French Book-plates Part 20

His reply showed that this was only another instance of the confusion that arises from the French custom of styling the _written inscription_ of an owner's name in a book, an ex-libris. Technically the term may be correct, but it would be advisable in the interest of collectors to describe the one as the "owner's autograph" to distinguish it from the engraved or printed ex-libris fastened on the inside of a book.

M. d'Albenas wrote thus: "L'Ex-libris de Rabelais dont il est question, en note, dans _Les portraits de Rabelais_, est ecrit de la main de l'ill.u.s.tre auteur de Gargantua, sur le t.i.tre d'un exemplaire de la premiere edition des 'uvres de Platon,' publiee par les soins reunis de Marc Manuce et d'Alde Manuce 1513.

M. le professeur Cavalier ayant legue sa riche bibliotheque et ses precieuses collections a Montpellier, sa ville natale, elles ont ete reunies selon ses dispositions testamentaires dans une salle speciale, portant son nom, par les soins de son ami et executeur testamentaire, votre serviteur."

Here, then, is a facsimile of this famous inscription, partly in Latin, partly in Greek, which is said to signify "Belonging to Francois Rabelais, a zealous doctor, and to his Christian friends."

[Ill.u.s.tration: AUTOGRAPH INSCRIPTION BY FRANcOIS RABELAIS.]

Plainly an antic.i.p.ation of the "Io: Grolierii et amicorum."

Another signature of Rabelais exists in a book which was presented to the school of medicine of Montpellier in 1776 by a lawyer, one Mons. J.

Grosley. This resembles generally the one already described.

The name of Jean Grolier is one of the earliest and most famous in the history of French Bibliolatry and Bibliopegy. Jean Grolier, Vicomte d'Aguisy, was born in 1479 in Lyons, and died in Paris on October 22nd, 1565. He was treasurer of France, and collected a library of about 3,000 volumes (an enormous number in those early days of printing), all of which he had sumptuously bound, and generally with the Grolier arms richly emblazoned on the sides. His books had also various mottoes on them, sometimes written in his own hand on blank pages or on the t.i.tle, sometimes printed in letters of gold around the edges of the binding.

The most usual of these mottoes is one that is constantly referred to, and has been often borrowed by other book-lovers and collectors:

"Io Grollierii et amicorum."

Others that occur are:

"Mei Grollierii Lugdunens, et amicorum."

"Portio mea, Domine, sit in terra viventium."

"Tanquam ventus est vita mea."

"Custodit Dominus omnes diligentes se, et omnes impios disperdet."

"aeque difficulter."

_Io: Grollierii et amicorum_ reads as a very pretty and unselfish sentiment, but it requires some explanation. Mons. Grolier did not allow his treasured volumes to leave his possession. Those who were privileged to enjoy his friends.h.i.+p, were permitted to consult his books; they had no choice, however, but to do so in the s.p.a.cious salons of Mons.

Grolier, after partaking of his hospitality.

On the death of Grolier, in 1565, his valuable collection became the property of Emeric de Vic, Keeper of the Seals, from whom it pa.s.sed to his son. On his death, this library, which had been the pride of three generations of book-lovers, was sold and dispersed in 1676. Some of the princ.i.p.al books came into the possession of such well-known collectors as Paul Petau, de Thou, and the Chancellor P. Seguier; they have been well preserved till the present day, but they contain no book-plates belonging to Grolier.

Paul Petau was a councillor in the Parliament of Paris. He formed the nucleus of a library, rich in early French and Latin MSS., and was also an enthusiastic collector of coins and antiquities. On his death, in 1613, he left the whole of his collections to his son Alexander, who not only succeeded to his public offices, but also inherited his cultivated tastes for art and literature.

Paul Petau had his books handsomely bound, with his arms stamped on the sides. His arms are thus emblazoned by French heraldists: _Ecartele_: au 1 et 4, d'azur, a 3 roses d'argent, au chef-d'or charge d'une aigle issante eployee de sable; au 2 et 3, d'argent, a la croix pattee de gueules. _Devise_: Non est mortale quod opto.

It will thus be seen that the arms are precisely the same as those carried by his son Alexander on his book-plate, the motto alone being changed in the latter to "_Moribus Antiquis_."

M. Poulet-Mala.s.sis makes a curious misstatement in describing this ex-libris, for he a.s.serts that the s.h.i.+eld bears quarterly the arms of _Alexander_ Petau and of his wife. It may be that M. Poulet-Mala.s.sis intended to say the arms of _Paul_ Petau and of his wife, for Paul, the father, certainly carried these arms, as did Alexander afterwards, with the statement that he was the son of Paul. Now Paul Petau could not have carried the arms of his son's wife.

The s.h.i.+eld rests on a mosaic pavement, on which are reproduced in alternate squares the three princ.i.p.al charges, namely, the eagle issuant, the three roses, and the cross pattee (see plate, page 69).

On the death of Alexander Petau his MSS. were purchased by Queen Christina of Sweden, who bequeathed them to the Vatican Library. His printed books were sold at the Hague in 1722, with those of Francois Mansart. "Catalogue des bibliotheques de feu _M.M. Alexandre Petau_, conseiller au Parlement de Paris, et _Francois Mansart_, intendant des batiments de France." La Haye, A. de Hondt, 1722.

Had the king of France himself desired a new book-plate he could scarcely have been provided with one more gorgeous or imposing than that engraved by Daudin, in 1702, for Michel Begon. Although according to its date it must be cla.s.sed as an eighteenth century plate, its style belongs to an earlier period, as indeed, properly speaking, did its owner, for he was born at Blois on December 26, 1638, so that he did not have this sumptuous ex-libris engraved till comparatively late in his life, and did not long survive to enjoy it, for he died on the 14th of March, 1710.

The arms (blazoned thus by French heraldists: _d'azur au chevron d'or, accompagne en chef de deux roses, et d'un lion en pointe_) on an oval s.h.i.+eld surmounted by the coronet of a count, supporters two lions.

Inscription: _Michaeli Begon et amicis 1702_.

Here we have at once a plate remarkable for its beauty, and interesting on account of its owner, who was a man of note in his day, and famous as a collector.

He was thus described in the official registration of his death: "Messire Michel Begon, chevalier, seigneur de la Picardiere et autres lieux, conseiller du Roy en ses conseils et d'honneur au Parlement de Provence. Intendant de Justice et finances de la Generalite de la Roch.e.l.le et de la Marine a Rochefort."

Mons. Begon came of good family, was well educated, and appears to have been very successful in his career as a government official. He held appointments successively at Martinique, San Domingo, and Ma.r.s.eilles, and finally, in 1688, was appointed Intendant de la Roch.e.l.le of the port of Rochefort, which post he held for the rest of his life. On the death of his father, he had succeeded to a valuable library which he continued to enrich; he was also an indefatigable collector of medals, of natural history specimens, and of engravings, especially portraits.

From an inventory made after his death, it appears he left 7,000 volumes, and more than sixty valuable ma.n.u.scripts of the ancient cla.s.sics. His collection of prints, which comprised about 8,000 portraits, 15,600 general engravings, and 925 maps, was valued at 16,481 livres, and was acquired for the library of the King of France in 1770.

Michel Begon was therefore a man worthy to possess a really handsome book-plate such as his was, but we may take it that the expression "for his friends" (_et amicorum_ he wrote on some of his books) did not imply they were to be removed from his custody, but only that they might be consulted by his friends when they visited him, as we know was the intention of Grolier who also used this apparently self-denying expression.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF MICHEL BEGON, 1702.]

It may be added that in the "Biographie Universelle" (De Feller, Paris, 1834), a short account is given of Michel Begon, in which it is said: "Le got avait preside au choix de ses livres dont la plupart portaient sur le frontispice _Michaelis Begon et Amicorum_."

It is therefore somewhat singular that no mention of him, or his arms, occurs in the "Armorial Francais" of Johannis Guigard. This is to be regretted, as it renders it difficult to trace in what way the family of Begon and the old French family of Chapuy were related. That some kind of relations.h.i.+p existed can scarcely be doubted; in view of the following application received from Mr. Charles J. Shoppee, President of the Surveyor's Inst.i.tution, and Vice President of the Ex-Libris Society:

"I am anxious to know something of the origin of the armorial bearings of Michael Begon, 1702, the coat being the same as that of Chapuis of Dauphine, viz., '_D'azur au chevron d'or, accompagne de deux roses d'argent en chef, et en pointe, d'un lion rampant, de meme._' These arms I bear, as the representative of the branch of the _Chapuis_ family settled in England."

Amongst a list of the French officers taken at the battle of Oudenarde, July 11th, 1708, "Of the regiment of dragoons of Pouriere, Lieutenant _Chapuy_" is recorded. This officer was the ancestor of Mr. C. J.

Shoppee.

Nicolas Joseph Foucault was a councillor to the Parliament of Paris, and a member of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres. He died in 1720, aged seventy-seven, leaving a library which was considered particularly rich in relation to the early history of France.

Unfortunately it was dispersed on his decease, and his ex-libris given herewith is consequently scarce. It was probably engraved between about 1680 and 1700, and carries the same arms as were embossed on the bindings of his books.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF NICOLAS JOSEPH FOUCAULT.]

It would perhaps be more interesting to know the name of the artist who designed this beautiful plate for Mr. de Joubert, than who and what Mr.

de Joubert himself was. Unfortunately the plate is not signed, but it is in the style of the Louis XV. period, and was probably the work of some artistic engraver in the south of France.

The date of the plate can only be approximately fixed on the following train of reasoning. Mr. de Joubert styles himself "Tresorier des Etats de Languedoc;" now on reference to an old French work, somewhat similar to a Court Guide, we find a mention of this gentleman.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF MONS. DE JOUBERT.]

In "L'Etat de la France," published in Paris in 1749, his name is given as President des Chambres des Comptes de Languedoc, with the date of his appointment, thus:

"25 Fevrier, 1733. Laurent-Ignace Joubert, Chevalier, cy-devant Syndic General de la Province de Languedoc."

It thus appears that Joubert was alive in 1749, and still holding the high office in the provincial treasury to which he was appointed in 1733; the date of his plate may therefore be a.s.sumed to have been not earlier than 1733, and in all probability it was not much later.

In this entry he is called Chevalier, which accounts for the _De_ on the book-plate. This is an instance of the difficulties a collector has to contend with in deciding the period of undated plates, especially where the artist has not signed his work.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF THOMAS GUEULETTE.]

Mons. Gueulette was a French novelist and dramatist, who enjoyed considerable fame in the first half of the last century. He died in December, 1766, at the ripe old age of eighty-three years, and his writings have since sunk into undeserved oblivion, although, it is true, Messrs. Nichols published a translation of his "Contes Tartares" (an imitation of the "Arabian Nights") in 1893, but of this only a small edition was printed. His book-plate, signed _H. Becat_, is inscribed "Ex libris Thomae Gueulette et Amicorum." It represents the Gueulette arms, with two supporters on each side, namely, an Italian Arlequin, a Tartar, a Chinese Mandarin, and a Cyclops holding an infant in his arms. Each of these figures has some reference to the works of the owner of the plate; thus, the Arlequin is in allusion to the numberless farces he wrote for the Theatre Italien and the Theatre des Boulevards; the other works alluded to are his "Contes Tartares" and "Les Aventures du Mandarin Fum Hoam." The design is surmounted by a graceful little Cupid bearing aloft a scroll, on which is inscribed the epicurean motto "Dulce est desipere in loco," which has been thus happily translated by a distinguished member of the Sette of Odd Volumes: