CHIPPENDALE AND CRESTPLATES
William Sharp the Engraver--The Rev. John Watson--Edward
Trotter--Patrick Colquhoun.
The few following bookplates are all in the manner known as
Chippendale:--
The Chippendale bookplate here given, with “Wm. Sharp” engraved at the
foot of it, was one, we may suppose, engraved by William Sharp, the
engraver, for himself. He was the son of a gunmaker, in days when
gun-barrels and other parts of guns were often finely engraved.
William Sharp was born in 1749, died at Chiswick on July 25th, 1824.
Seeing that he became an engraver of very great skill and originality,
the main points of his life are well worth recording. Born in Haydon
Yard in the Minories, his father apprenticed him to Barak Longmate, an
engraver and genealogist. Out of his indentures, he
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
soon married a Frenchwoman, and set up in Bartholomew Lane as a writing
engraver.
About 1782 he sold this business and migrated to Vauxhall, where he now
pursued the higher branches of his art. True to the prophet’s fate, he
was in due course elected an honorary member of the Imperial Academy at
Vienna and of the Royal Academy at Munich. In early days he had been a
friend of Thomas Paine and Horne Tooke, and was, in fact, examined
before the Privy Council on treasonable charges, but soon dismissed as a
harmless enthusiast. After becoming a convert to Swedenborg, he became a
brave upholder of Joanna Southcott, and was the very last of her
adherents to admit the reality of her death.
A good Chippendale plate is that of “The Rev. John Watson.” He was born
on March 26th, 1725, at Lyme Handley in the parish of Prestbury,
Cheshire, and became a learned antiquary. He was elected F.S.A. in 1759,
and contributed six papers to _Archæologia_. In 1775 appeared his
best-known work. _The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax_,
Yorkshire, where he had held a curacy from 1750 to 1754. In 1782 he
brought out two fine quarto volumes, _Memoirs of the Ancient Earls of
Warren and Surrey_. He died at Stockport on March 14th, 1783.
A good Chippendale bookplate is that of “Edward Trotter, A.M.”
In the Lyon Register the arms are given as of Trotter of Gatchibraw, in
Scotland, argent a chevron gules between three boars’ heads, couped
sable. Crest a horse trotting proper.
This is in a copy of _Essay sur l’histoire générale, et sur les mœurs et
l’esprit des nations, depuis Charlemagne jusqu’à nos jours_. 1756.
A pleasing plate of late Chippendale style is that with the monogram “J.
B. W.” at the foot. On the title-page of the book “Six Discourses” ...
“Temple Church” ... “Thomas Sherlock ... 1725,” is the autograph “J. B.
Watkin.” Burke’s _Armoury_ gives azure a fesse between three leopard
faces, jessant de lis or.
An unpretending little Chippendale bookplate, with crest only, is that
of “Patk. Colquhoun.” A stag’s head, with above it the motto “si je
puis.” Patrick Colquhoun, Minister of the Hanse-towns, was born at
Dumbarton on March 14th, 1745, and died at Westminster on April 25th,
1820.
The following are a few crest bookplates named together:--
[Illustration]
The Marshall crest, a man in armour proper, holding in the dexter hand a
truncheon or, forms the very picturesque modern _ex libris_ of “F. A.
Marshall.” The motto is fitting: “Nunquam sedeo.” This in a collection
of Actes, printed by Pynson in 1512-1514,
“concernynge--Archerye--Crossbows--Mummers,” and other quaint subjects.
As a specimen of a crest bookplate there is the “Beavan,” which is
simply the name Beavan under two crests, one a dove with outspread wings
and a ring in its beak, the other a lion. This can hardly be called a
satisfactory plate. It is in a volume of _The Edinburgh Review_ of 1826.
A pretty crestplate is that of “Henry St. Clair Feilden.”
The crest is a nuthatch feeding on a hazel branch. The crest is enclosed
in an oval belt inscribed with the motto, “virtutis præmium honor.” This
plate is in a copy of Benjamin Thorpe’s _History of England under the
Norman Kings_. Oxford, 1857.
Another crest bookplate, that of “Walter Farquhar.” The crest is an
eagle rising, proper. The motto, “mente manuque.” This plate is in a
copy of Sermons preached in the Parish-Church of Olney, ... By John
Newton, Curate of the said Parish ... 1767.
A good crestplate is “John Savill Vaisey”’s, presumably of the race of
the Viscounts de Vesci. The crest is a hand-in-armour, holding a laurel
branch, all proper. Over the crest is the motto, “sub hoc signo vinces.”
“Brownlow William Knox”’s bookplate is simply the Knox crest, a falcon
close on a perch, all proper. It is in a copy of that work, which is so
curious to study now, “Catalogue of five hundred celebrated authors of
great Britain, now living; ... London 1788.”
“Burns, Robert. A ploughman in the county of Ayr in the kingdom of
Scotland.” A good simple plate, merely a crest, below that a motto, and
then at the foot of all, the name,--is the _ex libris_ of “William J E
Bennett.” The crest is in a mural crown, or, a lion’s head, gules. The
motto is “de bon vouloir servir le roy.”
There was a nice bookplate in the volumes of the first work which I ever
bought. _Don Esteban_ was the title, and the date 1825. I was thirteen
years old, and bought this in an auction in Mr. A. H. Beesley’s, House
Class-room, in that fine old home of the Seymours, then and now a part
of Marlborough College. The _ex libris_ is a simple name, crest, and
motto: “Champion,” a family belonging to Berkshire and Essex. The crest
is an arm embowed and erect, in armour proper, garnished or, holding in
the gauntlet a chaplet of laurel, vert. Motto: “Vincit veritas.”
Marlborough, with the glorious beech avenues of Savernake Forest, is the
home of the Ailesburys, and in this connection the family bookplate
should always be remembered, with its pathetic motto at the foot of it.
They are Bruces, and the motto is “Fuimus.”
One day the then Marquis, alighting from his carriage and pointing to
the motto beneath the arms, asked a small boy to translate it.
“Fui, I was; mus, a mouse,” was the ready reply.
No Bruce of old could have behaved more honourably than the Marquis of
those days, for when some boys had worried some of the deer, and Bradley
said that he was afraid he would have to put the forest out of bounds,
the Marquis replied: “No; Savernake Forest shall always be free to every
boy of Marlborough College.”
A modern neat _ex libris_, with only the two family crests and mottoes,
is that of the late Sir “Wroth Acland Lethbridge,” Baronet. The
baronetcy was created in 1804. The crests are: First, out of a mural
crown, or, a demi-eagle displayed proper; and second, out of a ducal
coronet, two arms in armour, holding a leopard’s face. Mottoes: “Truth”
and “Spes mea in Deo.” The owner of this plate was born in 1831, and,
after serving in the Rifle Brigade, succeeded his father as fourth
baronet on 1st March, 1873.
A pretty crestplate of perhaps about 1770 is the _ex libris_ of “Thoˢ Wᵐ
Plummer.” The crest is a bird’s head, and the bird seems very properly
to be about to devour a plum. The crest is framed by two branches,
presumably of plum trees.