In looking over the field to pick out a few plates to mention, one is embarrassed by the great number really worthy of attention, but it will probably suffice to give in alphabetical order the names of some of the celebrated Englishmen who use or have used book-plates. Such a list of names gives a good idea of the kind of people likely to use with appreciation such a mark of ownership: Richard Bentley, Walter Besant, John Brand, Henry Thomas Buckle, Richard Burton, Thomas Carlyle, Charles Cowden Clarke, Lord Chesterfield, Thomas Frognall Dibdin, Charles Dickens, Benjamin Disraeli, Richard Lovell Edgworth, Forster, the biographer of D ickens, Garrick, Edmund Gosse (who objects to the exchange of plates, and it must be acknowledged with much reason; for why, after all, should a man give away copies of that which he uses for the purpose of designating his own private property ?), Gibbon, historian of Rome, Gladstone, Harley, founder of the Society which bears his name, Ireland, Henry Irving, Andrew Lumisden, Mahoney ("Father Prout"), Matthews the wit, Mitford, Priestley, Southey the poet, Lord Tennyson, Anthony Trollope, Tupper, Horace Walpole, Wilberforce, Edmund Yates; and not by any means least in this array, the following: Lady Oxford, friend of Walpole, the Hon. Mrs. Darner, also friend of Walpole (whose plate, by the way, was designed by Agnes Berry), Princess Sophia, Duchess of Richmond, Lady Blessington, Duchess of Beaufort, Countess of Pomfret, Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, Lady Betty Germain, of whom Swift makes mention in the Journal of Stella; and of the present day, — Miss Prideaux, the widely known amateur binder of books, Hon. Frances Wolseley, daughter of General Sir Garnet Wolseley, and Miss Greene, the designer of plates. Thackeray, whose powers as an artist would not seem to promise well when it came to designing book-plates, did however, make one for Fitzgerald, which is very pretty and quite rare to-day.
A word as to the old engravers in England whose work the collector prizes. Very many old examples owe their whole value to the signature at the foot of the plate. One plate only is known which was engraved by William Marshall, and copies are very seldom seen: this was done about 1640. Then come William Faithorne, David Loggan, John Pine, George Vertue, Simon Gribelin, Skinner, Mountaine, William Hogarth, Sir Robert Strange, Bartolozzi, who made the beautiful and rare plate of Lady Bessborough, Sherwin, Lambert, and Thomas Bewick, who made many a plate in the delightfully quaint style of landscape picturing which is so closely associated with his name.
Of recent workers we may mention the excellent, almost unequalled work of William Sherborn. Very rich and elaborate in all details, beautifully brilliant in the cutting, and when well printed wholly delightful, these plates have ranked for some years above all others. Mr. John Leighton the artist has also designed many a plate, notably the gift-plate which was among the wedding presents of Duke George and Princess Mary. Another artist whose book-plate work is eagerly sought after, and whose style differs wholly from all the others, is Mr. H. Stacy Marks. His plates are always processed, and the drawing, as he makes it, comes out beautifully: generally the interior of a study or a laboratory, sometimes grewsome as when skulls and bones lie about, they are always pleasing in design. Now and then some artist who does not make a business of book-plate work will present his friends with clever designs. Such dainty pieces are used by Edmund Gosse and Brander Matthews, both done by Edwin A. Abbey. Throughout England the interest in the subject of book-plates is very large, as the successful establishment of a society of enthusiastic collectors proves. The literature of the subject grows daily, new designs constantly appear, and the whole machinery of the hobby is in full swing.
Leaving the best until the last we at length come to speak a word upon American book-plates; and among collectors, at least upon this side of the ocean, it is customary to regard all plates used by residents of America as American plates even if made in a foreign country. A very strict application of the term might limit us to those made by Americans. In the early days some of the plates used here were made by native artisans, and some were imported from England. The Southern plates, to which locality came men of wealth and some aristocratic pretensions, were mostly ordered from England; while the Northern examples, on the contrary, are with few exceptions by home talent.
These latter are the most interesting to us, as they are proofs of what self-taught engravers working under hard circumstances can do. As in the older countries, so with us, the early plates were nearly all heraldic, but the arms as given upon some of these may not perhaps be absolutely correct. It was at that time rather unlikely that a man would boldly make public use of a coat not properly his; but errors naturally crept in, as in the plate of Luther Martin, who displays the band of the baronet upon his shield.
At the very beginning, however, and all along through the progress of the book-plate in all countries, there was a large body of plain typographical name-labels accompanying the more fanciful styles through their development, remaining the same from age to age and always plentiful. While these have no particular interest as book-plates, they were often made the vehicle of a bitter sarcasm and a wholesome bit of advice which we must turn aside to take note of. To be sure, people do not agree as to whether books should be loaned or not: some think they should; others will not think of doing so. Grolier had stamped upon the choice bindings of very many of his books, these words: Jo. Grolierii et Amicorum, while a book-owner of no very distant date in this country had immediately succeeding his name upon his book-plate, these very different words, " This book is not loaned. Matt. xxv. 9." (The passage of scripture referred to is that verse occurring in the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, which says, " Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you : but rather, go ye to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.") Wholesome advice as to the care of books, the choice of reading, and the quick return of borrowed volumes is often met with. When reading such lines, one recalls the slovenly habits of Johnson: how he would use the butter-knife to hold his place in a fine book borrowed from a friend, while he stopped reading and eating to quaff the favorite beverage. Much that is quaint and clever occurs upon these motto-bearing plates.
The earliest dated plate that we know of belonged to Governor Dudley, and the full inscription reads, " His Excellency, Joseph Dudley Esqr. Governor of New England, 1702." In the following year we have two plates dated: William Penn, proprietor of the colony, and Thomas Page of Virginia. All three of these plates are of English make, and all are in the so-called " Early English " style, — which is briefly, the shield of arms surrounded on three sides with rich, full-rounded mantling, bearing but little resemblance, it is true, to the original mantling which hung about the shoulders of the knight, but being its conventional historical development. Our early plates followed closely the styles of England, and many of our early engravers came over from that country. Among such were Dawkins, who worked wholly in the Chippendale style, and of whose end we know nothing; Maverick, the New York engraver, who was at once the most prolific of all, and one of the very best both as designer and cutter; Rollinson, who made the gilt buttons which ornamented the coat which General Washington wore when inaugurated as President, and who made many pretty plates in the Ribbon and Wreath style; and Smither, who had been a gun-engraver in the Tower of London, and whose name we find upon a few goodish plates.
But of greater interest to us are the American-born engravers, — those who began or founded the art in our country. Of these, four stand out as especially noteworthy: Nathaniel Hurd of Boston, the best engraver of them all; Alexander Anderson of New York, the first to engrave upon wood in this country; Amos Doolittle, the Connecticut engraver ; and Paul Revere, patriot, worker in silver and brass, and engraver of book-plates which are to-day the rarest of any in our country — that is, the known copies of his plates are fewer than those of the others.
Hurd occupies the chiefest place because of the excellence of his work, the evidence of carefully trained ability, and his faithful adherence to the pure style. He did not overload his designs as Dawkins continually did, nor was he a lazy engraver, a regular copyist, as Callender seems to have been. Of his work we know about thirty signed examples and a dozen more which can be safely attributed to him. He made the Thomas Dering plate, which is dated 1749, and is the earliest plate, engraved by an American artist, bearing a date.



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