Book Plates Part 5

We have yet to speak of by far the most numerous cla.s.s of those English book-plates, which may be properly brought into our second division of 'Picture' book-plates--I mean the examples which represent upon them a landscape, either real or imaginary. The real landscapes represented have, of course, some direct reference to the plate; being a view, either of the owner's house, his park, his parish church, his town or village, of some particular spot in the immediate vicinity of his residence, or of some incident connected with his career or occupation--be it business, profession, or pleasure. For instance, Horace Walpole, in one of his book-plates, shows us a view of his 'Palace of Varieties' at Strawberry Hill (see p. 106). Again, Thomas Gosden, the angler sportsman and collector of angling literature, introduces into his book-plate all sorts of angling and sporting gear, even to a capacious whisky flask. 'The Hon^{ble} Robert Henry Southwell, Lieut. 1st Regiment of Horse, 1767,' flanks his s.h.i.+eld with various kinds of military weapons and trophies; whilst 'Captain William Locker, Royal Navy,' shows us the swelling bosom of a man-of-war 'foretop gallant' sail, on which is figured his coat of arms.

We will speak first of those book-plates on which the landscape is real, and we will call them 'View' plates. Probably the earliest of these is the very interesting one (see p. 105), which was engraved by Mynde about 1770 for the Library of the Public Record Office, then in the Tower of London; here we have a remarkably faithful representation of the historic building. The date at which the Tower book-plate was probably engraved adds to its interest. Plates in this style hardly appear at all before 1778 or 1780, and do not become common till five or six years later.

The book-plate of 'Peter Muilman of King S^{t.}, London, and Kirby Hall, Castle Hedingham, Ess.e.x,' is one which, I think, may be cla.s.sed among 'View' plates, since the ruins depicted on it have certainly the appearance of having been sketched from the remains of some feudal stronghold, perhaps from Castle Hedingham itself. In front of the ruins is a wooded lawn, on which two robust cupids are wrestling for the Muilman escutcheon. Kirby Hall is not shown: no doubt this was a comfortable Georgian house round the corner, where Peter and his family spent their summer holidays away from the bustle and smoke of King Street. Presumably, the ruins of the castle were left standing in the park for ornament's sake, to give a tone of feudalism to the Muilman domain, whose owner, save by his book-plate, is not known to fame. The plate was engraved by Terry of Paternoster Row, probably about 1775, so that this again is an early example of its kind.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Among other notable specimens of these 'View' book-plates may be mentioned that which Pye, a Birmingham engraver, executed for 'T. W.

Greene' of Lichfield. Here we have an oval-shaped s.h.i.+eld, bearing the arms of Greene, resting against a tree-stump. In the distance is a river, and Lichfield Cathedral. Later on, Pye engraved a very similar book-plate for another Lichfield man--an attorney named Nicholson, who went to live at Stockport. This shows Nicholson's residence on the margin of a sheet of water. The arms rest against a shattered oak-tree.

A local view--one of Darlington--also appears on the book-plate of George Allen, who describes himself as of that town.

Collectors are wont to reckon as the most interesting example of a view book-plate the vignette of Horace Walpole's house at Strawberry Hill, with his arms hanging on a s.h.i.+eld from a withered tree. Mr. Wheatley, however, who is inclined to attribute the design to Walpole's friend, Bentley, has suggested (_Bibliographica_, vol. iii. p. 88) that the vignette was never used as a book-plate, but was exclusively reserved as a kind of printer's device for the adornment of the books printed at the Strawberry Hill Press. Sir Wollaston Franks has four varieties of the vignette, one engraved on wood and three on copper; and I have certainly seen at least one of them doing duty as a book-plate, but whether rightfully or not it is impossible to say.

Modern examples of View book-plates were, till quite recently, rare. One of the quaintest is furnished by that used by the late Dr. Kendrick of Warrington, and engraved for him in 1855; here we have a view of the doctor's town as it was in 1783 and a picture of a 'loyal Warrington Volunteer' of 1798. Quite a useful historical print!

Now let me say a word about the Picture book-plates on which the landscape is a fancy one. Prominent amongst these is that of 'Gilbert Wakefield,' which shows us a pretty scene: a stag stoops to drink from a rivulet that trickles through a wood. Very much later in date is a charming vignette, representing a rock, over which a stream of water trickles and sparkles as it falls into a pool below. Ferns and flags grow in the pool. The book-plate belonged to Joseph Priestley, and on that account we mention it after Wakefield's. Priestley was quite as bitter a Dissenter and as ardent a controversialist as Gilbert Wakefield, though it is more as a man of science that most people remember him. His name is so intimately a.s.sociated with Birmingham politics at the time of the French Revolution, that the fact of his book-plate being engraved by a Birmingham man--it is signed 'Allen sct.

Birming^{m}'--becomes the more interesting, and enables us to a.s.sign the engraving to a marked period in the owner's life--the time when his friends.h.i.+p with Lord Shelburne began to cool, and when, settling down at Birmingham, he began work on his _History of the Corruptions of Christianity_. James Yates, who edited Priestley's collected works, used the same book-plate, after altering the name upon it.

Another delightfully rural scene is depicted on the book-plate of 'John Hews Bransby.' His motto reads, _Breve et irreparabile tempus_; and he shows a rustic landscape, in which the figures represented have evidently learnt the truth of the a.s.sertion. The sower scatters seed, the ploughboy is engaged with his team,--all are making the most of their time, yet there is no sign of hurry or bustle. The day is fine, but clouds hover in the sky. On the left, a cottage nestles in the trees, and the smoke from its chimney tells of the housewife within preparing a meal for those who are earning it by their labour without.

So much for landscapes having direct reference to the book-plates on which they appear. Often, however, the landscape is purely a fancy one, as that on the book-plate of Gregory Louis Way. A river flows through fields, and beside it sits an armour-coated knight, who is either wearied with the fight, or bowed down by the fickleness of his lady. His s.h.i.+eld rests beside him, and on it are depicted the arms of Way. The moon sheds upon the scene what light she is able, but the sky is overcast and stormy.

I must not close this chapter without reference to the book-plates produced by Thomas Bewick, many of which are familiar enough--as examples of Bewick's art--to those who know little about book-plates, and do not collect them. His are certainly for the most part 'Landscape'

plates; but I do not know whether to cla.s.s them with these examples of 'View' book-plates, or with those which I have christened 'Fancy Landscapes.' They were chiefly engraved for northern book-owners, but one can hardly say that the particular bit of scenery on each--though, doubtless, in most cases drawn from nature--has any special applicability to the owner. I will therefore speak here of Bewick's book-plates as forming a cla.s.s by themselves. His first was prepared for Thomas Bell, and is dated 1797, so that it is inaccurate to speak of Bewick as the originator of the Landscape style in book-plates; he found the style already followed by many engravers, and his taste and skill brought it to perfection. The Bell plate is not uncommon, as the books for which it was engraved were sold in 1860. It shows, in the foreground of a landscape, an oval s.h.i.+eld, inscribed 'T. Bell, 1797,' and resting against a decayed tree. In the distance are trees, and above them rises the tower of St. Nicholas's Church, in Newcastle--a favourite object with Bewick. It is also introduced by Ralph Beilby into the book-plate of Brand, the antiquary.

Out of the hundred or so book-plates designed or engraved by Bewick, it is difficult to know which to select for comment; but from the interest which attaches to its owner, that of Robert Southey (figured on p. 111) suggests itself. Here we have a rock, thickly crowned with shrubbery, from which a stream of water falls into a brook below. Against the face of the rock leans an armorial s.h.i.+eld, bearing the Southey arms--a chevron between three crosses crosslet. On the ground to the right of the s.h.i.+eld, and in contact with it, is the helmet, supporting on a wreath the crest--an arm vested and couped at the elbow, holding in the hand a crossed crosslet. Across the sinister chief corner of the s.h.i.+eld, and trailing thence to the ground, is thrown the riband bearing the motto _In labore quies_. The date of the book-plate is probably about 1810.

Not only Newcastle itself, but the whole line of country along the river thence to Tynemouth, seems to have been Bewick's sketching ground, and many of his sketches he used for book-plates. Jarrow and Tynemouth itself were particularly favourite spots. Of the latter place his views were mostly taken from the sea, and afford us delightful pictures of water, s.h.i.+pping, and the ruins of Tynemouth Priory. The book-plate of 'Charles Charlton, M.D.,' is one of these.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SOUTHEY'S BOOK-PLATE BY BEWICK.]

A great many of the ordinary bits of landscape which Bewick used for book-plates he afterwards utilised as tailpieces for various books ill.u.s.trated by him. The book-plate of the 'Rev. H. Cotes, Vicar of Bedlington, 1802,' which shows us the reverend gentleman busily engaged in fis.h.i.+ng, doubtless a favourite sport with him, is an instance of this diverted use; but in this case we know the history of the plate. Mr.

Cotes had practically edited the artist's second volume of _British Birds_, and, as a slight return, Bewick prepared for him the book-plate in question; but, owing to a subsequent quarrel, the artist never gave the parson the block, turning it instead to his own account.

There are a great many more copper-plate book-plates by Bewick than is generally supposed. One of the most elaborate is that of 'Buddle Atkinson,' which represents a bubbling trout-stream, into which an angler casts his line: in the foreground is a crest enclosed in a s.h.i.+eld. Other copper-plate work by Bewick is found in the book-plates of 'Edward Moises, A.M.'--a s.h.i.+eld of arms, with books, pens, artists'

tools of all kinds, and musical instruments; 'James Charlton' and 'A.

Clapham'--Tyneside scenes; 'J. H. Affleck, Newcastle-upon-Tyne'--a s.h.i.+eld of arms, in the midst of flowers and foliage; 'Tho^{s} Carr, Newcastle'--a spring of water flowing from a rock; and some few others.

Examples of the more unusual designs in Bewick's book-plates, _i.e._ those in which scenery is not depicted, are found in the book-plates of 'John Anderson, St. Petersburgh'--a sportsman on horseback, which was afterwards utilised as a vignette in _British Birds_; 'Mr. Bigges'--a figure of liberty; 'Alex^{r} Doeg, s.h.i.+pbuilder'--a just-completed s.h.i.+p, still standing on the stocks; and several others, which simply show the s.h.i.+eld of arms and owner's name.

One reason why Bewick was so successful as an engraver of book-plates lay in the fact that his ability was most conspicuous in a small design.

The work of such men as Hogarth or Bartolozzi seems cramped when it appears on the small scale which alone a book-plate can admit; but with Bewick, the smaller the size of the scene he desired to represent, the greater was his skill in introducing into it both originality and beauty.

CHAPTER VI

GERMAN BOOK-PLATES

I HAVE said that the use of book-plates, whether as commemorative of gifts or as marks of owners.h.i.+p, originated in Germany. Here, well before the close of the fifteenth century, we find at least three undoubted book-plates, examples of which have survived until the present day, and have recently been discovered fulfilling the function for which they were originally intended.

Fastened to the cover of an old Latin vocabulary was discovered the most ancient of these book-plates. It is printed from a wood-block, and is rough in execution. It shows us a hedgehog carrying a flower in its mouth, trampling over fallen leaves; above is the inscription, '_Hans Igler, das dich ein igel kuss_.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF HILDEBRANDE BRANDENBURG.]

Following, in point of date, closely after this curious book-plate, comes a small woodcut, representing an angel who holds a s.h.i.+eld, on which is displayed a black ox, with a ring pa.s.sed through its nose--the arms of the Brandenburg family. A written inscription beneath it states that the book for which it was intended, and in which it was found, belonged to Hildebrande Brandenburg of Biberach, who presented it to the Carthusian monastery of Buxheim, of which he was a monk. This book-plate, which is rudely coloured, is struck off on sc.r.a.ps of paper, printed on one side; a curious ill.u.s.tration of the then scarcity of that material. Oddly enough, another very early book-plate--probably of almost the same date as the last--was also found in a book which belonged to the same monastery, and which had been given to it by Wilhelm von Zell. This book-plate also is anonymous; but the volumes that contained it, as in the last case, bear a written inscription, recording the fact that they belonged to the monastery in question, and were the gift of the person whose arms are figured in the book-plate inserted.

From the fact that two of the three known fifteenth century book-plates are connected with the monastery at Buxheim, it would seem as if the use of a book-plate commended itself to the librarian of that monastery, who commemorated the gifts of volumes by a book-plate bearing the donor's arms.

In the sixteenth century, German book-plates became numerous, and of their beauty there can be no doubt. There is a difficulty, however, in accepting many of the early armorial woodcuts which one finds; and it is this: Suppose the example is no longer doing duty in a volume as a book-plate, there is really no means of being a.s.sured that the cut of arms is a book-plate at all; for very many of these plates are void of any inscription, save perhaps a text or motto. Some of these book-plates are probably the work, or from the design, of Albert Durer.

He certainly produced some undoubted examples; the earliest, actually dated, in 1516. This is the Ebner book-plate (see p. 119). The inscription on this leaves us in no doubt as to its intended use: 'Liber Hieronimi Ebner, 1516.'

Eight years after completing the Ebner plate, Durer engraved on copper a Portrait plate of Bilibald Pirckheimer, a Nuremberg jurist of some note, who became councillor to Maximilian I., and was the owner of a library, whose subsequent history has been told in 'Books about Books' by Mr.

Elton in his _Great Book Collectors_. Now this Portrait plate, which is dated 1524, was undoubtedly used by Pirckheimer as his book-plate. There are plenty of known instances in which it may be still found fastened in at the end of a volume. Whether or not it was intended for any other purpose than that which I have here mentioned, we cannot say, for it bears no inscription expressing its use. However--very possibly at the same date--Durer designed for Pirckheimer what was, without doubt, intended for a book-plate, since it bears the inscription, 'Liber Bilibaldi Pirckheimer.' This is, in many instances, found on the front cover of volumes which also contain the book-plate last described fastened on the back cover.

It is a very striking book-plate. A strangely large helmet, on which is placed an equally large crest, surmounts a pair of s.h.i.+elds. The dexter one bears the arms of Pirckheimer--a _birke_ or birch-tree; whilst the sinister bears those of his wife, Margretha Rieterin--a crowned mermaid with two tails, each of which she holds in her hands. Pirckheimer's arms show the curious punning heraldry of the time, the _birke_ being, no doubt, a playful allusion to the jurist's name. Clasping the helmet are two angels. On either side of the s.h.i.+eld is a large cornucopia apparently filled with grapes and vine leaves, and amongst these stands a smaller angel holding one end of a heavy festoon, the other end of which is fastened to a ram's head, the centre of the design. Angels, apparently at play, are also represented below the s.h.i.+eld. Examples of this plate are not uncommon in English collections, many of Pirckheimer's books having pa.s.sed into the Library of the Royal Society, and some of these having been sold as duplicates, when they were bought up by collectors for the sake of the book-plate. Sir Wollaston Franks points out to me that there is yet a third variety of Pirckheimer's book-plate, which is signed 'J. B. 1529,' and is not the work of Durer.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The book-plate of Hector Pomer, provost of the Church of St. Laurence at Nuremberg, dated in 1525, is also ascribed to Durer, though it is signed with the initials 'R. A.' This signature is probably that of the artist who cut the design upon wood, for it is now maintained that Durer himself only made the drawings for the woodcuts known as his; the mechanical operation of cutting being handed over to a.s.sistants. The Pomer plate is the earliest dated book-plate which bears a signature either of the designer or the engraver.

The size of this really fine example of early wood-engraving is 13 inches by 9. On the princ.i.p.al s.h.i.+eld in the design we have what are no doubt the arms of the monastery, the gridiron of St. Laurence, quartering those of Pomer. The gridiron is on the first and fourth quarters, whilst the second and third contain what is heraldically described as _per bend sable (?) and argent, three bendlets of the first_. We say 'sable,' because the dark ma.s.s which the artist has here shown is probably meant to represent this, but any dark colour may have been intended, as I have already endeavoured to show (see p. 23). These last arms are very probably Pomer's, for, in one of the small s.h.i.+elds which appear in each of the four corners of the design, they occur again--the other three s.h.i.+elds being most likely filled with arms quartered by the Pomer family. The helmet surmounting the princ.i.p.al s.h.i.+eld is without wreath, and the crest is a demi-nun. The motto, 'To the pure all things are pure,' is given, as in other of Durer's book-plates, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. In charge of the s.h.i.+eld stands St. Laurence himself, dressed in a monk's garb, and holding in his right hand the instrument of his martyrdom, and in his left the palm of martyrdom. The nimbus appears around his head. The beauty of the design is apparent at the first glance, and it becomes more apparent as we look into it.

Dr. Hector Pomer was the last Prior of the Abbey of St. Laurence in Nuremberg. To him Erasmus gave a copy of his edition of the works of St.

Ambrose, issued from Froben's press. That very copy is in the possession of the Rev. H. W. Pereira, and in each of the two thick volumes in which the work is contained is Pomer's book-plate. One is struck with the exquisite detail and treatment; as Mr. Pereira says, in describing the plate, the expression and figure of St. Laurence is full of sweetness and tender pathos.

The list of 'Armories' by Durer, as printed by Bartsch in vol. vii. of the _Peintre-Graveur_, gives us some twenty examples, any of which may have been used as book-plates. Some idea as to whether or not an early armorial plate is really a book-plate may, however, be gained by taking its measurement. A very large engraving should be regarded with suspicion, though not necessarily rejected as a book-plate on account of its size. Sir Wollaston Franks possesses a magnificent book-plate, measuring no less than 14 10 inches, which is at this moment still fulfilling its original functions. This is certainly the largest example yet discovered. It has been known to collectors for some time in what was believed to be a perfect state, but the copy just mentioned shows that what was thought to be the whole was in reality only a portion of the design, since it lacked the elaborate framework, which is richly embellished with weapons and ensigns, as well as with musical instruments of every description. This book-plate belonged to Count Maximilian Louis Breiner, a distinguished official of the Emperor of Austria in Lombardy. A striking feature in it is the introduction, above the arms of the owner of the plate, of those of Austria, surmounted by the imperial crown, supported by a couple of cherubs. Both the design and engraving are the work of Giuseppe Petrarca, who probably produced them during the closing years of the seventeenth century.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Quite in a distinct style from the other German book-plates mentioned is that figured opposite, which may be dated about the year 1530. It is interesting from its owner, one Paulus Speratus, an ardent preacher of the Lutheran doctrine at Augsburg, Wurttemberg, Salzburg, and Vienna, and afterwards Bishop of Pomerania, who proved himself ready to undergo suffering in the cause he imagined to be right. He was born in 1484, and died in 1554. The shading in the arms is very peculiar, expressing as it does, on the first and fourth divisions of the s.h.i.+eld, _argent_ and _vert_ at a period, as we have seen, long anterior to the use of lines or dots to express the metals or tinctures in heraldry. An explanation is no doubt to be found in the fact that the artist only intended to represent some light colour in the shaded parts, in the same way as in the second and third divisions of the s.h.i.+eld he desired in the thickly inked parts to represent _sable_. The book-plate is now preserved in a copy of the Psalms translated into Russian by Francis Skorina, and printed at Wilna about the year 1525. The peculiar inscription on this book-plate is referred to on p. 166.

We have spoken somewhat fully about these early examples of German book-plates, because, both from the fact that they are the earliest known to us, and that several of them are the designs of Albert Durer, they have a very special interest. s.p.a.ce precludes the possibility of alluding in detail to later German examples, though they are, many of them, exceedingly beautiful specimens of the engraver's art, as indeed they may well be considering the men who engraved them--Lucas Cranach, Jost Amman, Hans Troschel, Wolffgang Kilian of Augsburg, and the uncle and nephew Giles and Joseph Sadeler.

Let me, however, speak very tersely of a few examples of the productions of these artists, in order that the reader's attention may be attracted should he come across a specimen of their work.

Two woodcuts by Lucas Cranach have certainly been used as book-plates, though not designed by the artist as such, for they both appear among other cuts in a work ill.u.s.trated by him. Sir Wollaston Franks possesses both varieties. In one, we have a half-length figure of St. Paul. He is seated, and reading a book, the lines of which he follows with his finger. His head is surrounded with the nimbus, whilst a s.h.a.ggy beard nearly covers the face. The right hand holds a double sword with the points upwards; beneath this is the s.h.i.+eld of the Elector of Saxony.

Above the upper line of the plate is an inscription, showing that it was intended to mark the volumes belonging to the 'preachers.h.i.+p'

('Predicatur') at Oringen. The other woodcut by Cranach is very similar in design, but the figure represented is that of St. Peter, and it bears the inscription 'Stadt Orngau.'

It is worth remarking that in one instance at least, on removing the book-plate portraying St. Paul, a smaller hand-drawn book-plate was found, which consisted of a s.h.i.+eld half red and half white, and upon it a key, placed in pale, countercharged. There is no inscription on this book-plate, nor is there any margin shown--the paper being cut close to the design.

Jost Amman is another German artist who leaves us in a difficulty as to deciding as to which of his many armorial engravings were really intended for book-plates. One undoubted book-plate by him, however, exists, and this was designed for a member of the Nuremberg family of Holzschuher--'Wooden shoes.' Wooden shoes, or sabots, appear as charges on the s.h.i.+eld, and afford another example of the punning heraldry which was then fas.h.i.+onable in Germany. This is a fine book-plate, engraved on copper, and signed 'J. A.'; its size, 7-3/4 6-1/8 inches. The s.h.i.+eld is supported by two angels and a lion.

Hans Sibmacher or Siebmacher was another Nuremberg engraver; he worked there quite at the close of the sixteenth century and in the early years of the seventeenth. He also executed a book-plate for a member of the Holzschuher family. This is a more elaborate piece of work than Amman's, though smaller (4-1/2 3-3/8 inches). Its characteristic feature is a closely-woven wreath of leaves, with cl.u.s.ters of fruit and ornaments introduced at intervals. Seated on this wreath, at the top of the design, are two reading cherubs clothed in 'nature unadorned.' Below the design is an oblong and indented bracket.