Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-05-21
BoOkplates and History
Boston Transcript

A MONG other minor effects the will doubt
"a less change the design Of the German empress
bookpate which bears-or. at last reports, did bear
the arms Of England adjoining the arms or Germany
History has always reacted upon bookplates none
but the sedulous collector the perseverng student
has OF this: and, 20 the world at larse'
the fact has meant nearly nothing as any artisuc
fact can yet anyone who reads is never quite pc
You'd the danger Of owning bookplate Il may not
be unlnterestng 20 contemplate briefly some oil the
intertwnings Of bookpates with history.
Possessed OF IDEAS perhaps not altogether unlike
some that infuse Germany Macmillan. emperor OF
Mexico used tho arms OF that enfevered country to
ornament the label by which he announced the own
ership Of the books that crowded his shelves And
the Of Captain Cook, the navigator himset az
home OF the sea- adorned his symbol OF possession
with little map that showed those very seas where
the late Emden cruised Napoeons brilliant brother
had a plate did also his second bfavest general
and the annals of France not complete In their
intimate aspects without mention OF the book marks
upon which the Bourbons glanced they idly opened
the rich volumes of Pompadour. Maintenon and Du-
Barry. Perhaps In France more than elsewhere MS
tory has directly affected the booplste for the revo
luton covered up all the fine armoral with which u
was the fashion to cnfold ones name and replaced
tho titles with plain "ctoyen-" And for years 1t
caused dearth Of fresh designs after the tri-coor
succeeded the lilies
Just as one considers st certain for instance. that
the German empress will Danish the arms of England
from her plate. speculstes other and less OBJ
vious probabilities in the same kind Rudyard Kip
ling has a plate which his father made for him. VIII
he supplement Il with another, the design Of which
shall Indicate expression OF his patriotism
the old plate with its symbolic elephant expressed
his interest in Inda2 VIII II become the fashion
among blbHophes in general who escape the modern
sings and Flanders TO represent something
OF their temporary profession Of arms upon those
charming labels which, seen in mans books speak
for HIS tastes in the things Of life and therefore IN
the literature that pictures hm7 And what.
asks will be the effect upon tine bookplate OF a
that may drive TO books many men who uncrip-
pied by wounds might spend their lives actively
than IN the study7
without doubt many Engishman and many a
German will copies of the books ri
which such countless number fall from the
ceaseess presses The collector arnuses himself by
wondering what diverse designs may thus in duplicate
books illustrate opposed ideas This lie idle specua-
ton; II Is for lovers OF bookpates and collectors in
this field must be granted their license by those whom
IL does But suppose that In the years
TO British officer upon whose bookplate a
little picture illustrates incident in the stormins
OF Hl 90 should meet German survivor whose vol
unes marked with a sketch concentrating the
relation the same hill TO his fighting days suppose
to stretch the long of coincidence further. that
these graphic memories should be pasted in copies OF
| the same book-would not that be interesting?
Our George Washington had a bool5plate and
| Bushrod Washington. too. our Paul Revere was an
engraver OF bookplates and five examples Of his
work stnl In existence today The history OF
| Germany, where the first bookplate made; the
history OF France, the history Of England and that
OF America IL the history also OF whose personal
tastes have contributed to the history OF the book
plate The most natural thing in the world for the
] man who owns books is TO stamp them with his
Il Nance next he surrounds his with scroll On
appends II TO picture and finally he tries TO choose
picture that speaks for his likes in the world. JUS
as less directly his name speaks for him. In all th
he Is influenced OF course, by his environment hi
experience and his times So booplates have
their stimuli like other examples art. from widel,
varying directions. They have been influenced b!
the church, Wolsey's plate testifies; they hav
been moulded for a nation bbliophiles by one grea
designer witness the results OF Chppendales work
And they have been modified by wars as they wer,
by the French revolution and the wars Napoleon
| as they may be, wonders how. by this conflict.