French Book-plates Part 5

The following letter appeared in "Notes and Queries," London, August 25, 1894:

"As there always appears to be a doubt in the public mind as to whether there is any office in France at all corresponding to our heralds'

offices in this country, I ventured to put out this query to a well-known authority in Paris, together with the queries as to whether there is any ground for the statement that the archives of the French Heralds' College were destroyed by fire by the Commune, and also if there is any Heraldic or Genealogical Society at all corresponding to the Government Office; and I received the following reply:

"'The old Government had the "Genealogistes du Roi," for proofs of n.o.bility, and the "Juges d'Armes," such as d'Hozier and Cherieu.

The Monarchical Governments of this century had the "Conseil du Sceau des t.i.tres," now suppressed. The archives of these officers are now dispersed, part to the Bibliotheque Nationale (Cabinet des t.i.tres), part to the Hotel de Soubise (in the series M. and MM.), part to the Ministere de la Justice (for the period after 1789). In short, the equivalent of the Heralds' College of England never existed in France. However, the Conseil du Sceau had some similarity to that body. There is no Heraldic Society, yet some persons, without legal authority, occupy themselves with questions of n.o.bility, but they necessarily cannot be regarded as altogether trustworthy. Not knowing of a Heralds' College in France, I cannot accuse the Commune of having burnt the archives. The fires of 1871 destroyed the parochial registers (entries of birth, marriage, and death) preserved at the Hotel de Ville, and in the Library of the Louvre, which included some precious MSS. containing some correspondence of the last two centuries.'"

"ARTHUR VICARS, _Ulster_."

It will be seen that reference is made in the above letter to a certain un-official Heraldic Society, but shortly after the above correspondence was published, even that body was dissolved.

In May, 1895, there was sold by auction in the Hotel des Ventes, in Paris, the whole of the archives acc.u.mulated by the French Heraldic College. Although it is true the inst.i.tution was never anything but a private enterprise, it had had an uninterrupted existence of more than half a century, during which period a great store of genealogical doc.u.ments had been ama.s.sed relating to the t.i.tled families of France. It was founded in 1841 by the Marquis de Magny, the compiler of the well-known "Livre d'Or de la n.o.blesse de France," but the present generation of Frenchmen did not care sufficiently for rules of precedence and genealogical trees to support the inst.i.tution. Hence the sale, consisting, it is computed, of 40,000 genealogical trees, and about 400,000 original family doc.u.ments.

As to Frenchmen generally, they seem now to attach little importance to heraldry, and few literary men place arms on their book-plates. In fact, as M. Henri Bouchot observes: "Le blason a fait son temps, il ne se rencontre plus guere que dans les travaux des heraldistes et detonne un peu en ce moment."

As a simple guide to French heraldic terms may be mentioned: "Traite Complet de la Science du Blason," par Jouffroy D'Eschavannes. Edouard Rouveyre, rue des Saints Peres, Paris, 1880. This contains an excellent "Dictionnaire des Termes de Blason."

Heraldically interesting is the ex-libris of the library of the Chateau du Verdier de Vauprivas, French King of Arms, with the old war-cry of the Bourbons, _Mont-Joye St. Denis_! and the owner's motto, "Fear no Evil."

"Clisson a.s.sura sa Majeste du gain de la bataille, le roi lui repondit: Connestable, Dieu le veeulle, nous irons donc avant au nom de Dieu et de Sainct Denis."--_Vulson de la Colombiere_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF DU VERDIER, FRENCH KING OF ARMS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER IV.

EARLY EXAMPLES. FROM 1574 TO 1650.

From 1574 to 1650 French book-plates were not numerous, and very few dated examples are known, but the age of the plates can generally be approximately decided by their style.

The French s.h.i.+elds of this first period are almost invariably square in form, slightly curved at the bottom. As a rule, on early plates the supporters hold the s.h.i.+eld upright on a base which rises on each side, or occasionally on a mosaic platform, on the squares of which are emblazoned the princ.i.p.al charges of the s.h.i.+eld. This latter decoration, although exceedingly rich in appearance, seems to have fallen rapidly into disuse after 1650. At first the metals and colours are irregularly emblazoned, next they are indicated by the initials of their names, and finally (after 1638) are shown on the present system, although, it must be admitted, that on early plates the tinctures cannot invariably be relied on. French engravers, having the love of beauty more strongly developed than the desire for strict heraldic accuracy, often introduced shading in such a manner as to make it difficult to discriminate between heraldic and non-heraldic lines in their work. Prior to 1638 it was not unusual to "trick" the arms, by placing on them the initials of their metals or colours, as "o." for or, "ar." for argent, "g." for gueules, etc.; whereas soon after the publication of the "Tesserae gentilitiae" of Father Sylvestre Petra Sancta, it became the custom to employ dots and lines in conventional forms to indicate colours, metals, and furs in heraldic engravings, in the simple but effective manner which is still employed. Of the early plates, many are of large size, suitable for the folio volumes which then formed the bulk of all libraries. The ex-libris of Lyons are especially notable for their magnitude, as, for example, that of Claude Ruffier.

As in many cases designers' or engravers' signatures are found on plates which have no owners' names, the use of the term _anonymous_, applied to such ex-libris, would have been ambiguous or misleading. I have, therefore, spoken of ownerless plates as nameless.

I have already alluded in the Introductory Chapter to the three most interesting dated French plates before 1650, namely: _Caroli Albosii_, 1574, of which a facsimile is here; _Alexandre Bouchart_, 1611, reproduced by M. Bouchot; and _Melchior de la Vallee_, 1613, which has been reproduced in both the "Archives de la Societe Francaise" and the "Ex-Libris Journal."

There is a fourth plate, dated 1644, yet to be described, and a few additional notes about the above will be given, as we reach them in their order.

First, there can be no doubt as to the authenticity of the label of _Caroli Albosii_, or Charles Ailleboust, Bishop of Autun, whose father had been doctor to Francis I., and died at Fontainebleau, in 1531.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF THE BISHOP OF AUTUN.]

Charles Ailleboust is described in the histories of the time as having been a handsome man, of courtly manners and great learning. He was educated for the Church, but he also obtained several court appointments, through the interest of his father's many friends, and was procureur-general in the province of Lyons. He died in the town of Autun, on December 29, 1585, and was buried in the Church of Saint Jean-de-la-Grotte.

On his episcopal seal his arms are shown as a chevron between three trefoils within a bordure. No mention is made as to the extent or nature of the library left by this Bishop of Autun, but his ex-libris was found in a work printed in Lyons in 1566, ent.i.tled "Les secrets miracles de Nature."

One of the most curious points about this remarkable label is that it exactly synchronizes with the earliest known dated British book-plate, namely, that of Nicholas Bacon. But for the solace of our national vanity it may be said that the latter is the more important of the two, being a coloured armorial woodcut.

Amongst the finest examples of plates before 1650 may be named the series of three, in different sizes, engraved for _Jean Bigot_, Sieur de Sommesnil (the head of a Norman family of famous book-lovers).

All three plates are nameless; the arms are irregularly emblazoned, whilst the helmet and supporters are drawn in such an antique style as to give the plates the appearance of even greater age than they possess.

Possibly they may have been copied from some very old painting. Later on this Bigot has another suite of armorial book-plates engraved with his name, _Johannes Bigot_. In these the tinctures are indicated on the s.h.i.+eld by their initial letters. As a collector his son Emeric was even more famous, and added greatly to the library he inherited from his father. He had three armorial ex-libris, one large, and two small, on which the tinctures are correctly shown, with the name, _L. E. Bigot_.

These are all signed with a monogram formed of B and D entwined.

Emeric Bigot was born in 1626, so that it is possible that his plates were engraved a little later than 1650.

He was certainly the leading bibliophile of his day, at once the most cultivated and the most liberal in the acquisition of rare books.

Contemporary writers mention his literary taste and his fine library, which at the time of his death contained about 40,000 volumes. These he left to a member of his family, Robert Bigot (who also had a book-plate), but eventually they were sold in Paris in 1706.

The following ex-libris have also been identified as belonging to this period, either by the names, the arms, the mottoes, or by the signatures of the artists affixed to them:

Charles de Lorraine, Eveque de Verdun (1592-1631). Fine armorial plate, without the owner's name.

Alexandre Bouchart, Sieur de Blosseville. Engraved by Leonard Gaultier, dated 1611, and already described on page 12.

Melchior de la Vallee, dated 1613, an armorial plate of extreme rarity.

The inscription reads thus: "Melchior a Valle protonotarius Insignis Ecclae Sancti Georgi Naceis Cantor et Canonicus Henr II. D. Lotharin. et Barri eleemosinarius." On account of its extreme rarity this ex-libris had long been the subject of doubt and curiosity to collectors, even Mons. Poulet-Mala.s.sis had not seen it, and blundered in his notes upon it.

At length Dr. Bouland gave a _facsimile_ of it in the _Archives de la Societe Francaise_ for February, 1895.

The actual engraving measures exactly six inches by four, and in the lower portion the date (1613) is boldly engraved. Dr. Bouland, in his notes upon it, says that this _facsimile_ is taken from the only original copy that is now known to exist, in the possession of Mons.

Lucien Wiener, Curator of the Lorraine Museum in Nancy. One other example was discovered some time since, but was unfortunately destroyed in a fire. The design (which it may be said is more curious than beautiful) was at first attributed to Callot, but it is now believed to have been the work of Jacques Bellange, a painter and engraver, who was born in Nancy in 1594, and died about 1638, consequently he might well have produced work of this description in 1613. Melchior de la Vallee was an ecclesiastic, with a pa.s.sion for collecting rare books and curiosities; unfortunately he incurred the displeasure of Charles IV., Duke of Lorraine, was accused of sorcery, and cruelly burnt alive in 1631.

Chanlecy. The nameless armorial plate of an ecclesiastic belonging to this Burgundian family, quartering the arms of Semur and Thiard.

Claude Sarrau. Armorial plate in two sizes; the larger one only is signed Briot, although it is probable the same artist, Isaac Briot, engraved both. The owner's name does not appear on either plate. Claude Sarrau, councillor to the parliament of Paris, died in 1651. His correspondence with the savants of the day was edited and published by his son Isaac in 1654.

De Chaponay. Prevot des Marchands de la Ville de Lyon in 1627. Two handsome armorial plates, quarto and octavo, without the owner's name.

The quarto plate has the arms of Chaponay imposed upon those of family connections; lions support the s.h.i.+eld, which rests on a platform composed of a mosaic pattern of all the princ.i.p.al charges found on the various s.h.i.+elds. This is a very fine decorative plate. Signed Joan Picart incidit.

"Ex Libris Alexandri Petavii in Francorum curia consiliarii. Pauli filii." This is the fine armorial plate of Alexandre Petau, who inherited a splendid library from his father, Paul Petau, conseiller au parlement de Paris, born in 1568, died in 1613. On the death of Alexandre his ma.n.u.scripts were purchased by Christina of Sweden, who bequeathed them to the Vatican. The printed books were sold at the Hague in 1722, along with those of Mansart, the famous architect. On the plate the s.h.i.+eld rests on a mosaic platform, composed of the princ.i.p.al charges in alternate squares correctly tinctured. Motto: "Moribus antiquis."

This plate is reproduced by Poulet-Mala.s.sis.

Louis Brasdefer. In two sizes, each having the owner's name. Arms surrounded by two branches of laurel; the tinctures are indicated by their initial letters.

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

Ex-libris of Guillaume Grangier. _Guillelmus Grangierius_. Faict a Nancy par J. Valdor. An armorial plate, with six lines of Latin verse. The artist, Jean Valdor, a Liegeois, was residing in Nancy in 1630, which approximately fixes the date of this plate; he afterwards went to Paris, where he was living in 1642.

Auzoles, Sieur de la Peyre, of a family of Auvergne, author of "La Sainte Chronologie" (1571-1642). A quarto armorial plate without owner's name, but signed Picart ft. The s.h.i.+eld hangs from the neck of a lion.

Motto: "Sub zodiaco vales." This plate is reproduced by Poulet-Mala.s.sis.

Brinon. Norman family. A nameless armorial plate.