Part 21 (2/2)
On the 10th July, 1870, Victor Hugo wrote from Hauteville House to thank the artist for the plate: ”Votre _ex-libris_ fait par vous pour moi me charme--j'accepte avec reconnaissance cette jolie pet.i.te planche....
Votre ex-libris marquera tous les livres de la Bibliotheque de Hauteville House.”
But the great war came, the downfall of the Empire, the return of Victor Hugo to Paris, and amidst so much change and excitement the poor little ex-libris appears to have been neglected. After the poet's death forgeries of it flooded the market, and many unwary collectors purchased worthless copies.
[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF THeOPHILE GAUTIER.
By Aglaus Bouvenne.]
At length Mons. Aglaus Bouvenne, who possessed the original copper, allowed prints of it to be taken to be issued with the ”Archives de la Societe Francaise des Collectionneurs d'Ex Libris” for June, 1895, together with a facsimile of Victor Hugo's letter of thanks above quoted.
It should be noticed that the original plate is signed _Aglaus Bouvenne del et sculp. 70_ (for 1870), and although it may please collectors to possess a copy of this ex-libris, they must not a.s.sume, when purchasing one, that it ever was in the possession of the great poet himself.
[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF THE COMTE ALFRED D'ORSAY.]
M. Bouvenne also designed a plate, dated 1872, for the late novelist and dramatist Theophile Gautier, enshrining his monogram on the entablature of an Egyptian temple, but in this case he had to deal with a veritable lover of books, who possessed a library of some importance, which was sold, after his death, at the Hotel Drouot. A catalogue was issued describing the books, but, although they were mostly in good condition, and bore the book-plate of a man somewhat famous in his day, they realized but a small sum under the hammer.
Of the Comte d'Orsay, at one time the leader of fas.h.i.+on, the Prince of Dandies, and the a.s.sociate of the lovely but unfortunate Lady Blessington, there is little to be said, nor would that little be complimentary.
On page 38 is the tiny little plate of Paul Lacroix, better known, perhaps, as the bibliophile Jacob, whose writings have done so much to popularize the study of the manners of the Middle Ages, and the progress of civilization in France.
The two naked little _gamins_ are gazing at the P.L. on the open volume, illuminated by a lamp of ancient Greek design. The motto runs, ”_Livres nouveaux, livres vielz et antiques, Etienne Dolet_.”
Mons. Paul Lacroix was appointed curator of the Library of the a.r.s.enal in 1855, where he died a few years ago.
The Vicomte de Rouge, who died in 1873, was a famous Egyptologist, whose translations from the papyri and inscriptions on the Egyptian monuments were considered of the highest philological value. In 1860 M. de Rouge was installed in the chair of Egyptology in the College of France, where for some years he expounded the principles of careful a.n.a.lysis, upon which his own successful studies had been based. He left a son, who shared his father's enthusiasm for research, and was also a frequent contributor to the ”Revue Archeologique.”
The device of Ferdinand de Lesseps was a Hercules with the motto ”Aperire terram gentibus,” in allusion to his great work on the Isthmus of Suez. He did not then foresee his defeat and ruin in the Panama Ca.n.a.l.
The Comtesse de Noe possesses a name which permits her to represent the prehistoric ark as a kind of rebus; whilst Mons. Eugene Jacob, notary of Angerville, possesses a small ex-libris, designed by his nephew, Mons.
Metivet, which represents a Jacob's ladder crowded with book-loving angels.
[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF THE VICOMTE DE ROUGe.]
Albert Tissandier, the learned aeronaut, proclaims his specialty on his circular book-plate, which shows an inflated balloon soaring aloft to the realms of thought and ideality.
Whilst Prince Roland Bonaparte, who possessed one of the largest and most valuable libraries of modern collectors, was content to use nothing more elaborate than the Napoleonic eagle.
One of the most interesting and also one of the scarcest book-plates of modern French men of letters is the tiny ex-libris of Prosper-Merimee, whose library was burnt during the troubles of the Commune in 1871.
[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF EUGeNE JACOB.
Designed by Metivet.]
It is, as nearly as possible, the size of a penny postage-stamp, but it was designed and engraved by no less a man than Viollet Le Duc. The Gothic letters P. M. are surrounded by a scroll in the shape of a horse-shoe, with the opening directed upwards. The motto, in Greek, may be thus translated, ”Do not forget to doubt.” Here, too, is the unpretentious plate of the bibliophile Jacob, with angels bringing him his favourite volumes; whilst that of Charles Monselet, the author, has been inserted already in the chapter on punning plates.
A well-known plate is that designed by Gavarni for the brothers Edmond and Jules de Goncourt, and engraved by Jules de Goncourt himself. These brothers have written much on French art, and, in allusion to their literary partners.h.i.+p, the plate shows a sheet of paper on which are the letters E. J. held down by the two outstretched fingers of a hand. The design is at once simple and striking, but it has the great demerit of not proclaiming its owner's name, which is, after all, the _raison d'etre_ of a book-plate.
I cannot conclude this short chapter on distinguished plate-owners better than by giving the j.a.panesque ex-libris of Octave Uzanne, who has not only produced many charming volumes, the delight of all book-lovers, but is also himself an enthusiastic collector of ex-libris, and a writer of authority on their history.
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