come to a very beautiful and very interesting example, which was probably engraved in, or very soon after, 1730--the book-plate of Henrietta, Countess of Oxford. I have already called attention to this engraving in speaking of old-time allusions to book-plates (p. 14), and do not here intend to do more than make pa.s.sing reference to it, since I have spoken fully of it later on in what I have to say about 'ladies'' book-plates (pp. 186-199). It is only mentioned now in order to give a reference to it in its proper chronological position.

We have now to travel for some distance along the road of time before coming to another example of allegory on an English book-plate.

We find it, in 1740, on a plate which one J. Skinner engraved from a design by 'T. Ross.' This is really a very beautiful book-plate, as its reproduction (p. 83) shows. A shield--the shape and ornamentation of which is Chippendale--bearing the Wiltshire arms, is placed upon a platform and against a cippus, or small monumental column; Shakespeare stands on the right, and listens, with a pleased expression, to the music of a rustic piper, whose head appears at the back of the cippus, whilst, on the left, Pope weighs the eloquence of an orator, whose head and upraised hand also appear from behind the cippus. A medallion of Augustus is on a pedestal above. Lying on the platform are a globe and books and many emblems of the painter's and musician's arts, and amongst these sits Cupid thinking, perhaps, with which he will play next, and holding the end of a ribbon inscribed: 'John Wiltshire, Bath, 1740.' The design is certainly original, and makes us interested as to the ident.i.ty of the owner.

It is quite possible that we have here not only an interesting book-plate, but the book-plate of an interesting man. When Gainsborough, the painter, moved to Bath in 1760 he found that the 'Pickford' of the day, who had the carrying trade of the Bath road, was no ordinary carrier, but a man of taste and culture, and ready to do anything he could to help art and artists. He was a certain John Wiltshire, and before Gainsborough had been long a resident at Bath he was Wiltshire's fast friend, and in the enjoyment of a very tangible proof of friendship: for Wiltshire carried to London, _gratis_, every picture that Gainsborough needed to send thither. Not a penny would he take for carriage. 'No, no,' he would say, when the painter's modesty led him to protest against such generosity, 'I admire painting too much for that.'

No doubt he did, and it must be said that, in return for his goodness, Gainsborough gave him many a charming bit of work on which to feast his eyes. Let us hope we have before us the book-plate of this 'kind of worthy man,' as Allan Cunningham called him, who loved Gainsborough and admired his works.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Of course the plate is twenty years earlier than the commencement of Gainsborough's residence at Bath and of his friendship with Wiltshire; but what of that? Wiltshire had been, likely enough, a lover of things beautiful and the owner of books, long before; there is no necessity for imagining that his was a sudden conversion to a self-sacrificing love for art, produced by intimacy with Gainsborough.

Another interesting English book-plate, in which allegory plays a part, is that, also by J. Skinner, of William Oliver,[8] doctor of medicine, philanthropist, and inventor of biscuits. It is, judging from the form of the engraver's signature, of about the same date as the Wiltshire book-plate. The shield, bearing the Oliver coat-of-arms, rests upon a platform on which stand two figures, as in the example last described; but instead of these figures being representative of the drama and of literature, they are an ancient and a modern medical pract.i.tioner: the former, perhaps, even the G.o.d of medicine himself. This was quite appropriate, for Oliver, though a man of cultured tastes in varied walks of life, and one who might have appropriately committed the care of his family escutcheon to the allegoric representatives of many arts, was first and foremost a doctor of medicine. The modern doctor is arrayed in cap and gown, and stands on the left of the shield, with hand outstretched towards his fellow of old time. Below the platform, on a triangle, is a club, around which the serpent of aesculapius entwines itself.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Oliver's life lasted for hard on seventy years--1695 to 1764; after settling at Bath and commencing practice, his rise to fame was remarkable for its rapidity, and, as quite early in his career he busied himself with hospital building, hospital management, and other good works, he soon made for himself a number of enemies amongst his fellow-pract.i.tioners less capable and less energetic than himself. As a physician and philanthropist he is now forgotten; as the inventor of a biscuit he is remembered--for the 'Bath Oliver' still holds its own against the mult.i.tude of modern compet.i.tors, and is still--so the makers say--prepared from Dr. Oliver's original receipt. That receipt he confided, when on his death-bed, to his coachman, giving him 100 in money and ten sacks of the finest flour wherewith to continue the production of the then already popular biscuits. With the money the coachman opened a shop in Green Street, Bath, and so got together a comfortable fortune. Of Skinner, to whom we owe these two plates, we shall have more to say presently (pp. 203-212), in referring to the engravers of English book-plates.

Ten years after the Wiltshire plate comes our next distinctly Allegoric book-plate, engraved by a second-rate engraver for 'John Duick.' I have not seen this plate, but Lord De Tabley, whose word-pictures are always good, thus describes it:--'Apollo with a broad ray effect round his head, playing the lyre to the nine Muses, who are grouped around him; the musical ones also a.s.sist in the concert with various instruments.

Below are clouds, above them appear the abrupt cliffs of Helicon, with Pegasus launching himself into the air therefrom; the fountain Hippocrene, tapped by his galloping hoofs, descends the cliff-side in a cascade.'

Allegory also appears in the two book-plates engraved by Sir Robert Strange about the middle of the eighteenth century; those of his brother-in-law, Andrew Lumisden, secretary to Prince Charlie, and of a Dr. Thomas Drummond. The circ.u.mstances under which the former was engraved have been already referred to (p. 11). It is a sombre book-plate, showing us, before a dark background, a slab with a bust at either end; 'Cupid' plays on the ground before the centre of the slab; the Lumisden arms are on a shield that lies in the left-hand corner; and a heavy curtain hangs over the upper part of the design, which is signed '_R. Strange, sculpt._'

Dr. Drummond's book-plate (see p. 89) is a less heavy, but not so finished a production, and is drawn by T. Wale: Aurora soars at the top of the design, and with her left hand pulls aside a curtain, thus disclosing a view of the doctor's library. In the centre is placed a table covered with cloth, except at the right-hand corner; here the drapery is raised so as to display the ornate workmanship of the table-leg. On the cloth are a number of books, some music, and a flute; before the table a globe, and, leaning against that, a violoncello. The general decoration of the room is cla.s.sical, and busts and statues are introduced, though not with sufficient detail to be recognisable. In Aurora's right hand is a flaming torch, held in dangerous proximity to the curtain.

After the date of these two plates comes another long interval--twenty years or so--before we reach the next truly Allegoric book-plate designed in England. We then find a decidedly graceful piece of work. A hooded Sibyl, seated at the foot of a pyramid, peruses attentively an open volume. She leans her cheek upon her right hand, whilst the left rests upon the book. A caduceus, against which rests a shield of arms, lies at her feet. The whole is contained in an oval wreath of berried laurel. Below is written: 'E libris Joh[=i]s Currer de Kildwick, Arm.'

This book-plate was afterwards altered for 'Danson Richardson Currer, de Gledston, Ar[=m],' and an inferior copy was used by a certain R. H.

Alexander Bennet; this is a much commoner book-plate than the Currer--in either form.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Of much the same date is the far less graceful representation of allegory, which appears on the book-plate of 'T. Gascoigne, Parlington, in Yorkshire.' Here we have a representation of what, we must presume, is the interior of the Parlington Library; but neither 'T. Gascoigne,'

nor yet any other eighteenth century Yorkshire gentleman, is tasting the sweets of his literary collection; the library is tenanted by a couple of mythological females, of such substantial forms that Lord De Tabley thinks they must represent two Yorkshire damsels masquerading, one as a muse and the other as Apollo. The muse writes down either notes or words from Apollo's dictation. Columns support the roof of the library, and in a niche in the wall stands a small statue of Minerva. If Mr. Gascoigne obtained the services of some Yorkshire relatives to stand as models for the figures on his book-plate, he probably did so when they were in town for the season, for the work is signed by a Bond Street engraver.

About the year 1775, English Allegoric book-plates became more numerous, and the allegory upon them a.s.sumes a grace in conception and execution not before known. Cipriani, Bartolozzi, and his pupil Sherwin, were showing Englishmen how allegory could be represented on book-plates without being clumsy and ridiculous, and the lesser artists were imitating their work with more or less success.

One of Bartolozzi's earliest book-plates was executed for Sir Foster Cunliffe, Bart., the descendant of a very famous Liverpool merchant. The Cunliffe arms appear in mid-air, resting upon a bank of clouds; two exquisitely drawn cherubs support the shield, over which is folded drapery. The cherub on the dexter side is seated, and holds a caduceus in his right hand. The one on the sinister side is furnished with two trumpets, and is blowing that in his left hand. On a medallion above the shield is the Cunliffe crest, with the motto _Fideliter_. The plate, which was afterwards altered for Sir Robert H. Cunliffe, Bart., is, in all probability, Cipriani's design, for that artist signs his name as designer of an almost similar book-plate for Jean Tommins, which was engraved by Ford several years before. A very coa.r.s.e imitation of the design was also used by Thomas Anson of Shughborough, who intrusted the imitation to Yates.

Sir Foster Cunliffe was a grandson of Foster Cunliffe, King Charles the Second's G.o.dson, the Liverpool merchant, who, according to Foster's _Lancashire Families_, 'became not only the first man in Liverpool, but was supposed to have a more extended commerce than any merchant in the kingdom, and declined all solicitations that he should represent Liverpool in Parliament.'

The remarkably large example of Bartolozzi's work which has often been described as the book-plate of George III., does not appear ever to have been used as such. In the previous edition of this book I alluded to it (at p. 67) as, possibly, a gift to the King, in which, at the expense of utility, Bartolozzi sought to display his grat.i.tude to, and admiration for, the sovereign, under whom he had come to reside; it does not, however, seem that Bartolozzi intended the engraving for a book-plate at all, but designed it for the t.i.tle-page of a folio volume, issued in 1792, which contained engravings of thirty-six statesmen of the reign of Henry VIII., from drawings by Holbein. I will give a short description of the engraving in question, so that it may be more easily recognised by the collector, if offered to him as a book-plate. It shows us the arms of England, as borne by George III., prior to the Union with Ireland, upheld in mid-air by three inhabitants of the skies. Above the shield a fourth celestial being is flying, and at the same time holding aloft His Majesty's crown. On the left side of the plate is the figure of Fame, who, on a long trumpet placed to her lips, is evidently giving a sonorous blast. This is perhaps the most uncomfortable part of the design, for the whole weight of this somewhat ma.s.sive young lady is upon the shield, which we have said is in mid-air, and only supported by three cherubs, whose united muscular powers strike one as totally inadequate to bear the burden imposed upon them.

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In 1796, Bartolozzi, then a Royal Academician, executed his most beautiful book-plate. It is inscribed 'H. F. Bessborough,' and was made for Lady Henrietta Frances Spencer, who, in 1780, married Frederick, third Earl of Bessborough. The design shows us a Roman interior with an exquisitely drawn Venus, seated, and holding in her left hand--which is uplifted--a burning human heart, and in her right, a dove. Behind her is a vase of flowers. The other inmates of the room are two cupids, who hold above the G.o.ddess a long scarf bearing Lady Bessborough's name. The design is Cipriani's. Besides his signature and that of the engraver, there is also on the book-plate, 'Published Dec. 30, 1796, by F.

Bartolozzi.' It will be remembered that in 1735 Hogarth, by his own exertions on behalf of his brother artists, managed to get an Act through Parliament--a body that then probably cared little for art or artists--by which designers and engravers obtained a copyright in their own works; and it is a singular testimony to the popularity of Bartolozzi's work, that on so trivial a work as a book-plate it was found necessary to adopt this formula of publication. By the kindness of the Hon. Gerald Ponsonby, I am enabled to state that Bartolozzi's receipt for this 'ticket plate,' as he calls it, bears as its date the 29th December 1796, the day before the date of 'publication.' It is noteworthy that Bartolozzi received 20 for his work. The book-plate is given on the previous page.

Quite distinct from this 'joyous' book-plate is another, executed by the same artist for a Spanish lady, which we may cla.s.s as English, since it was no doubt engraved by him in England. Isabel de Menezes, the lady for whom this book-plate was designed, was, as she tells us on it, in the seventy-first year of her age. Allegoric figures disporting themselves in youthful frolic would, perhaps, have been out of keeping on the book-plate of a lady at that sombre time of life, and so the designer has run to the other extreme. Gloominess predominates in this book-plate. A partly ruined square-built tomb is erected on a promontory above the sea; briars and other creepers have grown round it and had covered it, till the kneeling female figure drew them down in order to place upon the tomb a commemorative inscription. Beside the figure is a Cupid, who points to the newly-cut words. It has been thought that this may have been designed for a visiting card; it is quite in the fashion of such things at the date, and it is likely enough that Isabel de Menezes used the plate both as a card and as a mark of ownership for her books.

There are, besides those described, a number of English book-plates which in style much resemble Bartolozzi's work. If they are his, they probably date before 1796, for the adoption of the publication formula, before noticed, makes it improbable that he executed any work, whilst in England, that he did not thus protect. After his departure from this country, he produced, from a drawing by Signeira, a book-plate for Sir Thomas Gage, Bart., of Hengrave Hall, Suffolk. In this, a female figure sits upon a stone, against which is a plain shield bearing the Gage arms. The plate is signed 'Bartolozzi, Lisbon, 1805.' There is a distinct resemblance in this book-plate to that which was engraved, either in 1786 or 1787, for Richard h.o.a.re, eldest son of the Lord Mayor of London. He was created a baronet in the former year, and died in the latter. In this we have a seated female, cla.s.sically draped, who rests her left elbow on a cippus, on which is engraved a shield bearing the arms of h.o.a.re. Richard h.o.a.re married the heiress of Stourhead, and his son was Sir Richard Colt h.o.a.re, the famous antiquary and author. The date at which this plate must have been executed, 1786 or 1787, does not allow the absence of the engraver's name and formula of publication to tell against the work being Bartolozzi's; his fame was not then so great, and he found it less necessary to protect his engravings from piracy (see p. 197).

Beautiful as are Bartolozzi's book-plates, it cannot be said that his capabilities as a designer or an engraver are demonstrated in these; works of a larger kind showed forth his talents far more.

So, then, allegory at length came to be almost popular with English book-plate owners, and various lesser artists--Henshaw, Roe, Pollard, and some others--produced it in imitation of Bartolozzi, with only indifferent success. But before ending this chapter, we must say something about the book-plate work of Bartolozzi's chief English pupil, John Keys Sherwin. In 1773, the year after he gained the Royal Academy's gold medal for drawing, he executed an extremely pretty Allegoric book-plate for John Mitford of Pitt's Hill. It represents an infant Neptune, with his trident, seated on a large sh.e.l.l, which is upon the back of a sea-horse. Young Neptune's drapery forms a graceful canopy, and he supports in his right hand a small sh.e.l.l, which displays the Mitford arms and crest. A dolphin, spouting water in fountain-like sprays, swims by his side. There are two states of this plate, one having the arms incorrectly shaded: both are signed by Sherwin.

In closing our remarks on English book-plates, designed after this fashion, notice--though only a pa.s.sing one, for it is spoken of fully later on--must be taken of the charming book-plate which Agnes Berry designed in 1793 for her friend Mrs. Damer. I mention it here only to a.s.sociate it in the reader's mind with 'Allegoric' book-plates.

So much for allegory on English book-plates. It is to the credit of Englishmen that Allegoric work did not become popular until something really artistic in this particular style was produced, and that, even before that time, allegory never ran quite so wild on English book-plates as it did on foreign examples. M. Poulet Mala.s.sis a.s.sures us that into one French book-plate of the last century were crowded the whole _personnel_ of Olympus!

FOOTNOTES:

[7] The design has been more recently used by Thomas Gainsford.

[8] William Oliver's plate from _Bibliographica_, vol. ii. p. 434.

CHAPTER V

ENGLISH 'PICTURE' BOOK-PLATES

IN turning now to consider English book-plates which show us, apart from the heraldry upon them, things wholly real, we find much that is interesting. First, we have 'Portrait' book-plates, those which, either combined with heraldry or entirely without it, show us the features of the owner of the volume. There are but few of such book-plates, but they are so interesting that we shall speak of them by themselves later on (pp. 216-220); they are common to all periods, and the fashion of using them has increased lately.

Then we have book-plates in which books themselves--book piles or book shelves--are the predominating feature in the design; with these, Sir Arthur Vicars, in the pages of the _Ex Libris Journal_, has dealt exhaustively. Though the book-plates which show us library interiors would seem naturally to come into this cla.s.s of examples, I have been forced to except the majority of them, and to speak of them in the previous chapter, as being in nearly every case at least tinged with allegory. Even in the _sanctum_ of a doctor of divinity, Cupid frolics about as happy, and as busy, as in a maiden's boudoir. Still there are a few 'Library Interiors' entirely free from allegory. Take, for instance, the book-plate of Sir Robert Cunliffe. Here we have the interior of a library with a window to the right. Every ornament is thoroughly 'Chippendale' in character; the legs of the table, the cartouche (which contains the name), the shield, and the woodwork surrounding the window.

On the table is a globe, upon a stand, the supports of which terminate in Chippendale scrolls, an inkstand with a pen on it, and two books, one closed, and the other open. There are numbers of books confusedly disposed on the shelves, the ceiling of the room is plain, and there is only a plain line for a cornice. The arms occupy the centre of the plate, and appear to be suspended in mid-air, the foot of one of the scrolls only resting on the table.

Again, the book-plates of 'The Manchester Subscription Library,' 'The Manchester Circulating Library,' and 'The Rochdale Circulating Library'

all show interiors of libraries, but free from allegoric inmates. These three book-plates are nearly identical. There are shelves of books at the sides, a tiled floor, a table in the foreground, a panelled ceiling with a cornice; and, at the end of the room, perhaps a pa.s.sage. There is a round arch containing a window of three lights, the centre one having a round top. The general appearance of the room is cla.s.sical Very similar is the book-plate of the Liverpool Library. Here we have a complicated Chippendale bookcase, with ten columns upon square bases, and ornamental capitals of no particular style. The shelves are filled with books, and the two central divisions of the bookcase are all cupboards. In the centre of the case, among Chippendale scrolls, is the crest of the town, and below the central division of the bookcase are the words 'Liverpool Library' in two lines. Below the whole is a large cartouche, in the same style as the rest of the plate, inscribed, 'Allowed for reading ... . days. Forfeiture, ... d. per day.' Mr.

J. Paul Rylands, in his interesting _Notes on Book-Plates_, tells us that this library, now the Lyceum, was founded on the 1st of May 1758; the book-plate was, no doubt, engraved soon afterwards, as all the ornamentation introduced is certainly 'Chippendale.' So, too, is that on the book-plate engraved by John Pine in 1750, which the Benchers of Gray's Inn used for their volumes. Here a sh.e.l.l-shaped shield, bearing the arms of the 'Learned and Honourable Society,' is apparently fastened on to a background of book-shelves filled with books. So much for the 'Library Interiors.' The arrangement of the volumes in the other book-plates in which books form the chief feature of decoration, is generally like that shown opposite in the book-plate of William Hewer, a Commissioner of the Navy, and the friend and secretary of Samuel Pepys.

How the scroll, on which are either the owner's arms or his name, is supported, is not clear.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The book-plate of Sir Philip Sydenham, dated 1699, when he was, as he tells us, twenty-three years of age, offers another interesting example of the Book-Pile design; Sir Philip shows us his coat of arms on the face of the scroll, on the lower roll of which, in very small letters, is written the inscription. Apparently neither this nor any of his other book-plates completely satisfied him, for during the remaining forty years of his life he had more than half-a-dozen different plates designed, and nearly all of these are found in various 'states.' There are, Mr. Fincham tells me, some sixteen varieties of Sir Philip's book-plate; many of his books are now in Sion College Library. In the book-plate of White Kennett, who filled the See of Peterborough from 1718 to 1728, we see how the emblems of episcopacy are treated when introduced into book-plates of this type. White Kennett had other book-plates; the rarest and earliest, engraved when he was at college, is in the 'Simple Armorial' style. These 'Book-Pile' plates appear at intervals down to the close of the century, and the style has been recently revived by book-plate designers; it is simple and certainly appropriate. The approximate date of each example may be generally gathered from the shape of the shield containing the arms, or the style of decoration around it.