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[A few typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:
In the rare cases were=> In the rare cases where {pg 21}
ecrit dans les marges=> écrit dans les marges {pg 238}
Rops, Felicien, 299.=> Rops, Félicien, 299. {index}
Dans un siècle ou l’or seul fut un objet d’envie=> Dans un siècle où
l’or seul fut un objet d’envie {pg 245}
The spelling of French words and names has not been corrected or
normalized. (note of etext transcriber.)]
THE EX-LIBRIS SERIES. EDITED BY GLEESON WHITE.
FRENCH BOOK-PLATES.
THE FIRST EDITION OF THIS BOOK WAS PUBLISHED IN 1892, AND WAS EXHAUSTED
ALMOST IMMEDIATELY. THE PRESENT ISSUE IS LIMITED TO 750 COPIES OF THE
ORDINARY EDITION, AND 38 COPIES ON TALL JAPANESE VELLUM (OF WHICH 35
ONLY ARE FOR SALE).
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
French Book-plates
by Walter Hamilton, Chairman
of Council of the Ex-Libris Society
and Vice-President of the Société
Française des Collectionneurs
d’Ex-Libris
[Illustration]
London: George Bell & Sons, York Street,
Covent Garden, & New York. Mdcccxcvi
CHISWICK PRESS:--CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
[Illustration]
PREFACE.
Since the first edition of this Handbook was published in 1892 the taste
for collecting book-plates has spread with such rapidity that that which
was formerly the hobby of a few, has now become the serious pursuit of
the many.
Societies devoted to the collection and study of ex-libris have been
founded by eminent genealogists and heraldists, not only in Great
Britain, but also in Germany, France, and the United States, all of
which are in a flourishing condition, numbering many active and
enthusiastic members. Each of these societies publishes an illustrated
Journal in which the book-plates of all ages and countries are being
reproduced and described from almost every point of view. Whilst the
ever-widening circle of literature on the topic shows that the taste has
now also spread to Sweden, to Italy, to Belgium, to Switzerland, and to
South America.
Such intense literary activity has led to the recent publication of many
interesting records of French ex-libris, and in order to keep my
readers _au courant_ with the present state of knowledge, it has been
found necessary to increase the number of chapters, to add materially to
the others, and to include nearly a hundred facsimiles, in addition to
those in the former edition.
The writings of Poulet-Malassis, Henri Bouchot, Octave Uzanne, le Père
Ingold, Auguste Castan, A. Benoit, Henri Jadart, and H. Jardère, are all
well-known to French collectors, but they have not been translated, and
what is even more serious for the British collector, the original
editions are now for the most part unobtainable.
I have therefore attempted to embody all the principal facts to be
gleaned from these authorities with the information derived from my own
collection, so as to produce a succinct history of French book-plates
from 1574 (the year named on the first known dated French book-plate) to
the present day. In the alphabetical list of artists and engravers will
be found such a concentration of information useful to collectors as
does not exist in any other work on the subject.
Heraldic details have been avoided as far as possible, yet some little
space has necessarily been devoted to the explanation of the principal
differences between the systems of the two nations, in order to enable a
collector of French book-plates to understand certain peculiarities
either not to be found on British armorial bearings, or conveying a
different meaning to that ascribed to them in British heraldry.
Of the illustrations, many have been reproduced from rare old examples,
whilst those of modern date are of interest, either on account of the
fame of their artists, or their owners, or for the beauty or quaintness
of their design.
As the majority are dated specimens, they have an educational value in
representing the styles of heraldry and of ornamentation in vogue at the
various periods during the last three centuries.
To Dr. Bouland, President of the French Society, I am greatly indebted
for the loan of several interesting reproductions, and my thanks are
also due to Messieurs Aglaüs Bouvenne, Henry André, L. Joly, Léon
Quantin, le Père Ingold, and other artists and owners of book-plates for
their kind permission to reproduce them here.
A final tribute of gratitude remains to be paid to one who shares all my
labours, or my cares, and adds that charm to life that makes success
worth striving for.
Every line in this little book has passed under her eyes, for revision
or correction, and I would pray:
“Untouch’d with any shade of years,
May those kind eyes forever dwell!
They have not shed a many tears,
Dear eyes, since first I knew them well.”
WALTER HAMILTON.
“ELLARBEE,”
Clapham Common, Surrey.
_October_, 1896.
[Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF J. B. MICHAUD, 1791.]
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL
HISTORICAL EVENTS HEREIN ALLUDED TO. 1
Chapter I. INTRODUCTION 5
II. IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION 21
III. A FEW NOTES ON FRENCH HERALDRY 39
IV. EARLY EXAMPLES, 1574-1650 62
V. EX-LIBRIS, 1650-1700 77
VI. EX-LIBRIS, 1700-1789 84
VII. THE FIRST REPUBLIC 109
THE FIRST EMPIRE 123
VIII. THE RESTORATION AND LOUIS-PHILIPPE 134
THE SECOND EMPIRE 140
IX. THE FRONTIER PROVINCES 152
X. ECCLESIASTICAL AND SCHOLASTIC EX-LIBRIS 169
XI. BOOK-PLATES OF THE HUGUENOTS 197
XII. BOOK-PLATES OF MEDICAL MEN 208
XIII. CANTING ARMS AND PUNNING PLATES 218
XIV. PHRASES OF POSSESSION 232
XV. BOOK-PLATES OF SOME FAMOUS MEN 248
XVI. MODERN EX-LIBRIS 275
XVII. A LIST OF ARTISTS AND ENGRAVERS 301
BIBLIOGRAPHY 345
INDEX 353
CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL HISTORICAL EVENTS HEREIN ALLUDED
TO.
In his “Petite Revue d’Ex-Libris Alsaciens,” Mons. Auguste Stoeber
claimed to have discovered an armorial ex-libris which had been engraved
for Conrad Wolfhart, of Rouffach, who died in 1561, but the evidence is
not conclusive, otherwise this would have been the earliest French
book-plate known.
1574. Earliest known dated French book-plate, “_Ex Bibliotheca
Caroli Albosii_.”
The first English book-plate, that of Sir Nicholas Bacon, was also
dated 1574.
Henry III., then King of France, was assassinated August, 1589.
1585. The earliest known French armorial book-plate, that of
_François de la Rochefoucauld_, engraved some time before 1585.
1589. Henry IV., King of France.
1598. April: The Edict of Nantes was issued by Henry IV., granting
religious freedom to the Reformed Church; he was assassinated by
Ravaillac May 14, 1610.
1610. Louis XIII., King, son of the above, died May 14, 1643.
1611. The first _dated armorial_ French book-plate, that of
_Alexandre Bouchart_, by Leonard Gaultier.
1613. The second dated armorial French book-plate, that of
_Melchior de la Vallée_.
1638. The system of showing the heraldic colours, metals, and furs
on engravings by conventional lines and dots was adopted about this
date, and has been in use ever since.
1643. Louis XIV., King, son of the above, died September 1, 1715.
1685. October. Revocation by Louis XIV. of the Edict of Nantes,
followed by the flight of thousands of French Protestants (or
Huguenots) to Great Britain, Holland, and America.
1715. Louis XV., King, great-grandson of the above, died of
small-pox, May 10, 1774.
1774. Louis XVI., King, grandson of the above.
1789. July. Surrender and destruction of the Château de la Bastille
in Paris. This marks the actual commencement of the French
Revolution.
1790. June. Abolition of all titles and armorial bearings.
1793. Louis XVI. beheaded January 21, and was, according to
Legitimist reckoning, succeeded by his young son, Louis XVII., who,
however, never reigned, and is supposed to have died in prison on
June 8, 1795. The government was Republican in name until
1804. May. Napoleon Buonaparte proclaimed Emperor.
1808. New nobility of France created, titles and heraldry revived.
1814. Abdication of Napoleon in favour of his son, Napoleon II.,
who, however, never reigned.
1814. Restoration of the Monarchy under Louis XVIII., brother of
Louis XVI.; he died September, 1824.
1824. Charles X., King, brother of the above, deposed in July,
1830; succeeded by his cousin--
1830. Louis-Philippe, as _King of the French_.
1848. February. Abdication and flight of Louis-Philippe.
Proclamation of a Republic; Louis Napoleon elected President of the
Republic, December, 1848.
1852. December. Proclamation of Napoleon III. as Emperor of the
French (the Second Empire).
1870. Overthrow of the Empire; Republic proclaimed.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
FRENCH EX-LIBRIS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
It is nearly a quarter of a century since Mons. Maurice Tourneux first
drew attention to the subject of French book-plates in an article which
appeared in “L’Amateur d’Autographes” for April, 1872. This was
descriptive of the famous collection of Mons. Aglaüs Bouvenne, who is
himself the designer of some of the most interesting and artistic of
modern French book-plates. Next followed the well-known work of Mons. A.
Poulet-Malassis, “Les Ex-Libris Français,” the preface to which is dated
January 20th, 1874; a second edition was issued in the following year by
P. Rouquette, Paris, 1875. Then, after a long interval, appeared “Les
Ex-Libris et les Marques de Possession du Livre,” by Henri Bouchot.
Paris: Edouard Rouveyre, 1891.
Beyond these, and a few pamphlets descriptive of local collections, such
as the “Petite Revue d’Ex-Libris Alsaciens,” by Auguste Stoeber, 1881,
and some articles by Octave Uzanne in “Le Livre Moderne,” comparatively
little had been written on the topic until the appearance of the first
edition of this work.
Indeed, in his last article in “Le Livre Moderne” (No. 24, December,
1891), M. Octave Uzanne deplored the want of interest shown by the
French authors in this important branch of bibliographical art. From
amongst the hundreds of thousands of book-plates known to exist in
public and private collections, there would, he said, be no difficulty
in selecting sufficient representative examples to form a magnificent
“Dictionnaire Illustré des Ex-Libris.” The task must, however, remain
unperformed until an author is found possessing not only sufficient
taste, skill, and leisure to undertake it, but also ample means to carry
it out, for such a work would undoubtedly be costly, and not many
publishers would be willing to undertake the risk of producing it.
Hitherto no such collection has been published, either in Great Britain
or in France; the nearest approach, in French, being the “Armorial du
Bibliophile,” by Joannis Guigard, which deals only with the stamps on
armorial bookbindings, and the splendid work on German Ex-Libris by Herr
Frederic Warnecke, published in Berlin in 1890.
M. A. Poulet-Malassis opens his work with the expression: “Pas un des
dictionnaires de la langue française n’a admis le terme _ex-libris_,
composé de deux mots latins qui signifient _des livres ... faisant
partie des livres_. II est pourtant consacré par l’usage et se dit de
toute marque de propriété appliquée à l’extérieur ou à l’intérieur d’un
volume.”
He could, however, no longer complain of the absence of the term
_ex-libris_ from the dictionaries, as, since he wrote, M. Pierre
Larousse has inserted the following definition in vol. vii. of “Le Grand
Dictionnaire Universel du XIX siècle” (Paris, 4to, 1866-1877):
“EX-LIBRIS, mots latins qui signifient littéralement des livres, d’entre
des livres, faisant partie des livres, avec le nom du propriétaire. Ces
mots s’inscrivent ordinairement en tête de chaque volume d’une
bibliothèque avec la signature du propriétaire. On connait ce trait
d’ignorance d’un financier, homme d’ordre avant tout, qui avait ordonné
à son chapelier de coller soigneusement au fond de son chapeau
‘Ex-Libris Vaudore.’”
But what is still more singular than the omission of _ex-libris_ from
their dictionaries, is that no word, or phrase, in their own pure and
beautiful language has been set apart by our neighbours to define these
interesting marks of book possession.
On early French ex-libris the phrases of possession are most frequently
found in Latin, as, indeed, is the case with the early book-plates of
most nations. The earliest known example, and that is simply
typographical, is of Ailleboust of Autun, dated 1574; it has the
expression _Ex bibliotheca_; but it was not until about 1700 that this
and similar phrases came into general use, and they were then gradually
adopted in nearly the following order: _Ex bibliotheca_; _Ex libris_;
_Ex catalogo bibliothecæ_; _Ex musæo_; _Insigne librorum_; _Bibliothèque
de--_; _Du cabinet de--_; _Je suis à M----_; _J’appartiens à----_.
It will be noticed that Latin gradually gave way to the French language,
and on more modern plates French expressions are usually employed. “Je
suis à Jean Tommins” (1750) and “J’appartiens à Lucien Werner” have a
distinct character of their own. “Ce livre est du Monastère de la
visitation de Sainte Marie de Clermont” (1830), or “Ce livre fait partie
de la Bibliothèque de M. le Comte de Fortia d’Urban, demeurant à Paris,
Chaussée d’Antin, rue de la Rochefoucault,” are clear and positive
statements of fact. Other collectors are less explicit, simply
inserting: “Bibliothèque de Pastoret,” “Bibliothèque de Rosny,” “De la
Bibliothèque de M. le Chevalier Dampoigne,” “Du Cabinet de Messire
Barthelemy Gabriel Rolland.”
The term _Ex-libris_ is now generally understood to refer to the labels,
either printed or engraved, fixed by owners inside their books, to show
by names, arms, or other devices, to whom the volumes belong. But French
collectors employ the term _Ex-libris_ in a much wider sense than we do;
as, for instance, in reference to the manuscript entries of ownership in
books, as we shall see later on, when dealing with the so-called
ex-libris of François Rabelais and of Charlotte Corday, which are in
reality but the autographs of these celebrities written in books which
once belonged to them.
That this is the well-understood rule is borne out in the very opening
sentences of the charming little brochure, “Petite Revue d’Ex-Libris
Alsaciens,” by the late Mons. Auguste Stoeber (Mulhouse, 1881):
“Lorsque, encore assis sur les bancs de l’école, nous tracions, d’une
main peu exercée, sur la garde de nos livres de classe notre nom
accompagné de ce verset enfantin:
Ce livre est à moi,
Comme Paris est au roi;
Qui veut savoir mon nom,
Regarde dans ce rond,
nous ne doutions guère que nous y inscrivions des _ex-libris_, et cela
aussi peu que plus tard, lorsque, entrés au collège, latinistes en
herbe, nous y griffonions un gibet auquel était pendu Pierrot,
illustration suivie invariablement de ce quatrain macaronique:
Aspice Pierrot pendu,
Quod librum n’a pas rendu.
Pierrot pendu non fuisset
Si librum reddidisset.
A cette époque le nom d’_Ex-libris_ n’était connu et employé que par les
savants de profession et par les hommes du monde, amateurs de livres.”
A recent and more authoritative ruling is that of the Council of the
_Société Française des Collectionneurs d’Ex-Libris_, which not only
permits autographs and other manuscript entries in books to be styled
_Ex-libris_, but opens the columns of its journal to the consideration
and reproduction of the armorial bearings, monograms, and devices to be
found stamped on the leather bindings of books, to which it also applies
the term _Ex-libris_.
In the programme issued with the first part of the _Archives de la
Société Française_ occurs the following paragraph dealing with this
question: “Bien des personnes considèrent, à bon droit, les marques
imprimées en or, ou à froid sur les plats des livres, comme de
veritables Ex-Libris. Ce sont, disait un érudit, les Ex-Libris Français
par excellence, leur étude est liée à celle des Ex-Libris gravés. Les
archives donneront une large hospitalité à tous les documents, notes, ou
détermination d’armoiries que nos membres voudront bien nous
communiquer.”
British collectors treat these _super libros_ as things apart from
ex-libris. A system which includes book-plates, autographs, and armorial
bearings on bookbindings under the one term _Ex-Libris_ leads to
confusion in correspondence, and is therefore to be deprecated.
The earliest known examples of ex-libris are German, and the custom of
using them originated no doubt in that country, where costly bindings,
with arms emblazoned on the covers, as in France and Italy, were seldom
indulged in.
Earliest in the field in the art of printing, and prolific in
book-making, the Germans never attached very particular importance to
elegant and sumptuous bindings.
Valuing their books for their intrinsic, rather than extrinsic merits,
they covered them with good stout wooden boards and strong metal clasps,
and soon discovered that a printed label, or a rough woodcut of a
coat-of-arms, was as useful a mode of proclaiming the ownership of a
volume as the showy, but costly, system of heraldic emblazoning in gold,
silver, and colours, adopted by their more luxurious neighbours.
Hence it is not so very uncommon to find German ex-libris dated in the
early years of the sixteenth century, whereas the earliest known French
plate is of a much later date. In fact, no French ex-libris of undoubted
authenticity has been discovered with an earlier date than 1574, a
memorable year for collectors, as being that which is also found on the
earliest known English plate, the fine armorial of Sir Nicholas Bacon, a
facsimile of which will be found in Mr. Griggs’s valuable collection of
“Examples of Armorial Book-Plates,” 1884.
Unfortunately, the first French dated ex-libris is nothing more than a
plain label printed with movable type, and bearing the inscription: “Ex
Bibliothecâ Caroli Albosii E. Eduensis. Ex labore quies. 1574.”
Now, with the exception of the dated autographs of owners of books, with
which we are not here dealing, this ex-libris of the book collector of
Autun is the earliest dated example of a French mark of possession which
has yet been found affixed to the interior of a book in any French
library.
It may well be, however, that this was not actually the first ex-libris
employed in France, for there exist, in collections of old engravings,
many nameless coats-of-arms emblazoned by French artists in the
sixteenth century, the origin and use of which are doubtful, and may
remain unrecognized for ever.
A long interval occurs between 1574 and the next dated plate, which is
that of _Alexandre Bouchart_, Sieur de Blosseville, an ex-libris, folio
size, engraved by Léonard Gaultier, and dated 1611.
Alexandre Bouchart was councillor in the parliament of Rouen; he died
some time before 1622. His ex-libris was found fixed on the cover of a
copy of the works of Ptolemy in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. The
“Ptolemy” was printed in Amsterdam, 1605, folio.
This engraving is exceedingly valuable on account of its rarity, its
early date, the beauty of its design, and the simplicity and purity of
its heraldry. M. Henri Bouchot gives a reproduction of it in his work on
“Les Ex-Libris” (p. 32), but as it is only a quarter the size of the
original, and is not clearly printed, it gives but a faint idea of the
beauty of the work. This is, according to the most recent investigation,
the next French plate to that of Charles Ailleboust d’Autun, in order of
date as actually printed or engraved on the ex-libris itself, and of
unquestionable authenticity.
Then comes a plate which is not only of the greatest interest on account
of its antiquity, but also because of its large size, its extreme
rarity, and the quaint design. The plate is that of _Melchior de la
Vallée_, Canon, etc., of St. George at Nancy, which bears the date 1613
in the centre of the pedestal. The shield at the top bears the arms of
Melchior de la Vallée, not tinctured, supported by two angels, one of
whom holds over the shield the hat of a _protonotaire_ of the Court of
Rome. Below, in an oval escutcheon, are the names and titles of the
owner, supported on the left by the Virgin Mary carrying the infant
Jesus, and on the right by St. Nicholas with three small children.
An account of this plate was furnished to the “Journal de la Société
d’Archéologie Lorraine” (Nancy, 1864), by M. Beaupré, and
Poulet-Malassis also mentions it, but at second-hand, as he had not seen
it, and he gives the date incorrectly as 1611. It is not signed, but has
been attributed to Jacques Callot and, with more probability, to Jacques
Bellange.
There is a lapse of nearly forty years before we come to the next
_dated_ plate--_André Felibien_, Escuier, Sieur des Avaux,
Historiographe du Roy, a fine armorial ex-libris, dated 1650.
Some excellent examples are known which prove that between 1574 and 1650
book-plates were engraved and coming into general use, but as they are
not dated their age can only be approximately arrived at from internal
evidence. Those French gentlemen of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and
seventeenth centuries who loved books, and formed large libraries,
adopted the Italian fashion of having their treasures sumptuously bound.
The magnificently illuminated manuscripts, and _livres d’heures_, which
were produced for the great lords and ladies in the fifteenth century,
required no ex-libris, for on nearly every page occurred the arms or
badges, the ciphers, or the initials of the fortunate owner, whose
right to the book was thus for ever placed beyond all question or doubt.
The invention of printing, and the consequent rapid multiplication of
books, although it greatly interfered with the choice individuality of
each _impression_, did not at once totally destroy it.
[Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF ANDRÉ FELIBIEN.]
The early printers left blanks for initials and illuminations, which
were afterwards filled in, freehand, by the artists who had hitherto
been employed to illuminate the manuscripts, their services were thus in
greater demand than ever. Most of the early printed books were heavy
folios, and were sumptuously bound, the arms of the owners being grandly
emblazoned in the centre of the side boards; generally with some
cipher, flower, or monogram in the corners, and the monogram, or one of
the principal charges of the shield, repeated between each band on the
back. The present custom of ranging books closely in cases, with only
their backs in view, was not suitable for these ponderous tomes. Some of
the more ordinary works were placed loosely in open cases round the
library, with their fore-edges towards the reader, but the valuable
books were fully displayed on long tables or counters, of the right
height for a reader to stand at and turn them over without fatigue. Thus
the beauty of the binding was seen at once, and must have been so
fearfully tantalizing to the visiting bibliomaniac, that the owners
often thought it advisable to chain their volumes in their places. With
these, as with the manuscripts, and for similar reasons, the use of
ex-libris long appeared unnecessary, which accounts for their somewhat
late adoption in France; the marks of ownership are on the bindings
themselves, the lovely productions of the early masters of bibliopegy,
whose elegance and style modern binders vainly attempt to imitate, and
cannot excel.
To collect early bindings is a noble hobby, but one which is, and ever
must remain, the hobby of a few wealthy collectors, whereas the
collection of ex-libris was, until quite recently, a taste requiring
patience and skill rather than a well-filled purse.
Styles and periods in French ex-libris are not nearly so well defined,
nor so easily recognized, as they are in British plates by the simple
terms we use, such as Early English, Jacobean, Chippendale, wreath and
ribbon, book-pile, library interior, etc.
French military plates are often decorated with flags, cannon, and fine
trophies of arms, but book-piles and library interiors are somewhat
uncommon, as are also early plates containing the portraits of their
owners.
One of the earliest portrait plates is that of Amy Lamy, with the motto
“Usque ad aras,” probably engraved by some pupil of Thomas de Leu, of
which the date is doubtful.
Another, and of greater interest, is that of the famous critic, the Abbé
Desfontaines (1685-1745), a fine engraving by Schmit, after Tocqué,
representing Petr. Fr. Guyot Desfontaines presb. Rothomag., with the
following lines:
Dum te Phœbus amat scribentem, Mœvius odit,
Et lepidis salibus mæret inepta cohors.
Which a French admirer translates thus:
Chéri du dieu des arts, craint et haï des sots,
L’Ignorance en courroux frémit de ses bons mots.
On modern ex-libris portraits occasionally occur, as on that of M.
Manet, with the punning phrase, “Manet et Manebit,” and that of a
well-known English collector and scholar, Mr. H. S. Ashbee, designed by
Paul Avril, a French artist. Another represents M. Georges Vicaire, in
the costume of a _chef_, superintending the preparation of a _ragout_ of
books to please the literary gourmands. But probably the finest modern
portrait ex-libris is that drawn by M. Henry André, the book-plate
artist, for himself: this is dated 1894.
The collector must be on his guard against modern reprints from old
plates, or ex-libris printed from re-engraved copper plates.
French collectors will commission engravers to copy rare old plates
rather than be without examples of them in their albums; this they do
openly and acknowledge frankly; but it is sometimes otherwise with the
men whom they employ. They work off a number of copies for sale, mix
them up with a parcel of genuine ex-libris, and so deceive the unwary
collector.
The British collector will not find it easy to add much to his store in
Paris, unless he is prepared to pay prices quite out of proportion to
those usually charged for plates in this country.
In the first place, it is almost a waste of time to ask for ex-libris in
any of the ordinary second-hand book shops; the books are all fairly
well gleaned before reaching there, by individuals who collect the
ex-libris for certain dealers who make a speciality of them. These
dealers are not very numerous, they are all well known to the French
collectors, and they have standing orders to reserve all their finest
specimens for these regular customers. Consequently the stray passer-by,
or the unfortunate foreigner, has little chance of picking up any but
common or uninteresting plates.
In provincial towns there is, of course, less demand for plates, but a
second-hand book shop in a French provincial town is usually a
depressing place, and the books they have for sale seldom contain plates
more interesting than a school or college-prize label. Yet these are
occasionally very pretty little engravings, and the collector who prizes
pictorial ex-libris would be glad to possess such a plate as that, for
instance, designed by Apoux for the _Institution Guillot_, of Colombes
(Seine).
The French take considerable interest in the historical, antiquarian,
and literary associations of their country, and there are many
enthusiastic collectors of ex-libris in France; it was therefore
somewhat remarkable that a society of collectors was not formed at least
as early in Paris as ours was in London. At length, however, the topic
was broached by Dr. Louis Bouland in a letter published in “La Curiosité
Universelle” (1, Rue Rameau, Paris) on March 14, 1892, No. 269, from
which the following are extracts:
“In No. 266 of ‘La Curiosité Universelle’ I pointed out the advantages
and pleasures to be derived from the formation of a Society of
Collectors of Ex-Libris. I then mentioned that I should be pleased to
correspond with collectors who might be willing to form the nucleus of
such a society, and I have already received many promises of support.
“Those who have written to me are of the opinion, in which I concur,
that the best way to arrive at a practical result would be to constitute
a society to which each member should pay a subscription, the funds thus
obtained being employed in printing and publishing a small independent
journal.
“To achieve this result some one must take the initiative, write to the
collectors, and call a preliminary meeting.
“I am quite willing to do this, and ask the support of all my brother
collectors, to whom I offer the use of my rooms for their first meeting.
“They have but to write to me, and if they only take as much interest in
the scheme as I do, it must be a success.”
At first the efforts of Dr. Bouland did not meet with much
encouragement, and for a whole year he was striving to start the
society. At length the first meeting was held at his house on the 30th
April, 1893, when a committee was appointed, the rules were drawn up,
and the society definitely formed. That Dr. Bouland should have been
elected its president was a compliment which was due to him as its
founder, but those who have the honour of his acquaintance well know
that he also merited the distinction on account of his learning, his
researches in all branches of bibliographical lore, his tastes for
heraldry and art, and his ardour as a book-plate collector.
In December, 1893, the first number of the Society’s Journal was
published, entitled _Archives de la Société Française des
Collectionneurs d’Ex-Libris_, a handsome folio which has since been
issued regularly every month, with numerous illustrations and
reproductions. In this publication it will be seen that the name of the
energetic president frequently appears as a contributor.
_Les Archives de la Société_ are published by Messrs. Paul L. Huard, No.
28, rue des Bons Enfants, Paris, and the Secretary is Mons. Léon
Quantin, 20 bis, rue Louis Blanc, Paris.
[Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF M. LÉON QUANTIN,
_Secrétaire de la Société Française des Collectionneurs d’Ex-Libris_.]