BOOKPLATES CHRONOLOGICALLY
Some French and some German plates--The cap of
liberty--Buonaparte--Alsace and Lorraine.
As a date is always a signal advantage, the bookplate “Petri Antonii
Convers Laudonensis. L Monnier Divione. 1762” may be mentioned. It is,
of course, topped by the irrepressible coronet. Louis Gabriel Monnier
was born at Besançon in 1733, and died at Dijon in 1804. The Convers
plate is wholly Rococo; but taking from Walter Hamilton another French
_ex libris_ engraved but nine years later, we see that with some artists
the heavy brigade is already on duty. Here we have a big gun, an
armorial shield flanked by three flags on each side, but without any
graceful design. Still the inevitable coronet, and below all, the
inscription: “Le Chᵉʳ. Dé Bellehache officier de Cavalerie au Regᵗ
D’artois / 1771.” Here, after all, there is no possibility of mistaking
for whom this plate was engraved,
[Illustration]
and thus, though not beautiful, it quite fulfils its duty.
Sixteen years later we have a plate which also has these essential
points, but is in the shell-work mode, light and elegant. Round the
upper part is a label inscribed: “Ex libris Ant. Franc Alex Boula de
Nanteuil,” and at the base: “Libellorum suplicum Magister. à mandatis
Regiæ &ᶜ &ᶜ--et in supremà Galliarum curià senator ad horrorem. 1777.”
The shield is azure, three bezants.
Here is an instance of an _ex libris_ not inserted, but impressed,
seemingly a copper-plate engraving. The design is simple; but quite
serves its purpose. It is an oval frame surmounted by a ribbon tied in a
bow, and in the oval the words “Ex Bibliotheca Ecclesia Aug. Conf.
Posson.” The book is a copy of Prodromus idiomatis ... adparatus
criticus ad linguam Hungaricam ... auctore Georgio Kalmar ... Posonii,
... 1770. The copy bears also another ownership inscription--in other
words, another _ex libris_: “Obtulit / Frider. Frank. / Posen. / 1789.
/”
A curious plate here illustrated is that of Peter Mairdat.
Of about 1780 is the copper-plate of Klemens Wenzel, Duke of Saxony,
Prince of Bland, Elector-Archbishop of Trier, and Bishop of Augsburg.
The plate represents the arms of Augsburg, of Trier, of Saxony, and also
of Poland.
This is not the place to write the story of the first great French
Revolution; but it is to the point of our subject in hand to note that
on June 20th, 1790, a decree was proposed and passed in the French
Assembly suppressing the titles of duke, count, marquis, viscount,
baron, and chevalier, and at the same time all armorial bearings were
done away with. Now followed a bad time for bookplate artists and
engravers. The cap of liberty and the bloody guillotine do not breathe
high artistic inspiration.
The plate of Marshal Jourdan consists chiefly of a shield wholly
occupied with the simple inscription “Bibliothèque du Maréchal Jourdan.”
Coming to the days of the first Empire, Buonaparte, the despot, ruled
armorial insignia with the same iron hand as he regulated anything else.
His orders and restrictions were numberless, and in particular he
introduced the various forms of a headdress denominated _une toque_.
Cities under Buonaparte’s sway bore certain badges according to whether
he ranked them as cities of the first, second, or third order.
[Illustration]
Those of the first order had the honour of bearing the Napoleon
badge--three golden bees on a chief gules.
The bookplate of the Bastille is well illustrated in _French Bookplates_
(Walter Hamilton), but must not be quite passed over here. It represents
a shield on a bracket, bearing the fleur-de-lis. The shield is ensigned
with a crown and enclosed by the collars of the orders of S. Michel and
the Sainte Esprit. Above all is the name “chateau royal de la bastille.”
In July of 1789 the Bastille was destroyed by the Paris mob.
I give a reproduction of the characteristic French “Ex libris du Comte
Paul de Malden de la Bastille.”
In the _ex libris_ of Claude Martin, cannon, cannon-balls and flags,
tents and scaling-ladders, are to the fore; whilst on a rock in the
middle there is a lion rampant, holding up a sword in one fore paw and
an ensign in the other. Since the Belgians disfigured the field of
Waterloo with a huge mound to celebrate the tiny devotion of their race,
a lion on a hill does not stand for much! At the head of this plate is
the motto “Labore et constantia,” and at the foot “Ex libris Claudii
Martin.”
In 1814 Napoleon Buonaparte abdicated, and in the same year Louis
XVIII., the younger brother of Louis XVI., became king. In 1824 Louis
XVIII. died, and his younger brother, Charles X., came to the throne,
which he held until 1830, when he was deposed, and his cousin Louis
Philippe sat on this unstable throne. In 1848 he in turn abdicated, and
a Republic was proclaimed, with Louis Napoleon as President. During
these foregone thirty years the old nobility, after a manner, recovered
their ancient titles, and many new nobility were created; but it cannot
be said to have been an age productive of fine or interesting _ex
libris_.
A variety from the sometimes too stern formality of _ex libris_ designs
is found in the plate engraved by D. Collin for Monsieur Riston. A
fantastic R., or perhaps A. R., is figured on an oval, with child
figures, a few books, and a pen and ink, all apparently in the open-air
around.
The _ex libris_ of Pierre Antoine Berryer is not of any striking
character, but is a fair specimen. In 1855 he was elected to the
Académie Francaise; but he was best known for his great defence of Count
Montalembert before the French Courts in 1858.
Alsace and Lorraine have given us some good specimens of bookplates, and
as might be expected, the manners and styles of several nations are here
included. In some an interesting feature is the introduction of a view
of the owner’s parish church.