SO long as the government of France was monarchical, it was largely influenced by the priests, and her most famous statesmen were such princes of the Church as Richelieu, Mazarin, De Retz, Rohan-Soubize, La Rochefoucauld, and Talleyrand-PÉrigord. Whether their power was always exercised solely for the good of France is not a question to be discussed here, but, speaking generally, it is certain that they did much to encourage the progress of art, science, and literature.

Some of the finest libraries in old France were formed by cardinals and bishops; Richelieu and Mazarin founded free libraries open to the general public, and many of the wealthy religious houses and monastic institutions had collections of the rarest illuminated MSS., such as Livres d’Heures and early Liturgies, of which, alas! most were wantonly destroyed, or dispersed, during the mad period of the Revolution.

It must be admitted that humility was a virtue not much studied by the cardinals or their satellites, their books were sumptuously bound, with their arms ostentatiously emblazoned on the covers, and their book-plates were also of the most pompous description.

When ex-libris became fashionable theirs were the largest and the most elaborate, the insignia of the Church being added to their family arms, and nothing was omitted which could show how vastly superior these men were to their predecessors, the poor fishermen of Judea.

First among the Church dignitaries, who were also statesmen, comes the name of the powerful Cardinal Richelieu, who formed a valuable library, partly by purchase, but principally by robbery or intimidation. To do him justice, however, he dedicated in his will his books to the use of the public, and his grand-nephew saw that his wishes were obeyed. The first idea of creating a free public library in France was due to J. A. de Thou, who, dying in 1617, left all his valuable collections ad usum publicum: but his will was ignored, and his books were dispersed.

Richelieu followed his example, and later on the Cardinal Mazarin, his successor, realized the idea by leaving his magnificent library, with funds to maintain it, for the free use of the public.

Mazarin, that “Laquais parvenu au Cardinal,” the councillor and the minister, if not the husband, of Anne of Austria, the man who, with all the cares of an unruly state on his shoulders, still found time to accumulate two enormous libraries. Of these the first was compulsorily sold in 1652, but the second remains, and now forms the nucleus of the BibliothÈque Mazarine in Paris. It was of this collection that Loret wrote:

Mazarin confided his books only to the most expert binders; Le Gascon, Saulnier, and Petit were employed by him, whilst he kept a number of clever binders constantly at work in his library under his own supervision. His favourite style was red morocco, stamped on the sides with his arms, surmounted by the cardinal’s hat, and in the angles a monogram, either C. J. M. (Cardinal Jules Mazarin), or simply J. M.

Thus bound, emblazoned, and identified, the books of Cardinal Mazarin certainly needed no ex-libris, nor does it appear that he used one.

Bishop Huet, who gave his books to the Jesuits, has already been mentioned as the cause of several fine ex-libris.

The arms which Gilles MÉnage had stamped on his bookbindings (d’argent, au sautoir d’azur chargÉ d’un soleil du premier) were also placed on the ex-libris prepared by the Jesuits, to be placed in the books left to them by MÉnage. The plate is less elaborate than that of Bishop Huet, but is equally interesting. MÉnage was born on August 15, 1613, and displayed an intense love of books from his earliest youth, and what was somewhat remarkable, he inserted the date on which he acquired each book on the title page. Although a great scholar, he possessed little originality; his own most important work was his Dictionnaire Etymologique, whilst that which has best preserved his memory amongst general readers is the curious collection entitled, “Menagiana: ou les Bons Mots et Remarques Critiques, Historiques, Morales et d’Erudition, de M. MÉnage. Recueillies par ses Amis.” This is indeed a mine of information; it contains much valuable ore in the shape of epigrams, parodies, and anecdotes, but great labour is required to separate the gold from the quartz. Here is the poem “Le Fameux La Galisse,” which Goldsmith imitated, and here, too, is the famous saying of MÉnage, “La premiÈre chose qu’on doit faire,” so often quoted on book-plates. MÉnage died July 23, 1692, which year is given on the Jesuits’ book-plate.

To assist in identifying ecclesiastical ex-libris, it must here be mentioned that they carry the head-dresses peculiar to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, which are to be distinguished as follows:

Cardinal.—A red hat having a wide, flat brim, with a cord on each side, from which hang five rows of red tassels.

Archbishop.—A hat similar in shape to that of a cardinal, but green in colour, with a cord on each side, from which hang four rows of green tassels.

Bishop.—The same hat as an archbishop, but with only three rows of green tassels.

AbbÉ.—A black hat, with a cord on each side, from which hang two rows of black tassels.

As a matter of fact, the distinction between the hats of archbishops and of bishops appears not to have been generally observed, as we find on the book-plates of most of the bishops that they carried four rows of tassels, that is, ten tassels on each side of their shields. Menestrier admits that the number of tassels is immaterial, but he lays stress on the colour: “Les chapeaux sont rouges pour les Cardinaux, verts pour les ArchevÊques et EvÊques, noirs pour les Protonotaires, et autres dignitez au dessoux des EvÊques.” These colours are shown in the usual heraldic manner.

Here are a few examples of clerical plates. Caumartin, a bishop, after whom they have named a street in Paris; Chabeuf, a modern bishop of Dijon; Barbier, an abbot; and J. F. Seguret, a canon of the cathedral church of Alais. The last is an old plate, and is remarkable because it contains no ecclesiastical emblems, the arms and supporters being purely heraldic. The same remarks apply to the plate of the AbbÉ QuarrÉ de Monay, Canon of Autun, which is dated 1776, and is a characteristic specimen of the plate of the period. Observe the large coronet, the oval shield in a cartouche, the heavy pendent festoons, and the solid square base, all distinctive features of the style Louis XVI. (See reproduction, page 188.)

The plate of Dominique-BarnabÉ Turgot de Saint Clair, bishop of Seez, dated 1716, is a good example of the ecclesiastical plate of the period, in which the mundane coronet is as conspicuous as the bishop’s hat. Bishop Turgot died on December 18th, 1727, leaving a valuable library, which was sold in Paris in 1730.

The ex-libris of the library of the college of Eu, founded by the Duc de Maine in 1729, may be inserted here, as belonging to an educational establishment. It must be confessed that the plate has a very warlike appearance, for it carries the arms of the founder of the college, Louis Auguste de Bourbon, Duc de Maine, who was Captain-General of the Artillery, hence the warlike devices which surround the pedestal. Being a Bourbon, his arms were France, debruised by a baton.

The plate is an interesting example of the artistic regularity which marks the early period of Louis XV. (See next page.)

The armorial plate of the AbbÉ de Bourbon-Rothelin shows by its inescutcheon, and its supporters, that the owner was a descendant of the royal house of Bourbon. Charles d’OrlÉans, AbbÉ de Rothelin, a son of Henri d’OrlÉans, Marquis de Rothelin, was born August 5, 1691, and died July 17, 1744. He was an ardent collector of medals, books, and manuscripts, and was esteemed one of the most learned men of his day. At his death, his library, which was especially rich in early theological works, was sold and dispersed, but his collection of medals was acquired entire for the museum of the Escurial. (See reproduction, page 187.)

The arms, stamped on the sides of the books bound for him resembled those on his ex-libris, but without the columns in the background.

A very large ecclesiastical plate is that of Franciscus Tristanus de Cambon: Episcopus Mirapiscensis. This plate is in the best style of the early period of Louis XVI., and is signed J. Mercadier. Inv. et sculp. The shield is surmounted by the coronet of a count, over which is the bishop’s hat.

The plate of Archambault is a handsome specimen of the work of Sergent, signed “Sergent scul. Carnuti.” The date is very faint, but appears to be 1773.

“Affaires du ClergÉ” on the open book, the tables with the commandments, the mitre and crozier, sufficiently indicate that the owner of the plate was connected with the Church.

Des Livres de M. Dubut is the title of the pretentious book-plate of the CurÉ de Viroflay, signed Le Roy, and dated 1782.

Here we have the arms of this pious son of the Church going straight to Paradise on a thunder-cloud, under the protection of two rather mundane-looking ladies. The world, the flesh, and—but no—the cross of St. Louis in the background prevents the completion of the trio. (See page 181.)

In a somewhat similar style of thunder-cloud decoration is the dated plate of the AbbÉ de Gricourt, already referred to.

The plates of J. A. Le Mercier show that at first over his arms he bore the coronet of a count, but that later on, probably during the revolutionary period, he had that erased to make way for a meaningless finial ornament, on the lower half of which the back part of the coronet can still be seen.

A modern addition to the French literature on book-plates is a sixteen-page pamphlet, entitled, Les Ex-Libris Oratoriens, published in 1892 by Charles Poussielgue, in the Rue Cassette, Paris.

This is a brief sketch of some ecclesiastical ex-libris, written by a priest, the Rev. Father Ingold, of L’Hay, near Paris. The pamphlet contains some facsimile illustrations, of which three are reproductions of exquisite plates designed by M. Claude ThiÈry, of Nancy. These are the plates of the library of the Oratory of Tours, of the library of the Massillon School, and lastly that of the author, Father Ingold, said to be copied from an original miniature, dated 1466. The Ingold family was of Alsatian origin, and the plate is essentially German in its design, the helmet being surmounted by the characteristic proboscis.

This artist, Claude ThiÈry, who died in 1895, excelled in small delicate hand-work, full of minute detail, in the manner of Callot; his own ex-libris is an admirable specimen of his style. A facsimile of it is given as a frontispiece to Henri Bouchot’s Les Ex-Libris. It represents a fifteenth-century student at work amongst his books, with the inscription: “Cestuy livre est À moy Claude Thiery, ymaigier du moult hault et puissant seigneur Monseigneur FranÇois Joseph EmpÉreur.”

By permission of Father Ingold a few of his illustrations of clerical ex-libris are inserted here, namely, those of Quiqueran de Beaujeu, of Joan de Montmeau, of FranÇois Jannart, and the simple little stamp illustrated below, which was used by the priests for marking the books in their own collection in the College of Lyons.

Father Ingold complains, however, that in most of the ancient abbeys and monasteries in France the officials who had charge of the books were content simply to inscribe the name of the establishment in MS. on the title-pages, and did not use book-plates. He gives a long list of these inscriptions (all in Latin), some of which contain allusions to interesting historical and bibliographical facts; but as all these entries are written in, they cannot be considered ex-libris in the sense that we attach to the expression.

A work of the greatest utility to those interested in the study of ecclesiastical book-plates is the “Catalogue des Incunables de la BibliothÈque Publique de BesanÇon,” par Auguste Castan. This was a posthumous book, published in 1893, by J. Dodivers, Grande Rue, BesanÇon.

The author was Conservateur de la BibliothÈque de BesanÇon, a position which gave him ample opportunities for the pursuit of bibliographical studies, to which he devoted his life. The library of BesanÇon is particularly rich in unique early printed books, and in MSS. It contains no less than 985 volumes or pamphlets, printed during the fifteenth century, amongst which are examples of the rarest works from the early printing offices of Germany, Italy, France, and Switzerland.

These are all fully described by Mons. Castan, who gives biographical accounts of their printers, the watermarks on their paper, their bindings, notes concerning their former owners, and, what is more to our purpose, descriptions of the ex-libris found in them.

Of these there appear to be about 500, all being carefully indexed, but the confusing French practice is adopted of including manuscript entries of ownership amongst what we term book-plates.

Several fine old armorials are reproduced, such as those of the “BibliothÈques des Grands-Carmes de BesanÇon, Claud Boisot Canon Cantoris Maj. Bisuntini Prioris Commen De Calce 1749.” (Two varieties.) Nameless armorial of Laurent Chiflet, and a few typographical “Ex Bibliotheca” and book-stamps. The plate inscribed “BibliothÈque des Grands-Carmes de BesanÇon” is one of the reproductions; it was found in a folio, printed in Venice, dated 1481, in which was also a written inscription “fr. B. Bouchier, Conventus Vallenceynarum 1522”—by which was meant the Convent of the Carmelites at Valenciennes. (See next page.)

Those who have been educated in France will remember the solemn annual distribution of prizes. The preparations that were made for weeks beforehand; the erection of the grand stand in the courtyard of the college for the authorities and visitors; the excitement of the day itself; the arrivals of the proud mothers and sisters; the stately procession of the principal, the under principals, the professors, and last of all, the poor, wretched, badgered pions (resident class masters) up to the entrance to receive the PrÉfet of the Department and his staff, resplendent in court dresses stiff with gold embroidery; the prosy speeches, full of platitudes and truisms, addressed to the four or five hundred youngsters simmering in the August sun in closely buttoned-up military uniforms; the report of the principal that the conduct of all had been most exemplary, with other stereotyped phrases equally stale and devoid of truth; and then the solemn march up of the successful prize-winners, and their return laden with books (destined never to be read), gorgeously bound in purple and gold, or blue and silver. In each book was carefully inserted a book-plate, giving the name of the lycÉe, or college, the date, name of prize-winner, and nature of the examination.

The custom is so universal, and has been so long established, both in lay and clerical seminaries, that no class of book-plates is so common in France as these.