About this same date Michael Burghers was engraving book-plates in England; he appears to have left Holland in 1672, and to have settled in Oxford. The earliest book-plate of his that I have seen is that of Thomas Gore, already described; perhaps he found the allegory with which he embellished it was not popular with Englishmen, and[201]
[202] his other book-plates—we know of two or three—are in the 'Simple Armorial' style usual in English book-plates of the period. Lord De Tabley suggests that Christopher Sartorius, who worked at Nuremberg between 1674 and 1737, may be connected with the James Sartor who signed a fine English 'Jacobean' book-plate at the opening of the eighteenth century; of this James we know nothing except this piece of work, which is certainly good. After Sartor comes John Pine, whose pompous book-plate, engraved about the year 1736, to commemorate George I.'s gift of books to the University of Cambridge, has been described and figured (p. 75). He was born in 1690, and died in 1756. His engravings of the Tapestry in the House of Commons became so popular, that he was the subject of a special Act of Parliament securing to him the emoluments arising from the sale of the work. Pine, as we have seen, engraved other book-plates later on in the century.

Michael Vandergucht, the famous Antwerp engraver, was also working in England before the close of the seventeenth century, but his first book-plate is dated in 1716. This was engraved for Sir William Fleming, of Rydal, and is in many respects a striking piece of work. The style is quite English of the period: heavy mantling descends to the base of the shield; but the inscription—'The Paternal Arms of Sir William Fleming of Rydal in the county of Westmoreland, Baronet,' with a description of the heraldry—savours much of being the work of a foreigner. It should be mentioned of this artist that he was pupil of one of the many Boutats who were active as engravers of foreign book-plates. He (Vandergucht) died in Bloomsbury in 1725.

After him we may appropriately mention his principal pupil—George Vertue. His most conspicuous book-plate is certainly that of Lady Oxford, which is already familiar to the reader.

Simon Gribelin is well known as a book-illustrator, and finds frequent mention by Walpole. He was born at Blois in 1661, came to England when nineteen, and worked here till his death in 1733. Perhaps the earliest book-plate he engraved is that of Sir Philip Sydenham, which shows us the shield and crest encircled with snakes and other ornaments,—a book-plate decidedly foreign in appearance, though Gribelin must have been nearly twenty years in England when it was engraved. He did two other book-plates for Sir Philip. He also engraved some of the Parochial Library plates described later on (pp. 225-227), and some others.

Though 'J. Skinner'[16] (see pp. 81-86), an engraver who worked at Bath, does not find mention in any dictionary of engravers, yet he deserves notice from the student of book-plates for the great quantity of his work in that field—nearly all dated, and some really very excellent. Of Skinner, Lord De Tabley writes:—'I would gladly learn some biographical details'; but he failed to find any, and I have been equally unfortunate. At the British Museum there is no Bath newspaper or directory sufficiently early to contain either an advertisement by Skinner or a mention of his place of residence; in the Bath Directory of 1812 the name is represented by two grocers, a publican, a gardener, and one private resident—a Miss Skinner who lived at 3 St. James's Parade. Sir Wollaston Franks tells me that, amongst the engravers who vouched for the perfection of Sympson's New Book of Cypher—'the most perfect and neatest drawn of any performance of the kind hitherto extant'—was one Jacob Skinner, and it is very likely this was our friend the engraver of book-plates, who laboured at Bath from 1739 to 1753. He worked in three successive styles of English book-plate engraving—the Armorial, the Jacobean, and the Chippendale; a fact which renders his plates of special interest to collectors, since it enables them to see how the same hand treats the succeeding styles when fully developed, and during their gradual change from one style into the other. His earliest dated book-plate that we know is that for the library of Sir Christopher Musgrave (figured opposite), and the next, five years later, that of 'John Conyers of Walthamstow in Essex, Esq.' Here the ornamentation is quite Jacobean; the shield is oval, with wing-like excrescences at the top and on either side—that at the top forming a background to the helmet which supports the crest. Next year (1738) Skinner produced the book-plate[205]
[206] of 'Francis Carington, Esq., of Wotton, Warwickshire'—in appearance even earlier than that of Musgrave. Some of this early appearance is perhaps due to an absence of indication of the tinctures on the shield—a habit which, as we shall presently see, Skinner followed in one or two other instances. A slight mantling falls from an esquire's helmet and descends a little way down the shield till it joins the Jacobean scroll-work, and the owner's name and description are upon a fringed cloth. But the feature to note in this book-plate is the monogrammatic form of the engraver's signature: 'JS symbol.' It is the first time he uses it, and in his subsequent dated work he appears always to have adopted some similar form, this being the most frequent:—'JS symbol.kin^r.'

I have spoken of J. Skinner as a Bath engraver, but the reader will observe that none of the book-owners, whose book-plates by him I have as yet named, are specially connected with Bath, and on none has the engraver mentioned it as his place of residence; but insomuch as then—in the palmy days of the reign of King Nash—all roads led to Bath, it is probable that, at the fashionable season, the Cumberland baronet, as well as the Essex and Warwickshire squires, found his way thither, and followed the fashion by having a book-plate engraved, just as he would follow it, during his sojourn in the ancient city, by squandering his time and injuring his digestion with late hours and a surfeit of generally unwholesome gaiety. The next dated[207]
[208] book-plate by Skinner bears this out; on this, engraved in 1739, he gives Bath as his place of abode; but this book-plate is that of Francis Massy of Rixton, Lancashire; it is similar in design to the Carington just mentioned and figured.

But earlier in style than any of Skinner's work yet mentioned is the book-plate of 'William Hillary, M.D.,' dated in 1743; here the mantling descends nearly to the base of the shield, quite in the 'Armorial' style. This seems to be his latest work in early fashion. In 1741 he had designed a book-plate for 'John William Fuhr,' in which there are clear indications of Chippendale ornamentation. This is indeed a transitional book-plate; it has a Jacobean shield, which the artist has adorned with Chippendale ornament; the tinctures are only partially expressed and the shield remains symmetrical, though the floral sprays and shell-work give it, at first sight, the appearance of not being so. Identical, almost, with this book-plate is that done by Skinner for 'Henry Pennant,' and dated in 1742; and like it, but weaker, is that of 'Tho^s. Haviland, Bath,' dated in the same year.

Skinner's next book-plates are those of 'Charles Delafaye, Esq., of Wichbury, Wilts' (1743); 'Johnson Robinson' (1744); 'John Hughes of Brecon, Esq^re.'; and 'Benja: Adamson' (1745); 'Hen. Toye Bridgeman, Esq., of Princknash, Gloucestershire' (1746); 'Henry Walters, Esq.,' and 'John Wodroofe' (1747), [209]
[210]and 'Tho^s. Fitzherbert, Esq.,' (1749). All these last-named book-plates are much on a level as regards artistic merit, and that level is not a high one; Benjamin Adamson's book-plate, figured on p. 209, is a fair example of it, though it is not so good as the Bridgeman book-plate of the same year. In 1750, however, we find a more noteworthy specimen of Skinner's work in the book-plate of 'Francis Fleming.' There is a Scotch look about this, which suggests that the owner, and not the engraver, was responsible for its design; the shield is oddly shaped and is on a medallion, whilst musical instruments of various kinds are figured beneath; Sir Wollaston Franks points out to me that the Fleming coat of arms here represented is borne only by the family of the Earls of Wigtown. The same year (1750) Skinner did an ordinary Chippendale book-plate for Dr. Robert Gusthart, whose name appears in the Bath Guide as a doctor in practice there in 1773.

In 1751 Skinner engraved a pleasing Chippendale book-plate for William Oliver, a son of his more famous namesake, whose book-plate, also by Skinner, has been already described in these pages (p. 85). Young Oliver's plate shows a remarkable fineness of touch, and is altogether in very good taste—not over-ornamented. Two years later we have the latest known example of Skinner's work: the book-plate of 'The Rev^d I. Dobson, A.M.,' which is coarse in execution, and suggests that the artist's skill as an engraver was diminishing.

Of the twenty-two known book-plates by Skinner[211]
[212] only two are undated, Dr. Oliver's, already described (p. 85), and that of Sir John Smyth, Bart., LL.D. This last he must have executed early in his career. The shield bearing the arms stands upon a platform, and is Jacobean in shape and ornamentation; the background is shaded. Clumsily drawn and clumsily posed female figures, partly draped, stand upon bracket-like excrescences that spring from the shield, whilst cupids recline below it and hold it aloft.

What happened to Skinner after 1753 I have failed to discover. He is certainly an interesting person from a book-plate collector's point of view, and it is to be hoped something more about him may some day be brought to light. In considering his identity it is worth remembering that a little after his disappearance, viz. in 1755, another West of England engraver named Skinner—Matthew Skinner of Exeter, is found working on book-plates. He signs three examples, all designed in the Chippendale style—'Jean Eli JaquÉri de Moudon en Suisse, NÉ en 1732'; 'S^r Edm^d Thomas, Bart.,' and 'Peregrine Fra^s Thorne.' The two first are ordinary Chippendale examples, but in the third many implements of the soldier's art are introduced.

Another very prolific engraver of book-plates—unknown except in that capacity—was 'Robert Mountaine.' His book-plates are frequently dated, but the dates are placed in the most obscure positions, and in the smallest of figures, so it needs a careful study of the engravings to discover them. He laboured wholly in the Chippendale style; his touch is peculiar, and his treatment graceful. Roughly speaking, he worked from 1740 to 1755. His signature varies—sometimes it is 'R.M.,' sometimes 'Mountaine.'

The following are a few of his book-plates:—

A list of nearly sixty book-plates by Mountaine is given in the Ex Libris Journal, ii. p. 46.

Hogarth's book-plates have been already described in this volume. The 'W. H.' who signs certain examples, once wrongly ascribed to Hogarth, was a certain William Hibbart, who, like Skinner, was a Bath artist, and etched portraits after the manner of Worlidge. Lord De Tabley mentions that Worlidge himself executed a book-plate—that of the Honourable Henrietta Knight—which he signs in full. Worlidge was certainly a distinguished engraver; his etchings after Rembrandt are excellent and highly prized. He died in 1766.

The work of Sir Robert Strange as a book-plate engraver has been already referred to. Both Lumisden's and Dr. Drummond's book-plates were probably executed after Strange's departure from England, and therefore after 1745. His continental visit was rendered necessary, or at least expedient, by the manner in which he had identified himself with the Stuart cause during the then recent troubles. He had joined the Jacobite Life-Guards, and employed his artistic ability in designing pay-notes for the Jacobite soldiers. After studying some time in Paris under Le Bas, he returned to England, where he remained till 1760. He then went back to the Continent, where his ability was freely appreciated, and where he was loaded with decorations at Rome and Florence. England at length recognised his merit, and in 1787 the King conferred upon him a knighthood, which he lived for five years to enjoy. His devotion to the House of Stuart never altered; the inscription beneath one of his most celebrated portraits reads 'Charles James Edward Stuart, called the Young Pretender.'

After the days of Strange, an innumerable number of artists sign their names to English book-plates; yet, with three exceptions, the names of none are known to fame till we come to those of a comparatively recent date. The exceptions are Francis Bartolozzi, John Keys Sherwin, and Thomas Bewick. Bartolozzi, the man of whom Sir Robert Strange displayed such ill-concealed jealousy, began to work in England about four years after the accession of George III., though it was some years before his worth was appreciated by the people with whom he came to reside. None of his book-plates belong to a date prior to 1770 or 1780. He removed to Lisbon in 1802 to take charge of the National Academy, and while there, it will be remembered, engraved an Englishman's book-plate in 1805 (see p. 95). His death took place at Lisbon in 1815. Sherwin was born in poverty, and, owing largely to his own folly, died in it, after having at one time amassed a considerable sum of money. He was a pupil of Bartolozzi, gained the Royal Academy gold medal in 1772, and was appointed Engraver to the King in or about 1785. His book-plate work is referred to at p. 72.

Thomas Bewick, who, as we have seen (pp. 108-13), was the most prolific of any English engraver of book-plates, was born at Cherry Burn, in Northumberland, in 1753, and died in 1828. The incidents in his history are too well known to need repetition here, and his work upon book-plates has been already mentioned. It may be, however, noticed that his earliest book-plate is dated in 1797, the year in which he published the first volume of his British Birds.