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BOOK-PLATE
LITERATURE
BY WINWARD PRESCOTT
BOOK-PLATE LITERATURE.
One of an edition of 275 copies printed
for the Author and for The American Book-
plate Society. Reprinted from "The Biblio."
I
BOOK-PLATE
LITERATURE
BY
WINWARD PRESCOTT
1914
H. ALFRED FOWLER
KANSAS CITY
■z^^
UBS«»?
A LIST OF
BOOK-PLATES
ETCHED on ENGRAVED
Sidney I^. Sviith
With a fell- i.ramplts jirinti-d frim the original cvpperi
U O S 1' O N
191S
BOOK-PLATE LITERATURE.
Tp^bst book-plate collectors, books about Ex Libris are
nerely v(^umes for reference. Their books form "working"
libraries almost entirely, being composed of such books as the
"Ex Libris Series," Bell, London; Hamilton's "Dated Book-
plates," the Franks catalogue and others of the same kind,
these being the books which the average collector buys first
and uses most often.
But to the collector of book-plate "literature" the working
library is only a beginning. Probably only a very small
number of the many Ex Libris collectors know what a large
field there is in this special line. Some years ago, when I was
new to book-plates, I wrote to an older collector asking him
to send me a list of all of the books written about the subject
and ended my letter by saying proudly that I had already
collected about thirty books, which I judged about covered
the field. I will not quote the answer received but it did me
good and now that I have collected three hundred and forty
books and pamphlets on the subject of book-plates, and know
the titles of at least one hundred more, still unfortunately
lacking in my collection, I realize how that old collector must
have smiled when he read my boast of a collection of thirty.
I imagine that there must be something over five hundred
books, pamphlets, monographs, brochures, etc., published about
book-plates. I have compiled a bibliography, unpublished as
yet, which contains over four hundred and fifty titles, and in
addition to these there must be several thousand magazine
and newspaper articles of which I have only a very superficial
list.
To begin at the beginning, and give at least a bird's-eye
view of this field of literature, there are the journals of the
various book-plate societies, past and present. At the head
of them all, if judged by its artistic excellence, stands the
283707
"Revista Iberica d'Ex Libris," the journal of the Spanish
Book-plate Society, published in Barcelona from 1903 to 1906,
inclusive. For fine paper and printing and for beautiful re-
productions in colour, and from original blocks, this quarterly
goes far ahead of any of the other Ex Libris journals published.
And as far as my knowledge of Spanish goes the editors seem
to have chosen good articles and to have divided them judi-
ciously between old and new plates and designers.
The Portuguese Society, notwithstanding their proximity
to Spain, seemingly have not been very desirous of attaining
artistic excellence for their journal, "Archivo d'Ex Libris
Portugueses," published in Genova, 1901-1908, is perhaps the
least artistic of any of the journals I possess. But in justice
it must be said that the "Archivo" has good plain type and
useful articles, even if they do lack the beautiful reproductions
of the Spanish journal.
In speaking of Art versus good articles and knowledge,
there must be mentioned, and given the high praise which is
its due, the "Journal of the Ex Libris Society," London, 1892-
1908. Like its two contemporaries, the "Ex Libris Buchkunst
und Angewandte Graphike," Berlin, founded 1892, and the
"Archives de la Societe Francaise des Collectioneurs d'Ex
Libris," Paris, founded 1894, both of which are still being
published, the old "Ex Libris Journal," as it was always called,
relied more upon the excellence of its articles and the mine of
useful information into which it turned itself, rather than upon
any intrinsic artistic value. In 1900 a few misguided young
modernists of Edinburgh started a magazine, "The Book of
Book-plates," and took great delight in telling the venerable
Ex Libris Journal just how poverty-stricken it was artistically.
The Japanese respect the years but we have no such kindly
custom; youth will be served, so these adolescents proceeded
to write up flattering articles about each other. But after
1905 the flow of artistic book-plates seemed to dry up, for the
magazine was merged into the "Book-lovers Magazine" and
after two more years ceased entirely.
In 1891-2 Mr. W. H. K. Wright edited the "Book-plate
Collectors Miscellany" as a supplement to the "Western
Antiquary," and only discontinued it when he became editor
of the Ex Libris Journal, a post which he filled for many
years with great ability. London was also' represented by
another book-plate magazine, the "Book-plate Annual and
Armorial Year Book," 1894-1897.
Switzerland has contributed a very handsome journal to
the Ex Libris world. It is the "Schweizerische Blatter fur
Ex Libris-Sammler," Zurich, 1901-1904, which has very good
articles in both French and German, and also many beautiful
plates. This magazine was carried into another volume for
1906-1907 as the "Buchkunst, Zeitschrift fur Ex Librissammler
und Bucherfreunde." The combination of French and German,
on account of Switzerland's population, is seen also in the
"Jahrbuch des Ex Libris-Club 'Basilea,' " Basel, 1903, an at-
tractive though not weighty volume.
Since 1903 the Vienna Society has published its year
books, the "Osterreichische Exlibris-Gesellschaft Jahrbuch,"
a useful publication with very admirable articles and handsome
illustrations ; and last year the new Italian Society published
its first year book, the "Archivo dell' Associazione Italiana
fra Amatori di Ex Libris," which bids fair to become a worthy
rival of the other journals.
Another young journal is the "Svenska Ex Libris Tid-
skrift" published by Arthur Sjogren of Stockholm. It is an
interesting quarterly and has very fine plates of Swedish Ex
Libris, and is now on its third year.
In America we have had the Ex Libris journal of the
Washington Society, which bid fair to make itself one of the
most interesting and handsome of all the book-plate magazines
but unfortunately it had to be discontinued through lack of
r,
mvmn
D eXLIBRIS
SeOUIDH D€L
mvtmnmo oe
eXLlBRlS IBeRICOS
VOL.1
1903
BHRCeLOnH
.;rest after one year of publication. Mention must also be
de of the unassuming, yet delightfully pleasing, "Book-
plate Booklet," published by Mr. Sheldon Cheney, 1907-1910,
and by Mr, H. A. Fowler, 1911, as well as of "The Ex Libran"
whose beauties make us wish that it could have lasted more
than one year.
For the collector who wishes a serviceable yet small
library of book-plate literature there is a moderate number of
good books which cover almost every country on the Ex
Libris map. There are first the admirable "Ex Libris" series,
published by Bell & Son, Lr idon, on American, English,
German and French Book-plates; whose authors are respec-
tively Messrs. Allen, Castle, Leiningen-Westerburg and
Hamilton.
For France and England there are also the two pioneer
works, Poulet-Malassis, "Les Ex Libris Francais," Paris, 1873,
and Warren's "Guide to the Study of Book-plates," London,
1880. There are second editions of both of these books, of
Poulet-Malassis, in 1875, and of Warren, in 1900. I have also,
in my collection, another edition (?) of Warren which has
two title-pages, one identical with that of the first edition of
1880, and the other which gives Mr. Warren his title of Lord
de Tabley, and instead of having the publisher's name at the
bottom, has "SOLD BY ELKIN MATHEWS & JOHN
LANE/AT THE SIGN OF THE BODLEY HEAD/IN
VIGO STREET, LONDON/1892.
For Italian book-plates there are Bertarelli and Prior's
"Gli Ex Libris Italiani," Milan, 1902, and Gelli's "3500 Ex
Libris Italiani," Milan, 1908, the former being a magnificent
piece of book-making.. There are many fine plates repro-
duced, a number of them tipped in, and on one page there is
a small reproduction of an old Italian book tipped in and
upon it is pasted a reproduction of the book-plate just as it
was found in the book.
LliS
EX-LIBRIS
FRANCAIS
UEl'llS LEUI! I)111(,1NF, jrS(Ji;',\ M)S JdlllS
NOTES SI'R LEUn USAGK KT l,Et'R CURIOSITE
4 .C^^^. k
PARIS
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/
The best books for Swiss Ex Libris are Gerster's "Die
Schweizerischen Bibliothekzeichen," Bern, 1898, and Stickel-
berger's "Das Ex Libris in der Schweiz und in Deutschland,"
Basel, 1904. Russia also has two large volumes, Iwask's
"Description of Russian Book-plates," Moskow, 1905, and
Verestchaguine's "Russian Book-plates," St. Petersburg, 1902.
These are valuable to the average collector only on account
of the many illustrations which they contain, for they are in
Russian, although a limited number of the Verestchaguine
have an interesting introduction in French.
Sweden is represented by Carlander's immense and monu-
mental work, "Svenska Bibliotek och Ex Libris," Stockholm,
1904, six volumes; but a more useful book for the ex libris
collector is an exhibition catalogue, the "Forteckning a
Svenska Bokagaremarken," Stockholm, 1908, compiled by Mr.
Sjogren. It contains 190 pages and 100 plates, and with the
help of a Swedish-English dictionary, may be used to very
good advantage.
In 1896 Mr. J. F. Verster reprinted, from the French
journal, his "Liste d'Ex Libris Hollandais," and in 1900 there
was published a more imposing volume, "Les Dessinateurs
Neerlandais d'Ex Libris," by A. A. Vorstermann Van Oyen.
Both of these are useful books and fortunately are written in
French instead of Dutch.
For Belgium we have Benjamin Linnig's "Bibliotheques
et Ex Libris d'Amateurs Beiges," Paris, 1906, of which an
extended edition was published in 1910. There are also
Dirick's "Ex Libris Beiges," Brussels, 1911, and Pierron's
"Les Dessinateurs Beiges d'Ex Libris," Brussels, 1906, al-
though these two books treat of modern plates and designers
entirely, while Linnig treats of the older plates.
Fernandes-Thomas has written a very useful book on
Portuguese Ex Libris, "Os Ex Libris Portugueses Orna-
mentales," Porto, 1905, which contains 175 reproductions of
13
AlIIII.I.K llKklAKl
' Gu Ex LIBRIS
riAI.IAXI
mi
41
plates to 87 pages. There are also three little brochures,
Ferreira de Fonseca's "Noticia dos Ex Libris Portuguezes,"
Lisbon, 1902, Loureiro's "Ex Libris Portugueses," Genes, 1903,
and Martha's "Desenhadores Portuguezes d'Ex Libris,"
Figueira, 1908, of respectively 14, 12 and 30 pages.
Spain seems to be content with one brochure, "Los Ex
Libris y su actual florecimiento en Espana," which is by R.
Miguel y Planas, and was published in 1905, in Barcelona.
Luckily, however, for the collector, Don Miguel, like Fernan-
des-Thomas, uses many and good reproductions, there being
74 plates to 32 pages.
Canada is represented by thirteen pages, two of introduc-
tion and eleven of list, in Gagnon's "Essai de Bibliographic
Canadienne," an exhaustive volume published in Quebec in
1895. I understand that the late Dr. Cameron collected a
large amount of material on Canadian Book-plates which is
now in the hands of a well-known collector of the "old guard,"
but with little hope of ever seeing the light of publication.
There is a very useful book, to one who can read the
language, on Polish book-plates. It is by Wiktor Wittgy and
is entitled "Ex Libris Y Bibliotek Polskick," and was pub-
lished in Wieku in 1903.
Hungary and Mexico are the most modest lands in regard
to book-plate literature. The former is represented by a cata-
logue compiled by Czako Elemer for an ex libris exhibit held
in Budapest, in May, 1903. The title-page reads, "Az Orsz.
Magyar Iparmuveszeti Museum, Ex Libris Kiallitasanak."
And Mexico is content with an article, "Los Ex-Libris Sim-
bolicos de Los Bibliofilos Mexicanos," by Dr. N. Leon, in
the "Boletin del Institute Bibliografico Mexicano," for 1903.
Together with the foregoing books, as being of value
to the collector, must be mentioned the many lists of book-
plates which have been published and which are among the
most useful in the collector's library. Leading them all is
15
f>. A. tJcpciuariiHT,.
OCCI<iM KHtWHWH 3Hai<i>.
fe'6x=libris I^usse.
V. Vcrestchatiuinc
the wonderful British Museum catalogue of the Franks
Bequest, containing the names and partial descriptions of
34,468 book-plates. This set of three volumes is a monu-
ment not only to Lord Franks, but also to Mr. Gambier-
Ho^we, the compiler. It is a work which no collector can
afford to be without, especially if he is at all interested in
heraldic plates, although I should not go as far as to agree
with one collector who is quoted as saying that one page
of the Franks catalogue was more interesting to him than
any novel ever written.
Many of the books which I have mentioned are of this
class, which aims to make a more or less comprehensive list
of the plates of a country and give their descriptions, in-
scriptions, engravers' names, etc. Such are the books by
Bertarelli, Gelli, Gerster, Iwask, Sjogren, Verster, LrOureiro,
Gagnon, Wittgy and Elemer.
There are also Hamilton's useful "Dated Book-plates,"
London, 1895, and Warnecke's "Die Deutschen Bucher-
zeichen," Berlin, 1890, both excellent in their way and es-
pecially interesting to the collector of the older plates.
France has been especially prolific in books of this kind,
some of the best being Mahuet's "Essai repertoire des Ex
Libris des bibliophiles Lorrain," Nancy, 1906; Quantin's
"Ex Libris Bourguignons," Paris, 1907; Jardert's "Les
Bibliophiles Remois et leurs Ex Libris," Reims, 1894; and
Goyetche's "Quelques Ex Libris Bordelais," Bordeaux, 1911.
It will be noted that these books are mostly of particular
localities. The French have published many such local
books on the ex libris of the different French provinces, and
should be a worthy example to the other countries in this
regard. The nearest we have to this typ€ is Miss White's
"Indiana Book-plates," Richmond, Indiana, 1910, and R. C.
Lichtenstein's pamphlet lists, "Early New England and New
York Heraldic Book-plates," and "Early Southern Heraldic
17
UilMjffif
@eftf)itfjtc h§ ^^Mjcrfjaitbel^
iiiit kiiijcflici! uciiuaiiiitca ,^imiftc luii) (skiucrk.
ijriurid) fencer ts
lai'tlu uiil :iM) l)iliil'if|cn tniilfUumtn iii Mntif"|ii'll. l'illl0|\riivl)i'. iimUti ui(
Otrhui null J jn Ijilnrlv (Ij. IViiuifrBI.
Book-plates," Boston, 1886 and 1887.
Perhaps one of the largest and most interesting fields
in book-plate literature is that in which are those books deal-
ing with special artists. Here in America we have the
two beautiful books by Messrs. La Rose and Andreini on the
work of J. W. Spenceley, and the fine memorial to E. D.
French.
Mr. W. E. Fisher has published five exquisite portfolios
of his book-plate designs, many of them hand-colored and
all beautifully gotten up. The combination of the dainty
portfolios and the dainty designs which they contain made
these five portfolios among the best ever published either in
this country or abroad.
Between 1903 and 1907 there were published in Boston
a series of twelve beautifully printed and attractive bro-
chures dealing with the work of modern American book-
plate designers such as Bird, Gregson, Ipsen and others.
These booklets were published through the instrumentality
of that eccentric genius, W. P. Truesdell, and are an honor
to his taste as a printer and to the "Troutsdale Press."
This series has been matched in England by a series of
six brochures published by Schulze and dealing with the
work of such modern designers as Nelson, Vinycomb, and
others. Like Mr. Truesdell, the English publishers have
striven successfully for artistic excellence.
There is also a more imposing and beautiful book,
"LV Book-plates Engraved on Copper by William Phillips
Barrett," London, 1900, and Thomas Moring's two volumes
of ex libris designs on copper and wood, published in Lon-
don in the same year.
Last year there was published in England the memorial
volume to the late Charles William Sherborn. I cannot
well express too much admiration for the excellent list of
book-plates and to the pleasing and interesting life and
iyros=N4appe 1
ift in einer einmaligcn handfchriftlich
numerierten Ausgabe von ftinfhundcrt
Exemplaren hergertellt worden.
Diefes Exempiar erhielt
dieNummeri^K
Ex=Libris-Verlag K.Th. Senger / Munchen.
mftmOHk
criticism written by Mr. Charles D. Sherborn, but I do
think that the paper and printing might have been very
much better and that proofs from the coppers of Mr. Sher-
born's own book-plates would have added very much to the
value of the book and made it a much more fitting memorial
to so great a man. I ventured to say as much to Mr. Viner.
the compiler of the list of Mr. Sherborn's plates, in a letter
written to him shortly after the book was issued. Mr.
Viner's reply is too long to quote entire, but I will give one
extract from it, characteristic of the whole, which takes up
the matter of reproductions from the coppers of Mr. Sher-
born's book-plates.
Mr, Viner says: "In the first place the family has had
nothing whatever to do with the publication ; that emanates
from Mr. C. Davies Sherborn alone and he, not desiring to
turn the publication into a possible source of profit, very
wisely (in my opinion) refrained from bribing the general
public into purchasing for the sake of the prints from the
original coppers which it might contain, notwithstanding
being strongly urged to do so." Be that as it may, I have
not yet talked with or corresponded with any American
book-plate collector who has not compared the Sherborn
memorial volume with those issued here for French and
Spenceley, to the discredit of the English publication.
But to return to ex libris literature in general. In this
class of books, relating to one designer, as in most cases,
we must award the premier honors to Germany. Within the
last ten years there have been published in Germany and
Austria a large number of exquisite portfolios on different
book-plate designers. The most beautiful of these are prob-
ably the five portfolios devoted to the plates designed by
the Marquis Franz von Bayros. The plates are mounted
with a "framed" or "cut-out" mount and thereby present a
very handsome appearance, being equaled only by the port-
21
folios issued by Mr. Fisher, heretofore referred to. One
each of these portfoHos was issued by Ludwig and Wolf of
Vienna, and the other three by Senger of Munich.
There have also been four monographs, one a port-
folio, published about Willi Geiger's astonishing ex libris;
and a number of beautiful large paper monographs on such
artists as Ubbelohde, Wilm (four "Bands"), Preetorius, and
Soder. There is also a dainty little booklet published in
Prague on the work of the Bohemian artist Vojtech Preissig,
and there are several less pretentious booklets devoted to
the work of Georg Otto, Prof. Hildebrand, Hermann Hirzel,
Bernhard Wenig, and others.
The best thing about the Germans, however, is that they
have the courage of their convictions and keep on publish-
ing these books and portfolios. I am but recently in re-
ceipt of a handsome portfolio of the book-plate work of
Moritz von Gruenewaldt, and have just subscribed for an-
other, now in preparation, of the plates of Oscar and Cacilie
Graf.
There is another category of book-plate books which,
while of little interest and less real use to the average col-
lector, is still of absorbing interest to the searcher after items
for a collection of ex libris literature. This class comprises
"out-of-the-way" books and those published in very small
editions.
Among the former may be mentioned the tiny pamphkt
by Fernandes-Thomas, entitled "O falso Ex Libris de D.
Catharina de Braganca," Figueira, 1904; the brochure "Ex
Libris du Commandant Edgar Servant," Laval, 1909; and a
very interesting booklet entitled "The Stewarts' Book-
plates," privately printed for Mr. C. E. Stewart. Lord
Franks, in addition to the British Museum catalogue, is re-
membered by his "Notes on Book-plates," a pamphlet
printed privately in 1887 on dated English plates, which is
22
now very rare.
A beautiful book was published in Stockholm in 1907
by Isak Collijn, entitled "Det Rosenbergska Biblioteket och
dess Ex Libris." It is a very handsome and beautifully got-
ten-up volume and has in it remarkably fine reproductions
of book-plates and super-libros.
There is also an interesting book, the "Catalogue of the
Engravings issued by the Society of Iconophiles," New
York, 1908, which contains an autobiography of E. D.
French, in which he devotes most of his space to his book-
plate work. It is probably due to the fact that the Icon-
ophiles do not readily part with their prints and publica-
tions, and also that there were but 125 copies issued, that
makes this interesting item about Mr. French so unknown.
Of limited editions, especially in the book-plate world,
there are many. Several editions of standard works such as
those in the "Ex Libris Series," the Spenceley and French
memorials, and some of Truesdell's set have had a limited
number of copies printed on Japanese vellum. Others, such
as Hardy's "Book-plates," and Fincham's "Artists and En-
gravers of British and American Book-plates," have been
content with larger paper, or a special kind of hand-made
paper, for their "special editions." Most of these special
editions are limited to from ten to fifty copies in addition
to the regular issue.
I am the happy possessor of three different copies of
"Gothic Book-plates," Kansas City, 1912. One of them is
of the regular edition of 250 on large white hand-made
paper, another is one of a special edition of twelve copies on
Japanese vellum, and the third is one of three copies printed
on Roman vellum.
There are some books of which the entire edition is
very small. Moeder's "Essai sur les Ex Libris Alsaciens"
and "Ex Libris Franc-Comtois," Dijon, 1905, are limited
23
respectively to forty and fifty copies. Burke's "Examples
of Irish Book-plates," London, 1894, is limited to 100 copies,
and the supplementary volume to thirty copies. Bouland
and Benoit's "Liste Sommaire pour servir a I'etude des Ex
Libris Lorrains," Paris, 1912, is limited to twenty copies,
and the "List of Book-plates by Sidney L. Smith," published
last year, to fifteen copies.
Another very interesting division of this subject is that
of "classified" book-plates and the publications about them.
Here we find the two booklets on the Ex Libris of doctors
by Henry Andre and Dr. R. G. Curtin. There is also Mr.
A. W. Pope's interesting pamphlets on Masonic Ex Libris,
and the recently issued volume "Book-plates of Princeton
and Princetonians," by Mr. C. N. Carver. There are some
larger works also, such as Labouchere's "Ladies Book-
plates," and J. F. Verster's "XL Muzikale Boekmerken,"
Amsterdam, 1897, the latter not containing "musical" book-
plates but reproductions of book-plates upon which appear
all sorts of musical and other sound-making instruments.
One of the most important and rarest of book-plate
books is Heinrich Lempertz's "Bilder-Hefte zur Geschichte
des Bucherhandels," Cologne, 1853-65. It is a huge folio,
19 by 12 inches in size, and was published in parts. It
contains portraits of publishers, printers, and booksellers of
several countries, one page being given to Benjamin Frank-
lin, as well as to fac-similes of fine bindings, type, printers'
marks and other items of interest to the bibliophile. But our
interest centers in five pages which bear twenty reproduc-
tions of old Ex Libris such as the Brandenburg, Pirck-
heimer, Pomer and Razeberg. With the illustrations are
some slight notes in regard to the plates. I think that this
is the first book ever printed in Germany containing repro-
ductions of book-plates.
In closing I should like to call attention to one phase of
24
collecting book-plate literature which is a joy in itself. This
is the extra-illustration of one's book-plate library. Of
course, it is not given to all collectors to be the happy pos-
sessors of enough plates to extra-illustrate Allen, Warren or
Poulet-Malassis, but in a more modest way it may be done
with a great deal of pleasure and profit. I have adorned my
books on Sherborn, French and Spenceley by the addition of
a number of plates from my small collections of these artists'
work, and have taken great delight in extra-illustrating a
little book on heraldry, by Canon Jenkins, by the insertion
of a number of armorial plates.
In such a way as this the path of the book-plate col-
lector may be made even more pleasant than it already is
and there may be an added and welcome enjoyment to the
hours which he spends with his hobby.
25
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