American Book-Plates: A Guide to Their Study with Examples
Charles Dexter Allen
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American Bookplates
[Illustration]
American Book-Plates
(Ex-Libris)
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
American Book-Plates
A Guide to their Study with Examples
By Charles Dexter Allen
Member Ex-Libris Society London · Member Grolier Club New York Member Connecticut Historical Society Hartford
With a Bibliography by Eben Newell Hewins
Member Ex-Libris Society
Illustrated with many reproductions of rare and interesting book-plates and in the finer editions with many prints from the original coppers both old and recent
[Illustration]
New York · Macmillan and Co. · London
Mdcccxciv
Copyright, 1894, By Macmillan And Co.
Norwood Press: J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith. Boston, Mass., U.S.A.
Preface.
[Illustration: I]n a few years Book-plate literature will have a place in the catalogues of the Libraries, as it now has in those of the dealers in books. The works of the Hon. J. Leicester Warren (Lord de Tabley), Mr. Egerton Castle, and Mr. W. J. Hardy on the English plates, Mr. Walter Hamilton, M. Henri Bouchot, and M. Poulet-Malassis on the French, Herr Warnecke on the German, and M. Carlander on the Swedish, are all the work of master hands, and are recognized as authorities. In our own country the lists and essays of Mr. Richard C. Lichtenstein and Mr. Laurence Hutton have long been of invaluable service, and occupy a position both at home and abroad of undisputed eminence.
A large number of articles has also been contributed to periodical literature by those well informed upon the subject, and numerous monographs testify to the growth of interest in this fascinating study, and by the names of their authors, to the class of scholars and students of antiquarian lore who deem the humble book-plate worthy of their attention.
In view of what has been and of what will be written, this present modest attempt to introduce more fully than has yet been done, the book-plates of America, needs to be understood as simply a pioneer work; a great deal of information will reward the patient and painstaking investigator of the future, which is now inaccessible, and without doubt, too, much will be found even within the present to supplement these pages.
This book could not have been undertaken nor carried to completion had the writer been denied the generous assistance and hearty sympathy of our collectors, to whom he desires to express his appreciation of the kindnesses shown him.
Especially to Mr. R. C. Lichtenstein, Mr. E. N. Hewins, and Mr. Fred J. Libbie of Boston, does he feel under deep obligation for the generous loan of their splendid collections, for ready advice and counsel, for cheerful assistance whenever asked for, and for that tangible sympathy and lively interest which are worth so much to one engaged in such work. To many others also is he indebted, both for the loan of plates and for kindly words of encouragement.
To Mr. S. P. Avery, Mr. Beverly Chew, Mr. E. H. Bierstadt, Mr. Henry Blackwell, Mr. D. McN. Stauffer, Mr. Edward D. Harris, Mr. Laurence Hutton, and Mr. E. W. Nash, of New York City; to Mr. W. G. Brown of Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Va.; Mr. H. E. Deats of Flemington, N.J.; Dr. C. E. Clark of Lynn; Hon. W. A. Courtnay of Charleston, S.C.; Miss Helen E. Brainerd of the Columbia College Library; Mr. Pickering Dodge of Washington, D.C.; Mr. Charles T. Martin, Mr. Frank B. Gay, Mr. A. C. Bates, and Mr. John C. Parsons, of Hartford; Dr. Henry C. Eno of Saugatuck; Dr. J. H. Dubbs of Lancaster, Penn., President of Franklin and Marshall College; Mr. D. V. R. Johnston of the State Library at Albany; Mr. Nathaniel Paine of Worcester; Mr. Daniel Ravenel of Charleston, S.C.; Mr. Howard Sill of Glendale, Md.; Mr. R. A. Brock of Richmond, Va.; Mr. Howard Edwards of Philadelphia; Dr. Swan M. Burnett of Washington, D.C.; Mr. Richard Wijnkoop of Brooklyn; Mr. Bisbee of Dartmouth College; Mr. William Kelby of the New York Historical Society; and to Mr. Lyon G. Tyler of Williamsburg, Va., President of William and Mary College, does he wish to make acknowledgment for the favors which have contributed so much to the value of the work. From over the sea, particularly kind assistance has come from Rev. T. W. Carson, the veteran collector and eminent authority of Dublin.
To all others who by letter, gift, or advice have assisted him, the writer wishes hereby to make suitable and hearty acknowledgment.
The writer’s thanks are also extended to those who have so kindly permitted him the use of their plates for the illustrating of the book.
A word more is due to Mr. E. N. Hewins, who very kindly, at the writer’s request, accepted the labor of preparing the excellent Bibliography which appears in the volume.
Charles Dexter Allen.
HARTFORD, CONN., June, 1894.
Contents
Page
PREFACE v
A LIST OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS xi
Introductory 1
Name-Labels And Mottoes 16
Armorial Book-Plates 35
PICTORIAL AND ALLEGORICAL BOOK-PLATES AND PLATES OF COLLEGES, LIBRARIES, AND SOCIETIES 57
Book-Plates Of Special Interest 79
Early American Book-Plate Engravers, With Lists Of Their Work 104
An Alphabetical List Of Early American Book-Plates 160
A Chronological List Of The Dated Plates 313
AN ALPHABETICAL LIST OF THE SIGNED PLATES, SHOWING THE EXACT MANNER OF SIGNING 314
A List Of Mottoes Found Upon The Early Plates, With Translations 323
A Few Recent Examples 340
The American Collectors And Collections 377
The Ex Libris Societies 387
Bibliography (American, English, And French) 389
Conclusion 421
Index 423
List Of Illustrations.
Copper-Plates.
CHARLES DEXTER ALLEN, by _E. H. Garrett_ _Title-page_
_To face page_ EDWARD HALE BIERSTADT, by _E. D. French_ 90
Oliver Wendell Holmes 98
ALEXANDER ANDERSON, by _Anderson_ 120
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES, attributed to _Callender_ 126
GEORGE GOODWIN, attributed to _Doolittle_ 132
MARSHALL C. LEFFERTS, by _E. D. French_ 352
GEORGE DUDLEY SEYMOUR, by _W. F. Hopson_ 370
FRANCIS WILSON, by _E. H. Garrett_ 376
Full-Page Reproductions.
Jereh. Wadsworth 1
Moral Library, Yale College 6
James Eddy Mauran 16
Eugene Field 35
JACOB SARGEANT, by _Jacob Sargeant_ 46
PETER MANIGAULT, by _Yates_ 52
John Williams 54
Richard Wynkoop 56
Social Law Library 66
George Alexander Macbeth 79
W. F. HOPSON, by _W. F. Hopson_ 104
William Ashmead Courtenay 122
EDMUND H. GARRETT, by _E. H. Garrett_ 138
H. E. Deats 150
RICHARD C. LICHTENSTEIN, by _George Moore_ 160
Louis J. Haber 323
GEORGE H. ELLWANGER, by _Sidney L. Smith_ 340
JOHN E. RUSSELL, by _M. T. Callahan_ 357
Dean Sage 360
FRED C. SCHLAICK, by _Howard Sill_ 362
ARTHUR ROBINSON STONE, by _George M. White_ 364
F. W. Hoyt 366
Illustrations In The Text.
Page
George Lee Tuberville, Virginia 2
Timothy Newell, printed by _Isaiah Thomas_ 3
William Lord, East Haddam 5
Geo. C. M. Roberts, M.D., Baltimore 6
Elijah F. Reed 7
Jared Ingersoll, Esq., of New Haven, Conn. 8
John Walters Gibbs, Charleston, S.C., by _Abernethie_ 9
Peter Middleton, M.D., by _J. Lewis_ 10
Harrison Gray Otis 11
Lieut. E. Trenchard, U. S. Navy 12
Samuel Elam, Rhode Island 13
John Adams 15
Hannah Reynolds 17
E Libris Thomæ Holt 18
John Campbell, Charles County 19
Richard Sprigg, Jr., by _T. Sparrow_ 20
Thomas O. Selfridge, Boston, 1799 22
Worcester Circulating Library 23
Daniel Greenleaf 25
Timothy Mann, Walpole, Oct., 1810 27
A. L. Hollingsworth, Boston, Mass. 29
George Bancroft 31
William Prescott 32
Henry Blackwell, New York City 33
Edward Pennington, Philadelphia 34
Gabriel Jones, Attorney at Law, in Virginia 36
Joseph Dudley, 1754 38
Jer. Dummer, Anglus Americanus 39
Minot, Boston 40
Frederik Philipse, Esq. 42
William P. Smith, A.M., by _Thomas Johnston_ 45
Andrew Tyler, by _Hurd_ 46
John Durand, Esq. 47
Anthony Stewart, Annapolis, Md. 48
Myles Cooper, LL.D., etc. 49
Andrew Oliver, attributed to _Hurd_ 50
Benjamin Kissam, by _Dawkins_ 51
Samuel Vaughan, Esq. 53
W. Jackson 54
De Witt Clinton, by _Maverick_ 55
James Parker 58
Henry Andrews, by _Harris_ 59
New York Society Library, by _Maverick_ 60
New York Society Library, 1789, by _Maverick_ 61
Monthly Library in Farmington, Conn. 63
Village Library, Farmington, Conn. 65
Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts 66
Hasty Pudding Library, Harvard College 68
Linonian Library, Yale College 69
Linonian Library (_Yale College_) 70
Arnold Arboretum, 1892, by _Geo. Wharton Edwards_ 72
New York Society Library, by _Elisha Gallaudet_ 74
Phoenix Society 76
Brothers in Unity, Yale College, by _Pelton_ 77
Samuel Hill 78
Stephen Cleveland 80
Columbia College Library, New York, by _Anderson_ 81
Isaiah Thomas 83
Albany Society Library, 1759 84
John Quincy Adams 86
Josiah Quincy 87
Livius 88
Dr. John Jeffries, attributed to _Callender_ 89
Geo. Washington, _genuine_ 91
Geo. Washington, _fraudulent_ 94
Bushrod Washington 96
Daniel Webster 97
Brander Matthews, by _E. A. Abbey_ 99
Edmund Clarence Stedman 100
Laurence Hutton 102
Winfield Scott 103
Robert Hale, Esq., of Beverly, by _Hurd_ 107
John Chandler, Jr., Esq., by _Hurd_ 108
Lewis De Blois, by _Hurd_ 109
Joshua Spooner, by _Hurd_ 110
Harvard College, by _Hurd_ 112
John Vassall, Esq., by _Hurd_ 114
John Lowell, by _Hurd_ 115
Peter A. Browne, by _Akin_ 118
John Pintard, LL.D., by _Anderson_ 120
Apprentices’ Library, New York City, by _Anderson_ 121
Thomas Russell, by _Callender_ 125
Henry D. Gilpin, by _Childs_ 127
Whitehead Hicks, by _Dawkins_ 130
Social Library, Wethersfield, by _Doolittle_ 133
Eli Forbes, by _Furnass_ 135
John Chambers, by Elisha _Gallaudet_ 136
Anonymous, by _Maverick_ 141
Abraham Bancker, by _Maverick_ 143
Gardiner Chandler, by _Revere_ 146
William Wetmore, by _Revere_ 147
Paul Revere, by _Revere_ 148
John Lenthall, by _Thackara_ 153
Bloomfield, by _Trenchard_ 154
Luther Martin, attributed to _Trenchard_ 155
John Franklin, Boston, New Eng., by _Turner_ 156
Bloomfield McIlvaine, by _Seymour_ 157
G. A. Smith 159
Anonymous, by _Maverick_ 161
William Belcher, Savannah 171
Absalom Blackley, by _Maverick_ 173
Hon. William Carmichael, Esq. 181
Col. John Skey Eustace 199
Ewing 201
Andrew G. Fraunces, by _Maverick_ 205
John Goelet, attributed to _Maverick_ 209
Richard Harison 215
Barrack Hays, by _Hutt_ 219
Samuel Farmar Jarvis, D.D. 227
William Jauncey 229
Thomas Johnson, by _Maverick_ 231
Edward Livingston, by _Maverick_ 238
Abraham Lodge 240
Rev. John Murray 253
Francis Panton, Jr., by _Maverick_ 259
Samuel Parker 260
William Penn 263
James Power 270
Samuel Smith 283
J. B. Swett 289
John Tayloe 291
Richard Varick, by _Billings_ 295
Virginia Council Chamber 297
John C. Warren 299
W. Warren 301
William Duer 322
Malvians 339
Thomas Bailey Aldrich 343
Melvin H. Hapgood 344
Joseph Henry Dubbs, D.D. 345
James Phinney Baxter 348
Albert C. Bates 350
George Wharton Edwards 351
John Herbert Corning, by _H. Sandham_ 354
George L. Parmelee 355
Paul Lemperly, by _Bert K. Canfield_ 359
Joseph H. Wheeler 361
Chauncey Lawrence Williams, by _Geo. R. Halm_ 364
Samuel Wesley Marvin 366
Adam Van Allan 367
Marcus Benjamin 369
Henry S. Rowe 376
Julia Dexter Coffin 374
Jeremiah Evarts 386
John Andrew 388
Paul Lemperly, by _E. H. Garrett_ 421
[Illustration: Jere^{h}. Wadsworth.]
American Book-Plates.
Introductory.
[Illustration: W]e cannot venture to guess which was the first book-plate made in America, nor to say with absolute certainty whence came the first plate used in our country; but undoubtedly the latter came over already pasted into some book of a Dutch or English settler.
The larger part of our books came from England, and very few plates are found with arms of other nationalities. The colonists who came from England bringing books, brought also the home ideas concerning books, and the book-plate was a natural piece of property to acquire. Their descendants, who continued the connection with the mother-country, used plates more generally, and the fashion spread naturally. It never became very general, but was confined to those of gentle birth; the clergy, the lawyers, and men of education. We shall see that it was not confined to the men alone, but that the women of literary accomplishments also used plates.
[Illustration: George Lee Turberville.
Virginia.]
By far the greater part of the plates are cut on copper, but there are some woodcuts as will be seen in an examination of the list; also, there are some which look as if cut in silver, which was an easier metal to work, or perhaps in type-metal. One example is known in which brass was used, and this old plate is now in the possession of the writer. The steel engravings are of rather recent date; and while there are a number of these, the new plates are mostly on copper. The simple labels are printed from type.
The larger part of our early plates are armorial in character; and while heraldry forms so prominent and important a feature, it is left practically untouched in the present volume. The number interested in the science is small, the authorities on coats-of-arms and on blazoning differ, and the present writer had not the time to make the thorough investigation necessary to a satisfactory treatment of this interesting branch. Upon consultation with other collectors, and with their advice, it was decided to leave this subject for a future volume should any call for it arise.
[Illustration: Timothy Newell.]
A decided difference is noticed between the book-plates of the Northern and the Southern Colonies. In the South, to which came men of wealth and leisure with cultivated tastes, we would expect to find the little superfluities and niceties of daily life sooner in vogue and more generally used. Bringing books and musical instruments with them, retaining their connection with the far-away home by correspondence and visits, sending their sons to the great Universities to be educated, and to the Law Schools for a finishing course, and ordering their clothes, books, furniture, and all of the luxuries of life from England, they would naturally be the first to use the book-plate. Very few of the Southern plates were engraved by American engravers. They were nearly all done in London, when some member of the family was over, or by order from the Colony; for this reason the Southern plates are better in heraldry, design, and execution than those of New England and New York. They were the product of men experienced in such work; they were all armorial and in the prevailing English mode.
The earliest comers to New England had a prejudice against coats-of-arms and trinkets of such-like character, which their descendants, however, soon forgot. Pride of ancestry and love of the display of aristocratic claims developed when the hard circumstances of the former years had worn off, and we find the prominent families of the North using book-plates, and having their arms upon their coaches. In one important feature, however, these Northern plates differ from the Southern,--they are mostly the work of our native engravers, very few being done in England.
The work of these native artisans, who were mostly self-taught in this art of engraving on copper, is confessedly inferior to that of the London experts found upon the Southern plates, both in drawing and execution, but their work is of more value to the collector from this very fact of their being American work. They furnish examples of native skill, both in engraving and in copper-plate printing.
The ornamentation of buttons, spoons, tableware, and other articles of silver was already practised when the demand for the book-plate arose, so that there were skilful men ready to turn their attention to this new branch of their art.
[Illustration: WILLIAM LORD]
The War of the Revolution naturally affected the native production of book-plates, but a few years after its close, when Boston, New York, and Philadelphia were active in publishing books, the engraver found work more plenty, and very many who were employed upon the plates for the illustration of books also produced book-plates.
Nathaniel Hurd was the principal engraver of book-plates in the North before the war, though Thomas Johnson, who was born before him and who also died before he did, made some plates, while Turner and Paul Revere were also working at this period.
Henry Dawkins, in Philadelphia, came over from England, and so did the elder Maverick, who made so many plates for the New Yorkers.
[Illustration: George C. M. Roberts, M.D.]
The literary plates are smaller in number than we could wish, and they do not show a wide range of ideas either. Very probably some of the designs were borrowed from English plates, and were produced over again for different customers, or were freely copied by other engravers who liked, or who found customers who liked, the design of others. The plate used by _George Goodwin_ is one of four of this same design. The shelf of books is also seen in the plate of _G. C. M. Roberts, M.D._, _Thomas Robbins_, and the
[Illustration: MORAL LIBRARY
Yale College]
_Elijah F. Reed_, which is a direct reproduction of the _Robbins_. Piles of books, but not the regulation “Book-pile,” are seen in the _Brown_ and _Lewis_ plates, while the only real library interiors are the _Tayloe_ plate, the _Moral Library_ and the _Village Library_ (Farmington, Conn.). John Allan, the old-book lover of New York, used a plate with an open book against an anchor, and the plate of _Edmund Penn_ shows a love for books in the dainty volumes disposed about the frame.
[Illustration: Elijah F. Reed’s]
The patriotism of our book-lovers is shown in very many designs, which use the American flag or the eagle. The thirteen stars also, the motto of the United States, and various private mottoes of a very patriotic nature, are frequently used.
It is noticeable that as compared with the Southern plates there are but few of the Northern examples which give the address or residence of the owner; that is, speaking of the armorial plates, the printed name labels give these particulars quite often.
[Illustration: Jared Ingersoll Esq^{r}.
of New Haven Connecticut.]
The _Jared Ingersoll_ plate gives _New Haven_ as the residence of the owner, while _Rhode Island_ follows the name on the plate of _Samuel Elam_. Other Northern plates which are so engraved are the _Colonel Eustace of New York_, _Comptroller Elliston_ also _of New York_, _Lenox of Philadelphia_, _Atlee of Lancaster_, _John Franklin, Boston, New England_, and _Robert Hale of Beverly_. Of the Southern plates, _Wormeley_, _Waller_, _Tuberville_, _Tazewell_, _Skelton_, _Randolph_, and _Ludwell_
[Illustration: John Walters Gibbs.]
give _Virginia_ as their residence; _Drayton_ names _South Carolina_, the _Dr. Cabell_ plate names _Richmond_, and the _John Walters Gibbs_ names _Charleston, S.C._ The plates used in the West Indies also show the residence quite often. There, too, as well as in the Southern colonies, the profession or position of the owner, as well as the London law school in which he was educated, are often given. Thus we have _William Blanc, Middle Temple, Dominica_; _Chas. Pinfold, LL.D., Governor of Barbadoes_; _Peyton Randolph of the Middle Temple, London_; _Francis Page of the Inner Temple Esqr._; _William Assheton of Gray’s Inn_. In the Northern examples we find _John Gardiner of the Inner Temple_, and _Jonathan Belcher, E Societate Medij Templi_.
[Illustration: PETER MIDDLETON. M.D.]
We note also in running through the List that the occupations most often noted on the book-plates are those of the medical and the legal profession. Barristers, lawyers, and attorneys are often so named, and the initials _M.D._, or the full word _Doctor_, are seen.
The abbreviations of other degrees are found also, and the plates of clergymen are not uncommon.
Several plates remain unnoticed in the following pages, which are probably American, but which, for lack of positive information, it is thought best not to include. Among these is an early Dutch plate which, if it could be accurately traced to its original owner, might prove to be one of the earliest plates used in America.
[Illustration: Harrison Gray Otis.]
It seems that a word is needed in defence of the perfectly legitimate and gentle pursuit of collecting book-plates. A great deal of sarcasm and indignation have found their way into the columns of periodical literature, particularly in England, the especial purpose of which is to trouble the humble collector, and to discredit him in the eyes of the world. He is pointed out as a destroyer of valuable books, as an animal so greedy in the pursuit of his insignificant prey as to ruin elegant bindings that he may secure worthless bits of paper, and as actually so devoid of good sense as to remove such of these as are interesting--for it is reluctantly admitted that some interest does attach to the plates used by certain men of fame in historical annals--from their rightful place within the covers of the very books read and handled by these illustrious owners.
[Illustration: Lieut. E. Trenchard]
Let it be remembered that but a small part of the many books published have a permanent value, and that a book once eagerly sought may outlive its usefulness, and come to have a commercial value of so much a pound as old paper, instead of so much a copy in different styles of binding. Surely, no one can quarrel with the collector who removes the book-plate, found within it, from such a worn-out specimen, even if the removal necessitates the ruin of the cover. But to remove a book-plate does not necessarily mean to ruin the cover; it requires some skill and considerable patience to remove a valuable plate without injury to either itself or the cover upon which it was pasted, but it is done daily. Surely no one can find fault with this--a skilful operation resulting satisfactorily to the plate-collector and to the book-owner.
[Illustration: Samuel Elam.]
Again, no intelligent book-plate collector will separate the plate of a famous man from the book which has been its home for years, and which was once handled and read by its famous owner. Even a worthless book will thus be saved by the collector, which was fit but for the fire or the ash-heap, and which would have gone thither, plate and all, save for his discriminating eye, while a valuable book no one would think of despoiling. Would an intelligent collector, having a book from the library of George Washington, with his plate upon the cover and his autograph in its accustomed place, think of soaking off the plate and cutting out the signature? Not at all; no matter how worthless the book might chance to be, the fact that it was Washington’s is sufficient to insure it from any harm, while the presence of the autograph and the book-plate but adds to the value as establishing beyond peradventure the original ownership.
The book-plate collector is naturally a book-lover. He must not be accused or suspected of crimes against his own kith and kin. He is a harmless and useful specimen of the _genus_ collector, who with assiduity, perseverance, and intelligence seeks to preserve these memorials of past days, which in the rage for indiscriminate collecting were overlooked, and are but now beginning to receive the attention they are worthy of.
It is, however, to be admitted that at first glance, the general reader who has not developed a special liking for the things of the past in history, art, or biography, may see no especial interest in book-plates. But let him examine a collection of good plates with their intelligent owner, who can point out to him the facts worthy of note; let him once understand that celebrated artists like Albrecht Durer, Jost Amman, William Hogarth, William Marshall, George Vertue, Bewick, Bartolozzi, and even Raphael Morghen were willing to devote time and taste to the designing or engraving of the book-plate; let him handle some of their work, and reflect upon the effort the master considered so small a design worthy of; let him see the plates of some of the noted names in history, art, letters, medicine, the sciences, and the professions; let him take in his hands the plates of William Penn, the friend of the Indian and benefactor of his race, of Laurence Sterne, of David Garrick, of Horace Walpole, of Samuel Rogers, of Charles Dickens, or of George Washington, of John Adams, and Charles Carroll, signers of the Declaration; let him see a plate engraved by Paul Revere whose services in the Revolution he has known of from his schooldays;--let him see these and scores more of similar interest, and he cannot fail to respond to the enthusiasm of their owner. But indeed it is a pursuit, the delights of which are discernible to those only who bring to it the capacity for such pleasures.
[Illustration: _John Adams._]
Name-Labels And Mottoes.
[Illustration: O]f all forms of book-plates the simplest possible is the printed name of the owner, unaccompanied by either motto, device, or ornamentation of any kind. Such a plate had _Philip Hone_, one of the founders of the Mercantile Library, and in the early twenties a mayor of the city of New York. His plate is merely a bit of paper with his name in bold script printed upon it from an engraved copper-plate.
This style of plate is not chronologically the earliest, but is taken as our starting-point because of its unrelieved simplicity; this fulfils the mission of the book-plate,--it proclaims the ownership of the book in which it is seen; not in delicate language, to be sure, not with any invitation to dip into the volume in hand, not with any evidence of the owner’s taste in reading, but with a directness not to be misunderstood.
The essential part of the book-plate is the name of the owner; and while this is sufficient of itself, it is found profitable and pleasant to accompany it with an apt quotation from a favorite author, with a caution against the improper
[Illustration: James Eddy Mauran.]
handling of books, with a warning of the sad result of declining Wisdom’s guidance, or with an invitation to enjoy the beauties of literature and to share the benefits of careful reading. In addition to these mere typographical adjuncts an opportunity is offered for the display of those more decorative garnishments which have led to the development of the handsomer styles of plates.
[Illustration: _Hannah Reynolds._]
_Alexander Stedman’s: Thomas Thaxter’s, 1791: William W. Potter’s Book: Aaron Woolworth’s, Ex Dono Rev. S. Buell, D.D._ These plates use the possessive case, are embellished with borders of ornamental type, and supply some further information by showing the date of their being used, or by naming the giver of the volumes. Other styles of expressing book-ownership are afforded by the following: _Nicolas Pike His Book 1768_: _Hannah Adams, Medfield 179-_: _The Property of John Clap, Roxbury 1791_: _Davidis Dickinson Liber, A.D. 1796_: _Lieut. E. Trenchard, U. S. Navy_: _Simeon Baldwin, Owner_: _Ex Libris I. G. Thomas_: _Library T. W. Curtis, No._: _Belonging to the Library of Thomas Forrest Betton, Germantown Pa._: _The Property of John Weld native of Pomfret, Conn. Resident of Pomfret, Bo’t of Mr. James Steele of Hartford, January 12, 1796_: _W. Lewis, Ejus Liber_: _Johann Christoph Kunze, Prediger in Philadelphia_: _Emmanuel Jones e Coll; Gul; et Ma: 1756_.
[Illustration: THOMÆ HOLT.]
These old type-set labels with their quaint borders of ornamental type,--scrolls, flourishes, stars, vines, and even grammatical signs,--are usually found to be printed on good white handmade paper, which was seldom trimmed with care; occasionally a tinted paper is found,--yellow more often than any other, but sometimes a blue or green; these served the less pretentious of our ancestors in lieu of the coats-of-arms and family mottoes of those of higher lineage, and are found in quantities throughout the New England and Middle States: even farther south they are not uncommon, but are not so numerous.
[Illustration: JOHN CAMPBELL,
Charles County.]
In making up these ornamental borders the type was usually set in the form of a parallelogram, occasionally in a square, oval, circle, or diamond, and seldom in fanciful shapes. The most ambitious plate of this kind which has come under my observation is that which once graced the books of Mary McGinley; this is a rather large plate, and the type is set in the form of an urn, within the lines of which are given the motto and the owner’s name.
A step in advance of these wholly typographical examples are those which employ a woodcut border to surround the name, and instances can be given of such a border enclosing the name printed from type; festoons of flowers or of cord, and draperies of cloth, were also used as a simple setting for the owner’s name. In this connection mention may be made of the work of T. Sparrow, an obscure engraver of Maryland; no heraldic or pictorial examples of his workmanship have been identified, and he probably confined himself to the simple woodcut designs of which but a small number are known. Always using a border of floriated scrolls, he never omitted an original contrivance which is the characteristic mark of his work,--a group of thirteen stars surrounded often by a wreath. This is always found in a prominent place, and is an indication of his patriotism as well as that of the owner of the plate.
[Illustration: RICHARD SPRIGG, jun.]
It must not be supposed that the heraldic book-plate was an outgrowth or development of the name-label: not at all; they were contemporaneous and were both used in England long before they were here.
Coming now to the subject of mottoes, we find a wide field to travel over, many languages to read, many quotations to recognize, with hints and warnings, and even threatenings, by the score, from jealous book-lovers. Mottoes readily fall into two classes: those which are chosen by the owner for some personal reason, and those which are family mottoes, and which are used without thought because they are a family inheritance, or with a commendable pride in such legacies from an honorable ancestry. Latin is the language most often used probably, though English is a strong rival, while German, French, Greek, and even Hebrew and Welsh are also found upon our book-plates. Sentiments opposing the habit of book-borrowing are of frequent occurrence, and in some instances are of such severity as to leave no doubt of their effectiveness. For brevity and pointedness the following example can hardly be exceeded:--
_This book was bought and paid for by_ _D. C. Colesworthy._ _Borrowing neighbors are recommended_ _to supply themselves in the same manner._ _Price seventy-five cents._
On the book-plate of _D. W. Jayne_ the following verse from the Bible is used:--
_Go ye rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves. Matt. Chap. xxv. ver. 9._
[Illustration: Thomas O. Selfridge,
_Boston_,
1799.]
Verses from Holy Writ are quite frequently used on plates, and the style of expression found in the Psalms and Proverbs is borrowed as adding an authoritative emphasis to the words of caution and advice,--
_The wicked borrow, and returneth not: do thou not like unto them._
_Return what thou borroweth with the most sacred punctuality, and withhold it not._
On the plate of a book-lover in Charleston, S.C.,--
_And ye shall keep me until the fourteenth day. And it shall be when thou hast made an end of reading this book. Send me away unto my master. Ex. xii. 6: Jer. li. 63: Gen. xxiv. 54._
[Illustration: THE PROPERTY OF THE
Worcester Circulating Library Company.]
Every one has suffered from book-borrowers, even from school-day times, when the rude doggerel,--
_Steal not this book for fear of shame,_ _For here you see the owner’s name_,
or its variant,
_Steal not this book for fear of strife,_ _For its owner carries a huge jack-knife_,
was printed in coarse letters across the cover of the books most likely to go astray. How irritating it is to find the very volume one needs at the moment, missing from its accustomed place on the shelf; if anything is lacking to complete the torment of the discovery, let it be impossible to find out who has taken the desired volume, or to get any clew as to when it went or where!
_Private Library of J. N. Candee Cole, This book is not loaned. Matt. xxv. 9._
_Read not books alone: but men, and be careful to read thyself. The property of John Lambert, South Reading._
_To Borrowers of Books._ YOU _remember, my friend, I freely comply’d With the favour you asked me, and fully relied On a favour from you, which, tho’ promised, I find, As it hasn’t been granted, is out of your mind, To return in due time what I’ve wanted to see, The Book, which ’tis long since you borrow’d of me. Another I now with reluctance implore, ’Tis only to ask that you borrow no more._
_Stolen from J. W. Houx_,
_Book-keeping taught in three words, Never lend them._
The would-be borrower who finds these sentiments in the book he was about to ask for will scarcely be encouraged to do so, and for directness they are exceeded by only one example, in which the owner’s name is followed by the simple declaration, _He does not lend books_. The motto on the plate of the late _George Ticknor_--_Suum cuique, To every man his own_--was also calculated to discourage the borrower.
But some people do lend books, and have them returned too,--in good second-hand condition. And so it comes about that the proper use of books is made the subject of another class of mottoes.
_My Friend! Should you this book peruse,_ _Please to protect it from abuse:_ _Nor soil, nor stain, nor mark its page,_ _Nor give it premature old age:_ _And, when it has effected all,_ _Please to return it ere I call._
[Illustration: Daniel Greenleaf]
The following verse is common property and is found on several plates:--
_If thou art borrowed by a friend,_ _Right welcome shall he be_ _To read, to study, not to lend,_ _And to return to me._
_Not that imparted learning doth_ _Diminish learning’s store,_ _But books, I find, if often lent,_ _Return to me no more._
_Read slowly,_ _Pause frequently,_ _Think seriously,_ _Return duly with the corners of the leaves not turned down._
_Neither blemish this book, nor the leaves double down,_ _Nor lend it to each idle friend in the town:_ _Return it when read,--or if lost please supply_ _Another, as good to the mind and the eye._ _With right and with reason you need but be friends_ _And each book in my study your pleasure attends._
_If through respect or love I lend_ _This book unto my worthy friend,_ _He must not soil, abuse, nor tear,_ _But read with diligence and care;_ _And when its contents you have learned,_ _Remember, it must be_ RETURNED.
On the plate of _Samuel W. Francis_ appear the following lines:--
_Any one may borrow,_ _But a gentleman returns._
* * * * *
_The property_ _of_ _Thomas C. Cowan._
_Borrower,_ _read, mark, and_ AVOID _the former part_ _of_ _Psalm xxxvii. 21_.
* * * * *
IF _you borrow, freely use it,_ _Take great care and don’t abuse it:_ _Read, but neither lose nor lend it,_ _Then unto the owner send it_.
_Never open a book farther than to bring both sides of the cover on to the same plane. Never lend a borrowed book, but return it as soon as you are through with it, so that the owner may not be deprived of its use. You may think this a strange request, but I find that although many of my friends are poor arithmeticians, they are nearly all of them good book-keepers._
[Illustration: TIMOTHY MANN.]
In strong contrast to all the preceding are those mottoes of generous souls who find no pleasure in withholding their treasures, but who wish to have it understood that they are for the use of all; not very many are bold enough to thus advertise their willingness to lend, but a few do so, and generally by the use of the Latin, _Sibi et amicis_, or _et amicorum_.
Sentiments in praise of books and reading are not uncommon, and quotations from classic writers both in prose and poetry do good service on book-plates. Pope’s well-known lines--
_A little learning is a dangerous thing,_ _Drink deep or taste not the Pierian Spring;_ _Where shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,_ _But drinking largely sobers us again._
are found on an old American plate.
On a recent New York plate,--
_Far more seemly were it for thee to have thy Study full of Books than thy purse full of money. Lilly._
On a Maine plate,--
_Who learns and learns but does not what he learns,_ _Is one who plows and plows but never sows._
* * * * *
_Weigh well each thought, each sentence freely scan,_ _In Reason’s balance try the works of man._ _Be bias’d not by those who praise or blame,_ _Nor, Servile, Yield opinion to a name._
On a recent Boston plate,--
_Un bon livre est un bon ami._
On a recent Western plate,--
_A jolly goode booke,_ _Whereon to looke,_ _Is better to me than golde._
On a recent Washington plate,--
_A trusty villain, sir, that very oft when I am dull with care and melancholy lightens my humour._
[Illustration: EX LIBRIS A. L. HOLLINGSWORTH.]
The mottoes on the plates of those who have achieved distinction have a peculiar interest, especially when chosen by the owners themselves. The plate of _Henry W. Longfellow_ bears the following line:--
_Non clamor sed amor_,
which is from an unknown author and is found in the following verse:--
_Non vox sed votum,_ _Non chordas sed cor,_ _Non clamor sed amor,_ _Sonat in aure Dei._
_Not voice but vow,_ _Not harp-string, but heart-string,_ _Not loudness but love,_ _Sound in the ear of God._
The motto of _George Washington_,--_Exitus acta probat_, is not given in the accepted lists as the family motto of his ancestors, but it may have been such. The meaning of it has brought out criticism recently because of its Jesuitical sound,--“_The end shows the deed_.” But this may also be taken as a patriotic utterance in view of the part of the illustrious owner of this plate in the Revolution.
On the plate of _William Penn_ we see a motto most fitting for the character he sustained, _Dum clavum rectum teneam_--“_While I hold to glory, let me hold to right_.” In the plate the third word is omitted, as the engraver found the motto too long for the space reserved, and through some
[Illustration: George Bancroft]
blunder the _r_ in _clarum_ is changed to a _v_, which makes no sense at all.
On the plate of _George Bancroft_, the late historian, a chubby cherub bears a panel on which is the motto, _Sursum corda_. Another plate was also used by Mr. Bancroft which was in all respects like the above, except that the motto was changed to ΕΙΣ ΦΑΟΣ.
The plate of the late _Mr. George W. Childs_ has the following motto whose appropriateness is evident at once,--_The pen is mightier than the sword_. Above this a second motto of equal appropriateness is given,--_Nihil sine labore_.
On the plate of _Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes_, _Per ampliora ad altiora_ is given upon a ribbon under a beautiful drawing of the “chambered nautilus.”
[Illustration: WILLIAM PRESCOTT]
Instances of mottoes which are cleverly made to carry some meaning, or some word, which will be seen at a glance to be taken from the name of the owner, are found often.
On the plate of _Harold Clarence Ernst_ this motto is given, _Ernst ist das Leben_.
On the plate of _George Curry, D.D._,--_Sic curre capias_.
On the plate of _Edward Spencer Dix_,--_Quod dixi id feci_.
[Illustration: HENRY BLACKWELL]
In concluding this list of mottoes two from the Welsh can be instanced, one on the plate of a New York collector of Welshiana, which is _Cared Doeth Yr Encilic_, meaning, “_The learned love the things of the past_.” The other is on a Washington plate, and reads thus, _A fynno Dwy y Fydd_, meaning, “_What God wills, will be_.”
In the list of languages used on book-plates, we must now include the Volapük, for we have the first instance of its use already in a New York plate; the motto reading, _Menad bal pukbal_, and meaning, “_One humanity, one language_.”
[Illustration: Edward Penington.]
[Illustration: Eugene Field.]
Armorial Book-Plates.
[Illustration: B]ook-plates admit of many kinds of extraneous ornamentation, and wholly apart from the special function of recording the ownership of books, they serve as expressions of artistic taste; they lend themselves readily to many forms of design, and have passed through several changes or “styles” in the three hundred years of their existence; they can be dignified or flippant, serious or punning, of artistic beauty or positive deformity; they can express the owner’s choice of reading and can preserve lines from his favorite authors; can convey warning or invitation, and can, in short, be made a very personal affair.
The first book-plates were heraldic. In those early and, in some senses, good old days, before the schoolmaster was abroad in the land, when learning was the possession of the aristocrats and the churchmen only, and consequently when handwriting was not in use among the people, families were distinguished by emblems which were known of all. These heraldic devices were painted on their shields, carved upon their walls, engraved upon their breast-plates, woven upon their banners and their tapestries, displayed upon their own persons, upon those of their dependents, and even upon their animals and the furniture and books of their homes; even the purely ornamental and ephemeral luxuries came to be adorned with the family coat-of-arms.
[Illustration: Gabriel Jones, Attorney at Law, in Virginia.]
The armorial bearings, stamped upon the back or sides of a book, or printed upon paper and pasted within the cover, were sufficient, without a name, to identify the family to which it belonged. Libraries descended from father to son, and were kept intact for generations; and the family arms and motto were the most appropriate label possible.
Warren, one of the first to study book-plates and to give to others the benefit of his researches, has divided the armorial plates into general classes, and has given them suitable names, which are accepted the world over. A considerable number of subdivisions has been made; and while they may be serviceable where book-plates are plentiful, they are but an incumbrance to the collector of the early plates of America, for our examples are few in number, and are quite sufficiently distinguished--for the purpose of the present work, at least--by the following styles: Early English, Jacobean, Chippendale, Ribbon, and Wreath. Distinctive, easily remembered characteristics pertain to each of these, and fairly accurate dates of their adoption and continuance can be given.
Adopting then the nomenclature of Warren, and following his lead, we come now to consider the meaning of the different styles and the diversity of their designs.
The very earliest class is the Early English, in which the shield of arms is present with all its accessories. In these plates the mantling is very profuse, and in large full-rounded curves surrounds three, and often all four, sides of the shield. This is the only ornamentation, nothing incidental being added as yet; the name of the owner is usually or often accompanied by a title and address, and quite frequently also by the date.
[Illustration: Joseph Dudley
1754]
We have but few examples of this style; perhaps the most satisfactory as an example of the class will be the plate of _Joseph Dudley_, dated 1754. (This plate was really engraved much earlier than this. Hurd erased the original name, and cut the present one with the date in its place.) In this the mantling, running out beyond the edges of the shield, curls both upward and downward, and completely envelops three sides; the design takes on a strong resemblance to oak leaves, and a single leaf of this is engraved upon the helmet: the background, or space enclosed within the scroll-work, is filled in with perpendicular lines which might be taken for the tincture _gules_; in the name-bracket, the oak-leaf pattern is again made use of, forming a neat finish to the ends.
[Illustration: Jer. Dummer
Anglus Americanus]
In the plate of _The Honourable Wm. Carmichael, Esqr._, the mantling is not so completely transformed into the oak-leaf design, although the latter is here apparent. The plate of _Jer. Dummer, Anglus Americanus_ is peculiar in that the space enclosed by the scroll-work is lined with the solid brick wall of the later Jacobean style; in this the
[Illustration: Minot]
mantling is less striking than in the _Dudley_, but it surrounds the shield well, and curves upward about the crest. In the _Minot_ plate, which is very peculiar and rather difficult to classify, the mantling is very unworthy of the name; it does not proceed from the helmet, nor indeed from anywhere in particular, but in wild and very eccentric fashion, envelops the crest and most of the shield; the field of the shield is tinctured _azure_, and it is enclosed within a border or moulding which nearly surrounds it, but leaves a portion at the base unprotected; a further peculiarity of this moulding is that it is an integral part of the helmet, for it curves over at the top of the shield and actually proceeds from the helmet.
A very fine example of this style is the _Francis Page_ plate.
The next style is the Jacobean, commonly spoken of as existing from about 1700 to about 1745; the styles overlap naturally, and no hard-and-fast period can be established within which only one particular style of plate was used. Examples of the Jacobean plate are found in England which would date later than 1745, and the style which succeeded this was used somewhat before the year which begins its accepted period: the dates of the periods, then, are approximate. The names by which the different styles are known have all a good reason for their acceptance, although each one was suggested by differing circumstances.
The style of book-plate in vogue at the time of the last James is designated as Jacobean; and, while it continued in use long after the death of the deposed monarch who gave it its name, any change in its designation would be misleading. The principal features of this style are its heavy, carved appearance, the evenly balanced proportions, and the exact coincidence of the two sides of the design. The shield, always of regular outline, is usually placed upon an ornamental frame whose background, or lining, is either filled in
[Illustration: _FREDERIK·PHILIPSE ESQ^{r}._]
with a fish-scale pattern, diapered into the lozenge form or built up solidly with a wall of brick. This lining shows at both sides of the shield, below, and, less often, above it; its sides are convoluted; they run out in foldings and scrolls resembling the carving on wood, and are often worked into elaborate patterns: sometimes, too, the design is surrounded by a carved moulding which makes a heavy frame of rectangular form and massive appearance. This style of plate, well-handled, is exceedingly handsome, and is capable of more repose and dignity than any other. Very forbidding indeed, and over-solemn, are some examples, but in the main the purely Jacobean plates are very pleasing. Among the accessories usually found are a scallop-shell with the concave side turned towards the observer, and placed either below the shield to support it, or above it to set it off: this shell is always looked for in the Jacobean plates, and indeed a shelly motive is apparent throughout very many examples. The helmet and mantling are conspicuous, especially the latter, as it is often enlarged and emphasized by being drawn into the general scheme of decoration; very full, reaching far down the sides of the shield-frame, and indeed often curiously woven into the convolutions of the frame itself, it at times loses its significance: grotesque faces sometimes peer from the ornamentation, and heads of satyrs and demons are frequently used to rest the base of the shield upon. In some instances the name is placed upon a bracket similar to the upper part of the plate in decoration, or, again, it may be seen upon a small curtain or lambrequin caught up at the ends with string. Very often, too, no setting is provided for the name, and it is simply engraved beneath the design. Eagles, lions, termini, cherubs, and sometimes cornucopiæ of fruit or flowers, angels blowing upon trumpets, and stiff stalks of flowers are introduced into the ornamentation. But these do not succeed in enlivening the style of the plate materially, for it is essentially heavy, conservative, and formal in design and spirit. No graceful airiness rests upon it, and it provokes no joyous sentiment, but rather rouses respect and enforces stateliness. The general appearance of the Jacobean plate is as if carved from wood. We do not expect old carving to be anything but solid and immobile, and these characteristics are present in this style of book-plate. Indeed, Warren, in his chapter on the Jacobean style, says that no antiquary can fail to note the strong similarity of treatment and design between the wood-carving preserved in the churches of the time of Charles the Second and the mouldings on the monuments of the same period, and the book-plates of the style we have considered. Our finest example of the Jacobean book-plate is found in the work of Thomas Johnston, who made the plate of _William P. Smith, A.M._ This is a typical example of the later Jacobean style, and is worthy of particular study. The Elizabethan shield is set against a frame which is very elaborately carved and ornamented; the lining is covered with the fish-scale pattern, and this extends also to the arms and convolutions upon the sides. At the base of the shield the scallop-shell is in position as prescribed, and is surrounded by a little frame of its own; the mantling is very slight indeed, breaking out from the wreath and also from the lower part of the helmet, in short and simple spirals. The motto is found on a ribbon which is gracefully strung upon the scrolls at the bottom of the design.
In the _Spooner_ plate, by Hurd, the shield, also of Elizabethan pattern, is set against a diapered background; beneath the shield, within a little frame, the head of a sphinx is seen; term-figures are placed in the scroll-work at either side, and from their hands depend bouquets of flowers;
[Illustration: William P Smith AM]
the crest is overarched with a bit of old scallop-shell, and the motto is given on a plain ribbon which, wholly unsupported, maintains a curved position under the whole design. In the _Andrew Tyler_ plate, also by Hurd, a grotesque face supports the shield, the lining is elaborately diapered, and a festoon of cloth depends from the lower scrolls of the frame. In the small-sized plate of _John Allen_, the lining is embellished with the simple lattice-work, in two patterns.
[Illustration: ANDREW TYLER]
[Illustration: Jacob Sargeant.]
[Illustration: John Durand Esq.]
Closely succeeding the Jacobean, and indeed coming into use before the latter was wholly discarded, the Chippendale style of book-plate may be regarded as in a way an evolution from the Jacobean. If the parent was dignified and conservative, the offspring was dainty and progressive; the Jacobean style maintained its dignity and decorous nicety to the end, but the Chippendale, which started in with a taking air of modest and light gracefulness, in strong and pleasing contrast to the solidity of its predecessor, rapidly assumed a most elaborate and ornate manner, and finally sank into a wild, riotous, and well-nigh sensuous profusion of decorative expression, which being too heavy for it to sustain, bore it down to its end. The character of the Chippendale plate, while attractive and beautiful in its pure form, had essential elements of weakness, which, hardly able to resist development, were certain to cause its downfall.
[Illustration: Anthony Stewart
Annapolis Maryland]
[Illustration: Myles Cooper _LL·D_]
As is natural to suppose, the name was bestowed upon this style because of its assimilation of the ornate and flowery spirit which the famous T. Chippendale at this period introduced into wood-carving and upholstery. As compared with its immediate predecessor, the differences in this style of plate are seen to be principally the liberating of the decorative features from the stiffness which thralled them in the Jacobean. Not now resembling ponderous carvings in oak and mahogany, but rising free and unrestrained, the rose branches and sprigs seem to be copied from Nature herself; not arranged with careful nicety and labored uniformity as formerly, but springing from any convenient niche, they add grace and delicacy to the whole design. The helmet is seldom
[Illustration: Andrew Oliver]
seen in this style of plate, the mantling is consequently absent, and the bracket supporting the shield of arms undergoes a transformation; the convolutions and scrolls on the sides become finer, freer, and less imposing; the shield is never found of any set rectangular pattern, but often is pear-shaped, shell-like in form, or indeed not unlike the oyster or the human ear in general outline; the scallop shell which formerly served as a base for the shield to rest on, is now broken into dainty fragments with the pectinated edges disposed about the shield itself; the name-frame is no longer a cloth curtain, but is a scroll with indented edges and curling outlines.
[Illustration: Benj Kissam]
In its highest development the Chippendale plate is a beautiful piece of work; the richness of its curves, its plentitude of graceful scrolls, its profusion of roses in garlands or on the stem, and the elaborate detail noticeable in all its parts, combine to make a plate of delightful airiness and dainty nicety; but in the hands of weak designers, as pointed out by Warren, its possibilities of over-ornamentation were seized upon, and we find the most unexpected and incongruous assortment of figures from life, architectural fragments, allegorical subjects and other features not to be included in any particular class, occupying convenient places about the escutcheon; we find sleek shepherds clad in the fashionable clothes of the day,--knee-breeches, ruffled shirt with Byron collar, large felt hats, and buckled shoes; we see would-be shepherdesses in big hooped-skirts, very low-necked bodices and slight waists, wearing frizzly hair and Gainsborough hats, and carrying dainty crooks; scantily draped figures recline under the trees, while attendant cupids make music or hasten up with books. Turning from these pastoral scenes, we come across plates which have a most frightful dragon with scaly body, forked tail, and fiery, bulging eyes, who spits fire as he crouches among the roses; in others we find cornices, columns, arches, and urns; fountains, hand-glasses, ships, nautical instruments, lambs, dogs,--in short, it is useless to name the great number of irrelevant articles which were made use of. The plate was made to carry any amount of heterogeneous ornamentation which the designer fancied; it seems in some cases as if the details were employed with rightful reference to the tastes or pursuits of the owner, but in the greater number the fancy was allowed free play.
Hurd’s work furnishes us with the best examples
[Illustration: Peter Manigault of the Inner Temple, Barister at Law South Carolina.]
[Illustration: Samuel Vaughan Esq.^{r}]
of the pure Chippendale style; the _Chandler_ plate, the _Wentworth_, and the _Dumeresque_ are good examples; Dawkins gives us the later and debased Chippendale with all its profusion of extrinsic ornamentation. The _Samuel Vaughan_ plate is a very fine example of good Chippendaleism, and may be taken as a standard by which to recognize the features of this style. The _Robt. Dinwiddie_ plate is a fine example of this style, though the heraldry may be questioned: this, according to Hardy, is of Scotch make.
[Illustration: W. Jackson]
In the Ribbon and Wreath style, which came into vogue in England about 1770, and in the United States not much before 1790, we note a return to simplicity. The later Chippendale plates, with their over-burdened frames, now yield to this quiet style, which is unassuming and very pleasing. In this the shield is usually
[Illustration: JOHN WILLIAMS _ESQ.^R_]
[Illustration: John Williams]
[Illustration: DeWitt Clinton.]
heart-shaped, is not set against a background, and has absolutely no carved work about it; the shield is often unsupported, but is sometimes hung by ribbons or festoons from wall-pins above; the decoration, as the name suggests, consists principally of ribbons, and wreathing in various forms. At the present day we use in our wall-paper, upholstery, and wood-carving on furniture and mantels, and even on outside cornices, a certain form of garland or festoon tied with ribbon which we call “Colonial”; in a general way this resembles the decoration features of the Ribbon and Wreath book-plate. From wall-pins with fancy oval or round heads, festoons of flowers depend above the shield; branches of holly and palm, often tied with a ribbon whose fluttering ends bear a motto or the name, are crossed beneath the shield, and their graceful sprays extend up either side. Some of the festoons are rich with blossoms, others, more slender, are of leaves only, while a few are made of cloth; the full garlands are usually hung from above the shield, while the thinner style is draped in any place and manner acceptable to the designer, and with more or less of gracefulness, as his skill permitted. This style of plate calls for nothing more than its legitimate features to render it effective and satisfactory, and in general the plates are in the pure style; but in some of the New York plates, there are books, writing materials, and bits of landscape introduced under the shield.
The _Thomas Johnston_ plate by Maverick is a fine example of this style. Maverick was the most prolific worker in the Ribbon and Wreath, while Callender and Rollinson also used it very largely. The _Prosper Wetmore_ plate by Maverick, the _John Sullivan_ by Callender, and the _Horatio Shepherd Moat_ by Rollinson, are all excellent examples.
[Illustration: Richard Wynkoop]
PICTORIAL AND ALLEGORICAL BOOK-PLATES, AND PLATES OF COLLEGES, LIBRARIES, AND SOCIETIES.
[Illustration: D]esigns which are wholly pictorial or which are meant to convey meaning by their symbolism are not very numerous with us. This style of design is no better suited to the plates of public libraries, schools, and societies, than to those of individuals, but nearly all of our early examples of this style are found to belong to the former class.
One of the early personal plates of this kind is that of _James Parker_, who was a collector of curios, medals, and books. He was a conductor on the old Western Railroad, and ran the first train between Worcester and Springfield. This plate is fully described in the List.
Of an entirely different style is the plate engraved by Harris for _Henry Andrews_. This is pictorial, introducing classical features, but hardly rising to the height of allegory. The plate of _Bloomfield McIlvaine_ is also pictorial, and probably allegorical, as the figure seems to represent History. In the _Samuel Parker_ plate we have
[Illustration: No. 161, Sam Parker]
allegory with a label to identify it; for the bank on which the muse of History reclines is labelled _Clio_. A very peculiar pictorial plate is that of _Edward Pennington_, which seems to represent an overflowing reservoir.
[Illustration: HENRY ANDREWS]
The plates of _McMurtrie_, _Kip_, _Mann_, _Russell_, _Swett_ and _Hooper_ are good examples of the class. Examples could be given at greater length, but as all are carefully described in the List, the reader is referred to it.
The most interesting of the old society and
[Illustration: NEW·YORK _Society_ LIBRARY.]
[Illustration: NEW-YORK SOCIETY LIBRARY. 1789]
library plates are the three of the _New York Society Library_, the two of the libraries in Farmington, Conn., and that of the _Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts_.
In the plates of the _Society Library_ allegory is rampant. Minerva appears in all of them, and in the two by Maverick is the principal figure. In both of these she appears to an American Indian, whose attitude shows his deep appreciation of the benefits of education as offered by the resplendent goddess. In one case she is represented as having just arrived from Olympus, and is still encircled by clouds; in the other, she seems quite at home in the alcove of the library, and has taken a suitable volume from the shelf for the use of the savage. In the plate by Gallaudet for this library the allegory is extended, and other prominent inhabitants of the abode of the celestials are present. The arts and sciences which the books of the library treat of are represented by implements and symbols easily recognized.
The plate of the _Monthly Library in Farmington_ also uses allegory. The designer and engraver of this plate was Martin Bull, an old deacon in the village, who was quite an interesting man. He was a goldsmith, a maker of silver buttons, and spoons; a manufacturer of saltpetre when needed by the army, a conductor of church music, town treasurer for eight years, clerk of probate for thirty-nine years, a strong patriot, and a writer of long and appallingly solemn letters to the youth of the village when
[Illustration:
_Monthly Library_ IN FARMINGTON ]
at college. The library was founded in 1795,--about as soon as our soldier-citizens could settle down into reading stay-at-homes,--and was conducted upon the plan of monthly exchanges. On the first Sabbath of the month all members would assemble in the evening and pass in their books and receive others, the choice being auctioned off. Two dollars and a half a month was thus realized, and the meeting was the event of the month to the sturdy inhabitants of the quiet town, to say nothing of the younger folk, to whom it must have afforded coveted opportunities for pleasant meetings, and quiet walks along the lanes. On the first day of the new century, January, 1801, the library changed its name to that which appears upon the book-plate, and on which the good deacon exhibited a specimen of his highest art. Previously to this date it had gone under the name of “The Library in the First Society in Farmington,” and its first book-plate, probably engraved by the good deacon, had the simple name with no pictorial accessories.
Contemporaneously with this, another library called the _Village Library_, was in operation, and continued until 1826, when it was merged with a third. This library also had a book-plate, but it was undoubtedly beyond the powers of the engraver of its forerunners. In this we see the interior of a room, in which a young lady patron of the library is storing her mind with those choice axioms which, if put in practice, far exceed the attractiveness of mere personal beauty; so says the couplet beneath the picture.
[Illustration: VILLAGE LIBRARY.]
_Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll:_ _Charms strike the sense, but merit wins the soul._
The plate of the _Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts_ is also pictorial, and represents a ship of the Society, with its missionary, approaching the shore of savage America: this plate is dated 1704, and is very curious and interesting. The society grew from the efforts of one Rev. Thomas Bray, who established thirty-nine parochial libraries in the American Colonies for the purpose of propagating the doctrines
[Illustration: The Gift of the Society for propagating the Gospell in Foreign parts, 1784]
of the Church. In 1698, King’s Chapel, Boston, received some two hundred books from this society, which were described as “an arsenal of sound theological, ecclesiastical, and political doctrines for the Ministers of His Majesty’s Chapel.” For the prevention of loss or embezzlement, and that they might be known wherever
[Illustration: SOCIAL LAW LIBRARY Boston.]
found, “in every book, on the inside cover shall be these words, ‘Sub auspiciis Wilhelmi III,’ and also the Library to which they belong, thus ‘E Bibliotheca Bostoniana.’” This must have been in addition to the plate we are considering, as no words descriptive of particular ownership are given: possibly this plate was used in all the books belonging to the society, and the supplementary one was for use in each individual library.
* * * * *
College plates are as a general thing very plain, but the plates used by the societies supported by the students and the alumni, are often very elaborate. The early societies in Harvard and in Yale had curious and very interesting examples of the allegorical and symbolic plate.
The _Hasty Pudding Society_ and the _Porcellian Club_ of Harvard College, the _Linonian Society_ and the _Brothers in Unity_ of Yale College, are examples. In Dartmouth College, the _Social Friends Society_, and in the smaller colleges numerous other fraternities and societies, used plates of simpler style.
The books of the Library of Harvard College were marked with plates by Hurd and Bowen, as noted in the list; on these plates, the gifts of various benefactors are recorded, with the class to which they belonged, conditions regarding the gift of the books, or a statement of the fund from whose income the money for the books is derived.
The plate of the _Library of Congress_ is an engraved label having the name and spaces for
[Illustration]
[Illustration: LINONIAN LIBRARY YALE COLLEGE]
entries surrounded by a border of oak leaves and acorns: the design is very neat, and is old in appearance.
A very beautiful plate is used by some _Orphan Asylum_, which does not give its full name upon its plate. In this a beautiful picture of the Christ blessing the little ones is given; the line “Forasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these, ye did it unto Me,” is given under the vignette.
[Illustration: Linonian Library]
In the plate of the _Library of the New York State Agricultural Society_, which was incorporated in 1832, Ceres is seen in the field; behind her the sheaves of wheat extend in rows; one arm clasps a cornucopia, and with the hand of the other she extends a wreath.
In a great many instances the plates of libraries had no pictorial features, or indeed anything at all ornamental, being but the printed rules governing the users of the books. Two examples of this kind of plate are given below.
_This VOLUME_ _belongs to_ _PRICHARD’S_ _Circulating Library_, _Containing nearly Two Thousand Volumes_, _In Market Street, Baltimore_, _where_ _LADIES OR GENTLEMEN_ _may become_ _READERS_ _By subscribing for one Month, three Months or by Agreement for a single Book. Said Prichard has also a very great Variety of NEW and OLD BOOKS for Sale._ _He, likewise_, _Gives Ready Money for New and Old Books_.
* * * * *
_Union Circulating Library, 201 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia._
_Subscribers to pay in advance, six dollars for a year: three dollars and fifty cents for six months: two dollars for three months: one dollar for one month: each subscriber to have three Duodecimo volumes, or one Octavo and one Duodecimo at a time. A subscriber detaining an Octavo longer than four weeks or a Duodecimo longer than two weeks to pay as a non-subscriber. For each Octavo one eighth of a dollar per week until the end of the fourth week when the rate was doubled. For a Duodecimo one sixteenth of a dollar per week until the end of the second week._
_Constant attendance at the Library from Sunrise till 8 o’clock in the evening._
In mentioning a few examples of the plates recently made for societies and libraries, no attempt is made to furnish a complete list, nor even to mention all the attractive plates, but to speak of a few which seem of especial interest.
[Illustration: HARVARD UNIVERSITY ARNOLD-ARBORETUM 1892]
A pleasing architectural plate is used in Columbia College Library to mark the books of the _Avery Architectural Library_. This was designed by Russell Sturgis, and is in the form of a memorial window or mortuary mural tablet. The central panel bears the inscription, and the date MDCCCXC is given below.
The plate of the _Arnold Arboretum_, designed by George Wharton Edwards, is very attractive; the just-rising sun shines upon a white pine which stands within an elliptical frame; the names of the Institution and of the University appear upon ribbons which float from the pine. The plate is dated 1892, and is signed, _G. W. E._
The same artist designed the first book-plate of the _Grolier Club_ of New York City. In this, Atlas is seen supporting the arms of the club within a circular frame which bears the name, and the date of the founding of the club, 1884; rich foliations with a pounced background surround this central design. The plate is signed _G. W. E._
The _Public Library_ of the old whaling town of _New London_ has a plate which is wholly nautical in construction; the name is given on a wheel which is held by a seaman, while the captain stands by in pea-jacket and rough-weather helmet, giving orders; the sail, which rises behind them, affords space for the number of the book; below the deck on which the mariners stand, are seen harpoons and spears of various sizes and kinds; two dolphins are disporting in the waves. This plate is signed by the name of the artist in full. It is by Mr. Edwards.
The _Sutro Library_ of San Francisco uses a plate which gives a large and interesting picture of the natural resources of the locality, and the enterprises carried on in its vicinity; the motto, _Labor omnia vincit_, appears on the ribbon which floats in the air.
[Illustration: NEW-YORK SOCIETY LIBRARY]
The _Watkinson Library_ of Hartford uses one of the very few portrait plates in the country; just why this style of plate should not be common is not easy to understand. They are used in Boston and Worcester, as mentioned below, but these instances are all that occur in public libraries. In this plate the portrait of David Watkinson, the founder of the library, is enclosed within an oval frame which bears the name and the date of incorporation, 1858. The plate is signed by the American Bank Note Company, New York, and is an excellent piece of steel engraving.
Almost all of the historical societies use plates in which the arms of the state or city in which they are located, are used. The _Pennsylvania_, _Connecticut_, and _Maine Historical Societies_ have plates of this kind. In the last-named plate an inescutcheon bears four important dates in the history of the state of Maine.
1605, _First voyage along the Coast by Waymouth_. 1649, _Election of Godfrey as Governor_. 1678, _Usurpation of Maine by Massachusetts_. 1820, _Separation from Massachusetts_.
The _Rowfant Club_ of Cleveland uses a small plate representing the corner of a library; the open window admits the fading light of the sun, which is sinking into the sea; the lattice swings idly, and the pile of books on the table proclaim a busy day.
A very striking plate is used by the _University Club of Washington_. A wall of rough-faced stone is pierced by a small quatrefoil window in which
[Illustration: Phœnix Society]
a book is laid; the date 1891 is stamped upon the side of the book. Below this, Ionic columns support the wall; between them, in a smooth space, is carved the name and city of the club. The plate is signed _Hy. Sandham_.
[Illustration: S. Hopkins]
In the _Boston Public Library_ a large number of different plates is used for the volumes coming from different legacies or funds, and in very many cases these plates give a portrait of the donor. Thus we find these portraits on the plate used in the books from the Ticknor Fund, the Phillips Fund, and the Franklin Club Fund. The books remaining from the library of Thomas Prince are also marked with a plate which gives his portrait and a picture of the old meeting-house, in which he preached, and in which the books were stored at one time.
Portraits also appear upon the book-plates of the _American Antiquarian Society_, which gives that of Ginery Twichell; and the _Massachusetts Historical Society_, which has a plate giving a portrait of James Savage.
The public libraries of to-day do not usually use elaborate plates in their book-covers; simple labels, with perhaps a city or corporation seal, are the common kind.
[Illustration: Sam. Hill]
[Illustration: ·GEORGE·ALEXANDER·MACBETH· ·PITTSBURGH·PA·]
Book-Plates Of Special Interest.
[Illustration: S]everal reasons can be given for the fact that collectors regard some book-plates as of more value than others. With book-plates, as in other lines of collecting, rarity is a desirable feature, and is a prominent element in deciding values.
All of our early American plates can fairly be called scarce when compared with the foreign examples of the same period, for they outnumber ours, fifty to one; but many among ours are rarer than others. The _John Franklin_, brother of Benjamin, signed by Turner, is an exceeding rare plate; the _Thomas Dering_, signed by Hurd, is very rare. The plates of _Stephen Cleveland_, _Samuel Chase_, _Francis Kinloch_, _Edward Augustus Holyoke_, _John Vassal_, _Lewis De Blois_, _Lenthal_, _Apthorp_, the _John Pintard_, by Anderson, and many others are not seen in many collections. The plate of _George Washington_ is the most valuable probably of our plates; and while we know the location of a good many of his books that have the plate within the covers, they are in no way obtainable: this plate is not very common, but more copies of it are owned than of some others.
[Illustration: Stephen Cleveland]
The libraries of our early days, while of respectable size, were not so large as to require the printing of thousands of book-plates; fire and mob violence have destroyed many books of those old collections and their plates with them. Harvard, Yale, William and Mary, and Princeton
[Illustration: Columbia College Library]
have all suffered the loss of books by fire, while many smaller private libraries have been thus devastated. Mr. John Pintard used to say that he had seen the British soldiers carrying away books from the library of Columbia College to barter for grog, and a similar fate from similar hands overtook many of the books stored in the belfry-chamber of the Old South Church, Boston, while later in our history, worse depredations were committed in the Southern cities by soldiers, who took the liberty which war accords to contestants, to despoil many a building, both public and private, ruining books, records, paintings, and other property of antiquarian and historical value. So that the early American plates, at the first not so very numerous, have been reduced at times by wholesale measures.
A second item of interest to the collector is the signature of the engraver of the plate. Signed plates have a value over those which are not signed. The identification of a plate, or the determination of its age, may be considerably strengthened if the engraver’s name appears upon the copper. Then, too, the name of a famous engraver lends much additional interest to a plate. A book-plate signed by Paul Revere arrests the attention of any observer at once, and establishes a value to the same. Likewise a plate signed by Hurd, Doolittle, Dawkins, Anderson, Maverick, Callender, or Turner is worth much more to the collector than one of equal age but of unknown workmanship.
Dated plates also rank among the more valuable examples. A glance at the chronological list will show how small a number of these we can boast: many of those appearing in the list, too, are simply printed name-labels, which do not rank as high as the more pretentious specimens. Our very earliest dated example is the label of the _Rev. John Williams_, 1679, the first minister in Deerfield, Mass., and who with his wife and children was carried into captivity by the Indians in 1704. Coming next are the plates of _Francis Page_, 1703, and _William Penn_, 1703, but they are both of English make. The plate of _Thomas_
[Illustration: Isaiah Thomas]
_Prince_, who was for forty years the pastor of the Old South Society in Boston, is a simple label dated 1704. The plate of _Thomas Dering_, signed by Hurd, and dated 1749, is the first American plate by an American engraver that is both signed and dated. The _John Burnet_, by Dawkins, dated 1754, is next in order; then comes the _Greene_ plate, by Hurd, 1757, the _Albany Society Library_, 1759, concerning which very little is known, and every few years an example until we come to the opening of the century.
[Illustration: Albany Society Library]
Naturally the artistic quality of a book-plate influences its value; the more elaborate designs are preferred to the plain armorials or the printed labels. Pictorial plates, introducing bits of landscape, interiors of libraries, or allegorical subjects, are sought for, as are plates which are accepted as particularly good types of the different styles. In addition to these technical reasons for valuing one plate more highly than another may be given others which will appear more reasonable perhaps to the general reader. All articles belonging to the noted men of the past have a certain antiquarian value greater than attaches to the kindred belongings of their contemporaries of lesser or no fame. So with book-plates.
A glance at the list will show a goodly number of names which we remember with pride and interest; the names of patriots, orators, lawyers, statesmen, officers of the army, officers of the state and nation, members of Congress, signers of the Declaration, governors, old-time merchants, authors, divines, physicians, and not a few of that plucky number who stood by the King in trying times--the American Loyalists. Quakers, too, as well as royal office-holders, and titled Americans are among those whose book-plates have come down to us.
Of our early Presidents, the plates of George Washington, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and John Tyler are known to us. All of these except the last, which is a plain printed label, are armorial.
Members of the Boston Tea Party, of the Constitutional Convention, and of the early Assemblies are among those whose plates we know.
[Illustration: John Quincy Adams.]
Of royal officers we have: Craven, one of the Lords Proprietors of South Carolina; Elliston, Collector of His Majesty’s Customs at New York; Sir William Keith, Governor of Pennsylvania; John Tabor Kempe, Attorney-General under the Crown at New York; and William Penn, Proprietor and Governor of the colony which bore his name.
Owners of large estates, employers of numbers of slaves, merchants whose vessels carried on a trade with remote and prosperous shores, and who established names that have endured, used book-plates which are still known to us. Among these are the plates from the following families, well-known in New England: Ames, Bowdoin, Cabot, Chandler, Chauncey, Coffin, Lodge, Lowell, Minot, Quincy, Sears, Winthrop, Barrell, Greene, Perkins, Swan, Vassall, and Vaughan.
[Illustration: Josiah Quincy]
Of those well-known in and about New York may be mentioned, Clinton, Colden, Constable, Cutting, De Peyster, Duer, Ellery, Goelet, Hoffman, Ogden, Paulding, Phillipse, Pintard, Van Cortlandt, and Van Rensselaer. To these should be added the Livingstons, which family had the largest number of book-plates of any we know.
In Philadelphia were the Logans, Morgans, Powels, Banckers, and Hamiltons; while further South, the Lees, Lightfoots, Tayloes, Wormeleys, Pages, Cabels, Tubervilles, Armisteads, Byrds, Blands, Bollings, Dinwiddies, Fitzhughs, Hubards, Magills, and Randolphs used plates and were families of prominence and distinction.
[Illustration: Livius.]
Among the prominent Loyalists are Chalmers, Cooper, Hallowell, Hamilton, Livius, Lloyd, Oliver, and Robinson. Of titled Americans the following used book-plates: Fairfax, Gardiner, Murray of Dunmore, and the Pepperrell families.
Of the early authors we can mention Alsop, Antill, Bozman, Byrd, Dana, Key, Stith, and Abercrombie; of physicians, Assheton, Bond, Beatty, Holyoke, Middleton, and Jeffries; of the statesmen, Bayard, Carmichael, Dana, Duane, Gallatin, Jay, Lewis, Marshall, Norris, and Randolph.
[Illustration: D^{r}. John Jeffries]
Among the early clergymen can be named Apthorp, Boucher, Williams, Jarvis, and Provoost.
Allen and Thomas, early printers; Aitkin, who made the first American edition of the Holy Bible; and Bartram, the great botanist, used plates, which are described in the list.
Bloomfield, Brearly, Banister, Chester, Eustace, Hale, Mercer, Schuyler, Sullivan, and Varick are among the soldiers of the Revolutionary army; and of the orators we have Otis and Randolph.
Coming now to the signers of the Declaration, we find that we know thus far the plates of eleven of them: John Adams, Charles Carroll, Samuel Chase, Thomas Hayward, William Hooper, Francis Hopkinson, Benjamin Rush, Richard Stockton, George Taylor, Oliver Wolcott, and George Wythe.
Surely the book-plates of all these men whose mention stirs patriotic feeling, are of exceeding interest, and worthy to rank with any in point of value and appreciation.
No book-plate, however, is of greater interest to the American collector than that of _George Washington_, not alone by reason of the prominence of that eminent man, but because of the scarcity of the plate, the high price it brings, and the interesting fact that it is the only American plate which has been deemed worthy of counterfeiting.
A genuine contemporary print of this plate is readily recognized by the connoisseur. The plate has no striking features, but is a regular design in the pure Chippendale style. The arms are displayed upon a shield of the usual shell-like form, and the sprays and rose branches of this style are used in the ornamentation of the sides of the escutcheon. The motto, _Exitus acta probat_, is given upon its ribbon at the base of the shield, and the name is engraved in script on
[Illustration: Edward Hale Bierstadt]
the bracket at the bottom of the design. In general appearance the plate is like scores of Chippendale plates of the period.
[Illustration: George Washington]
The interesting question of the probable engraver of the plate has arisen, and in a most readable article from the pen of Mr. R. C. Lichtenstein, in the “Curio,” on the Library of Washington, the following opinion is advanced: “It was his [Washington’s] habit as a general rule to write his name on the right-hand corner of the title-page and place inside his book-plate. It has been a matter of uncertainty as to whether that book-plate was engraved in England or in this country. Washington, like other Virginia gentlemen before the Revolution, was in the habit of ordering goods every year from London; but we have searched the various orders to his agents in London, and examined as far as practicable the items of his household expenses, without finding any such item. The strongest argument that can be said in its favor proving it to be American work is the poor heraldry displayed in its coat-of-arms, general make-up, and drawing. It will be noticed that the engraver has placed a wreath under the crown (an absolute heresy), and this, with the faulty drawing of the raven, makes the whole plate a very slovenly piece of work. No engraver with any knowledge of the fundamental laws of heraldry would be guilty of drawing such a coat-of-arms as this. The arms of Washington engraved on his seal and ring, undoubtedly cut in England, are correctly done. It seems more than probable, if the plate had been done in England that the engraver would not have been guilty of making such blunders. We have seen a great many English plates, but have never noticed one bearing these peculiarities. From its general appearance we should say that the plate was made in America somewhere between the years 1777 and 1781.”
Collectors are divided in their opinions upon this question, and although not ready to hazard a guess at the engraver, the present writer believes the plate was engraved in England, and would place the date nearly a decade earlier. As the friend of the Fairfax family, Washington might have had the plate made upon the occasion of their ordering work of the same kind from England, or, indeed, it might have been a gift to him from them, or from some admiring friend. As he was a methodical man, the fact that no entry of an expense for such an article is found in his records may lend color to the presentation theory. As to the errors in heraldry, there is a plate of one Richard Washington, which has all the peculiarities of this plate, and this is signed by Bickham, who was an English engraver of some note. He was a trifle early perhaps to have been the engraver of the _George Washington_ plate, but he may have made the plate which served as a copy for it. But whether the plate was of domestic or foreign make, we know that the copper was in this country, and that impressions were made from it not so very many years ago. The late Mr. Mauran of Newport knew the man who owned this, and it seems that having printed what he deemed a sufficient number of re-strikes from it, this man, fearing lest others would in time get it and make more prints, cut the copper into pieces and going out on a bridge over the Schuylkill River, threw them in! There they may be looked for by any who choose.
The counterfeit of this plate appeared in an auction sale of books, in the city of Washington, about the year 1863. The late Dr. W. F. Poole with Dr. J. M. Toner was present at the sale. The plate was placed in these books for the purpose of getting a higher price for them than could
[Illustration: George Washington]
otherwise have been obtained. These gentlemen detected the fraudulent plate, and denounced it as such in the auction-room, and the books brought only their actual value as books. Copies of this plate turn up now and then, and the unsuspecting are still deceived by it. It is readily detected if one is forewarned. The work is manifestly inferior to the good plate, the alignment of the name is poor, the quality and appearance of the paper belie its professed age, and the printing is of decidedly different appearance, being bold and strong in the genuine, and weak and thin in the forgery. A further difference is noted in the crest, which is tinctured _gules_ in the forgery and _sable_ in the genuine. These plates are sometimes claimed to be genuine and to be an early and unsatisfactory piece of work, which Washington rejected, and which was replaced with the other and accepted plate. This idea is plausible perhaps to some, but to any who had information from Dr. Poole it is an impossible theory. Another source of confusion is in the reproductions of the plate which have been made from time to time to illustrate works on the life of Washington, some of these being quite faithful duplicates of the genuine plate with its trifling flaws; but the paper and the printing are usually conclusive proof of the age of the print. It is safe to say that there is but one genuine Washington plate. It is true that the re-strikes of the original copper are about, but these, too, are readily distinguishable by the printing and paper.
The plate of _Bushrod Washington_, nephew of George, is also of much interest, and the manifest similarity of its design to some of the plates by Dawkins has led to the suggestion that he made this plate. But to the mind of the writer, Dawkins was not a man of originality, and was a regular copyist when it came to book-plates; the similarity of the plate of _James Samuels_ to this plate is rather to his mind a further evidence of the clever adoption of a reasonably good design by Dawkins, than of his having been chosen by Judge Washington to engrave his book-plate. The design of this plate is more spirited than any of the authenticated work of Dawkins; indeed, it surpasses the plate of the General in that respect.
[Illustration: Bushrod Washington.]
The arms are the same in these two Washington plates. In his “Barons of the Potomac and the Rappahannock” (published by the Grolier Club, 1892), Mr. Moncure Daniel Conway has referred to the older form of the arms as used by earlier members of the family. The earliest shields held “_Gules on a barre argent 3 Cinquefoiles of ye first._” The second step was made by changing to the following, “_Gules on a fesse sable 3 mullets._” The last and present form is, “_Argent, two bars gules: in chief three mullets of the second._” These last, it is claimed, suggested our national flag.
The plate of _Elizabeth Graeme_ of Philadelphia should be noted here, as it is the only example of an heraldic plate used by a lady of colonial times. It is fully described in the list.
Leaving now these older plates of special interest to be discovered in the Lists, we turn to a few modern plates which are worthy of particular attention.
[Illustration: Dan Webster]
The plate of _Daniel Webster_ is a plain armorial with the motto, _Vera pro gratis_, on the ribbon below the shield.
The etched plate of the late _James Eddy Mauran_, the early collector of American and other book-plates, was an armorial of very handsome appearance. The shield is surrounded with the style of decoration used on the Chippendale examples, oak leaves being used in lieu of mantling.
An earlier plate in two sizes shows some differences in the design.
The plate of the late _George W. Childs_ seems wholly in keeping with the career of its distinguished owner. The sword, broken into pieces by the quill, is depicted within an oval garter which bears the motto, _Nihil sine labore_. The words from Lytton’s Richelieu, _The pen is mightier than the sword_, are also given just within the frame.
Coming now to mention a few plates of our well-known men of letters, we naturally accept the plate of _Oliver Wendell Holmes_ as worthy of the chiefest place. In this the motto, _Per ampliora ad altiora_, is given on a ribbon beneath a beautiful representation of the “Chambered Nautilus,” the
Ship of pearl, which, poets feign, Sails the unshadowed main,-- The venturous bark that flings On the sweet summer wind its purple wings In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings, And coral reefs lie bare, Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.
“If you will look into Roget’s ‘Bridgewater Treatise,’” said the Autocrat one morning, “you
[Illustration: Oliver Wendell Holmes.]
will find a figure of one of these shells and a section of it. The last will show you the series of enlarging compartments successively dwelt in by the animal that inhabits the shell, which is built in a widening spiral. Can you find no lesson in this?
“‘Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, As the swift seasons roll! Leave thy low-vaulted past! Let each new temple nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea.’”
[Illustration: JBM]
A plain armorial plate with the motto, _Vitam impendere vero_, and the name in fac-simile of his autograph, was used by _J. G. Holland_.
The plate of _Brander Matthews_, designed by Edwin A. Abbey, represents the discovery of a mask of the old Greek comedy by an American Indian. With feathers stuck in his scanty hair, and his tomahawk laid on the ground beside him, he appears to deliberate upon the possible use of the enormous face which grins at him from his knee. On a circular frame surrounding this picture the following words from Molière are given, _Que pensez vous de cette comedie_. The appropriateness of the design is apparent for one who is a collector of the literature of the French drama, and the author of several books relating to the stage both in America and France.
[Illustration: STEDMAN]
In the plate of _Edmund Clarence Stedman_, the author of “The Poets of America,” we see Pan piping in the sylvan glades; the shepherd and the nymph are charmed by the music, and the god is apparently at the height of his effort. The frame surrounding the design bears the words, _Le Cœur au Metier_, which were suggested by the address of Matthew Arnold to the Authors’ Club in 1883. This plate is made in three sizes.
The plate of _Thomas Bailey Aldrich_ presents within a square frame a picture of a black bird resting upon a comic mask; the heavy panelled frame bears the owner’s name and the words, _His Mark_. In his essay on American Book-plates, Mr. Laurence Hutton questions whether this black bird is representative of the Daw, and symbolic of Margery of that name.
In the plate of _Eugene Field_ we have a beautiful example of the plain armorial, unaccompanied by motto or ornamentation of any kind.
Of similar character is the plate of _Richard Grant White_. This is armorial, but the motto, _The right and sleep_, is given, and the shield is decorated in a conventional manner, with mantling and scrolls.
A pleasing library interior is used by _Arlo Bates_. This represents an Oriental interior; a youth in scull-cap and flowing hair is reading a large book; a lily stem rises from a vase of striped Tyrian glass at his side; rows of books are seen at his back; and out of the arched window the distant fields are seen, with the palm and cypress trees on the hillside. This plate is produced in a new manner, being a gelatine print or half-tone direct from the pencil sketch. It preserves a very soft and pleasant effect; indeed, one feels sure it will smirch if rubbed.
_Laurence Hutton_ in his plate places a full-length statue of Thackeray within a canopy, which seems to be a niche within a book-case. Volumes flank both sides, and the amiable face of the drastic writer looks directly at the beholder. The name of the owner is given on a ribbon at the bottom of the design.
[Illustration: LAURENCE HUTTON]
The books of the lamented actors, _Edwin Booth_ and _Lawrence Barrett_, were marked with book-plates, the former using a plain armorial with no name engraved upon it, and the latter showing the mask of Tragedy upon an open volume, with the motto, _Esto quod esse videris_.
The reading monk, with the nimbus and star over his head, is seen in the plate of _Edward Eggleston_. The sentiment, _Flie fro’ the presse and dwell with sothfastnesse_, is given in old English letters.
_Mr. Rossiter Johnson_ uses a very plain but effective label bearing the initials _R. J._ printed within a plain ruled border: all in red ink.
The patriotic motto of _General Winfield Scott_ is the family motto of the Scots of Whitislaid, Scotland, and well did the character of the man who used the book-plate depicted below coincide with its meaning.
It would be interesting to extend this list of plates used by men well known throughout the length and breadth of our land, but, unfortunately, many whose names will occur to the reader do not use a book-plate.
[Illustration: Winfield Scott.]
Early American Book-Plate Engravers.
[Illustration: N]athaniel Hurd, who was born in Boston, Feb. 13, 1730, and who died in 1777, was the best of our early engravers of book-plates. Very little is now known of him, the principal source of information being an article in the third volume of “The New England Magazine,” published in Boston in 1832 by J. T. and E. Buckingham. The only known portrait of Hurd, which is copied from an original painting of him by Copley, and which in 1832 was owned by a descendant of Hurd in Medford, Mass., also accompanies this article, and shows him as a young man with smooth face, very pleasing and intelligent features, and wearing a cap, white neck-cloth, and clothes of a pattern which give him a decidedly clerical appearance.
The only book-plate work mentioned in this article is the large plate for Harvard College. It is said that the prints done in red ink were for use in the highly valuable books which the students were not allowed to take from the library. Several brilliant caricatures, a portrait of the Rev.
[Illustration: W. F. HOPSON]
Dr. Sewell of the Old South Church, done in 1764, and a few other examples of his art are mentioned. He is (probably inaccurately) claimed to be the first person who undertook to engrave on copper in the United States. He was a man of natural talent and real genius, was self-instructed in his art, and was regarded as the foremost seal-cutter and die-engraver of his time, in this country.
The following advertisement from the Boston “Gazette” of April 28, 1760, is of some interest:--
“Nathaniel Hurd Informs his Customers he has remov’d his shop from Maccarty’s Corner on the Exchange to the Back Part of the opposite Brick Building, where Mr. Ezekiel Price kept his Office, where he continues to do all Sorts of Goldsmiths Work. Likewise engraves in Gold, Silver, Copper, Brass, and Steel, in the neatest Manner, and at reasonable Rate.”
Hurd worked principally in the Chippendale style; he made some plates in the Jacobean and a few in the Ribbon and Wreath styles, but he died before the latter was much in use, and the former was really going out when he took up the making of plates. Judging from the appearance of his work, his first attempts were in the Chippendale style, and the few Jacobeans he made were done after he had attained considerable efficiency.
One of his earliest specimens was undoubtedly the plate of _Edward Augustus Holyoke_, the famous doctor of Boston, who lived to be one hundred years old, and who was but a year or two the senior of Hurd. In this plate he used a design which he evidently believed he could improve upon, and in which he felt there were good features, for we find a number of future plates of very similar design but much better execution. In the Holyoke plate the work is very crude, the lines are stiff, the drawing is poor, and the lettering of the motto and name are not good. An ugly scroll is placed under the name, and the festoon of cloth which is draped at the bottom of the frame and around the motto ribbon is especially poor; the shell at the base of the escutcheon which figures so often in future plates is here used, and the queer little flow of water from it would not be recognized as such were this the only specimen in which it occurs; the arrangement of the rose sprays, the form of the shield, and the employment of the shelly edge show a thorough study of the elements of this style. Very likely this design was copied in great part from some foreign example which had come into his possession.
In the _Thomas Dering_ plate, which is the earliest plate dated and signed by an American engraver, this same design is improved upon; it is more compact in appearance, a little freer in execution, and the drawing is improved. The name is still not very well engraved, and top-heavy flourishes weigh down the capitals.
In the _Theodore Atkinson_ plate the same design is still further improved upon; the flow of water from the scallop shell is here caught in a little bowl, a little additional flowery ornamentation is added, and the heraldic drawing is better. The name is again embellished with graceless flourishes.
The design seems to reach perfection in the _Wentworth_ plate; every feature is markedly better, the water still flows out of the scallop shell, the same shaped shield is used and the motto is placed upon a graceful ribbon with ends which run off into fancy foliations. The name is neat in appearance, but still there are too many scrolls.
[Illustration: Robert Hale Esq^{r}. OF BEVERLY]
In the plate of _Robert Hale of Beverly_, the old festoon of cloth noticed in the Holyoke plate is seen again, and no motto is given. The name is fairly well engraved.
Later developments of this style are seen in the plates of _Henry Marchant_, _Danforth_, _Nathaniel Tracy_, and _John Marston_; in these some of the features of the former are wanting, but they are evidently a legitimate progeny in the matter of style.
[Illustration: John Chandler Jun^{r}. Esq^{r}.]
Another, and without doubt the highest type of the Chippendale plate which Hurd made, is seen in the _John Chandler, Jr._, the _Dana_, the _Philip Dumeresque_, the _Vassall_, and the _Wilson_ plates. In these the shield becomes larger, the whole scheme of decoration shows more fine detail work, and the effect is lighter, more graceful, and seems at once the work of a master. The names are engraved in large bold type, with a characteristic dash after the last period.
[Illustration: Lew.^{s.} De Blois]
In the Jacobean style, the earliest of Hurd’s work is undoubtedly the _Lewis De Blois_. This is crude in workmanship, not very good in drawing, but excellent in design, and faithful to the characteristics of the style; the shield is placed against a frame which is lined with the regulation fish-scale pattern; the sides are richly foliated, the mantling is profuse and very well drawn, and the name is placed upon a fringed curtain which is tied up at the ends with ribbon.
[Illustration: Joshua Spooner.]
The handsomest Jacobean plates by Hurd are the _Robert Jenkins_, the _Spooner_, and the _Andrew_ Tyler. In the former the lining is diapered, the scroll work at the side of the arms is very fine, and at the bottom, under the shield, a small vignette of a ship under full sail is very pretty. At the top of the scrolls on either side two turbanded female heads peer at each other across the crest.
In the _Tyler_ plate the frame is very similar to the Jenkins, the lining is diapered, and the scroll at the side are the same. The little vignette at the bottom, however, is displaced by a sour face with gray hair. The two faces are replaced by urns filled with flowers, and the old cloth festoon is draped below the whole design. The _Spooner_ plate bears no resemblance to the others, and is a more graceful design. The lining is latticed, the Sphinx head under the shield is enclosed within a frame of its own, and at either side are term figures from whose hands depend bouquets of flowers; the crest is overarched with a bit of the old scallop shell, and the motto is on a ribbon, which, wholly unsupported, maintains a curved position under the frame.
The Jacobean plates of _Benjamin Greene_ and _Peter R. Livingston_ are almost identical in design; the small frame which encloses the shield is lined with the fish-scale pattern, the mantling is handsome and profuse, and the motto ribbon is stretched in rather stiff manner below the frame.
Only two examples of the Ribbon and Wreath style are known as Hurd’s work, the _John C. Williams_ and the _Jonathan Jackson_. These are both signed, and are very similar in design. Garlands of roses depending from rings above follow closely the outline of the heart-shaped shield, and the ribbon for the motto is placed beneath, and is ornamented with fancy ends.
In the “detur” plate for _Harvard College_ Hurd conformed to the English manner and adopted the seal-shaped design. The arms are displayed upon a heart-shaped shield which is enclosed within a circle which bears the name and motto, and this again is enclosed by a wreath of holly branches.
[Illustration: Harvard College]
Hurd’s work is the most interesting found in our early days, and a study of it shows him to have been progressive as well as painstaking. The Ribbon and Wreath style did not come into general use in England until about 1770, yet Hurd, who died in 1777, had used it. The colonies could not be expected to adopt the new styles of the old country immediately, and the condition of things from 1770 on to the time of Hurd’s death was not such as to encourage the introduction of “fads” or to allow much time for the development of the fine arts.
A word must be said about the heraldry on Hurd’s book-plates. This science, heraldry, was not held in such general esteem among the New Englanders as it was further south, and while many of the governors and men of high standing in the Northern colonies brought armorial seals with them, a great many who used them did so without strict heraldic authority, and when it became the fashion to use coats-of-arms in various ways, the herald painters of those days, who had but slight knowledge of heraldry and who were possessed of a copy of Guillim or some other writer on the subject, would find therein the arms of some family bearing the name of their prospective customer, and without further research would proceed to produce the coat as described. Not always were these arms so ordered correctly borne; indeed, there is much uncertainty about the arms used after about 1730 when our native engravers and painters took up the work of producing arms upon orders. Such seals as were brought by the colonists from England, and such as were used by their descendants are undoubtedly correct, but the questionable arms are those which, as mentioned above, were looked up in this country only, by means of such heraldic works as were at hand. The presence of the arms then on some book-plates cannot be relied upon as sufficient and indisputable proof of their owners’ right to them.
[Illustration: John Vassall Esq^{r}.]
A list of the book-plates signed by Hurd is appended.
[Illustration: John Lowell]
A List Of Book-Plates Signed By Nathaniel Hurd.
Theodore Atkinson Chippendale. Thomas Brown John Chandler, Jr. Chippendale. Rufus Chandler Francis Dana Chippendale. Danforth Chippendale. Lewis De Blois Jacobean. Thomas Dering Chippendale. Philip Dumeresque Chippendale. Isaac Foster Jacobean. Benjamin Greene Jacobean. Thomas Greene, Jr. Jacobean. William Greenleaf Robert Hale, Esq., of Beverly Chippendale. Harvard College Seal. Harvard College Pictorial. William Hooper Chippendale. Jonathan Jackson Ribbon and Wreath. Robert Jenkins Jacobean. Peter R. Livingston Jacobean. John Lowell Chippendale. Henry Marchant Chippendale. John Marston Chippendale. Samuel Osborne Chippendale. Henry Pace Joshua Spooner Jacobean. Nathaniel Tracy Chippendale. Andrew Tyler Jacobean. Wentworth Chippendale. John C. Williams Ribbon and Wreath.
A List Of Plates Attributed To Hurd, Although Not Signed.
Thomas Child Chippendale. Henry Courtenay Chippendale. Edwd. Augs. Holyoke Chippendale. By the name of Hurd Plain Armorial. Loring Chippendale. Lucretia E. Newton Ribbon and Wreath. (Same copper as the John C. Williams.) Andrew Oliver Chippendale. Samuel Page Label: Chippendale frame. Phillips Academy Chippendale. Ezekiel Price Chippendale. John Simpson Chippendale. John Vassall Chippendale. David Wilson Chippendale.} One copper. James Wilson Chippendale.}
Of JAMES AKIN, who signs the _Coffin_ and _Browne_ plates, nothing is learned. The _Hector Coffin_ book-plate is also signed by Francis Kearney, which would seem to indicate that Akin was associated with him. The _Browne_ is a Philadelphia plate, and Akin may have been employed by the firm of Tanner, Vallance, Kearney and Company, which was in successful operation in Philadelphia for some years.
* * * * *
S. ALLARDICE was apprenticed to Robert Scott, who had been a pupil of Robert Strange, and who, coming to America, was made die-sinker to the Mint. He had previously made the architectural plates for Dobson’s Encyclopædia.
Only one example of the book-plate work of Allardice is now at hand, and that is simply an engraved label for the _Library Company of Baltimore_. Ornamented with flourishes, and some fancy work, it is yet of no merit as a book-plate or an example of art.
* * * * *
ALEXANDER ANDERSON, who was the first American wood-engraver, was born in the city of New York, April 21, 1775, and lived to the advanced age of ninety-five years, dying, in 1870, in Jersey City, N.J., on the 17th of February.
At the age of twelve, with the spring of a pocket-knife, sharpened for the purpose, he tried
[Illustration: Peter A. Browne]
to engrave on copper pennies rolled thin. In this way he made his first plate, which was a head of Paul Jones; and his first impression from it was made in red oil paint by a rude kind of a press of his own contrivance. With tools made by a blacksmith, he went on to cut little ships and houses on type metal for the newspapers. Being in some way led to take an interest in certain medical works, he copied many of the plates, and his father, feeling that this was a true sign of his fitness for the profession of medicine, and not discerning the talent for engraving, placed him with Dr. Joseph Young, as a student of medicine.
This step was taken with great reluctance by the youth; but he found time for both the cares of his new study, and for the pleasures of his old pastime. Various successes encouraged him, and in 1793 he cut a tobacco-stamp on wood, which appears to have been his first use of that material. Soon after this, he obtained a copy of Bewick’s “Quadrupeds,” and with the cuts found therein he was delighted. They had a strong influence upon his later work, and he has been well called the “American Bewick,” for his small wood-cuts closely resemble those of the English master in design, and his prominence in this country was equal to Bewick’s in England.
A life of Dr. Anderson has lately (1893) been issued in New York; but, to the disappointment of book-plate collectors, not a word is said of his making book-plates.
Of the seven plates by Anderson known at present, four are on wood, and three are on copper.
[Illustration: JOHN PINTARD, LL. D.]
Only one of those on wood is signed. The _Lot Tripp_ and _Josh. Russell_ plates are simple labels, and the _Typographical Society of New York_ and the _John Pintard, LL.D._, which is signed, are pictorial. In the former, the emblems and implements of the printing trade are prominent, and in the _Pintard_, which is a fine example
[Illustration: Alex^{r} Anderson.]
of Anderson’s best work on wood, the shield of arms is shown with a landscape for background.
[Illustration: APPRENTICES’ LIBRARY.]
The plates on copper are the _Anderson_, which is a Chippendale, the _Apprentices’ Library_, and the _Columbia College_, which are allegorical.
All the above will be found described in the List.
There is a plate of the _Apprentices’ Library Company of Philadelphia_ which strongly resembles the wood-cut work of Anderson, but as it is not signed it is not safely attributed to him. In the plate of _A. Griggs_ of Philadelphia, an even more marked resemblance to his little designs on wood is seen, but this, too, is not signed.
* * * * *
ANNIN AND SMITH. This firm consisted of _W. B. Annin_ and _George C. Smith_, and they were established in Boston from 1820 to 1837. Annin died in 1839, in Boston, and Smith, who lived to quite an advanced age, died in 1878. They engraved a number of plates for the “Token,” and for other annuals so popular sixty years ago.
The plates of _Richard Taylor Auchmuty_, _A. L. Peirson_, _William H. Prescott_, _John Lowell, Jr._, and an armorial plate for the _Boylston Medical Library_ are signed by them, and will be found described in the List.
* * * * *
ABEL BOWEN, whose name appears on one of the plates of _Harvard College_, was the first wood-engraver in Boston. He was born in New York state in 1790, and he took up engraving before he was of age. In 1812 he was a printer in Boston, probably attracted thither by his uncle, who was the proprietor of the Columbian
[Illustration: WILLIAM ASHMEAD COURTENAY]
Museum. Nathaniel Dearborn claims to be the first engraver on wood in Boston, but the honor is usually accorded to Bowen. He issued, in 1816, the “Naval Monument,” and in 1817 was associated with Dearborn in engraving for Shaw’s “History of Boston.” In 1834 Bowen, with others, founded “The Boston Bewick Company,” which was an association of engravers. In the following year they issued a map of Boston, and undertook the publishing of the “American Magazine.” They were burned out in this same year. Bowen died in 1850.
* * * * *
JOHN BOYD, who engraved the plate of _Samuel Chase_, which is taken to be the plate of the signer of the Declaration, was a Philadelphia engraver. This is the only specimen of his work on book-plates which we have, and it is a very pretty Chippendale design, delicately engraved.
In Dunlap, a J. Boyd is simply mentioned, who was engraving in Philadelphia in 1812. This, if the engraver of the Chase plate, would make him rather young at the time of doing it, and it is very good work, and not the experiment of a novice. Whether this is the same engraver, I do not know.
* * * * *
JOSEPH CALLENDER was born in Boston, May 6, 1751. Very little is known about him, but he is reported to have acquired the plates of Peter Pelham, who was presumably the first to engrave on copper in America, and to have destroyed them. Callender made most of the dies for the second Massachusetts Mint, at a cost of £1 4_s._ each. This was considered an exorbitant price by the superintendent, who made a contract with a Newburyport artisan, Jacob Perkins. Callender received £48 12_s._ for making thirty-nine dies, and repairing three others, while Perkins received but £3 18_s._ 10_d._ for his work. Callender died in Boston, Nov. 10, 1821, and was buried in the Granary Burying Ground.
The only Chippendale plate by Callender is a copy of the _Atkinson_ plate by Hurd, and is for a member of the same family. As compared with its model, this plate shows very little difference, it is so close a copy, but the motto ribbon which is added is more graceful than those of Hurd usually were, the heraldic drawing is quite as good, and the lettering of the name is better. Callender, of course, would not have begun to engrave much before Hurd’s death; indeed, the preponderance of the Ribbon and Wreath style in his designs goes to show that his work dated towards the close of the century.
His plates in this style are very light and graceful, with no overloading; and a faithful use of the usual features of the style is apparent.
In the _Russell_ plate he was again a copyist, using for his model the _Joseph Barrell_ plate. The plates for the _American Academy of Arts and Sciences_, and for the _Massachusetts Medical Society_ are practically alike; the curtain, and the
[Illustration: Thomas Russell]
ribbon and festooning are very similar, while the view within the oval frame is, of course, adapted to the use of the books of the respective societies. Callender would seem by these signs to have been a lazy engraver, or to have considered his designs so perfect as to call for no further effort.
A List Of Book-Plates Signed By Callender.
---- Andrews Pictorial. William King Atkinson Chippendale. Jonathan Baldwin Luke Baldwin Boylston Medical Library Plain armorial. John Callender Pictorial. Thomas Cary Ribbon and Wreath. William Erving Ribbon and Wreath. John Francis Plain armorial. Hasty Pudding Library Pictorial. Massachusetts Medical Society Allegorical. Thomas Russell Allegorical. Daniel Sargent, Jr. Ribbon and Wreath. John Sullivan Ribbon and Wreath. James Swan Plain armorial. Dudley Atkins Tyng Ribbon and Wreath. Solomon Vose Ribbon and Wreath.
A List Of Plates Attributed To Callender, Although Not Signed.
American Academy of Arts and Sciences Allegorical. William Emerson Ribbon and Wreath. Gray Ribbon and Wreath. Dr. John Jeffries Plain armorial. Porcellain Library Allegorical.
[Illustration: AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS & SCIENCES]
CEPHAS G. CHILDS, who engraved the plate of _Henry D. Gilpin_, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1793. In the years 1827 to 1830, he published a set of views of the city of Philadelphia and its vicinity (Baker).
[Illustration: Henry D. Gilpin.]
HENRY DAWKINS was an engraver of but few original ideas, if we may judge him rightly by his book-plate work. In this he was very largely a copyist. Working altogether in the Chippendale style, his designs for the most part are variations of one general plan, which seems to have been borrowed from an English-made plate. In his plates we see “Chippendalism run wild.” Here are introduced the love-sick swains who play upon the flute; the dandy shepherds in stiff clothes of the most fashionable cut, flowing curls, and large felt hats; the flirting young damsels in very low-cut bodices, who play at being shepherdesses for the sake of following the above-mentioned gentle keeper of sheep. Here are the music-loving Cupids, the scantily clad females who are attended by the Cupids, and who are far from home among the trees of the wood. In the _James Duane_ plate we find a fountain is fixed to the side of the frame, and is spouting water from the mouth of a man’s head.
But the plates of _Samuel Jones_, _Samuel Stringer_, and _Peter W. Yates_ are proof that Dawkins could confine himself to the legitimate features of good Chippendale plates. In these no outside objects are introduced, and the design is good.
We do not know much about Dawkins. Dunlap says he was probably from England, and that he was first noticed in New York. Originally he was an ornamenter of buttons and other small bits of metal, but in America he worked at anything that offered, “suiting himself to the poverty of the arts at the time.” Dunlap dates him about 1774, evidently on the strength of the word of Dr. Anderson, who remembered to have seen “shop-bills and coats-of-arms for books,” done by him previous to 1775. However, in 1761, he engraved music for a book of Psalm Tunes published in that year in Philadelphia. His earliest dated book-plate is that of _John Burnet_ (1754). He was skilful enough to make counterfeit Continental currency, but not to avoid arrest; and in 1776 we find him suffering for this misdeed. Some time later, he forwarded the following unique petition to the Committee of Safety:--
“MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOURS,--The subscriber humbly relying on the known goodness and humanity of this honourable house, begs leave to lay his complaint before them, which is briefly as follows. That your petitioner was about six months past taken upon Long Island for a trespass which this house is thoroughly acquainted as by Israel Youngs he was led away to perform an action of which he has sincerely repented and your petitioner was torn away from an only son who was left among strangers without any support, or protection during the inclemency of the approaching winter, as his unhappy father hath since the first day he was taken had but one shirt and one pair of stockings to shift himself, and hath been affected during his imprisonment at White Plains with that worst of enemies hunger, and a nauseous stench of a small room where some twenty persons were confined together which hath introduced a sickness on your distressed subscriber which with the fatigue of travelling hath reduced your unhappy petitioner to a state of despondency--he therefore being weary of such a miserable life as his misconduct has thrown him into begs for a termination by death to be inflicted upon him in what manner the honourable House may see fit. The kind compliance of this honourable House will ever lay an obligation on your distressed humble servent
Henry Dawkins.”
We do not know in what manner the honorable house received this extraordinary petition; but, as book-plates are in existence in his later style, probably it was not granted. Dawkins used three distinct varieties of the Chippendale style. The plates of _Benjamin Kissam_, the _Ludlow_ and _Roome_ plates, the _Whitehead Hicks_ and the _James Duane_ are examples of the debased
[Illustration: Whitehead Hicks Esq.]
Chippendale. He had also a style which is illustrated by the _Hopkinson_, _Samuels_, and _Tomlinson_ plates, which is closely allied to the style of the _Bushrod Washington_. The same hissing dragon, the same tilt to the whole design, and the similarity in detail and execution have led to the question of his being the engraver of the latter plate. It is not a question easy to decide, and collectors are divided over the question. This style of plate came originally from England, we can be sure; and as Dawkins is seen to be a copyist, it is quite as likely that he copied from the _Bushrod Washington_ plate, as that he designed it. He always used a squarer copper than the Washington plate is engraved upon; but this has evidences of having been cut down after engraving. The present writer does not think the plate can be safely attributed to Dawkins. The _Child_ and _Jones_ plates exemplify the third style.
The debased Chippendale plates which Dawkins made were apparently copied from an English example he had seen.
A List Of Book-Plates Signed By Dawkins.
Gerard Bancker Chippendale. John Burnet, 1754 Chippendale. Francis Child Chippendale. James Duane Chippendale. Francis Hopkinson,} Joseph Hopkinson, } one copper Chippendale. Whitehead Hicks Chippendale. Archibald Hunter Samuel Jones Chippendale. Benjamin Kissam Chippendale. John Cooke Ludlow Chippendale. Gab. Willm. Ludlow Chippendale. Jacob Roome Chippendale. John L. C. Roome Chippendale. James Samuels Chippendale. Samuel Stringer Chippendale. William Sword Chippendale. John Tomlinson Chippendale. Unidentified Chippendale. Josias Short Vavasour Chippendale. W ---- Whitebread Chippendale. Peter W. Yates Chippendale.
The plates of _Cornelius Low_ and _Lambert Moore_, although not signed, are attributed to Dawkins.
* * * * *
NATHANIEL DEARBORN was born in 1786, and was the son of Benjamin Dearborn, a man of attainments in science. Nathaniel was one of the first wood-engravers in Boston, and was associated with Abel Bowen for a time.
The only armorial book-plate signed by Dearborn is the _Charles Beck_, which is a peculiar design, following no particular style, but making a pretty plate.
A second plate signed by Dearborn is the simple engraved verse for _Isaac Child_.
* * * * *
AMOS DOOLITTLE, who was born in 1754, was one of the first engravers of historical scenes in America. In Barber’s “History and Antiquities of New Haven,” published in 1831, is an advertisement of “four different views of the Battle of Lexington, Concord, etc. on the 19 April 1775.” A list of the plates follows, and it is remarked that they were “neatly engraved on copper from original paintings taken on the spot.” In a note which follows, it is further remarked that the pictures were first drawn by Mr. Earl, who was a portrait painter, and who with Mr. Doolittle was a member of the Governor’s Guard which went to Cambridge and the scene of action under the command of Arnold.
[Illustration: George Goodwin]
[Illustration: Social Library. Stepney Society Wethersfield]
As a maker of book-plates, Doolittle was fond of the allegorical style. He made two plates for the _Societies of Yale College_, and one for the village library of _Wethersfield_. The latter is an ornamental label only, but the former are quite elaborate examples of the allegorical. The plates of _Benjamin S. Brooks_, in the Ribbon and Wreath style, and _Charles H. Wetmore_, which is a copy of one of Maverick’s favorite designs, complete the number of his signed examples. The _Guilford Library_ and _George Goodwin_ plates, which have some features in common with the _Wethersfield Library_, are confidently attributed to him.
Benjamin S. Brooks Ribbon and Wreath. Brothers in Unity Allegorical. Linonian Library Allegorical. Social Library, Wethersfield Literary. Charles H. Wetmore Ribbon and Wreath.
* * * * *
GIDEON FAIRMAN, whose signature is on one of the plates of _Henry McMurtrie_ and one of the _Linonian Society of Yale College_, was born in Connecticut in 1774. He showed an early fondness for engraving, and made rude attempts which showed undoubted talent. In 1810, having made himself a master of his art, he went into partnership with Murray, Draper, and others, in Philadelphia. He made considerable money, and went over to England with Jacob Perkins, where, with Charles Heath for a third partner, they were successful but for a short time, the extravagance of Murray proving their ruin.
* * * * *
JOHN MASON FURNASS was the nephew of Hurd, to whom the latter left his engraving tools by will, as the young man showed so much ability in the art practised by his widely known uncle.
He was also a painter of portraits, and he had a studio in Boston, which was also used by Trumbull.
The only plate signed by this engraver, which the present writer has seen, is the _Eli Forbes_. This plate shows but few traces of the influence of Hurd. It is a Chippendale design, but
[Illustration: Eli Forbes.]
is not in either of the characteristic modes of Hurd. It is an ambitious plate, and was meant to be very fine, evidently. It is full of flourishes, and the little spiral flourish at the lower right-hand side is wholly out of place; the robin picking rose leaves at the side is an innovation. The scrolls under the name are somewhat in the manner of Hurd. The heraldic drawing is poor, and the bunch of arrows between the shield and the crest must be in allusion to the occupation of the owner, who was a missionary to the Indians.
[Illustration: John Chambers Esq^{r}.]
There is said to be a plate by Furnass owned in Boston, by the name of _Foster_, but no definite knowledge of it has been obtained.
* * * * *
E. GALLAUDET, who signed the plate for the _New York Society Library_ and the plate of _John Chambers_, was one Elisha Gallaudet, who practised his art in New York City towards the end of the last century.
EDWARD GALLAUDET, a relative of the above, was superior to him as an engraver, and the _Gallaudet_ plate mentioned in the List is by him. He was of the present century.
* * * * *
ABRAHAM GODWIN was born in New Jersey in 1763. He was intended for the profession of the law, and was placed in the office of his brother, at Fishkill, in New York state. Both men joined the army, however; and when Abraham returned to his home, it was to take up the art of engraving, towards which he had had an inclination from boyhood, when he made his first attempts on the silver plate of his friends, with a graver made by a blacksmith.
The only example of his book-plate work is a plate fully described under the heading, “Unidentified,” in the List. Most unfortunately, the only example known has the family name torn out. The first name is _John_. The plate is rather rudely engraved, but is quite ambitious, showing the interior of a large room, which might be either a school-room or a library.
* * * * *
S. HARRIS, who engraved the pictorial plates of _Henry Andrews_ and the anonymous _Williams_, was a New England engraver, who was in Boston about 1798.
CHARLES P. HARRISON, who signed the plain armorial book-plates of _William Betts_ and _David Paul Brown_, was a son of William Harrison, an English engraver, who came to New York in 1794, and was for a time an instructor of Peter Maverick the second.
* * * * *
SAMUEL HILL was a copper-plate engraver in Boston, about 1790, and his work consisted mostly of portraits and book work.
The following are examples of his work:--
Willm. P. & L. Blake’s Circulating Library at the Boston Book Store Ornamented label. Charles Pierpont Ribbon and Wreath. William Winthrop Ribbon and Wreath.
Also the plate of _Saml. Hill_, which is of a literary flavor, is probably the engraver’s own plate.
* * * * *
S. S. JOCELYN, of New Haven, who made a very handsome plate for the _Brothers in Unity_ of Yale College, became an engraver of vignettes for bank-notes.
* * * * *
THOMAS JOHNSON was born in Boston in 1708. He was buried in King’s Chapel Burying-ground, May 8, 1767. He engraved Psalm Tune plates
[Illustration: EDMUND H. GARRETT]
for the Tate and Brady edition of 1760, and did some commendable work as a herald painter. In the inventory of his estate, fifteen copper plates are appraised at 40_s._
Only one specimen of his book-plate work is authenticated, and that is the _Joseph Tyler_, which is signed in full,--_Johnson_.
* * * * *
THOMAS JOHNSTON signs the very beautiful Jacobean plate of _William P. Smith, A.M._, and the rougher Chippendale of _Samuel Willis_. Whether this is the same engraver as the above is uncertain; the difference in the spelling of the name would not disprove the claim, as in those days such differences were frequent. The _Willis_ plate bears strong resemblance to the work and designs of Hurd. If this is the same engraver as the above, these two plates are likely to be the earliest signed plates by an American, as Johnson was born some twenty years before Hurd. The _Willis_ plate is quite inferior to the _Smith_, which latter is a striking example of the Jacobean style.
* * * * *
FRANCIS KEARNEY, who signs the plate of _Henry McMurtrie_ and _Hector Coffin_, was born in 1780. He was a pupil of Peter R. Maverick, who received two hundred and fifty dollars for instructing him for three years. The advantage was all with Maverick. Soon after the opening of the century, he was engaged with Anderson, the younger Maverick, Boyd, and others, in engraving plates for a quarto Bible published by Mr. Collins, of New York.
In 1810 he removed to Philadelphia, as that city was far ahead of New York in the publishing of books, etc. He was in that city for over twenty years. His greatest work is the engraving of Leonardo da Vinci’s picture of the “Last Supper.”
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PETER RUSHTON MAVERICK was born in England, April 11, 1755, and came to America about 1774. He was originally a silversmith, and came of a family whose members were for several generations well known as engravers, and who made the art their occupation. He was an energetic worker, getting most of his practical knowledge by his own endeavors. He was the teacher of William Dunlap and of Francis Kearney, as well as of his own son, who ultimately became a more proficient engraver than his father, and, who after instructing A. B. Durand for five years, took him into partnership.
Peter R. Maverick died in New York, about 1807, and his son Peter whose partnership with Durand resulted disastrously, died in 1831.
As a designer and engraver of book-plates, Maverick was the most prolific of all the early engravers. It is presumed that all the plates signed either P. R. Maverick, or simply Maverick, were by the same hand, as a large collection of
[Illustration]
_Weigh well each thought, each sentence freely scan, In Reason’s balance try the works of man: Be bias’d not by those who praise or blame. Nor, Servile, Yield opinion to a Name._ proofs from his plates which furnishes examples of both ways of signing is now in the possession of the New York Historical Society, and the librarian informs me that all of the plates in that collection were done in 1789 by the elder Maverick. This collection consists of sixty-five plates, of which thirty-eight different ones are signed by Maverick. There are also others which are undoubtedly his work, although not signed, and there are examples by Dawkins, Hutt, and Child. Quite a number of the plates are duplicated, too. This very interesting collection of proofs, kept by Maverick himself, and sewed together roughly, was in the library of his friend, John Allan. By far the greater part of Maverick’s plates are of the Ribbon and Wreath style, but he made a few Jacobeans, a few Chippendales, and one or two pictorial and allegorical designs. He used the same features over and over in his plates, and seems to have been a rapid worker. The plates in the following list marked * are by the younger Maverick.
A List Of Book-Plates Signed By Maverick.
Anonymous Plain armorial. Anonymous (Jacob Brown) Pictorial. Flamen Ball Ribbon and Wreath. Abraham Bancker Pictorial. Absalom Blackley Ribbon and Wreath. Philip Brasher Ribbon and Wreath. *Epaphroditus Champion, Jr. Plain armorial. De Witt Clinton Ribbon and Wreath. William Cock Ribbon and Wreath. James S. Cutting Ribbon and Wreath. William Cutting Ribbon and Wreath. John Cuyler Ribbon and Wreath. Frederick De Peyster Plain armorial. Barnard Elliott Plain armorial. Erasmus Hall Library Allegorical. Ebenezer Foot Ribbon and Wreath.
[Illustration: Abraham Bancker]
Andrew J. Fraunces Plain armorial. James Gibs James Giles Military. *Elias Hicks Plain armorial. Philip L. Hoffmann Ribbon and Wreath. Horanian Society Library Allegorical. William J. Hunter Ribbon and Wreath. John I. Johnson Pictorial. John Johnston Ribbon and Wreath. Thomas Johnston Ribbon and Wreath. Benjamin S. Judah Ribbon and Wreath. John Keese Ribbon and Wreath. John Keese Ornamental label. Rufus King Ribbon and Wreath. Isaac L. Kip Ribbon and Wreath. Edward Livingston Landscape. Maturin Livingston Ribbon and Wreath. William Smith Livingston Ribbon and Wreath. Hugh McLean Ribbon and Wreath. Peter Masterton Ribbon and Wreath. ---- Maxwell Ribbon and Wreath. *Nathaniel F. Moore Ribbon and Wreath. New York Society Library Allegorical. New York Society Library Allegorical. *Lewis Morris Ogden Ribbon and Wreath. Francis Panton, Jr. Landscape. W. Paulding William L. Pierce Ribbon and Wreath. John Pintard Ribbon and Wreath. William Popham Ribbon and Wreath. Halcott B. Pride Ribbon and Wreath. Samuel Provoost Ribbon and Wreath. William Seton Ribbon and Wreath. John Sitgreaves Ribbon and Wreath. James Scott Smith Ribbon and Wreath. Thomas Smith, Jr. Ribbon and Wreath. Thomas J. Smith William Smith Ribbon and Wreath. William Taylor Ribbon and Wreath. *James Thompson Plain armorial. Thomas Tillotson Ribbon and Wreath. P. I. Van Berkel Plain armorial. K. K. Van Rensselaer Ribbon and Wreath. Prosper Wetmore Ribbon and Wreath. Polydore B. Wisner Ribbon and Wreath.
A List Of Plates Attributed To Maverick, Although Not Signed.
James Agnew, Esq. Chippendale. Boudinet Ribbon and Wreath. Charles Bridgen Plain armorial. Willm. Duer Ribbon and Wreath. John Goelet Jacobean. Herbert Chippendale. Morgan Lewis, Esq. Ribbon and Wreath. Rob’t R. Livingston, Esq., of Cleremont Ribbon and Wreath. Walter Livingston Chippendale. Jonathan Meredith, Jr. Ribbon and Wreath. Joseph Murray Chippendale. William Pasley Ribbon and Wreath. Saml. Provoost. Coll. Pet. Cant. Chippendale. William Stephens Jacobean. John C. Ten Broeck Ribbon and Wreath. Stephen Van Rensselaer Plain armorial.
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OLIVER PELTON, who engraved a plate for the _Brothers in Unity_, at Yale College, was born in Portland, Conn., in 1799, and learned his trade with Abner Read, a bank-note engraver, of Hartford. He was an assiduous worker, and was taken into partnership after two years’ work, with Mr. Read and one Samuel Stiles. Samuel G. Goodrich (Peter Parley) soon induced him to go to Boston with him, to engage in the engraving of plates for his works. This enterprise was successful, and in 1863 Pelton formed a partnership with William D. Terry, which was the foundation of the New England Bank-Note Company of Boston. The plate mentioned is the only example of his work on book-plates.
R. RAWDON, who signs the plate of _William L. Stone_, which is a very handsome steel-plate design, was born in Tolland, Conn., and was associated with his brother in Albany. The brother subsequently moved to New York.
[Illustration: Gardiner Chandler]
PAUL REVERE, the Revolutionary patriot whose “midnight ride” is known the world over, was born in Boston, January
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