French Book-plates Part 22

In this plate the exigencies of s.p.a.ce have compelled the artist, M.

Aglaus Bouvenne, to so divide the name that it reads as though M. Uzanne were in the act of courteously saluting himself!

Well, why not? AVE UZANNE!

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF OCTAVE UZANNE, 1882.

By Aglaus Bouvenne.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XVI.

MODERN EX-LIBRIS.

From the downfall of the first Napoleon, and the restoration of the Monarchy, until about 1850, art, as shown in ex-libris, appears to have slumbered; scarcely anything can be found but a dreary repet.i.tion of heraldic plates, without character and without style, or slavish imitations of designs of the pre-Revolution character, such as those of F. des Robert and Du Puy de Belveze (see pages 276, 277).

As Poulet-Mala.s.sis observes, they appear to have been turned out to pattern indiscriminately by the Parisian engravers. The pattern most in request was a kind of strap, or sword-belt, which surrounded the s.h.i.+eld or monogram of the owner.

Even in this dreary waste, without art, without originality, there is just one plate which calls for remark. It is that of Alphonse Karr, the author, and represents a wasp (the symbol he chose) busy writing on a long parchment. Probably this was designed for him by Grandville, the caricaturist. This plate almost marks a division line between the old engraved copper-plates with their stiff and formal heraldry, and the modern etched ex-libris, with designs free and graceful,--allegoric, pictorial, allusive, humorous, anything, in fact, that is not heraldic, or in which, at least, if there be anything of an armorial nature, it is made subservient to the general design, and as little conspicuous as possible.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF F. DES ROBERT, 1878.]

Some well-known artists of the day having set the fas.h.i.+on, it became "the thing" with literary men--plebeian people, of course--to discard heraldry, and to have ex-libris emblematical of their studies, their tastes, or their princ.i.p.al works, as in the plates, for instance, of Victor Hugo, Theophile Gautier, Manet, the Brothers Goncourt, Octave Uzanne, Paul Lacroix, and others.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF G. DU PUY DE BELVEZE.]

Apart from what may be termed the original and characteristic book-plates of some of the leading men in arts and letters, French ex-libris of the first fifty years of this century may be divided into three leading styles: 1. The plain armorial s.h.i.+eld, or seal, with heraldic bearings. 2. The plain printed label, either in modern type, or in imitation of that of the fifteenth century. 3. Type-printed, surrounded by a wreath of flowers, a belt, or a strap.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF LOUIS MOHR.]

All, or nearly all, come under these headings, and are about as artistic as the label on a bottle of champagne, or a box of bonbons. They accomplish their object, for they proclaim the owners.h.i.+p of the volume, but tell us nothing of the owner's personality.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF LEON GRUEL.]

A new fas.h.i.+on which arose in ex-libris, almost synchronous with the rise of the Second Empire, dispelled much of this formality and monotony. Individuality and originality were displayed, often weak and puerile, but infinitely superior to the dull uniformity which had prevailed in the previous generation. Statesmen, literary and scientific men, even artists, began to mark their books in this way, and their plates were almost as varied as their tastes and characters. Their designs may not always please, may sometimes even shock, as does that of _Niniche_, but at least they do not weary with their sameness.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF THE COMTE DE BUREY.]

But of all the modes in ex-libris there is one, at least, which always pleases, whether French or English, namely, the photographic portrait of the owner carefully reproduced by a cunning engraver, and furnished with bookish surroundings.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF THE COMTE DE BUREY.]

This portrait ex-libris has great interest for the collector, but the simple photograph, in all its detestably scientific truth and brutal exact.i.tude, cannot be considered as a respectable or desirable member of the ex-libris family.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF HENRI TAUSIN, OF ST. QUENTIN.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF J. E. SYLVESTRE.

Peintre-Graveur.]

Little need be said concerning modern French armorial plates, they are neither numerous nor especially characteristic. Some of the neatest amongst them are signed _Stern_, graveur, Paris, and in their formality and clearness resemble our own modern heraldic work.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF G. MALET.]

But it is in the light, graceful plates of to-day that we find the fullest development of French art and originality. They style them _Ex-Libris de Fantaisie_. They ill.u.s.trate the transient humour of the owner, his caprices, his studies, or his recreations; they obey no rule, they elude a.n.a.lysis or cla.s.sification, they defy description:

"_Their beauties_ are like poppies spread, You seize the flower, its bloom is shed!

Or, like the snow-falls in the river, A moment white--then melts for ever."

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF GEORGES MANTIN.]

It were, indeed, as ridiculous as "gilding refined gold, or painting the lily," to venture to describe the coquettish _Parisienne_ on the plate of _G. Malet_; or the fanciful design for _Georges Mantin_; the charming decorative plate of _Henri Tausin_, or the quaint monogram designed for _Alexis Martin_ by Aglaus Bouvenne. _Art pour l'Art_, _Fantaisie_, _Diablerie_; democratic ideas prevalent in the mottoes, armorial bearings discarded, even t.i.tles and prefixes of honour abandoned by those who have the most right to use them. Henri Beraldi goes even further, and a.s.serts that the size of a man's book-plate is in inverse ratio to the value of his library, but let him speak for himself:

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF ALEXIS MARTIN.

By Aglaus Bouvenne.]

"Il est a remarquer, qu'aujourd'hui les vrais Bibliophiles s'efforcent de contaminer le moins possible leurs livres par l'apposition de leurs Ex-Libris. Ils ont donc des Ex-Libris aussi pet.i.ts que possible. En general, ce sont de simples filets d'encadrements entourant le nom. On les fait faire par son relieur. Les non-Bibliophiles ont des Ex-Libris gigantesques, ou ils etalent des blasons, des chiffres, des emblemes, des devises, des rebus, des sujets de guerre, placards qui encombrent toute la garde des volumes. On devrait se garder de deposer ces choses-la sur des livres precieux."

"Considerons l'Ex-Libris comme un areometre servant a t.i.trer le degre de force bibliophilique de son possesseur, et formulons un axiome a la Balzac:

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF HENRI GRESLIE.]

_La valeur d'un Bibliophile est en raison inverse de la dimension de son Ex-Libris._"

We protest, and pa.s.s on.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF AUGUSTE GEOFFROY.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF ALEXANDRE GEOFFROY.

Designed by Henry Andre.]

During the last few years an artist has come to the front, Mons. Henry Andre, who has devoted so much of his invention and his skill to book-plates that it is difficult to decide which of his numerous works to select as best ill.u.s.trating his style. He has kindly permitted eight designs to be reproduced; one, that of Doctor F. Bargall, will be found amongst the medical plates, the others are those belonging to Messieurs Auguste Geoffroy, an art expert; Alexandre Geoffrey, an art critic, with the telling motto, "A Tous Vents Je Seme," appropriate to the editor of such a journal as "La Curiosite Universelle"; Jules Lermina, also a man of letters, with the motto "Fiat Lux" emerging from the clouds, a very quaint and original conception; Ch. Guinot, a poet and a bibliophile, with the emblems of death and immortality.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF JULES LERMINA.

Designed by Henry Andre.]

The plate of Mons. Jan des Vignes is a singular design. The owner, a poet and journalist, is a native of Cluny, in Burgundy, famous for its abbey, and as having given birth to the painters, Greuze and Prud'hon, and to the celebrated poets Lamartine and P. Dupont. The view of the ancient abbey, surrounded by the vine, proclaims at once the owner's birthplace and his name, whilst the exquisite sonnet reveals his poetical genius.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF CH. GUINOT, 1894.

Designed by Henry Andre.]