Part 20 (2/2)

The arms (blazoned thus by French heraldists: _d'azur au chevron d'or, accompagne en chef de deux roses, et d'un lion en pointe_) on an oval s.h.i.+eld surmounted by the coronet of a count, supporters two lions.

Inscription: _Michaeli Begon et amicis 1702_.

Here we have at once a plate remarkable for its beauty, and interesting on account of its owner, who was a man of note in his day, and famous as a collector.

He was thus described in the official registration of his death: ”Messire Michel Begon, chevalier, seigneur de la Picardiere et autres lieux, conseiller du Roy en ses conseils et d'honneur au Parlement de Provence. Intendant de Justice et finances de la Generalite de la Roch.e.l.le et de la Marine a Rochefort.”

Mons. Begon came of good family, was well educated, and appears to have been very successful in his career as a government official. He held appointments successively at Martinique, San Domingo, and Ma.r.s.eilles, and finally, in 1688, was appointed Intendant de la Roch.e.l.le of the port of Rochefort, which post he held for the rest of his life. On the death of his father, he had succeeded to a valuable library which he continued to enrich; he was also an indefatigable collector of medals, of natural history specimens, and of engravings, especially portraits.

From an inventory made after his death, it appears he left 7,000 volumes, and more than sixty valuable ma.n.u.scripts of the ancient cla.s.sics. His collection of prints, which comprised about 8,000 portraits, 15,600 general engravings, and 925 maps, was valued at 16,481 livres, and was acquired for the library of the King of France in 1770.

Michel Begon was therefore a man worthy to possess a really handsome book-plate such as his was, but we may take it that the expression ”for his friends” (_et amicorum_ he wrote on some of his books) did not imply they were to be removed from his custody, but only that they might be consulted by his friends when they visited him, as we know was the intention of Grolier who also used this apparently self-denying expression.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF MICHEL BEGON, 1702.]

It may be added that in the ”Biographie Universelle” (De Feller, Paris, 1834), a short account is given of Michel Begon, in which it is said: ”Le got avait preside au choix de ses livres dont la plupart portaient sur le frontispice _Michaelis Begon et Amicorum_.”

It is therefore somewhat singular that no mention of him, or his arms, occurs in the ”Armorial Francais” of Johannis Guigard. This is to be regretted, as it renders it difficult to trace in what way the family of Begon and the old French family of Chapuy were related. That some kind of relations.h.i.+p existed can scarcely be doubted; in view of the following application received from Mr. Charles J. Shoppee, President of the Surveyor's Inst.i.tution, and Vice President of the Ex-Libris Society:

”I am anxious to know something of the origin of the armorial bearings of Michael Begon, 1702, the coat being the same as that of Chapuis of Dauphine, viz., '_D'azur au chevron d'or, accompagne de deux roses d'argent en chef, et en pointe, d'un lion rampant, de meme._' These arms I bear, as the representative of the branch of the _Chapuis_ family settled in England.”

Amongst a list of the French officers taken at the battle of Oudenarde, July 11th, 1708, ”Of the regiment of dragoons of Pouriere, Lieutenant _Chapuy_” is recorded. This officer was the ancestor of Mr. C. J.

Shoppee.

Nicolas Joseph Foucault was a councillor to the Parliament of Paris, and a member of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres. He died in 1720, aged seventy-seven, leaving a library which was considered particularly rich in relation to the early history of France.

Unfortunately it was dispersed on his decease, and his ex-libris given herewith is consequently scarce. It was probably engraved between about 1680 and 1700, and carries the same arms as were embossed on the bindings of his books.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF NICOLAS JOSEPH FOUCAULT.]

It would perhaps be more interesting to know the name of the artist who designed this beautiful plate for Mr. de Joubert, than who and what Mr.

de Joubert himself was. Unfortunately the plate is not signed, but it is in the style of the Louis XV. period, and was probably the work of some artistic engraver in the south of France.

The date of the plate can only be approximately fixed on the following train of reasoning. Mr. de Joubert styles himself ”Tresorier des Etats de Languedoc;” now on reference to an old French work, somewhat similar to a Court Guide, we find a mention of this gentleman.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF MONS. DE JOUBERT.]

In ”L'Etat de la France,” published in Paris in 1749, his name is given as President des Chambres des Comptes de Languedoc, with the date of his appointment, thus:

”25 Fevrier, 1733. Laurent-Ignace Joubert, Chevalier, cy-devant Syndic General de la Province de Languedoc.”

It thus appears that Joubert was alive in 1749, and still holding the high office in the provincial treasury to which he was appointed in 1733; the date of his plate may therefore be a.s.sumed to have been not earlier than 1733, and in all probability it was not much later.

In this entry he is called Chevalier, which accounts for the _De_ on the book-plate. This is an instance of the difficulties a collector has to contend with in deciding the period of undated plates, especially where the artist has not signed his work.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF THOMAS GUEULETTE.]

Mons. Gueulette was a French novelist and dramatist, who enjoyed considerable fame in the first half of the last century. He died in December, 1766, at the ripe old age of eighty-three years, and his writings have since sunk into undeserved oblivion, although, it is true, Messrs. Nichols published a translation of his ”Contes Tartares” (an imitation of the ”Arabian Nights”) in 1893, but of this only a small edition was printed. His book-plate, signed _H. Becat_, is inscribed ”Ex libris Thomae Gueulette et Amicorum.” It represents the Gueulette arms, with two supporters on each side, namely, an Italian Arlequin, a Tartar, a Chinese Mandarin, and a Cyclops holding an infant in his arms. Each of these figures has some reference to the works of the owner of the plate; thus, the Arlequin is in allusion to the numberless farces he wrote for the Theatre Italien and the Theatre des Boulevards; the other works alluded to are his ”Contes Tartares” and ”Les Aventures du Mandarin Fum Hoam.” The design is surmounted by a graceful little Cupid bearing aloft a scroll, on which is inscribed the epicurean motto ”Dulce est desipere in loco,” which has been thus happily translated by a distinguished member of the Sette of Odd Volumes:

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