Part 5 (1/2)
We have yet to speak of by far the most numerous cla.s.s of those English book-plates, which may be properly brought into our second division of 'Picture' book-plates--I mean the examples which represent upon them a landscape, either real or imaginary. The real landscapes represented have, of course, some direct reference to the plate; being a view, either of the owner's house, his park, his parish church, his town or village, of some particular spot in the immediate vicinity of his residence, or of some incident connected with his career or occupation--be it business, profession, or pleasure. For instance, Horace Walpole, in one of his book-plates, shows us a view of his 'Palace of Varieties' at Strawberry Hill (see p. 106). Again, Thomas Gosden, the angler sportsman and collector of angling literature, introduces into his book-plate all sorts of angling and sporting gear, even to a capacious whisky flask. 'The Hon^{ble} Robert Henry Southwell, Lieut. 1st Regiment of Horse, 1767,' flanks his s.h.i.+eld with various kinds of military weapons and trophies; whilst 'Captain William Locker, Royal Navy,' shows us the swelling bosom of a man-of-war 'foretop gallant' sail, on which is figured his coat of arms.
We will speak first of those book-plates on which the landscape is real, and we will call them 'View' plates. Probably the earliest of these is the very interesting one (see p. 105), which was engraved by Mynde about 1770 for the Library of the Public Record Office, then in the Tower of London; here we have a remarkably faithful representation of the historic building. The date at which the Tower book-plate was probably engraved adds to its interest. Plates in this style hardly appear at all before 1778 or 1780, and do not become common till five or six years later.
The book-plate of 'Peter Muilman of King S^{t.}, London, and Kirby Hall, Castle Hedingham, Ess.e.x,' is one which, I think, may be cla.s.sed among 'View' plates, since the ruins depicted on it have certainly the appearance of having been sketched from the remains of some feudal stronghold, perhaps from Castle Hedingham itself. In front of the ruins is a wooded lawn, on which two robust cupids are wrestling for the Muilman escutcheon. Kirby Hall is not shown: no doubt this was a comfortable Georgian house round the corner, where Peter and his family spent their summer holidays away from the bustle and smoke of King Street. Presumably, the ruins of the castle were left standing in the park for ornament's sake, to give a tone of feudalism to the Muilman domain, whose owner, save by his book-plate, is not known to fame. The plate was engraved by Terry of Paternoster Row, probably about 1775, so that this again is an early example of its kind.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Among other notable specimens of these 'View' book-plates may be mentioned that which Pye, a Birmingham engraver, executed for 'T. W.
Greene' of Lichfield. Here we have an oval-shaped s.h.i.+eld, bearing the arms of Greene, resting against a tree-stump. In the distance is a river, and Lichfield Cathedral. Later on, Pye engraved a very similar book-plate for another Lichfield man--an attorney named Nicholson, who went to live at Stockport. This shows Nicholson's residence on the margin of a sheet of water. The arms rest against a shattered oak-tree.
A local view--one of Darlington--also appears on the book-plate of George Allen, who describes himself as of that town.
Collectors are wont to reckon as the most interesting example of a view book-plate the vignette of Horace Walpole's house at Strawberry Hill, with his arms hanging on a s.h.i.+eld from a withered tree. Mr. Wheatley, however, who is inclined to attribute the design to Walpole's friend, Bentley, has suggested (_Bibliographica_, vol. iii. p. 88) that the vignette was never used as a book-plate, but was exclusively reserved as a kind of printer's device for the adornment of the books printed at the Strawberry Hill Press. Sir Wollaston Franks has four varieties of the vignette, one engraved on wood and three on copper; and I have certainly seen at least one of them doing duty as a book-plate, but whether rightfully or not it is impossible to say.
Modern examples of View book-plates were, till quite recently, rare. One of the quaintest is furnished by that used by the late Dr. Kendrick of Warrington, and engraved for him in 1855; here we have a view of the doctor's town as it was in 1783 and a picture of a 'loyal Warrington Volunteer' of 1798. Quite a useful historical print!
Now let me say a word about the Picture book-plates on which the landscape is a fancy one. Prominent amongst these is that of 'Gilbert Wakefield,' which shows us a pretty scene: a stag stoops to drink from a rivulet that trickles through a wood. Very much later in date is a charming vignette, representing a rock, over which a stream of water trickles and sparkles as it falls into a pool below. Ferns and flags grow in the pool. The book-plate belonged to Joseph Priestley, and on that account we mention it after Wakefield's. Priestley was quite as bitter a Dissenter and as ardent a controversialist as Gilbert Wakefield, though it is more as a man of science that most people remember him. His name is so intimately a.s.sociated with Birmingham politics at the time of the French Revolution, that the fact of his book-plate being engraved by a Birmingham man--it is signed 'Allen sct.
Birming^{m}'--becomes the more interesting, and enables us to a.s.sign the engraving to a marked period in the owner's life--the time when his friends.h.i.+p with Lord Shelburne began to cool, and when, settling down at Birmingham, he began work on his _History of the Corruptions of Christianity_. James Yates, who edited Priestley's collected works, used the same book-plate, after altering the name upon it.
Another delightfully rural scene is depicted on the book-plate of 'John Hews Bransby.' His motto reads, _Breve et irreparabile tempus_; and he shows a rustic landscape, in which the figures represented have evidently learnt the truth of the a.s.sertion. The sower scatters seed, the ploughboy is engaged with his team,--all are making the most of their time, yet there is no sign of hurry or bustle. The day is fine, but clouds hover in the sky. On the left, a cottage nestles in the trees, and the smoke from its chimney tells of the housewife within preparing a meal for those who are earning it by their labour without.
So much for landscapes having direct reference to the book-plates on which they appear. Often, however, the landscape is purely a fancy one, as that on the book-plate of Gregory Louis Way. A river flows through fields, and beside it sits an armour-coated knight, who is either wearied with the fight, or bowed down by the fickleness of his lady. His s.h.i.+eld rests beside him, and on it are depicted the arms of Way. The moon sheds upon the scene what light she is able, but the sky is overcast and stormy.
I must not close this chapter without reference to the book-plates produced by Thomas Bewick, many of which are familiar enough--as examples of Bewick's art--to those who know little about book-plates, and do not collect them. His are certainly for the most part 'Landscape'
plates; but I do not know whether to cla.s.s them with these examples of 'View' book-plates, or with those which I have christened 'Fancy Landscapes.' They were chiefly engraved for northern book-owners, but one can hardly say that the particular bit of scenery on each--though, doubtless, in most cases drawn from nature--has any special applicability to the owner. I will therefore speak here of Bewick's book-plates as forming a cla.s.s by themselves. His first was prepared for Thomas Bell, and is dated 1797, so that it is inaccurate to speak of Bewick as the originator of the Landscape style in book-plates; he found the style already followed by many engravers, and his taste and skill brought it to perfection. The Bell plate is not uncommon, as the books for which it was engraved were sold in 1860. It shows, in the foreground of a landscape, an oval s.h.i.+eld, inscribed 'T. Bell, 1797,' and resting against a decayed tree. In the distance are trees, and above them rises the tower of St. Nicholas's Church, in Newcastle--a favourite object with Bewick. It is also introduced by Ralph Beilby into the book-plate of Brand, the antiquary.
Out of the hundred or so book-plates designed or engraved by Bewick, it is difficult to know which to select for comment; but from the interest which attaches to its owner, that of Robert Southey (figured on p. 111) suggests itself. Here we have a rock, thickly crowned with shrubbery, from which a stream of water falls into a brook below. Against the face of the rock leans an armorial s.h.i.+eld, bearing the Southey arms--a chevron between three crosses crosslet. On the ground to the right of the s.h.i.+eld, and in contact with it, is the helmet, supporting on a wreath the crest--an arm vested and couped at the elbow, holding in the hand a crossed crosslet. Across the sinister chief corner of the s.h.i.+eld, and trailing thence to the ground, is thrown the riband bearing the motto _In labore quies_. The date of the book-plate is probably about 1810.
Not only Newcastle itself, but the whole line of country along the river thence to Tynemouth, seems to have been Bewick's sketching ground, and many of his sketches he used for book-plates. Jarrow and Tynemouth itself were particularly favourite spots. Of the latter place his views were mostly taken from the sea, and afford us delightful pictures of water, s.h.i.+pping, and the ruins of Tynemouth Priory. The book-plate of 'Charles Charlton, M.D.,' is one of these.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SOUTHEY'S BOOK-PLATE BY BEWICK.]
A great many of the ordinary bits of landscape which Bewick used for book-plates he afterwards utilised as tailpieces for various books ill.u.s.trated by him. The book-plate of the 'Rev. H. Cotes, Vicar of Bedlington, 1802,' which shows us the reverend gentleman busily engaged in fis.h.i.+ng, doubtless a favourite sport with him, is an instance of this diverted use; but in this case we know the history of the plate. Mr.
Cotes had practically edited the artist's second volume of _British Birds_, and, as a slight return, Bewick prepared for him the book-plate in question; but, owing to a subsequent quarrel, the artist never gave the parson the block, turning it instead to his own account.
There are a great many more copper-plate book-plates by Bewick than is generally supposed. One of the most elaborate is that of 'Buddle Atkinson,' which represents a bubbling trout-stream, into which an angler casts his line: in the foreground is a crest enclosed in a s.h.i.+eld. Other copper-plate work by Bewick is found in the book-plates of 'Edward Moises, A.M.'--a s.h.i.+eld of arms, with books, pens, artists'
tools of all kinds, and musical instruments; 'James Charlton' and 'A.
Clapham'--Tyneside scenes; 'J. H. Affleck, Newcastle-upon-Tyne'--a s.h.i.+eld of arms, in the midst of flowers and foliage; 'Tho^{s} Carr, Newcastle'--a spring of water flowing from a rock; and some few others.
Examples of the more unusual designs in Bewick's book-plates, _i.e._ those in which scenery is not depicted, are found in the book-plates of 'John Anderson, St. Petersburgh'--a sportsman on horseback, which was afterwards utilised as a vignette in _British Birds_; 'Mr. Bigges'--a figure of liberty; 'Alex^{r} Doeg, s.h.i.+pbuilder'--a just-completed s.h.i.+p, still standing on the stocks; and several others, which simply show the s.h.i.+eld of arms and owner's name.
One reason why Bewick was so successful as an engraver of book-plates lay in the fact that his ability was most conspicuous in a small design.
The work of such men as Hogarth or Bartolozzi seems cramped when it appears on the small scale which alone a book-plate can admit; but with Bewick, the smaller the size of the scene he desired to represent, the greater was his skill in introducing into it both originality and beauty.
CHAPTER VI
GERMAN BOOK-PLATES