Chapter II: Part 2

In its highest development the Chippendale plate is a beautiful piece of work; the richness of its curves, its plentitude of graceful scrolls, its profusion of roses in garlands or on the stem, and the elaborate detail noticeable in all its parts, combine to make a plate of delightful airiness and dainty nicety; but in the hands of weak designers, as pointed out by Warren, its possibilities of over-ornamentation were seized upon, and we find the most unexpected and incongruous assortment of figures from life, architectural fragments, allegorical subjects and other features not to be included in any particular class, occupying convenient places about the escutcheon; we find sleek shepherds clad in the fashionable clothes of the day,--knee-breeches, ruffled shirt with Byron collar, large felt hats, and buckled shoes; we see would-be shepherdesses in big hooped-skirts, very low-necked bodices and slight waists, wearing frizzly hair and Gainsborough hats, and carrying dainty crooks; scantily draped figures recline under the trees, while attendant cupids make music or hasten up with books. Turning from these pastoral scenes, we come across plates which have a most frightful dragon with scaly body, forked tail, and fiery, bulging eyes, who spits fire as he crouches among the roses; in others we find cornices, columns, arches, and urns; fountains, hand-glasses, ships, nautical instruments, lambs, dogs,--in short, it is useless to name the great number of irrelevant articles which were made use of. The plate was made to carry any amount of heterogeneous ornamentation which the designer fancied; it seems in some cases as if the details were employed with rightful reference to the tastes or pursuits of the owner, but in the greater number the fancy was allowed free play.

Hurd’s work furnishes us with the best examples

of the pure Chippendale style; the _Chandler_ plate, the _Wentworth_, and the _Dumeresque_ are good examples; Dawkins gives us the later and debased Chippendale with all its profusion of extrinsic ornamentation. The _Samuel Vaughan_ plate is a very fine example of good Chippendaleism, and may be taken as a standard by which to recognize the features of this style. The _Robt. Dinwiddie_ plate is a fine example of this style, though the heraldry may be questioned: this, according to Hardy, is of Scotch make.

In the Ribbon and Wreath style, which came into vogue in England about 1770, and in the United States not much before 1790, we note a return to simplicity. The later Chippendale plates, with their over-burdened frames, now yield to this quiet style, which is unassuming and very pleasing. In this the shield is usually

heart-shaped, is not set against a background, and has absolutely no carved work about it; the shield is often unsupported, but is sometimes hung by ribbons or festoons from wall-pins above; the decoration, as the name suggests, consists principally of ribbons, and wreathing in various forms. At the present day we use in our wall-paper, upholstery, and wood-carving on furniture and mantels, and even on outside cornices, a certain form of garland or festoon tied with ribbon which we call “Colonial”; in a general way this resembles the decoration features of the Ribbon and Wreath book-plate. From wall-pins with fancy oval or round heads, festoons of flowers depend above the shield; branches of holly and palm, often tied with a ribbon whose fluttering ends bear a motto or the name, are crossed beneath the shield, and their graceful sprays extend up either side. Some of the festoons are rich with blossoms, others, more slender, are of leaves only, while a few are made of cloth; the full garlands are usually hung from above the shield, while the thinner style is draped in any place and manner acceptable to the designer, and with more or less of gracefulness, as his skill permitted. This style of plate calls for nothing more than its legitimate features to render it effective and satisfactory, and in general the plates are in the pure style; but in some of the New York plates, there are books, writing materials, and bits of landscape introduced under the shield.

The _Thomas Johnston_ plate by Maverick is a fine example of this style. Maverick was the most prolific worker in the Ribbon and Wreath, while Callender and Rollinson also used it very largely. The _Prosper Wetmore_ plate by Maverick, the _John Sullivan_ by Callender, and the _Horatio Shepherd Moat_ by Rollinson, are all excellent examples.

PICTORIAL AND ALLEGORICAL BOOK-PLATES, AND PLATES OF COLLEGES, LIBRARIES, AND SOCIETIES.

esigns which are wholly pictorial or which are meant to convey meaning by their symbolism are not very numerous with us. This style of design is no better suited to the plates of public libraries, schools, and societies, than to those of individuals, but nearly all of our early examples of this style are found to belong to the former class.

One of the early personal plates of this kind is that of _James Parker_, who was a collector of curios, medals, and books. He was a conductor on the old Western Railroad, and ran the first train between Worcester and Springfield. This plate is fully described in the List.

Of an entirely different style is the plate engraved by Harris for _Henry Andrews_. This is pictorial, introducing classical features, but hardly rising to the height of allegory. The plate of _Bloomfield McIlvaine_ is also pictorial, and probably allegorical, as the figure seems to represent History. In the _Samuel Parker_ plate we have

allegory with a label to identify it; for the bank on which the muse of History reclines is labelled _Clio_. A very peculiar pictorial plate is that of _Edward Pennington_, which seems to represent an overflowing reservoir.

The plates of _McMurtrie_, _Kip_, _Mann_, _Russell_, _Swett_ and _Hooper_ are good examples of the class. Examples could be given at greater length, but as all are carefully described in the List, the reader is referred to it.

The most interesting of the old society and

library plates are the three of the _New York Society Library_, the two of the libraries in Farmington, Conn., and that of the _Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts_.

In the plates of the _Society Library_ allegory is rampant. Minerva appears in all of them, and in the two by Maverick is the principal figure. In both of these she appears to an American Indian, whose attitude shows his deep appreciation of the benefits of education as offered by the resplendent goddess. In one case she is represented as having just arrived from Olympus, and is still encircled by clouds; in the other, she seems quite at home in the alcove of the library, and has taken a suitable volume from the shelf for the use of the savage. In the plate by Gallaudet for this library the allegory is extended, and other prominent inhabitants of the abode of the celestials are present. The arts and sciences which the books of the library treat of are represented by implements and symbols easily recognized.

The plate of the _Monthly Library in Farmington_ also uses allegory. The designer and engraver of this plate was Martin Bull, an old deacon in the village, who was quite an interesting man. He was a goldsmith, a maker of silver buttons, and spoons; a manufacturer of saltpetre when needed by the army, a conductor of church music, town treasurer for eight years, clerk of probate for thirty-nine years, a strong patriot, and a writer of long and appallingly solemn letters to the youth of the village when

_Monthly Library_ IN FARMINGTON ]

at college. The library was founded in 1795,--about as soon as our soldier-citizens could settle down into reading stay-at-homes,--and was conducted upon the plan of monthly exchanges. On the first Sabbath of the month all members would assemble in the evening and pass in their books and receive others, the choice being auctioned off. Two dollars and a half a month was thus realized, and the meeting was the event of the month to the sturdy inhabitants of the quiet town, to say nothing of the younger folk, to whom it must have afforded coveted opportunities for pleasant meetings, and quiet walks along the lanes. On the first day of the new century, January, 1801, the library changed its name to that which appears upon the book-plate, and on which the good deacon exhibited a specimen of his highest art. Previously to this date it had gone under the name of “The Library in the First Society in Farmington,” and its first book-plate, probably engraved by the good deacon, had the simple name with no pictorial accessories.

Contemporaneously with this, another library called the _Village Library_, was in operation, and continued until 1826, when it was merged with a third. This library also had a book-plate, but it was undoubtedly beyond the powers of the engraver of its forerunners. In this we see the interior of a room, in which a young lady patron of the library is storing her mind with those choice axioms which, if put in practice, far exceed the attractiveness of mere personal beauty; so says the couplet beneath the picture.

_Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll:_
_Charms strike the sense, but merit wins the soul._

The plate of the _Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts_ is also pictorial, and represents a ship of the Society, with its missionary, approaching the shore of savage America: this plate is dated 1704, and is very curious and interesting. The society grew from the efforts of one Rev. Thomas Bray, who established thirty-nine parochial libraries in the American Colonies for the purpose of propagating the doctrines

of the Church. In 1698, King’s Chapel, Boston, received some two hundred books from this society, which were described as “an arsenal of sound theological, ecclesiastical, and political doctrines for the Ministers of His Majesty’s Chapel.” For the prevention of loss or embezzlement, and that they might be known wherever

found, “in every book, on the inside cover shall be these words, ‘Sub auspiciis Wilhelmi III,’ and also the Library to which they belong, thus ‘E Bibliotheca Bostoniana.’” This must have been in addition to the plate we are considering, as no words descriptive of particular ownership are given: possibly this plate was used in all the books belonging to the society, and the supplementary one was for use in each individual library.

* * * * *

College plates are as a general thing very plain, but the plates used by the societies supported by the students and the alumni, are often very elaborate. The early societies in Harvard and in Yale had curious and very interesting examples of the allegorical and symbolic plate.

The _Hasty Pudding Society_ and the _Porcellian Club_ of Harvard College, the _Linonian Society_ and the _Brothers in Unity_ of Yale College, are examples. In Dartmouth College, the _Social Friends Society_, and in the smaller colleges numerous other fraternities and societies, used plates of simpler style.

The books of the Library of Harvard College were marked with plates by Hurd and Bowen, as noted in the list; on these plates, the gifts of various benefactors are recorded, with the class to which they belonged, conditions regarding the gift of the books, or a statement of the fund from whose income the money for the books is derived.

The plate of the _Library of Congress_ is an engraved label having the name and spaces for

entries surrounded by a border of oak leaves and acorns: the design is very neat, and is old in appearance.

A very beautiful plate is used by some _Orphan Asylum_, which does not give its full name upon its plate. In this a beautiful picture of the Christ blessing the little ones is given; the line “Forasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these, ye did it unto Me,” is given under the vignette.

In the plate of the _Library of the New York State Agricultural Society_, which was incorporated in 1832, Ceres is seen in the field; behind her the sheaves of wheat extend in rows; one arm clasps a cornucopia, and with the hand of the other she extends a wreath.

In a great many instances the plates of libraries had no pictorial features, or indeed anything at all ornamental, being but the printed rules governing the users of the books. Two examples of this kind of plate are given below.

_This VOLUME_
_belongs to_
_PRICHARD’S_
_Circulating Library_,
_Containing nearly Two Thousand Volumes_,
_In Market Street, Baltimore_,
_where_
_LADIES OR GENTLEMEN_
_may become_
_READERS_
_By subscribing for one Month, three Months or by
Agreement for a single Book. Said Prichard has also a
very great Variety of NEW and OLD BOOKS for Sale._
_He, likewise_,
_Gives Ready Money for New and Old Books_.

* * * * *

_Union Circulating Library,
201 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia._

_Subscribers to pay in advance, six dollars for a year: three dollars and fifty cents for six months: two dollars for three months: one dollar for one month: each subscriber to have three Duodecimo volumes, or one Octavo and one Duodecimo at a time. A subscriber detaining an Octavo longer than four weeks or a Duodecimo longer than two weeks to pay as a non-subscriber. For each Octavo one eighth of a dollar per week until the end of the fourth week when the rate was doubled. For a Duodecimo one sixteenth of a dollar per week until the end of the second week._

_Constant attendance at the Library from Sunrise till 8 o’clock in the evening._

In mentioning a few examples of the plates recently made for societies and libraries, no attempt is made to furnish a complete list, nor even to mention all the attractive plates, but to speak of a few which seem of especial interest.

A pleasing architectural plate is used in Columbia College Library to mark the books of the _Avery Architectural Library_. This was designed by Russell Sturgis, and is in the form of a memorial window or mortuary mural tablet. The central panel bears the inscription, and the date MDCCCXC is given below.

The plate of the _Arnold Arboretum_, designed by George Wharton Edwards, is very attractive; the just-rising sun shines upon a white pine which stands within an elliptical frame; the names of the Institution and of the University appear upon ribbons which float from the pine. The plate is dated 1892, and is signed, _G. W. E._

The same artist designed the first book-plate of the _Grolier Club_ of New York City. In this, Atlas is seen supporting the arms of the club within a circular frame which bears the name, and the date of the founding of the club, 1884; rich foliations with a pounced background surround this central design. The plate is signed _G. W. E._

The _Public Library_ of the old whaling town of _New London_ has a plate which is wholly nautical in construction; the name is given on a wheel which is held by a seaman, while the captain stands by in pea-jacket and rough-weather helmet, giving orders; the sail, which rises behind them, affords space for the number of the book; below the deck on which the mariners stand, are seen harpoons and spears of various sizes and kinds; two dolphins are disporting in the waves. This plate is signed by the name of the artist in full. It is by Mr. Edwards.

The _Sutro Library_ of San Francisco uses a plate which gives a large and interesting picture of the natural resources of the locality, and the enterprises carried on in its vicinity; the motto, _Labor omnia vincit_, appears on the ribbon which floats in the air.

The _Watkinson Library_ of Hartford uses one of the very few portrait plates in the country; just why this style of plate should not be common is not easy to understand. They are used in Boston and Worcester, as mentioned below, but these instances are all that occur in public libraries. In this plate the portrait of David Watkinson, the founder of the library, is enclosed within an oval frame which bears the name and the date of incorporation, 1858. The plate is signed by the American Bank Note Company, New York, and is an excellent piece of steel engraving.

Almost all of the historical societies use plates in which the arms of the state or city in which they are located, are used. The _Pennsylvania_, _Connecticut_, and _Maine Historical Societies_ have plates of this kind. In the last-named plate an inescutcheon bears four important dates in the history of the state of Maine.

1605, _First voyage along the Coast by Waymouth_.
1649, _Election of Godfrey as Governor_.
1678, _Usurpation of Maine by Massachusetts_.
1820, _Separation from Massachusetts_.

The _Rowfant Club_ of Cleveland uses a small plate representing the corner of a library; the open window admits the fading light of the sun, which is sinking into the sea; the lattice swings idly, and the pile of books on the table proclaim a busy day.

A very striking plate is used by the _University Club of Washington_. A wall of rough-faced stone is pierced by a small quatrefoil window in which

a book is laid; the date 1891 is stamped upon the side of the book. Below this, Ionic columns support the wall; between them, in a smooth space, is carved the name and city of the club. The plate is signed _Hy. Sandham_.

In the _Boston Public Library_ a large number of different plates is used for the volumes coming from different legacies or funds, and in very many cases these plates give a portrait of the donor. Thus we find these portraits on the plate used in the books from the Ticknor Fund, the Phillips Fund, and the Franklin Club Fund. The books remaining from the library of Thomas Prince are also marked with a plate which gives his portrait and a picture of the old meeting-house, in which he preached, and in which the books were stored at one time.

Portraits also appear upon the book-plates of the _American Antiquarian Society_, which gives that of Ginery Twichell; and the _Massachusetts Historical Society_, which has a plate giving a portrait of James Savage.

The public libraries of to-day do not usually use elaborate plates in their book-covers; simple labels, with perhaps a city or corporation seal, are the common kind.

BOOK-PLATES OF SPECIAL INTEREST.

everal reasons can be given for the fact that collectors regard some book-plates as of more value than others. With book-plates, as in other lines of collecting, rarity is a desirable feature, and is a prominent element in deciding values.

All of our early American plates can fairly be called scarce when compared with the foreign examples of the same period, for they outnumber ours, fifty to one; but many among ours are rarer than others. The _John Franklin_, brother of Benjamin, signed by Turner, is an exceeding rare plate; the _Thomas Dering_, signed by Hurd, is very rare. The plates of _Stephen Cleveland_, _Samuel Chase_, _Francis Kinloch_, _Edward Augustus Holyoke_, _John Vassal_, _Lewis De Blois_, _Lenthal_, _Apthorp_, the _John Pintard_, by Anderson, and many others are not seen in many collections. The plate of _George Washington_ is the most valuable probably of our plates; and while we know the location of a good many of his books that have the plate within the covers, they are in no way obtainable: this plate is not very common, but more copies of it are owned than of some others.

The libraries of our early days, while of respectable size, were not so large as to require the printing of thousands of book-plates; fire and mob violence have destroyed many books of those old collections and their plates with them. Harvard, Yale, William and Mary, and Princeton

have all suffered the loss of books by fire, while many smaller private libraries have been thus devastated. Mr. John Pintard used to say that he had seen the British soldiers carrying away books from the library of Columbia College to barter for grog, and a similar fate from similar hands overtook many of the books stored in the belfry-chamber of the Old South Church, Boston, while later in our history, worse depredations were committed in the Southern cities by soldiers, who took the liberty which war accords to contestants, to despoil many a building, both public and private, ruining books, records, paintings, and other property of antiquarian and historical value. So that the early American plates, at the first not so very numerous, have been reduced at times by wholesale measures.

A second item of interest to the collector is the signature of the engraver of the plate. Signed plates have a value over those which are not signed. The identification of a plate, or the determination of its age, may be considerably strengthened if the engraver’s name appears upon the copper. Then, too, the name of a famous engraver lends much additional interest to a plate. A book-plate signed by Paul Revere arrests the attention of any observer at once, and establishes a value to the same. Likewise a plate signed by Hurd, Doolittle, Dawkins, Anderson, Maverick, Callender, or Turner is worth much more to the collector than one of equal age but of unknown workmanship.

Dated plates also rank among the more valuable examples. A glance at the chronological list will show how small a number of these we can boast: many of those appearing in the list, too, are simply printed name-labels, which do not rank as high as the more pretentious specimens. Our very earliest dated example is the label of the _Rev. John Williams_, 1679, the first minister in Deerfield, Mass., and who with his wife and children was carried into captivity by the Indians in 1704. Coming next are the plates of _Francis Page_, 1703, and _William Penn_, 1703, but they are both of English make. The plate of _Thomas_

_Prince_, who was for forty years the pastor of the Old South Society in Boston, is a simple label dated 1704. The plate of _Thomas Dering_, signed by Hurd, and dated 1749, is the first American plate by an American engraver that is both signed and dated. The _John Burnet_, by Dawkins, dated 1754, is next in order; then comes the _Greene_ plate, by Hurd, 1757, the _Albany Society Library_, 1759, concerning which very little is known, and every few years an example until we come to the opening of the century.

Naturally the artistic quality of a book-plate influences its value; the more elaborate designs are preferred to the plain armorials or the printed labels. Pictorial plates, introducing bits of landscape, interiors of libraries, or allegorical subjects, are sought for, as are plates which are accepted as particularly good types of the different styles. In addition to these technical reasons for valuing one plate more highly than another may be given others which will appear more reasonable perhaps to the general reader. All articles belonging to the noted men of the past have a certain antiquarian value greater than attaches to the kindred belongings of their contemporaries of lesser or no fame. So with book-plates.

A glance at the list will show a goodly number of names which we remember with pride and interest; the names of patriots, orators, lawyers, statesmen, officers of the army, officers of the state and nation, members of Congress, signers of the Declaration, governors, old-time merchants, authors, divines, physicians, and not a few of that plucky number who stood by the King in trying times--the American Loyalists. Quakers, too, as well as royal office-holders, and titled Americans are among those whose book-plates have come down to us.

Of our early Presidents, the plates of George Washington, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and John Tyler are known to us. All of these except the last, which is a plain printed label, are armorial.

Members of the Boston Tea Party, of the Constitutional Convention, and of the early Assemblies are among those whose plates we know.

Of royal officers we have: Craven, one of the Lords Proprietors of South Carolina; Elliston, Collector of His Majesty’s Customs at New York; Sir William Keith, Governor of Pennsylvania; John Tabor Kempe, Attorney-General under the Crown at New York; and William Penn, Proprietor and Governor of the colony which bore his name.

Owners of large estates, employers of numbers of slaves, merchants whose vessels carried on a trade with remote and prosperous shores, and who established names that have endured, used book-plates which are still known to us. Among these are the plates from the following families, well-known in New England: Ames, Bowdoin, Cabot, Chandler, Chauncey, Coffin, Lodge, Lowell, Minot, Quincy, Sears, Winthrop, Barrell, Greene, Perkins, Swan, Vassall, and Vaughan.

Of those well-known in and about New York may be mentioned, Clinton, Colden, Constable, Cutting, De Peyster, Duer, Ellery, Goelet, Hoffman, Ogden, Paulding, Phillipse, Pintard, Van Cortlandt, and Van Rensselaer. To these should be added the Livingstons, which family had the largest number of book-plates of any we know.

In Philadelphia were the Logans, Morgans, Powels, Banckers, and Hamiltons; while further South, the Lees, Lightfoots, Tayloes, Wormeleys, Pages, Cabels, Tubervilles, Armisteads, Byrds, Blands, Bollings, Dinwiddies, Fitzhughs, Hubards, Magills, and Randolphs used plates and were families of prominence and distinction.

Among the prominent Loyalists are Chalmers, Cooper, Hallowell, Hamilton, Livius, Lloyd, Oliver, and Robinson. Of titled Americans the following used book-plates: Fairfax, Gardiner, Murray of Dunmore, and the Pepperrell families.

Of the early authors we can mention Alsop, Antill, Bozman, Byrd, Dana, Key, Stith, and Abercrombie; of physicians, Assheton, Bond, Beatty, Holyoke, Middleton, and Jeffries; of the statesmen, Bayard, Carmichael, Dana, Duane, Gallatin, Jay, Lewis, Marshall, Norris, and Randolph.

Among the early clergymen can be named Apthorp, Boucher, Williams, Jarvis, and Provoost.

Allen and Thomas, early printers; Aitkin, who made the first American edition of the Holy Bible; and Bartram, the great botanist, used plates, which are described in the list.

Bloomfield, Brearly, Banister, Chester, Eustace, Hale, Mercer, Schuyler, Sullivan, and Varick are among the soldiers of the Revolutionary army; and of the orators we have Otis and Randolph.

Coming now to the signers of the Declaration, we find that we know thus far the plates of eleven of them: John Adams, Charles Carroll, Samuel Chase, Thomas Hayward, William Hooper, Francis Hopkinson, Benjamin Rush, Richard Stockton, George Taylor, Oliver Wolcott, and George Wythe.

Surely the book-plates of all these men whose mention stirs patriotic feeling, are of exceeding interest, and worthy to rank with any in point of value and appreciation.

No book-plate, however, is of greater interest to the American collector than that of _George Washington_, not alone by reason of the prominence of that eminent man, but because of the scarcity of the plate, the high price it brings, and the interesting fact that it is the only American plate which has been deemed worthy of counterfeiting.

A genuine contemporary print of this plate is readily recognized by the connoisseur. The plate has no striking features, but is a regular design in the pure Chippendale style. The arms are displayed upon a shield of the usual shell-like form, and the sprays and rose branches of this style are used in the ornamentation of the sides of the escutcheon. The motto, _Exitus acta probat_, is given upon its ribbon at the base of the shield, and the name is engraved in script on

the bracket at the bottom of the design. In general appearance the plate is like scores of Chippendale plates of the period.

The interesting question of the probable engraver of the plate has arisen, and in a most readable article from the pen of Mr. R. C. Lichtenstein, in the “Curio,” on the Library of Washington, the following opinion is advanced: “It was his [Washington’s] habit as a general rule to write his name on the right-hand corner of the title-page and place inside his book-plate. It has been a matter of uncertainty as to whether that book-plate was engraved in England or in this country. Washington, like other Virginia gentlemen before the Revolution, was in the habit of ordering goods every year from London; but we have searched the various orders to his agents in London, and examined as far as practicable the items of his household expenses, without finding any such item. The strongest argument that can be said in its favor proving it to be American work is the poor heraldry displayed in its coat-of-arms, general make-up, and drawing. It will be noticed that the engraver has placed a wreath under the crown (an absolute heresy), and this, with the faulty drawing of the raven, makes the whole plate a very slovenly piece of work. No engraver with any knowledge of the fundamental laws of heraldry would be guilty of drawing such a coat-of-arms as this. The arms of Washington engraved on his seal and ring, undoubtedly cut in England, are correctly done. It seems more than probable, if the plate had been done in England that the engraver would not have been guilty of making such blunders. We have seen a great many English plates, but have never noticed one bearing these peculiarities. From its general appearance we should say that the plate was made in America somewhere between the years 1777 and 1781.”

Collectors are divided in their opinions upon this question, and although not ready to hazard a guess at the engraver, the present writer believes the plate was engraved in England, and would place the date nearly a decade earlier. As the friend of the Fairfax family, Washington might have had the plate made upon the occasion of their ordering work of the same kind from England, or, indeed, it might have been a gift to him from them, or from some admiring friend. As he was a methodical man, the fact that no entry of an expense for such an article is found in his records may lend color to the presentation theory. As to the errors in heraldry, there is a plate of one Richard Washington, which has all the peculiarities of this plate, and this is signed by Bickham, who was an English engraver of some note. He was a trifle early perhaps to have been the engraver of the _George Washington_ plate, but he may have made the plate which served as a copy for it. But whether the plate was of domestic or foreign make, we know that the copper was in this country, and that impressions were made from it not so very many years ago. The late Mr. Mauran of Newport knew the man who owned this, and it seems that having printed what he deemed a sufficient number of re-strikes from it, this man, fearing lest others would in time get it and make more prints, cut the copper into pieces and going out on a bridge over the Schuylkill River, threw them in! There they may be looked for by any who choose.

The counterfeit of this plate appeared in an auction sale of books, in the city of Washington, about the year 1863. The late Dr. W. F. Poole with Dr. J. M. Toner was present at the sale. The plate was placed in these books for the purpose of getting a higher price for them than could

otherwise have been obtained. These gentlemen detected the fraudulent plate, and denounced it as such in the auction-room, and the books brought only their actual value as books. Copies of this plate turn up now and then, and the unsuspecting are still deceived by it. It is readily detected if one is forewarned. The work is manifestly inferior to the good plate, the alignment of the name is poor, the quality and appearance of the paper belie its professed age, and the printing is of decidedly different appearance, being bold and strong in the genuine, and weak and thin in the forgery. A further difference is noted in the crest, which is tinctured _gules_ in the forgery and _sable_ in the genuine. These plates are sometimes claimed to be genuine and to be an early and unsatisfactory piece of work, which Washington rejected, and which was replaced with the other and accepted plate. This idea is plausible perhaps to some, but to any who had information from Dr. Poole it is an impossible theory. Another source of confusion is in the reproductions of the plate which have been made from time to time to illustrate works on the life of Washington, some of these being quite faithful duplicates of the genuine plate with its trifling flaws; but the paper and the printing are usually conclusive proof of the age of the print. It is safe to say that there is but one genuine Washington plate. It is true that the re-strikes of the original copper are about, but these, too, are readily distinguishable by the printing and paper.

The plate of _Bushrod Washington_, nephew of George, is also of much interest, and the manifest similarity of its design to some of the plates by Dawkins has led to the suggestion that he made this plate. But to the mind of the writer, Dawkins was not a man of originality, and was a regular copyist when it came to book-plates; the similarity of the plate of _James Samuels_ to this plate is rather to his mind a further evidence of the clever adoption of a reasonably good design by Dawkins, than of his having been chosen by Judge Washington to engrave his book-plate. The design of this plate is more spirited than any of the authenticated work of Dawkins; indeed, it surpasses the plate of the General in that respect.

The arms are the same in these two Washington plates. In his “Barons of the Potomac and the Rappahannock” (published by the Grolier Club, 1892), Mr. Moncure Daniel Conway has referred to the older form of the arms as used by earlier members of the family. The earliest shields held “_Gules on a barre argent 3 Cinquefoiles of ye first._” The second step was made by changing to the following, “_Gules on a fesse sable 3 mullets._” The last and present form is, “_Argent, two bars gules: in chief three mullets of the second._” These last, it is claimed, suggested our national flag.

The plate of _Elizabeth Graeme_ of Philadelphia should be noted here, as it is the only example of an heraldic plate used by a lady of colonial times. It is fully described in the list.

Leaving now these older plates of special interest to be discovered in the Lists, we turn to a few modern plates which are worthy of particular attention.

The plate of _Daniel Webster_ is a plain armorial with the motto, _Vera pro gratis_, on the ribbon below the shield.

The etched plate of the late _James Eddy Mauran_, the early collector of American and other book-plates, was an armorial of very handsome appearance. The shield is surrounded with the style of decoration used on the Chippendale examples, oak leaves being used in lieu of mantling.

An earlier plate in two sizes shows some differences in the design.

The plate of the late _George W. Childs_ seems wholly in keeping with the career of its distinguished owner. The sword, broken into pieces by the quill, is depicted within an oval garter which bears the motto, _Nihil sine labore_. The words from Lytton’s Richelieu, _The pen is mightier than the sword_, are also given just within the frame.

Coming now to mention a few plates of our well-known men of letters, we naturally accept the plate of _Oliver Wendell Holmes_ as worthy of the chiefest place. In this the motto, _Per ampliora ad altiora_, is given on a ribbon beneath a beautiful representation of the “Chambered Nautilus,” the

Ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
Sails the unshadowed main,--
The venturous bark that flings
On the sweet summer wind its purple wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,
And coral reefs lie bare,
Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.

“If you will look into Roget’s ‘Bridgewater Treatise,’” said the Autocrat one morning, “you

will find a figure of one of these shells and a section of it. The last will show you the series of enlarging compartments successively dwelt in by the animal that inhabits the shell, which is built in a widening spiral. Can you find no lesson in this?

“‘Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea.’”

A plain armorial plate with the motto, _Vitam impendere vero_, and the name in fac-simile of his autograph, was used by _J. G. Holland_.

The plate of _Brander Matthews_, designed by Edwin A. Abbey, represents the discovery of a mask of the old Greek comedy by an American Indian. With feathers stuck in his scanty hair, and his tomahawk laid on the ground beside him, he appears to deliberate upon the possible use of the enormous face which grins at him from his knee. On a circular frame surrounding this picture the following words from Molière are given, _Que pensez vous de cette comedie_. The appropriateness of the design is apparent for one who is a collector of the literature of the French drama, and the author of several books relating to the stage both in America and France.

In the plate of _Edmund Clarence Stedman_, the author of “The Poets of America,” we see Pan piping in the sylvan glades; the shepherd and the nymph are charmed by the music, and the god is apparently at the height of his effort. The frame surrounding the design bears the words, _Le Cœur au Metier_, which were suggested by the address of Matthew Arnold to the Authors’ Club in 1883. This plate is made in three sizes.

The plate of _Thomas Bailey Aldrich_ presents within a square frame a picture of a black bird resting upon a comic mask; the heavy panelled frame bears the owner’s name and the words, _His Mark_. In his essay on American Book-plates, Mr. Laurence Hutton questions whether this black bird is representative of the Daw, and symbolic of Margery of that name.

In the plate of _Eugene Field_ we have a beautiful example of the plain armorial, unaccompanied by motto or ornamentation of any kind.

Of similar character is the plate of _Richard Grant White_. This is armorial, but the motto, _The right and sleep_, is given, and the shield is decorated in a conventional manner, with mantling and scrolls.

A pleasing library interior is used by _Arlo Bates_. This represents an Oriental interior; a youth in scull-cap and flowing hair is reading a large book; a lily stem rises from a vase of striped Tyrian glass at his side; rows of books are seen at his back; and out of the arched window the distant fields are seen, with the palm and cypress trees on the hillside. This plate is produced in a new manner, being a gelatine print or half-tone direct from the pencil sketch. It preserves a very soft and pleasant effect; indeed, one feels sure it will smirch if rubbed.

_Laurence Hutton_ in his plate places a full-length statue of Thackeray within a canopy, which seems to be a niche within a book-case. Volumes flank both sides, and the amiable face of the drastic writer looks directly at the beholder. The name of the owner is given on a ribbon at the bottom of the design.

The books of the lamented actors, _Edwin Booth_ and _Lawrence Barrett_, were marked with book-plates, the former using a plain armorial with no name engraved upon it, and the latter showing the mask of Tragedy upon an open volume, with the motto, _Esto quod esse videris_.

The reading monk, with the nimbus and star over his head, is seen in the plate of _Edward Eggleston_. The sentiment, _Flie fro’ the presse and dwell with sothfastnesse_, is given in old English letters.

_Mr. Rossiter Johnson_ uses a very plain but effective label bearing the initials _R. J._ printed within a plain ruled border: all in red ink.

The patriotic motto of _General Winfield Scott_ is the family motto of the Scots of Whitislaid, Scotland, and well did the character of the man who used the book-plate depicted below coincide with its meaning.

It would be interesting to extend this list of plates used by men well known throughout the length and breadth of our land, but, unfortunately, many whose names will occur to the reader do not use a book-plate.

EARLY AMERICAN BOOK-PLATE ENGRAVERS.

athaniel Hurd, who was born in Boston, Feb. 13, 1730, and who died in 1777, was the best of our early engravers of book-plates. Very little is now known of him, the principal source of information being an article in the third volume of “The New England Magazine,” published in Boston in 1832 by J. T. and E. Buckingham. The only known portrait of Hurd, which is copied from an original painting of him by Copley, and which in 1832 was owned by a descendant of Hurd in Medford, Mass., also accompanies this article, and shows him as a young man with smooth face, very pleasing and intelligent features, and wearing a cap, white neck-cloth, and clothes of a pattern which give him a decidedly clerical appearance.

The only book-plate work mentioned in this article is the large plate for Harvard College. It is said that the prints done in red ink were for use in the highly valuable books which the students were not allowed to take from the library. Several brilliant caricatures, a portrait of the Rev.

Dr. Sewell of the Old South Church, done in 1764, and a few other examples of his art are mentioned. He is (probably inaccurately) claimed to be the first person who undertook to engrave on copper in the United States. He was a man of natural talent and real genius, was self-instructed in his art, and was regarded as the foremost seal-cutter and die-engraver of his time, in this country.

The following advertisement from the Boston “Gazette” of April 28, 1760, is of some interest:--

“Nathaniel Hurd Informs his Customers he has remov’d his shop from
Maccarty’s Corner on the Exchange to the Back Part of the opposite
Brick Building, where Mr. Ezekiel Price kept his Office, where he
continues to do all Sorts of Goldsmiths Work. Likewise engraves in
Gold, Silver, Copper, Brass, and Steel, in the neatest Manner, and
at reasonable Rate.”

Hurd worked principally in the Chippendale style; he made some plates in the Jacobean and a few in the Ribbon and Wreath styles, but he died before the latter was much in use, and the former was really going out when he took up the making of plates. Judging from the appearance of his work, his first attempts were in the Chippendale style, and the few Jacobeans he made were done after he had attained considerable efficiency.

One of his earliest specimens was undoubtedly the plate of _Edward Augustus Holyoke_, the famous doctor of Boston, who lived to be one hundred years old, and who was but a year or two the senior of Hurd. In this plate he used a design which he evidently believed he could improve upon, and in which he felt there were good features, for we find a number of future plates of very similar design but much better execution. In the Holyoke plate the work is very crude, the lines are stiff, the drawing is poor, and the lettering of the motto and name are not good. An ugly scroll is placed under the name, and the festoon of cloth which is draped at the bottom of the frame and around the motto ribbon is especially poor; the shell at the base of the escutcheon which figures so often in future plates is here used, and the queer little flow of water from it would not be recognized as such were this the only specimen in which it occurs; the arrangement of the rose sprays, the form of the shield, and the employment of the shelly edge show a thorough study of the elements of this style. Very likely this design was copied in great part from some foreign example which had come into his possession.

In the _Thomas Dering_ plate, which is the earliest plate dated and signed by an American engraver, this same design is improved upon; it is more compact in appearance, a little freer in execution, and the drawing is improved. The name is still not very well engraved, and top-heavy flourishes weigh down the capitals.

In the _Theodore Atkinson_ plate the same design is still further improved upon; the flow of water from the scallop shell is here caught in a little bowl, a little additional flowery ornamentation is added, and the heraldic drawing is better. The name is again embellished with graceless flourishes.

The design seems to reach perfection in the _Wentworth_ plate; every feature is markedly better, the water still flows out of the scallop shell, the same shaped shield is used and the motto is placed upon a graceful ribbon with ends which run off into fancy foliations. The name is neat in appearance, but still there are too many scrolls.

In the plate of _Robert Hale of Beverly_, the old festoon of cloth noticed in the Holyoke plate is seen again, and no motto is given. The name is fairly well engraved.

Later developments of this style are seen in the plates of _Henry Marchant_, _Danforth_, _Nathaniel Tracy_, and _John Marston_; in these some of the features of the former are wanting, but they are evidently a legitimate progeny in the matter of style.

Another, and without doubt the highest type of the Chippendale plate which Hurd made, is seen in the _John Chandler, Jr._, the _Dana_, the _Philip Dumeresque_, the _Vassall_, and the _Wilson_ plates. In these the shield becomes larger, the whole scheme of decoration shows more fine detail work, and the effect is lighter, more graceful, and seems at once the work of a master. The names are engraved in large bold type, with a characteristic dash after the last period.

In the Jacobean style, the earliest of Hurd’s work is undoubtedly the _Lewis De Blois_. This is crude in workmanship, not very good in drawing, but excellent in design, and faithful to the characteristics of the style; the shield is placed against a frame which is lined with the regulation fish-scale pattern; the sides are richly foliated, the mantling is profuse and very well drawn, and the name is placed upon a fringed curtain which is tied up at the ends with ribbon.

The handsomest Jacobean plates by Hurd are the _Robert Jenkins_, the _Spooner_, and the _Andrew_ Tyler. In the former the lining is diapered, the scroll work at the side of the arms is very fine, and at the bottom, under the shield, a small vignette of a ship under full sail is very pretty. At the top of the scrolls on either side two turbanded female heads peer at each other across the crest.

In the _Tyler_ plate the frame is very similar to the Jenkins, the lining is diapered, and the scroll at the side are the same. The little vignette at the bottom, however, is displaced by a sour face with gray hair. The two faces are replaced by urns filled with flowers, and the old cloth festoon is draped below the whole design. The _Spooner_ plate bears no resemblance to the others, and is a more graceful design. The lining is latticed, the Sphinx head under the shield is enclosed within a frame of its own, and at either side are term figures from whose hands depend bouquets of flowers; the crest is overarched with a bit of the old scallop shell, and the motto is on a ribbon, which, wholly unsupported, maintains a curved position under the frame.

The Jacobean plates of _Benjamin Greene_ and _Peter R. Livingston_ are almost identical in design; the small frame which encloses the shield is lined with the fish-scale pattern, the mantling is handsome and profuse, and the motto ribbon is stretched in rather stiff manner below the frame.

Only two examples of the Ribbon and Wreath style are known as Hurd’s work, the _John C. Williams_ and the _Jonathan Jackson_. These are both signed, and are very similar in design. Garlands of roses depending from rings above follow closely the outline of the heart-shaped shield, and the ribbon for the motto is placed beneath, and is ornamented with fancy ends.

In the “detur” plate for _Harvard College_ Hurd conformed to the English manner and adopted the seal-shaped design. The arms are displayed upon a heart-shaped shield which is enclosed within a circle which bears the name and motto, and this again is enclosed by a wreath of holly branches.

Hurd’s work is the most interesting found in our early days, and a study of it shows him to have been progressive as well as painstaking. The Ribbon and Wreath style did not come into general use in England until about 1770, yet Hurd, who died in 1777, had used it. The colonies could not be expected to adopt the new styles of the old country immediately, and the condition of things from 1770 on to the time of Hurd’s death was not such as to encourage the introduction of “fads” or to allow much time for the development of the fine arts.

A word must be said about the heraldry on Hurd’s book-plates. This science, heraldry, was not held in such general esteem among the New Englanders as it was further south, and while many of the governors and men of high standing in the Northern colonies brought armorial seals with them, a great many who used them did so without strict heraldic authority, and when it became the fashion to use coats-of-arms in various ways, the herald painters of those days, who had but slight knowledge of heraldry and who were possessed of a copy of Guillim or some other writer on the subject, would find therein the arms of some family bearing the name of their prospective customer, and without further research would proceed to produce the coat as described. Not always were these arms so ordered correctly borne; indeed, there is much uncertainty about the arms used after about 1730 when our native engravers and painters took up the work of producing arms upon orders. Such seals as were brought by the colonists from England, and such as were used by their descendants are undoubtedly correct, but the questionable arms are those which, as mentioned above, were looked up in this country only, by means of such heraldic works as were at hand. The presence of the arms then on some book-plates cannot be relied upon as sufficient and indisputable proof of their owners’ right to them.

A list of the book-plates signed by Hurd is appended.

A LIST OF BOOK-PLATES SIGNED BY NATHANIEL HURD.

Theodore Atkinson Chippendale.
Thomas Brown
John Chandler, Jr. Chippendale.
Rufus Chandler
Francis Dana Chippendale.
Danforth Chippendale.
Lewis De Blois Jacobean.
Thomas Dering Chippendale.
Philip Dumeresque Chippendale.
Isaac Foster Jacobean.
Benjamin Greene Jacobean.
Thomas Greene, Jr. Jacobean.
William Greenleaf
Robert Hale, Esq., of Beverly Chippendale.
Harvard College Seal.
Harvard College Pictorial.
William Hooper Chippendale.
Jonathan Jackson Ribbon and Wreath.
Robert Jenkins Jacobean.
Peter R. Livingston Jacobean.
John Lowell Chippendale.
Henry Marchant Chippendale.
John Marston Chippendale.
Samuel Osborne Chippendale.
Henry Pace
Joshua Spooner Jacobean.
Nathaniel Tracy Chippendale.
Andrew Tyler Jacobean.
Wentworth Chippendale.
John C. Williams Ribbon and Wreath.

A LIST OF PLATES ATTRIBUTED TO HURD, ALTHOUGH NOT SIGNED.

Thomas Child Chippendale.
Henry Courtenay Chippendale.
Edwd. Augs. Holyoke Chippendale.
By the name of Hurd Plain Armorial.
Loring Chippendale.
Lucretia E. Newton Ribbon and Wreath.
(Same copper as the John C. Williams.)
Andrew Oliver Chippendale.
Samuel Page Label: Chippendale frame.
Phillips Academy Chippendale.
Ezekiel Price Chippendale.
John Simpson Chippendale.
John Vassall Chippendale.
David Wilson Chippendale.} One copper.
James Wilson Chippendale.}

Of JAMES AKIN, who signs the _Coffin_ and _Browne_ plates, nothing is learned. The _Hector Coffin_ book-plate is also signed by Francis Kearney, which would seem to indicate that Akin was associated with him. The _Browne_ is a Philadelphia plate, and Akin may have been employed by the firm of Tanner, Vallance, Kearney and Company, which was in successful operation in Philadelphia for some years.

* * * * *

S. ALLARDICE was apprenticed to Robert Scott, who had been a pupil of Robert Strange, and who, coming to America, was made die-sinker to the Mint. He had previously made the architectural plates for Dobson’s Encyclopædia.

Only one example of the book-plate work of Allardice is now at hand, and that is simply an engraved label for the _Library Company of Baltimore_. Ornamented with flourishes, and some fancy work, it is yet of no merit as a book-plate or an example of art.

* * * * *

ALEXANDER ANDERSON, who was the first American wood-engraver, was born in the city of New York, April 21, 1775, and lived to the advanced age of ninety-five years, dying, in 1870, in Jersey City, N.J., on the 17th of February.

At the age of twelve, with the spring of a pocket-knife, sharpened for the purpose, he tried