The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-07-06
BOOK PLATES.
A Spreading Fashion.

it. At any rate, the barbarous express
sion Ex-Libris had not become current
in his day In an entry dated July Il,
1868, Mr. Pepys writes: Went to my
platemaker, and there spent an hour
about contriving my plates for my
books at the Kings four yards" And a
becoming plate it is, reminiscent of the
nature of the Diarist's public calling.
The Pepys book plate has for Its design
two anchors, laid crosswise with the
initials S. p. connected with them mid
wise, and coiled cable for ornamental
border A contemporary of the shady
Samuels, David Logan, tells us that
ut is very much used among persons OF
quality to past their cotes OF arms be-
fore their bookes instade of Wrltheing
Their Names" Book plates, then, We're
fashionable more than two centuries
ago. And yet, when Society OF EX-
Librists was founded eight years since
the fashion was regarded as a novelty,
and the members We're laughed at as
cranks. What had happened was. first,
the spread of fashion, from the aris-
| tocratic class principally to the we'll to
do middle classes, and all sorts of peo-
| pie who cared, or fancled they cared,
for books. and, next, a rush by collec-
| tors for book plates owned by famous
| people, or designed by famous artists.
There arose a boom In book plates.
The possession of tasteful character
istic owner plate" for ones own books
is, Of course, a laudable desire. There
is rothlng faddish in It, But the collec-
ton Of book plates, like that of other
| ,,,iA 40 -it1rn J1Fan
that some minds were upset by visions
of corner in Ex-Libris. The So
called fad was SO new that the gene
raj public did not know what a book
plateau "Ex-Libris '-was. Accord
ing to Mr.. Egerton Castle, that learned
and enthusiastic Ex-Librist, certain en-
inent men of letters were equally in the
dark A few years ago your knowing
collector could pick up from the two
penny or fourpenny box book plates
that now would fetch scores of guineas
each. An inquirer for book plates at
the secondhand shops ran the risk of
being offered a collection of ordinary
engraving. The author already named
surmises that the first popular defini-
ton of an Ex-Libris was given In Cas-
sells Encyclopaedia Dictionary as "a
piece of paper, stamped and engraved
with name o. device and pasted in
book to show the ownership" The
book containing the plate may be Of
little or no value, But its plate may be
the personal characteristic relic of some
historic family, or Of some man great In
letters, or in craftsmanship, or In war,
and it may be the handiwork of an Al
brecht Duer, a Hogarth or a Bewick.
In course of time Mr.. Sherborns de-
signs. the best produced In our day, will
be as much 'in request" as those by
masters of the past.
Sir Arthur Wears, president of the
Ex-Libris society, traces much of the
popularity Of book plates in the present
day to the personal element in modern
life. We see this everywhere--in the
enormous increase in personal journal
ism, the craze for interviewing and re-
cording the personal details Of domestic
life. During three centuries or so book
plates oered a comparatively narrow
field for designers, For one reason they
were mainly heraldic, The fashion
grew with the popularlzing Of the en-
graver's art. This explains why the
introduction Of the book plate fashions
In America has been so recent. Up to
1910 but few people In the States trou-
bled themselves about book plates The
engravers gradually rropagated the
taste. giving the book plate it's specially
individual character. Indeed, how
could it be otherwise? For in the
States family arms We're about as rare
as ancient castles. Generally and her.
aldically speaking, Uncle Sam could
scarcely be said to have had grand
father" He was beginning lefe, and
for family crest a dollar would have
served his purpose as well as any ham,
pant beast. A beast more domestic
than a lion or unicorn would natural
ly be suggested as the fitting "Ex-Li-
bris' for collection of books presented
to university by a millionaire pack |
err of Chicago, But a variant of the
red hand and dagger might do fairly
we'll. The day of indivdualism had
dawned; and an exhibition of American
book plates would probably be revela-
ton of democratic variety and original |
ity and of personal assertion. 1t is an III
interesting reflection that the book plate |
of millionaire who yesterday was a |
pttA
view of the Heralds college, is a nobody, |
may in the course of few genera tons |
be 'evoluted' into a family emblem fit |
to take rank with the arms of any aris- |
tocratic Briton whose robber ancestors
came over with the Conqueror The
special charm of O. modern book plate is
to consist in its individuality !
A collector looks in it for hints of the
original owners tastes and occupations
Public companies are following the
fashion of book plates In these, too.
collectors will look for historic signifi-
canoe. Take, as an instance, the book
plate designed by Mr.. Linley Sam
bourne for the library of the Oceanic,
being floating palace. furnished with
every conceivable means of recreation.
has fine library, and glories in a most
appropriate EX-Libris. Mr. Sam
bourne's design has two seated figures
Europa and Columbia, with a white
star shining between them cut OF the
darkness. Beneath the star is pic
ture of the famous steamer, taken
from an instantaneous photograph Of
The launch. For the sake of pleas
ant and genuine form of art, book low
ers will be glad that Mr.. Sambourne
las Joined the ranks of designers of
IX-Libris 1t Is to be hoped that the
lew fashion may do something not
merely to arrest the decay, but to re-
store the arts of the designer and en-