Part 19

Two specimens of the work of Paul Avril, for American owners, are of exceeding daintiness and delicacy in design and execution. The plate of _Clarence H. Clark_ represents Venus in gauzy drapery, with a looking-glass in her hand, reclining upon a pile of books, some of which are closed. A fragment of the scroll of a Chippendale frame, with one or two roses about, complete the decoration. The motto, _Amat victoria curam_, is seen upon the open page of a folio volume. The plate is very light and pretty.

In the plate of _George B. De Forest_, by the same artist, we are ushered into the library of the owner. Here a cherub draws back the curtain, and affords a view of the treasures upon the well-filled shelves, not only to the beholder, but also to a scantily clad female who, with one foot upon the step of the shelf-ladder, appears to halt in an ecstasy of delight. An open book on the floor, and a portfolio standing near the shelves, complete the accessories. The whole is surrounded by a frame of foliated scrolls.

In the plates of _Dr. Henry C. Eno_ we have examples of the owner’s personal skill as an etcher. In one design, a lighted candle is placed upon a closed book, which is labelled _Ex Libris Volume_, and is presumably filled with rare treasures among our very early American plates. The second plate represents a lighthouse, with rolling waves at its foot. The broad bands of light stream from the lighted lantern, across the black night. The scene is enclosed within a circular frame. This is set upon a background, which may represent a fish-net, and is finally enclosed by a border of rope. A bit of rope tied in a sailor’s knot lies under the lighthouse picture, and supports the name, _Ex Libris H. C. Eno_.

Among collectors, there has been of recent years a strong desire to secure specimens of the plates of the ladies. In England, where the heraldic features of a lady’s plate are required to be in some respects very different from those of the gentleman, they may be said to constitute a class by themselves. But with us, while of equal interest, they do not show any marked difference in their design from the gentlemen’s. Indeed, most of them, if not all, would serve just as well for one as for the other. The plate of _Charlotte Cushman_, which is heraldic, is incorrect, if judged by the rules of the art. The arms are not in a lozenge, the crest is given, and the motto is displayed. But the plate has none the less a deep interest to the American collector, who indeed can well afford to overlook any trifling irregularities which may be pointed out by a student of a science not in vogue with us. _Habeo pro jus fasque_ is the motto on the plate. Two other heraldic plates are now used by American ladies. The plate of _Mrs. E. H. L. Barker_, of Warren, R.I., is designed by Mr. J. McN. Stauffer, and is heraldically correct, in that no crest is given, and that the frame enclosing the arms is of the required form. However, the motto is given, and the animal of the crest is made to do service as a supporter of the rod on which the shield rests. The plate is small, and very neat in appearance. The plate of _Miss Jessie Brewster_, of Shelton, Conn., is a plain armorial, displaying the arms claimed by the descendants of Elder William Brewster of Massachusetts. Another Rhode Island plate, and one which is representative of the hobbies of the owner, is that of _Mrs. Alonzo Flint_, of Providence. This is a large plate, in the centre of which is an arrow-head of flint, in reference to the name of the owner. In the corners are displayed books, easel and palette, violin, music and ‘cello, and two cathedral spires,--all indicative of the likings and pursuits of the user of the plate. A wreath of ragged chrysanthemums and ivy leaves surrounds the central design, on which a beehive is placed, among hollyhocks. This is, as was intended, a plate whose every part is illustrative of the interests of the owner, who was also its designer.

[Illustration: EX LIBRIS. JULIA DEXTER COFFIN]

The plate of _Mrs. Julia Dexter Coffin_, of Windsor Locks, Conn., was designed and is used wholly for books of music, or in her library of musical literature. The scene is within the choir of some temple. A flood of light enters the lofty apartment from the open door at the far end of the wall, and the small diamond panes of the large window reveal nothing of the outside world. Seated upon the stone bench, in the foreground, clad in classic robes, a member of the chorus, inspired by some longing, has come alone, to pour forth her feelings in song. The lyre in her hands is of old and ornamental design. Behind her, upon the wall, runs a dado on which the sacred dance is pictured; and above this a large mural painting can be seen. In the niche by the door stands a statue of Terpischore. The sound of the music seems to fill the room.

Purely decorative, and having no particular meaning beyond illustrating the motto, is the plate of _Ophelia Fowler Duhme_. The motto, _Inter folia fructas_, is given at the top of the plate, and the strawberry plant, bearing both flower and fruit, fills the whole space below.

Two Cupids disport themselves among sweet roses, in the plate of _Frances Louise Allen_.

In the plate of _Margaret M. Miller_, a cherub, with the hair in a Psyche knot, sits upon a closed book, and inscribes the names of the “Immortals” upon a scroll.

In the plate of _Miss Ada Stewart Shelton_, of Derby, Conn., the motto, _Plus penser que dire_, is given with the name and a single pansy blossom within a rectangular frame which has pansies at each corner.

In the plate of _Mary Bayliss_, we have a frame of Chippendale tendency. The scrolls are edged with shell-work, and the flowers are free and natural.

Very interesting and successful work in designing and engraving book-plates is now being done by Mr. E. D. French, of New York City, Mr. E. H. Garrett, of Winchester, Mass., and by Mr. W. F. Hopson, of New Haven, Conn., all of whom are represented in this volume by prints from the original coppers.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: FRANCIS · WILSON]

AMERICAN COLLECTORS AND COLLECTIONS.

[Illustration: C]ollectors of book-plates are not very numerous in the United States; but, small as their number is, it has reached the present figure almost at a bound, for we now count about seventy, who are collecting, while, four years ago, there were scarcely a score.

A survey of our collections shows that all are particularly interested to collect American plates. The early American examples are few, and daily becoming scarcer, as the search for them grows hotter, and the competition between prospective owners increases.

The scarcity and value of our early specimens are not appreciated fully by our brother-collectors over the sea, nor is our national pride in keeping them within our borders realized. Having so few, we cannot be lavish with the rare examples we are able to find; and so it comes about that the demand for our plates is not met as it once was. The book-plates of our ancestors are not so easily found as are those of the past generation in the older countries. Books were fewer here, devastation by fire and pillage has ruined much that we lament over, and the good old plates turn up but rarely now.

Our collections are not large as compared with the gigantic aggregations which we hear of as being made in England. Think of one collector having one hundred thousand specimens! The largest collection here will not exceed six thousand, and those next nearest to that fall some two thousand behind it. Our collections are good, representative of the best foreign styles and dates, and do not include much that is valueless. “Small, if need be, in numbers, but excellent in quality,” would seem to be the maxim of those who collect over here. German plates, particularly of the oldest engravers, French plates, and the English plates of men of prominence, are well represented. Plain heraldic plates are not held in high esteem, while the Pictorial, Literary, Library Interior, and Ladies’ plates are all sought for.

Among the very first to enter the field as a collector of book-plates in the United States was the late James Eddy Mauran, of Newport, R.I.

Mr. Mauran was a New Yorker by birth, the son of a West India merchant. He was a painstaking collector, a close student, and a man fully acquainted with the foreign languages, and the literature of the times he felt an especial interest in. While deeply interested in other lines of research and collecting, he found time to gather a good collection of American and foreign book-plates, which were mounted with the nicety and taste shown in all branches of his collecting.

At the time of his death, in 1888, he had about 3500 plates in all, and they were appraised by Mr. Hewins, a friend of Mr. Mauran, at three hundred dollars, and were sold to a Philadelphia gentleman. Mr. Mauran had a way of mounting his plates which was original and unique. He pasted them down on pieces of marbled paper, and other kinds of paper used in the ornamental binding of books. He was at pains to obtain from binders, stationers, and booksellers all the pieces of paper of this kind that could be found, in order to have as many different mounts as possible. These papers were all mounted on stiffer white paper, and formed a good substantial ground for the final mounting.

His titled plates were mounted on gold and silver paper; and the ladies’ plates on bits of silk, damask, satin, or old pieces of brocade and other things pertaining to ladies’ wear. The American plates were mounted on the older styles of marbled papers, and on fancy patterns and colors in use years ago. They were numbered on the back, and were kept in alphabetical order. Very often the back of the mount was covered with notes about the owner of the plate. Portraits, autographs, views of houses, and sketches of the owners from newspapers, were also mounted and placed with the plate they were identified with. The plates were kept in old book-covers of fine, polished calf, beautifully tooled on the back and edges. An interesting history is connected with these covers. Mr. John Austin Stevens, of New York, had made a fine collection of the poetry, ballads, and romances of the mediæval ages, which was bound in the sumptuous style mentioned. Upon the occasion of a visit to Europe, Mr. Mauran, who was a friend of Mr. Stevens, saw them carefully packed in boxes, which were deposited in the vaults of the Chamber of Commerce building in New York, and insured for ten thousand dollars. During the absence of the owner, the negro janitor of the building broke open the boxes, and, tearing out the insides of the treasured volumes, sold them for waste paper! Portions were recovered; but the covers were of no further use as originally intended, and they fell to Mr. Mauran, who used them to hold his book-plates. This collection was quite rich in the early plates of America; for Mr. Mauran, being well-nigh the first in the field, had the cream of collecting for some time, and was able to secure plates which now are not to be had.

Not very long ago, this collection changed hands again, as the first purchaser, having no time to make use of the plates, was willing to sell them to some collector who could make them of greater use among others interested in the same topic. In some way the collection became disrupted, and parts of it are owned by different collectors.

Mr. E. N. Hewins is one of the older collectors among us. Mr. Hewins has a very interesting album of American plates, in which a goodly number of the rarer specimens find a resting-place. Other albums are used for the foreign examples, and the number of plates in the collection places it well up towards the head of the list of large and valuable collections. The plates are classified by styles.

Mr. Richard C. Lichtenstein, of Boston, has a large collection of book-plates. A part of his collection is arranged alphabetically in a large quarto bound in brown morocco, with gold tooling, and made especially for the purpose with leaves of very thin tinted paper. Individual mounts are also used. This collection is one of the largest and probably the best, as regards Americana, of all in the United States.

Another Boston collector who has been collecting for some time, and who has a valuable collection, is Mr. Fred J. Libbie. Mr. Libbie has a copy of _Warren_, most beautifully bound in crushed levant, which is extra-illustrated by the insertion of rare original plates, autograph letters, portraits, and views. The volume is extended to fully three times its original thickness, and is an elegant specimen of the book-binders’ art, as well as a most valuable storehouse of fine book-plates. Other works on the subject of book-plates are in process of extra-illustration by Mr. Libbie, who is an enthusiastic collector, confining himself to no specialties, but making an excellent collection in all lines.

The largest collection of plates is that belonging to Mr. H. E. Deats, of Flemington, N.J. This industrious collector, while a rather new comer, has distanced all the older men, and, being the owner of the bulk of the Mauran collection, has some very fine examples, as well as large numbers, to boast of.

Dr. Henry C. Eno, of Saugatuck, Conn., has a large and valuable collection mounted in volumes bound in full levant.

We number among our collectors several ladies, and it is earnestly to be hoped that here, as in England, we may have plates designed by lady artists. Probably the earliest lady collector is Mrs. Richard J. Barker, of Warren, R.I., who has several albums filled with good plates, and who has contributed an interesting article on the subject of early American plates to the literature of our topic. Other ladies who are collecting are Miss Helen E. Brainerd, of Columbia College Library; Mrs. C. H. Duhme, of Cincinnati; Mrs. E. M. Gallaudet, of Washington; and Miss Louise Fitz, of Newton Centre, Mass.

The mounting and arrangement of plates are vexed questions among collectors. The really satisfactory method has not yet been discovered. Many ways are tried; and experience shows that while one may at different times think he has found the very best way, its disadvantages are sure to appear, and a new method will be looked for.

Mr. E. H. Bierstadt, of New York, keeps his collection in large albums constructed for the purpose. The leaves are of double thicknesses of heavy calendered manilla paper. The plates are pasted down on mounts of a stiff white ledger paper, and are then placed in the book, four to the page, by slipping the corners of the mounts into slits cut for the purpose in the page. This allows the easy readjustment, the easy exchange of a poor specimen for a better one, the re-placing of a plate wrongly classed, and the extension of alphabetical arrangement _ad infinitum_. The appearance of the volume is handsome.

Mr. Henry Blackwell, of New York, is mounting all his plates on rather large sheets of a stiff paper, of a dark tint, which shows off the plates to good advantage. They are arranged in alphabetical order, and are kept in neat wooden boxes.

The plates of Mr. Pickering Dodge, of Washington, D.C., are mounted on a dove-colored mount, which is an advantageous tint. The plates are arranged according to styles. This collector, however, is about to change to albums.

Mr. Nathaniel Paine, of Worcester, Mass., has his plates mounted directly upon the pages of an album made for them. Portraits, views, etc., are also interspersed.

The present writer used originally the individual mount; but becoming dissatisfied with that method, because of injury by careless handling, adopted the albums, using in both instances the “hinges” of the stamp collector to fasten the plates down with. He is now changing back to the individual-mount plan, as it admits of more freedom in comparison, easy changes, and the better display of the collection, either to a few, or to an audience.

The larger part of our collectors do not mount their plates at all, or have any system of arranging them. They are kept in odd envelopes, boxes, between the leaves of books, or in a desk-drawer, and there await the new arrival, or the shaking up incident to the search for a particular specimen. This is ruinous.

The larger part of our collectors are members of the Ex Libris Society, of England, while many have also joined the societies in France and Germany. No American Society has as yet been seriously proposed.

A LIST OF AMERICAN MEMBERS OF THE EX LIBRIS SOCIETY.

Charles Dexter Allen Hartford, Conn. G. A. Armour Chicago, Ill. S. P. Avery New York City. William E. Baillie Bridgeport, Conn. Mrs. Richard J. Barker Warren, R.I. Walter R. Benjamin New York City. E. H. Bierstadt New York City. Henry Blackwell New York City. E. W. Blatchford Chicago, Ill. Boston Athenæum Boston, Mass. Boston Public Library Boston, Mass. Helen E. Brainerd New York City. William George Brown Lexington, Va. J. H. Buck New York City. William A. Butterfield Boston, Mass. Dr. Charles E. Clark Lynn, Mass. J. H. Corning Washington, D.C. Hon. W. A. Courtenay Charleston, S.C. Dr. R. B. Coutant Tarrytown, N.Y. George W. Cram Norwalk, Conn. H. E. Deats Flemington, N.J. Pickering Dodge Washington, D.C. Dr. J. H. Dubbs Lancaster, Pa. Mrs. E. H. Duhme Cincinnati, Ohio. George Wharton Edwards New York City. Dr. Henry C. Eno Saugatuck, Conn. F. W. French Boston, Mass. E. H. Frost Charleston, S.C. Mrs. E. M. Gallaudet Washington, D.C. Christian Gerhardt New York City. Grolier Club New York City. E. N. Hewins Boston, Mass. A. L. Hollingsworth Boston, Mass. W. F. Hopson New Haven, Conn. Paul Lemperly Cleveland, Ohio. Fred J. Libbie Boston, Mass. Richard C. Lichtenstein Boston, Mass. George A. Macbeth Pittsburg, Pa. Montague Marks New York City. Charles T. Martin Hartford, Conn. Thomas L. Montgomery Philadelphia, Pa. Newberry Library Chicago, Ill. New York State Library Albany, N.Y. Nathaniel L. Paine Worcester, Mass. George B. Perry Boston, Mass. Daniel Ravenel Charleston, S.C. Henry S. Rowe Boston, Mass. Rowfant Club Cleveland, Ohio. J. Douglas Scott Hyde Park, Mass. Heromich Shugio Washington, D.C. Howard Sill Glendale, Mass. Fred Webber Washington, D.C. Horace W. Whayman Newport, Ky. John P. Woodbury Boston, Mass. Worcester Public Library Worcester, Mass.

Others who have collections, or who are interested in book-plates, but are not members of the societies, are:--

Samuel Auxer Lancaster, Pa. Albert C. Bates Hartford, Conn. Arlo Bates Boston, Mass. Robert A. Brock Richmond, Va. Henry M. Brooks Salem, Mass. Henry B. Bult New York City. H. B. Bryant Portland, Me. Dr. Swan M. Burnett Washington, D.C. William J. Campbell Philadelphia, Pa. Beverly Chew New York City. Dartmouth College Library Hanover, N.H. Henri Pene Du Bois New York City. Howard Edwards Philadelphia, Pa. Paul Leicester Ford Brooklyn, N.Y. Frank B. Gay Hartford, Conn. Edward D. Harris New York City. Laurence Hutton New York City. Charles C. Moreau New York City. Edward W. Nash New York City. New York Historical Society New York City. Henry Thorpe Brooklyn, N.Y. Lyon G. Tyler Williamsburg, Pa. William