Edward Almack

The proper place for a bookplate is in a book—Gordon of Buthlaw—Spencer Perceval—William Wilberforce—A bookplate for a special purpose—George Ormerod—Robert Surtees—Cathedral plates.

In the pages here following are recorded many British bookplates, none of them very early; but they are referred to here, as, after all, this book must chiefly appeal to readers in our own tongue.

If in this and other parts of this book the writer be thought to mention too much of books and owners, it must be borne in mind that to the writer a bookplate is first of interest as connected with a book, and a book is of interest for its subject and its owner’s identity.

Gordon of Buthlaw. In the General Armoury Gordon of Lessmoir, Aberdeenshire, is described as descended from William, second son of John Gordon of Scudargue, Baronet, 1625, and title dormant since 1839. The arms

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are given as azure, a fess chequy argent and of the first, between three boars’ heads erased or. Then the Gordon of Buthlaw arms are distinguished from Lessmoir, with a mullet argent in chief for difference. Crest a Doric pillar or. Motto: “In recto decus.” This old bookplate here given is in a lately unearthed contemporary manuscript, headed: “Observations upon the arise and progresse of the late Rebellions against King Charles the first: In so far as they were carried on by a male contented party in Scotland, under the pretext of Reformation.” This is really the Memoirs of Henry Guthry, Bishop of Dunkeld, and differs in some points from the printed version. On the first leaf, down the margin, is written “Joannis Gordonii ButhlÆi 1761.”

The Perceval arms, given by Burke, are argent on a chief indented gules, three crosses pattÉe of the field. Crest a thistle erect, leaved proper.

The Wilson arms are sable, a wolf salient or; in chief three estoiles of the last.

Spencer Perceval, born in Audley Square, London, in 1762, was the second son of the second Earl of Egmont. At only ten years old he was sent to Harrow School, and then to Trinity College, Cambridge, where in December, 1781, he graduated M.A. In 1790 he married Jane, second daughter of Sir Thomas Spencer Wilson, and then had six sons and six daughters. Mr. Spencer Walpole, son of the fourth daughter, wrote, in 1874, a full biography of Spencer Perceval. When first married Spencer Perceval and his wife lived in lodgings in Bedford Row; but in about 1793 they bought a good house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and it is just a little curious that I bought this book, with his bookplate in it, but a few yards from Lincoln’s Inn Fields close on thirty years ago. Spencer Perceval, England’s Prime Minister during the Peninsuula War, was shot dead as he passed through the lobby to the House of Commons on May 11th, 1812, and Bellingham, his assassin, was hanged a week afterwards.

The ex libris here reproduced looked at first a puzzle; but Mr. Procter, at the British Museum, soon read the riddle. He made it an Earl of Guildford, and then it was very easy sailing for me to come to anchor at Frederick North, fifth Earl of Guildford, born 7th February, 1766, Chancellor of the University of the Ionian Islands, and Knight Grand Cross of the Ionian Order. There is a good account

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THE EARL OF GUILDFORD

of him by J. M. Rigg in the D. N. B. At Oxford he became an accomplished Grecian, and an enthusiastic Philhellene. In 1791, on the conclusion of the peace of Galatz, he evinced his accomplishment in classical Greek by a scholarly and spirited Pindaric ode in honour of the Empress Catherine.

In 1814 he was elected the first president of a society for the promotion of culture, founded at Athens. Later he was active in the formation of the British Protectorate over the Ionian Islands, in the scheme to form an Ionian University. In 1824 the University, with him as Chancellor, was established in Corfu. He lived there, spending money on the University, and giving valuable printed books, manuscripts, and other treasures to it.

In 1827 his state of health caused his recall to England. As a child he had been exceedingly delicate. In England he still wore constantly the classical costume, which had been adopted as the academic dress. He died on October 14th, 1827. “He was a brilliant conversationalist, and ... wrote and spoke German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Romaic with ease; he read Russian, and throughout life maintained his familiarity with the classics unimpaired.”

The next surname we come to in bookplates has been most familiar to the present and immediate past generation, in the person of Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford. These few following remarks are from private recollections. In the power of getting through a day of hard labour, of mind and body, he was unequalled, and to the end of the hard day’s work, with similar laborious days preceding and following, he could display a marvellously ready wit. One evening at a dinner-party at Cuddesdon Palace, the two lady guests on each side of the Bishop were suddenly startled by the crashing fall of a pile of plates. The Bishop, utterly unmoved, instantly remarked, “Oh, it’s nothing; it’s only the coachman going out with the brake.” It was the coachman, and the brake was the vehicle in frequent use. He would do some hours’ work no doubt after his guests had retired, and do some good work before breakfast the next morning. At Bisham Abbey, meeting at dinner two irrepressible spinsters who would argue of ages, he drily remarked, as if addressing the moon, the extraordinary fact in nature, that ladies’ ages always ran thus: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23, and so on.

The bookplate of William Wilberforce is

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from a fine large volume all in manuscript, giving a very full account of the Yorkshire election contest, the poll opening on 20th May, 1807, and only finally closing on the 5th June. This volume belongs to Mr. Edward Feetham Coates, as does also an exquisite volume in pen-and-ink, the work of the late Dr. Howard, who has taken Glover’s visitation of Yorkshire, from MSS. Harl., No. 1,394, and besides drawing the arms most exquisitely, and “Wilberforse” among the rest, has given most ample pedigrees and an index. Dr. Howard gives the field argent and the eagle sable; but otherwise Old Guillim’s account of Cotton would nearly hold good:—

“The field is sapphire, an eagle displaied; Pearle, Membred Gules. These armes appertaine to the Right worthy Sir Robert Cotten, of Connington, Knight, a learned Antiquary, and a singular fauorer and preseruer of all good learning and antique monuments. The eagle ... continually practiseth that course of life whereunto nature hath ordained her: ... her sharpnesse and strength of sight is much commended; and it is a greater honour to one of noble offspring to be wise and of sharpe and deepe understanding, then to be rich or powerfull, or great by birth.”

William Wilberforce, the owner of this plate, was born in the High Street, Hull, on the 24th August, 1759, and came of a family settled at Wilberfoss, eight miles from York, for many centuries. The election which this volume above-named commemorates was very remarkable. Wilberforce had a few months earlier had the satisfaction of seeing his Bill for the abolition of the slave trade finally passed into law. Lord Milton and Mr. Lascelles, who had been Wilberforce’s colleagues from 1796 to 1806, opposed him. A subscription of £64,455 was voluntarily raised to pay his expenses. At the end of fifteen days he had scored 11,806 votes against his opponents’ 11,177 and 10,989. The story of Miss Wilberforce recognised driving through York at election time is too redolent of Wilberforce’s ready humour and Yorkshire heartiness to be forgotten. The crowd welcomed her with the cry: “Miss Wilberforce for ever!” She rejoined: “Not Miss Wilberforce for ever, thank you!”

A fine plate is the circular armorial ex libris of “Charles, Marquis of Northampton.” The owner of this plate came of a noble house, worthy, indeed, of a fine bookplate. A few notes about his forefathers may be recorded.

Edmund de Compton’s son, Sir William Compton, Knight, was employed about the household of bluff Harry the Eighth when Duke of York, and thus winning his confidence, became the king’s companion in tournaments. Sir William held high offices under the king, and fought with great bravery in the Battle of Spurs. He died in 1528, leaving one son to succeed him, who again left a son, Sir Henry Compton, Knight, who, in 1572, was summoned to Parliament as Baron Compton of Compton. He married first a daughter of the Earl of Huntingdon, and secondly a daughter of Sir John Spencer of Althorp. By his first wife he left a son, William, who inherited the title, and was in 1618 created Earl of Northampton and installed Knight of the Garter. A letter bearing date 2nd July, 1630, tells of his death: “Yesterday se’nnight the Earl of Northampton, lord president of Wales, after he had waited on the king at supper and had also supped, went into a boat, with others, to wash himself in the Thames; and so soon as his legs were in the water but to his knees, he had the colic, and cried out—Have me into the boat again, for I am a dead man.” His son, Spencer Compton, the second Earl of Northampton, risked and gave all for his sovereign’s cause. On March 19th, 1643, he marched his men out of Stafford and fought the Parliament forces on Hopton Heath. Although he had so few troops he routed the enemy’s cavalry and took from them eight guns; but their infantry stood firm, and finally he was himself killed, proudly refusing to surrender to base rogues and rebels. He left three sons to nobly emulate, as brave cavaliers, their father’s loyalty and valour. The second of them was at Edgehill and Hopton Heath; and later, after engaging in many fights, he, disguised and with only six men, surprised Beeston Castle in Cheshire, cut down the drawbridge, seized the governor’s troop-horse, and took thirty soldiers prisoners in their beds.

There is also a Northampton monogram bookplate. Above is an earl’s coronet, and below a vast “N,” with the name “Castle Ashby” engraved across it. In 1695 King William III. visited the Earl of Northampton at Castle Ashby.

The following is an instance of a bookplate printed for a special purpose. The block measures about five inches by two and a quarter, and represents an ornamental frame enclosing the following printed inscription:—

“Daily take Care to spend your Time and Breath
In right preparing for the Hour of Death.
So wish’d your deceas’d Friend,
S. Moore.”

It suits the size of the book into which it is pasted in its proper place inside the front cover. On the last page of the book is printed a list of “Some Books proper to be given at Funerals,” and lower down the page, as a good catalogue note: “We may say of a Book, given at Funerals, what the Divine Herbert says of a Verse. A Book may find him who a Sermon flies, and turn a Gift into a Sacrifice.”

The leaf before the title-leaf is engraved with the tomb of the author: “Edward Pearse, a servant of Jesus Christ. Obiit 1673: Ætat 40.” The title reads: “The Great Concern: or, a Serious Warning to a timely and Thorough Preparation for Death with Helps and Directions in Order thereunto. By Edward Pearse. John ix. 4.... Recommended as proper to be Given at Funerals. The twenty-eight Edition. London: Printed for R. Robinson, at the Golden Lion in St. Paul’s-Churchyard. 1735.”

The author, a Nonconformist Divine, matriculated as a servitor from St. John’s College, Oxford, in 1652, and graduated B.A. on 27th June, 1654. In June, 1657, he was appointed Morning Preacher at St. Margaret’s, Westminster. The Great Concern was reprinted as lately as 1840.

A good characteristic English, or shall we say Welsh, plate is that of “Morgan Thomas,” “Palmer sculpsit,” with a floral-wreath decoration. The arms were granted 8th September, 1768, to Thomas of Lettymaur, in Carmarthenshire. Rees Thomas of Lettymaur died in 1759, leaving three sons, one of whom was Morgan Thomas of Llanon, in the parish of Lettymaur. He, in 1768, married Frances, the only child of Henry Goring, of Frodley Hall, Staffordshire. Their grandson was Rees Goring Thomas of Llanon, and of Tooting, Surrey, who was High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire in 1830. This family, besides having a wreath in their crest and flowers round their shield, perhaps had fine tastes, as the book in which I have this Morgan Thomas plate is a very beautiful piece of English dated binding. It is a 1660—Henry Hills and John Field—Bible, bound in black morocco, beautifully blindtooled in Mearne style, and with initials “M. M.” and date “1673” in the middle of each cover. The four outside corners of the binding are covered

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with silver on which are engraved flowers similar to those designed on the leather.

The bookplate over the inscription—“The Rev? John Constable, Ringmer”—is simply a ship in full sail, and this is the crest of one of the families of Constable. This plate is in a copy of Parson’s—His Christian Directory, London, 1754. The volume also contains the autograph “William Constable.” It so happens that another crest borne by the Constables was a dragon’s head, and this may be seen on the bookplate of William Constable, F.R.S. and F.S.A., pasted into an old volume of manuscript escheats and inquiries in the county of York, which belongs to Mr. E. F. Coates, and is probably one of the Dodsworth volumes, which posterity owes to the thoughtfulness of the great Lord Fairfax, who, when war was raging and devastation threatening, had copies made of many old manuscripts for fear that the originals might be lost.

It always adds to the interest when there is the owner’s signature to his own bookplate. This is the case with a volume of a small topographical work. The bookplate represents the arms and crest of the famous clan Macintosh, with “C. C. M.” below, probably standing for Charles Calder Macintosh. The owner and donor has made it read, “From C. C. Macintosh to Charles Forbes. Bombay, 17th April, 1811.” This would, of course, be Sir Charles Forbes, of Indian fame.

The arms of the ancient clan Macintosh are: Quarterly, first, or, a lion rampant gules; second, argent, a dexter hand fesseways, couped at the wrist, and holding a human heart gules; third, azure, a boar’s head couped, or; fourth, or, a lymphad sable, surmounted by two oars in saltire, gules. Crest a cat-a-mountain salient guardant proper. Over the crest the motto: “Touch not the cat, but a glove.” The charge or, a lion rampant gules, is on account of the descent from MacDuff. The third, azure, a boar’s head couped, or, is for Gordon of Lochinvar. The fourth, a lymphad, oars erect in saltire, sable, is for Clan Chattan. The lion rampant of the ancient MacDuffs may be well accounted for, as King Malcolm III. gave to MacDuff and his descendants the privileges of leading the van of the Scottish army whenever the royal standard was unfurled, and of placing the crown on the heads of the kings at their coronation.

George Ormerod, well known as the historian of Cheshire, was the only son of George Ormerod of Bury, Lancashire, and his wife

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Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Johnson of Tyldesley, and was born in High Street, Manchester, 20th October, 1785.

In 1803 Ormerod matriculated from Brasenose College, Oxford. In 1807 he received the honorary degree of M.A., and in 1818 was made a D.C.L. Becoming the owner of Sedbury Park on the beautiful peninsula of Beachley, between the Severn and the Wye, he lived there until his death in 1873, nearly ninety years of age. In 1808 he married the eldest daughter of John Latham, M.D., F.R.S., of Bradwall Hall, Cheshire. His library was sold in 1875.

Arms as Ormerod of Ormerod (or three bars and a lion passant, in chief gules), quartering Johnson of Tyldesley, Wareing of Walmersley, Crompton of Hacking Hall, and Nuttall of Walmersley. Crest a wolf’s head couped at the neck, barry of four, or and gules, holding in the mouth an ostrich’s feather erect proper. This plate is in a book, the fine black morocco gilt binding of which was reproduced by Griggs for the Bibliography of Eikon Basilike.

In May, 1893, Sothebys sold the Bateman Heirlooms, the valuable library of Printed Books and Manuscripts formed by the late Mr. W. Bateman, and Mr. T. Bateman, of Lomberdale House, Youlgrave, Derbyshire. The books had been well cared for, and sometimes annotated and extra illustrated. Such was the case with the copy of ReliquiÆ SacrÆ, 1651, with armorial bookpile bookplate: “Wm. Bateman, F.A.S., of Middleton by Yolgrave in the County of Derby.”

Another plate is armorial. Burke gives the arms as or, three crescents, within the horns of each an estoile gules. Crest a crescent and estoile, as in the arms, between two eagles’ wings or. Motto: “Sidus ad sit amicum.”

William Bateman, of Middleton-by-Youlgrave, married Mary, daughter of James Crompton of Brightmet, Lancashire. He died on 28th August, 1861, at Lomberdale House, near Bakewell. William Bateman’s father and grandfather had both done much towards founding the family library and museum.

A fine plate here illustrated is that of the Duke of Beaufort, from a fine copy of the first edition of Eikon Basilike.

Mr. H. B. Wheatley, of Pepys fame, has kindly written me the following notes regarding Conduitt bookplate:—

John Conduitt was born in the year of the Revolution, and was at Westminster School in 1701, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, in

THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT

1705. He was M.P. for Whitchurch 1715-34, after which he was elected for Southampton. He was Master of the Mint 1727-37. He succeeded Sir Isaac Newton, but previously to the death of Newton he relieved him of his most onerous duties for some years. He married Mrs. Catherine Barton, Newton’s niece, on 20th August, 1717.

“His only daughter married Viscount Lymington, son of the first Earl of Portsmouth, which accounts for the fact that Newton’s MSS., etc., are in the possession of the Portsmouth family; also the magnificent portrait of Newton by Kneller.

“Conduitt wrote, in 1730, Observations on the Present State of our Gold and Silver Coins, which came into the possession of Dean Swift, and after remaining many years in MS. was published in 1774. Jevons praised the work very highly.

“Conduitt was buried in Westminster Abbey, close by Newton’s grave.

“There is a scandal connected with Mrs. Catherine Barton which biographers of Newton have generally agreed to ignore. She is known to have kept house for Charles Montague, Earl of Halifax (who died in May, 1715), and is generally spoken of as his mistress by the gossips of the day. Augustus de Morgan wrote a book on the subject, which was published after his death, and entitled, Newton, his Friend, and his Niece. 1885. In this De Morgan argued for the opinion which he had formed that Lord Halifax (who died May, 1715) married Mrs. Barton privately about April, 1706. He made out a fair case, but he could obtain no actual evidence, and when Mrs. Barton married Conduitt she was described as a spinster.”

Of his own bookplate, here reproduced, Mr. Henry B. Wheatley, F.S.A., kindly writes to me:—

“I gave Hamilton an account of its origin, which he printed in the little book on members of the Society of Odd Volumes. The room represented was on the back first floor of the house in Caroline Street, Bedford Square, which had been built out for John Philip Kemble to accommodate his fine collection of plays, now in the library of the Duke of Devonshire. I used the room as my library during the six years I lived in the house, and a very pleasant room it was, looking out upon trees which occupied an open space between Caroline and Charlotte Streets. It, with other houses, was pulled down soon after I left in 1889, and the

Bedford Mansions have been built on the site. Kemble lived in the house from 1787 (when he married) to 1799, when he removed to a larger house in Great Russell Street.”

A good plate is the ex libris of Robert Surtees of Mainsforth, the well-known antiquary and topographer. It was drawn by himself, and engraved by Samuel John Neele, who was born in 1758 and died in 1824. Surtees was born in the South Bailey of the ancient city of Durham in 1779. On 28th October, 1796, he matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, and took his M.A. in 1803. His father had just died, so he now settled at Mainsforth, the family home. As an undergraduate at Oxford he was already planning to record the history of his native shire.

Settled at Mainsforth, he used to drive about the county with a groom; and his friend and kindred spirit, James Raine, whose plate I give from a book kindly lent me by the Rev. Prebendary Deedes, has recorded the groom’s testimony that it was “weary work, for Master always stopped the gig, and we never could get past an auld beelding.” Surtees suffered from constant ill-health, but his house was always open to scholars and antiquaries. He died at Mainsforth on February 11th, 1834.

This plate is in a volume of two tracts—one about Marston Moor, 1650. On the inside of the end cover is a plate in the Bewick style: “T. Bell, 1797,” and the autograph facsimile “Thomas Bell.” This is no doubt the bookplate of Thomas Bell, the antiquary, born at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1785. He died in his native place in 1860, and his library, rich in antiquarian lore, printed and in manuscript, was sold there after his death.

An armorial plate of the palm-branch manner is that of “Thomas Langton” in a book of sermons by Richard Hurd, D.D., 1788. As given by Burke, the crest is an eagle displayed with two heads, vert, charged on the breast with a trefoil, or. The motto is “Loyal au mort.”

A curious succession of bookplates connected one with another is shown in two volumes before me. One work is “VindiciÆ Pietatis: ... By R. A. London: Printed in the year 1663.” The other is a book as far asunder as the poles. It is catalogued “Des Livres, Estampes & Desseins, du Cabinet.... Appartenent Au Baron Tessin, MarÈchal de la Cour du Roy & sur-intendent de Batiments & Jardins Royaux de Suede.... Stockholm, 1712.”

The first volume has three bookplates, all armorial. First, the plate of Sir William Lee, Knight, with the motto “verum atque decens.” “Mutlow, sculp., York Street, Covent Garden.” Then a smaller and different plate, but by the same engraver, and with the same arms, crest, and motto, but pertaining to “William Lee Antonie, Esq?.” After this, again, comes the third ex libris in the book, and this is without name engraving, but is evidently Lee quartering Fiott.

John Fiott, a London merchant who died at Bath in 1797, married Harriet, second daughter of William Lee, of Totteridge Park, Hertfordshire. Their son John, fifth wrangler at St. John’s College, Cambridge, in 1805, and LL.D. in 1816, assumed, in 1815, by royal licence, the name of Lee under the will of William Lee Antonie, of Colworth House, Bedfordshire, his maternal uncle. At the same time he acquired the estates of Colworth in Bedfordshire, and Totteridge Park, Hertfordshire. He lived eighty-four years, and in 1863, at the age of eighty, he was admitted a barrister of Gray’s Inn. Between 1807 and 1810 he held a travelling bachelorship from Cambridge, and made a learned tour through the Ionian Isles and other parts. In 1828 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and he left valuable collections to the Society. He was even more interested in science than in antiquities, and in 1830 built an observatory in the south portico of Hartwell House. Leaving no children, his property passed to his brother, the Rev. Nicholas Fiott, who took the surname of Lee. The Lee crest is a bear with a chain.

Guillim has recorded: “Hee beareth Sable, a Beare passant, Argent.... The Shee Beare is most cruelly imaged against any that shall hurt her yong, or dispoile her of them: as the Scripture saith, in setting forth the fierce anger of the Lord, that he will meete his aduersaries, as a Beare robbed of her whelps. Which teacheth vs how carefull Nature would haue vs to bee of the welfare of our children, sith so cruell beasts are so tender harted in this kind.”

“VindiciÆ Pietatis: ... By R. A. London: Printed in the year, 1663.” The author of this precious volume was Richard Alleine, born in 1611 at Ditcheat, in Somersetshire. In 1641 he became Rector of Batcombe in the same county. The Dictionary of National Biography is for once induced to warmly clothe the dry skeleton, with which it has usually tried to make us content. “For twenty years Alleine

remained at Batcombe, and was idolized by his parishioners.... VindiciÆ Pietatis ... refused license by Sheldon ... was published without ... was rapidly bought up and did much to mend this bad world. Roger Norton, the royal printer, caused a large portion of the first edition to be seized on the ground of its not being licensed, and to be sent to the royal kitchen. But, glancing over its pages, he was arrested by what he read, and on second thoughts it seemed to him a sin that a book so holy and so saleable should be killed. He therefore bought back the sheets, says Calamy, for an old song, bound them, and sold them in his own shop.”

The closing lines of VindiciÆ Pietatis are: “But by the grace of God, whilst God is a God of holinesse, whilst holinesse is the Image and Interest of God, whilst these words of the Lord, Be ye holy, follow holinesse, live righteously, soberly, and godly in this present world, whilst these and the like words of the Lord, stand unrepeal’d, by the Grace of God, I will be a Friend, an Advocate, a Confessor, a Practitioner of Holinesse to the end of my days. This is my resolution, and in this resolution I commit myself to God, and so come on me what will.”

So much for the first book of the two. The second—Baron Tessin’s Catalogue—has two ex libris. The first is that of John Fiott before he took the name of Lee. It is the plate of “John Fiott, B.A. / St. John’s College, Cambridge, / 1806 /.” The plate shows a globe floating in the air, with the Fiott arms engraved on it, and the crest, a horse coupÉ, over it. Of course, as a wrangler he could not help being an astronomer; but this indicates his early taste for studying the heavens.

Of this crest Guillim tells us:—

“A horse erected boult vpright may bee termed enraged, but his noblest action is expressed in a saliant forme. This of all beasts for mans vses, is the most noble and behoofefull either in Peace or Warre. And sith his service and courage in the Field is so eminent, it may bee maruelled why the Lion should be esteemed a more honourable bearing. But the reason is because the horse’s seruice and strength is principally by helpe of his Rider, whereas the Lion’s is his owne: and if the Horse be not mounted, he fights auerse turning his heeles to his aduersary, but the Lion encounters affront, which is more manly.”

The Duke of Sussex used two plates amongst

his books in Kensington Palace, one “Perkins and Heath. Patent Hardened steel plate.” The main feature of this plate is a Knight of the Garter’s chain forming a circle enclosing a lion on a coronet at the base of the plate, a helmet on one side, and an owl on the other. The other plate is here reproduced.

A pretty armorial plate of about this time, the shield resting on flowers, and a palm branch at each side, is the ex libris of “Charles Gordon Esq? of Beldorny and Wardhouse.” Below the shield is engraved a ribbon, but without any inscription. The motto—“in hoc spes mea”—is fittingly over the crest, which is described as a cross crosslet fitchÉe. The arms of Gordon of Beldorny are quarterly, first and fourth, azure, a lion rampant argent between three boars’ heads erased of the second; second and third, azure, three boars’ heads within a bordure engrailed argent.

Now for old Scotland—“Fraser of Ledeclune”; this is a splendid modern ex libris. This plate is worthily found in a fine, large-paper copy of “poems by goldsmith and parnell. london: printed by W. Bulmer and co. Shakspeare Printing Office, cleveland row. 1795”. “To raise the art of Printing in this country from the neglected state ... to combine the various beauties of Printing, Type-founding, Engraving, and Paper-making; as well with a view to ascertain the near approach to perfection which those arts have attained in this country, as to invite a fair competition with the best Typographical Productions of other nations.... The whole of the Types, ... are executed by Mr. William Martin, in the house of my friend Mr. George Nicol, whose unceasing endeavours to improve the art of Printing &c.... The ornaments are all engraved on blocks of wood, by two of my earliest acquaintances, Messrs. Bewicks, of Newcastle upon Tyne and London, ... I may venture to say, without being supposed to be influenced by ancient friendship, that they form the most extraordinary effort of the art of engraving upon wood, that ever was produced in any age, or any country....” Of the paper it is only necessary to say that it comes from the manufactory of Mr. Whatman.

Burke’s General Armoury gives:—

“Quarterly, first and fourth, azure, a bend engrailed between three cinquefoils (or frasiers), argent, a canton gyronny of eight or and sable; second and third, argent, three antique crowns gules (the latter quartering was given

to Sir Simon Frazer for having thrice saved the life of Robert Bruce at the battle of Methven). Crest a buck’s head, erased gules. Supporters, two stags proper, attired and unguled or, collared azure, pendent therefrom an escutcheon gyronny of eight gold-and-sable, each resting one foot on an anchor of the last. Motto: ‘Je suis prÊt.’ The branches of yew in the bookplate are the ancient badge of the clan Fraser. This book has been beautifully bound, evidently by Kalthoeber.”

“The Honourable Archibald Campbell Esq?. 1708” is engraved at the base of an armorial plate, with mantling, and lions for supporters. This is the plate of Archibald Campbell, second son of Lord Niel Campbell, who was second son of Archibald, Marquis of Argyll. The owner of this plate had a remarkable life. First, he is said to have taken part in the rebellion headed by his uncle, the ninth Earl of Argyll, in 1685, and then to have made his escape to Surinam.

That fine old Tory, Dr. Samuel Johnson, says of him, that after his youthful whiggish days “he kept better company and became a violent tory.” On the 25th of August, 1711, he was consecrated a bishop at Dundee by Bishops Rose, Douglas, and Falconer. He died in London in 1744. This plate is in his interleaved and copiously annotated copy of the New Testament in Latin: “Theodore Beza’s, Londini excudebat Thomas Vautrollerius, Typographus, 1581.” It belongs to Mr. E. F. Coates.

The nice plate of “Campbell of Shawfield” gives a shield-of-arms, not just corresponding with Burke’s General Armoury, which records: Gyronny of eight or and sable, within a bordure of the first, charged with as many crescents of the second. Crest a griffin erect, holding the Sun between the forepaws. Motto: “Fidus amicis.”

Campbell of Shawfield might be dubbed doubly Campbell, as being a time back represented by Walter Frederick Campbell, of Islay and Shamfuld, son of Colonel John Campbell and his wife Charlotte, youngest daughter of John, Duke of Argyll.

Guillim wrote: “This forme of helmet, placed sidelong and close, doth Ger Leigh attribute to the dignity of a Knight, but in mine understanding, it fitteth better the calling of an Esquier ... of these, each Knight had two to attend him in the warres, withersoeuer he went, who bare his helmet and shield before him; forasmuch, as they did hold certaine lands

of him in scutage, as the Knight did hold of the King by Military seruice.”

This Campbell of Shawfield plate is in a copy of The History of the Siege of Toulon.... Done from the French Copy, Printed at Paris, and Dedicated to the French King. London ... at the Raven in Pater Noster Row. 1708.

“Hudson Gurney” was born in Norwich on the 19th of January, 1775, his father being Richard Gurney, of Keswick Hall, Norfolk. Hudson Gurney was indeed a proper man to have a bookplate, and he had several. He gave his money generously to help the publication of works of antiquarian interest. From 1822 to 1846 he was a Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries. He had a library of from ten to fifteen thousand volumes, and was not content merely to have his books, but was an ardent reader. He was also very ready to help others: he was kind, liberal, and hospitable. He died on the 9th November, 1864. His family, as the ancient Norman family of De Gournay, owned Keswick Hall and West Barsham, both in Norfolk, for many centuries. The arms (see Burke): Argent, a cross engrailed gules. The smaller bookplate, not reproduced here, represents one crest of the family, namely, on a chapeau gules, turned-up ermine, a gurnet fish in pale, with the head downwards.

The Hastings bookplate is simply armorial with supporters, and underneath it the inscription “Hastings.” The barony of Hastings, created by Edward I. in 1290, having fallen into abeyance, the House of Lords reported that Henry L’Estrange Styleman Le Strange, Esq., of Hunstanton, Norfolk, and Sir Jacob Astley, Bart., were co-heirs to the barony. Whereupon Sir Jacob had the abeyance terminated in his favour, and was summoned to Parliament by writ in 1841 as Baron Hastings. On his death, in 1859, he was succeeded by his elder son, Jacob Henry Delaval, Baron Hastings, who died in 1871, and was succeeded by his brother, the Vicar of East Barsham, in Norfolk. He died in September, 1872, and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son, who, however, dying in 1875, unmarried, was succeeded by his next brother, George Manners. The arms are: Quarterly, first, azure a cinquefoil pierced ermine within a bordure, engrailed, or for Astley; second, argent a lion rampant gules ducally crowned, or for Constable; third, argent two lions passant, gules for L’Estrange; fourth, or a maunch, gules for Hastings. Supporters, on either side a

lion gules, ducally crowned, and gorged with a collar or, therefrom pendent an escutcheon of the arms of Hastings. The motto is “JustitiÆ tenax.”

Old Guillim illustrated the maunch, and wrote: “The Field is Topaze, a Maunch Ruby. This Coat armour pertained to the honourable Family of Hastings, Earles of Pembroke, and is quartered by the right Honourable Henry Gray, now Earle of Kent. Of things of Antiquity, saith Leigh, that are growne out of vse, this is one, which hath beene, and is taken for the sleeue of a garment.”

The view bookplate of the library of the Dean and Chapter of Winchester is interesting. Beriah Botfield described the library as a long room over the only remaining portion of the cloisters attached to that noble building. It is curious to note that this bookplate is in a folio copy of the ReliquiÆ SacrÆ, or writings of Charles I., and that many of the chief books in the library were the generous bequest of Bishop Morley, the friend of Charles I., and who, tradition says, helped the issue of Eikon Basilike. The books are in the old open oak bookcases in which they stood in the good bishop’s palace of Wolvesey. In the library is in manuscript “A Catalogue of all the Bookes in his Lordship’s Library, bequeathed by his Lordship’s Will to the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity of Winchester; and which the longer his lordship lived, he declared by his letters should be the more and not the fewer.”

The bookplate in the Bewick style of the “Rev? T. Newcome. Brook sculp. 302 Strand.” is in an imperfect volume of an eighteenth-century duodecimo edition of Samuel Butler’s Hudibras.

Of cathedral libraries an interesting bookplate, and lent to me by Mr. G. F. Barwick, is that of the Dean and Chapter of Chichester. The Rev. Prebendary Deedes, of Chichester, has very kindly written to me the following note:—

“This is the earlier of the two bookplates used in the Cathedral Library. That at present in use, which is substantially the same design, has no embellishment and is not so well engraved.

“See a paper on ‘The Arms of Chichester Cathedral’ in Sussex Arch. Transactions, vol. xi., with illustrations from seals, now in the possession of the Bishop or the Dean and Chapter. The design is intended to represent our Lord as described by St. John the Divine in Revelation i.

The heralds of the seventeenth century mistook it for ‘Prester John,’ the mythical Emperor of Abyssinia in the Middle Ages, and it is sometimes so described in Heraldic Manuals. There is a difference of treatment as to tinctures. The ‘field’ is, I believe, uniformly blue, the throne gold, the figure usually gold, but occasionally white, which my friend Dr. Codrington maintains is correct. The earlier seals generally give a badge of the Holy Trinity, which is the Dedication of the Cathedral. The motto—‘Liber monumente coram eo’—is the Vulgate version of part of Malachi iii. 16.”

Of about this date, with a garland surrounding the shield and crest at a little distance, and two palm branches crossed, is the bookplate of the “Rev?. Manley Wood. Middle Temple.” The family is of North Taunton, Devon, and the arms, as given by Burke: Sable, three bars or; on a canton gules, a demi-woodman, holding a club over the dexter shoulder or. Crest a woodman proper, wreathed about the temples and loins vert, holding in the dexter hand an olive branch of the last. This bookplate of a Devon man is in a Devon book, and it is “down along” all over. It bears the inscription: “W. Beal ex dono authoris. Plymouth.” The book is “the Plain Truth: ... By John Agate M.A.... Exon: Printed by Jos. Bliss, and Sold by the Booksellers in Exon MDCCVIII.” I have only quoted about a twentieth part of the title-page, but must give a scrap or two from “To the Reader”: “Be it known, that supposing Mr. Wither had not (as ’tis shamefully notorious he has) first broken the Peace, by drawing me to the Press, yet his Harangue about Union and Moderation, is all Banter and Grimace: for how ridiculous is an everlasting Cant and Din about Peace and Union, from One who, ... if he does not Love, yet manifestly lives by Divisions!...”

The armorial bookplate with large margin of “The R? Hon??? The Earl of Suffolk, is in a splendid folio large-paper copy of The Book of Common Prayer.... Printed by Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel, printers to the Universitie of Cambridge. Anno Dom. 1638. The latter half of the volume is the Whole Book of Psalmes, Collected into English metre, by Th. Sternhold, John Hopkins, and others, ... with apt notes to sing them withall:”—the same printer and date. The whole volume being ruled in red lines in the very effective way used with special copies, and bound in fine

old black morocco, gilt extra, evidently by good Thomas Buck of Cambridge town.

The arms, with an earl’s coronet above, and lions for supporters, are first, gules, a bend between six cross crosslets, fitchÉe, argent; on the bend an escutcheon, or, charged with a demi-lion, rampant, pierced through the mouth with an arrow, within a double tressure, flory-counter flory, gules, for Howard; second, gules, three lions passant-guardant, in pale or, and a label of three points, argent, for Thomas of Brotherton; third, chequy, or and azure, for Warren; fourth, gules, a lion rampant, argent, for Mowbray. Below the shield is the motto, “Nous Maintiendrons.” The family of the Earls of Suffolk and Berkshire comes from the famous house of Howard, springing from Thomas, fourth Duke of Norfolk and his second wife.

In the ex libris of “HRH Princess Sophia” there seems something delightfully simple and suitable to a virgin Princess. The Princess Sophia, one of the numerous family of George III., was born in 1777, and lived until 1848. This bookplate is a lesson in the art of simplicity. It is in “Memoires du Prince EugÉnie de Savoie ... A Londres 1811.”

Here, also, is the bookplate of “Bulkeley Bandinel DD Bodleian Librarian, Oxford.” This little plate tells all that could be wished. It is in a copy of the 1720 edition of Wishart’s Montrose, and has Bandinel’s autograph. It has lately belonged to Mr. William Twopeny.

I give also the plate of Philip Bliss, another famous custodian of Bodley’s. In any of his books which had not his bookplate he had a playful habit of marking the B sheet signature.

The ex libris now mentioned is in a curious copy of a curious work. “The North Briton ... London: Printed for J. Williams, near the Mitre Tavern, Fleet Street. MDCCLXIII.” Two volumes bound in one, and including all the forty-five numbers. The volume is bound in calf and lettered “poison for the Scotch.” Inside is an armorial bookplate with two winged monsters for supporters. It is evidently the bookplate of a Fletcher. The arms that Burke gives are sable, a cross flory argent between four escallops. Crest a bloodhound azure, ducally gorged or. The motto is “Dieu pour nous.”

“Robert Plumptre”’s bookplate gives argent, a chevron between two mullets pierced in chief, and an amulet in base sable, the arms of Plumptre; and the crest a phoenix or out

of flames proper. The motto given is “turpi secernere honestum.” Another small shield-of-arms is placed over the Plumptre shield,

Nottingham has been the chief abiding-place of the Plumptres for many centuries.

This bookplate is in a copy of oeuvres de Mr. Pavillon de C’Academie Francoise. a la Haye, ... 1715.

There are two ex libris in a copy belonging to Mr. E. F. Coates, of “Report of Proceedings ... Oyer & Terminer and Gaol Delivery. County of York. held at the castle of York ... 1813.” The first is that of “William Stretton Lenton Priory,” which words are engraved under a simple armorial shield. Arms: argent, a bend engrailed sable, cotised gules. The second plate has the inscription “Sempronius Stretton Lenton Priory.” In this plate the shield, with different bearings from the other, is represented as held by an eagle. This Sempronius Stretton of Lenton Priory, in Nottinghamshire, was, I fancy, a colonel in the army; and hanging just below the shield are two objects looking like war medals.

In a fine copy of Baxter’s Anacreon—a rare little work—is the armorial plate “Brown” (Waterhaughs, County Ayr, 1806). Burke gives: Quarterly, first and fourth, gules, on a chevron between three fleur-de-lis or, a ship sails furled sable, a bordure of the second; second and third, gyronny of eight wavy, ermine and gules, for Campbell. Crest a demi-lion proper, holding in his dexter paw a fleur-de-lis or.

A good plate here given is that of Sir J. S. Stewart, Baronet.

In a 1649 Eikon Basilike is a modern round bookplate of “John Bailey Langhorne.” The arms were granted to the Langhornes of Bedfordshire 20th January, 1610. Sable a cross argent; on a chief of the second three bugle-horns of the field, stringed gules. Crest a bugle-horn sable, stringed gules, between two wings expanded, argent.

“John Warren, BA, LLB.” The name and, to some extent, the arms will remind incidentally bookplate collectors of the first historian of English bookplates. The motto is “tenebo.” The arms are chequy or and azure; on a canton gules a lion rampant argent. Crest on a chapeau gules, turned-up ermine, a wyvern argent, wings expanded, chequy or and azure.

“Thomas James Tatham,” an ex libris about fifty years old. Thomas James Tatham lived in Bedford Place, Russell Square, and bore for

his own arms, argent, a chevron gules between three swans’ necks couped sable. Crest, on a trumpet or, a swan with wings displayed sable. The motto: “perseverance.”

A bookplate very interesting from the identity of its owner is that of “Henry Crabb Robinson,” the warm friend of Lamb, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Southey, and a host of other interesting characters. He died at his house, 30, Russell Square, on February 5th, 1867, at the good age of ninety-one years.

A sensible armorial plate is that inscribed at foot as “Right Hon???. Sir Robert Peel Bart,” and across the top “Drayton Manor.” The arms, as granted to Robert Peel of Manchester, father of the first baronet, were: Argent three sheaves of as many arrows proper, banded gules; on a chief azure a bee volant or. Crest a demi-lion rampant argent, gorged with a collar azure, charged with three bezants, holding between the paws a shuttle or. Motto: “Industria.”

“Rob? D Mayne,” a facsimile signature, is under a modern plate, where, of course, both arms and motto have something to say about hands. The arms are: Ermine, on a bend sable, three dexter hands couped argent. The motto runs: “manus justa decus.”

Of martial mottoes, “militavi non sine gloria” is a good specimen. It is on the bookplate, about forty years old, which has under it the engraved signature of “J Knight.” The crest is a spur between two wings.

“Wynfield.” This is a shield with Wynfield arms—vert on a bend argent, three crosses patonce sable, and a host of quarterings; also two crests, one a lion’s head, and the other a falcon. The motto is “aut vincere aut mori.”

“William Holgate.” This is a plain armorial bookplate. Or, a bend between two bulls’ heads, couped sable. The crest is, out of a mural coronet argent, a bull’s head sable, gorged with a collar of the first, charged with two bends gules.

“T. A. Dale.” A very small shield, with simply the name underneath. Arms of Dale of Rutlandshire, confirmed in 1602: Paly of six argent and gules, on a chief azure three garbs or. Crest three Danish battle-axes erect, handled or, headed argent, enfiled with a chaplet of roses of the first.

The bookplate, also armorial, with two palm leaves, of “Hon??? Edmund Phipps.” The arms are, of course, the Normandy coat. Quarterly first and fourth, sable, a trefoil slipped between eight mullets argent, for Phipps; second and third, paly of six argent and azure; over all a bend gules for Annesley. Crest, a lion’s gamb erect sable holding a trefoil slipped argent. This in a 1648 copy of Eikon Basilike.

A pleasant variety in style is the plate of “George Cardale.” It is evidently a real bookman’s bookplate. In good large letters on a scroll around the shield are the words, “studendo et contemplando indefessus.” In the arms and crest is seen the Cornish chough.

An Eikon Basilike, 1648, with a bookplate, “Rev? Charles Chester.” Below and beside the armorial shield is a neat design of two palm leaves. The arms, ermine, on a chief sable a griffin passant or, armed argent. Crest, a dragon passant argent, are those of Chester of Blabie in Leicestershire, descended from an uncle of the first Sir Robert Chester of Royston, who, as one of the gentlemen of the Privy Chamber to King Henry VIII., received from that monarch a grant of the monastery of Royston.

“Fothergill sc” is on the ex libris of “Cecil D. Wray, A.M. / F.C.C. Manchester.” Arms: azure, on a chief or, three martlets gules. Crest an ostrich or. Motto: “et juste et vray.” The Rev. Cecil Daniel Wray, Canon of Manchester Collegiate Church, was son and heir of the Rev. Henry Wray, of Brogden House, in Kelfield, Lincolnshire, and his wife the daughter of George Lloyd, of Holm Hall, near Manchester.

The Wrays come from Sir Christopher Wray, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench in the days of Queen Bess.

A pretty little plate, and not armorial, is that of “John T. Beer.” The centre represents an open mouth of a well, with an owl perched on the further edge of it. At each side of the well rise tropical palms. Besides the name ribbon are these three inscriptions: “knowledge is high,” “truth is straight,” “wisdom is wealth.”

An unpretending ex libris is that of “Robert Buchanan Stewart.” These words are inscribed on a circular strap enclosing a fancy monogram. Below is “ubi thesaurus ibi cor.” Below are spaces for filling in number, class, and case.

As a good specimen of a Society’s bookplate may be given one engraved for the “Royal Institute of British Architects. Tite Donation 1868.” Sir William Tite, the architect of the Royal Exchange and of many great buildings,

was born in 1798 in the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great, London, and died at Torquay in 1873. He represented Bath in the House of Commons from 1855 until his death. His valuable library of early English books and other rarities was sold at Sotheby’s after his death.

The Right Honorable Sir Gore Ouseley, Baronet, Grand Cordon of the Persian Order of the Lion and Sun, and Grand Cross of the Imperial Russian Order of St. Alexander Newski—a famous Oriental scholar, Fellow of the Royal Society, and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries—was born in 1770, and created a baronet in 1808. His wife was Harriott-Georgiana, daughter of John Whitelocke, Esq. In 1810 Sir Gore Ouseley became Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Persia, and afterwards at St. Petersburg. He died in 1844 at Hall Barn, Beaconsfield, which had belonged to Edmund Waller, the poet, and which he had twelve years before purchased from the poet’s descendant, Mr. Waller of Farmington.

“Whalley Hamerton” is a good idea in bookplates. It looks like unto a picture of some fine old seal. Whale’s heads for Whalley. It is in a scarce book: Marshal Ney. Report of the trial ... Paris: Printed and sold at Galignani’s ... 1815.

“A fenwyke! a fenwyke” is the motto at the foot of a Fenwick bookplate, probably Fenwick and Robinson. First and fourth, six martlets counterchanged, three cinquefoils. The Fenwicks were an intrepid race haunting the northern borders, and the proud House of Percy never went to battle without the valiant Fenwicks to help them.

“Richard Clark Esq?. Chamberlain of London.” Such are the words engraved below the plain armorial plate. Argent on a bend gules three swans proper, between as many pellets, a canton sinister azure charged with a demi-ram mounting of the first, armed or between two fleur-de-lis in chief of the last; on it a baton dexter of the field. The motto is “est modus in rebus.”

Guillim remarks: “The Swan is a Birde of great Beautie, and strength also: and this is reported in Honour of Him, that hee vseth not his strength, to Prey or tyrannize ouer any other Fowle, but onelie to be reuenged on such as first offer Him wrong; in which case he often subdueth the Eagle.”

A good ex libris, engraved perhaps about 1820, and in an 1824 copy of Eikon Basilike, is

the bookplate of “Harry Kerby Pott.” The motto is “fortis et astutus.” The arms are: azure, two bars or, over all a bend of the last. The crest a leopard, or ounce, sejant proper, collared, lined and ringed azure. According to the Herald’s College, these arms were granted in 1583.

The quite modern, fantastic plate of “Thomas Bradshaw. Stackhouse. Settle.” seems to represent Father Time with his scythe; and Father Time seems to be expressed as an old man in a hurry, who has learnt to fly without wings. This plate is in a Yorkshire West Riding poll-book of 1838, belonging to Mr. E. F. Coates.

A very pleasing modern non-armorial plate is “George Parker Heathcote”’s. In a prettily formed rectangular frame is seen an angel holding a shield and pointing to the monogram “G P H”, which occupies the shield. The names in full are round the framework. This plate is in a volume of the Camden Society.

Appropriately, in a copy belonging to Mr. E. F. Coates, of Poulson’s Holderness, Hull, 1840, is a bookplate of a member of a family that hails from Knaresborough. “John Rhodes” is the facsimile signature at the foot of the plate, below the motto “ung durant ma vie.” The arms are: argent on a cross engrailed, between four lions rampant gules, as many bezants. Crest a leopard sejant or, spotted sable, collared and ringed argent.

Two nineteenth-century ex libris—one of “Thomas Tindal Methold,” and the other of “Henry Methold.” The Methold arms are: azure six escallops or. The crest is a goat’s head erased argent, attire and beard sable. The Metholds, or Methuolds, are an old Norfolk family.

A simple nineteenth-century ex libris is that of “Christopher Roberts,” with the motto “un roy une foy une loy.” The arms, granted on 2nd June, 1614, to Roberts of Truro, Cornwall, are: azure, on a chevron argent, three mullets pierced sable. Crest a demi-lion azure holding a mullet argent, pierced sable.