We are again taken far down below the waves, in the plate of William Ashmead Courtenay, of Charleston, S.C. Down indeed, to the very bottom of the ocean, where the weeds grow, and the dolphin feeds. Above, the waves are rolling, and a far stretch of water is seen. The view is enclosed within a square frame which bears the name.
The Rev. Wm. R. Huntington, rector of Grace Church, New York City, uses a design which is adapted from a frontispiece by Walter Crane for the “Fairy Tales” of the Brothers Grimm, and which represents a youth, with long curls falling from under his cap, opening the door of a house, with a huge key. Upon the roof, two cupids, in imminent danger of sliding off, are making music with lyre and voice. A few stars shine against the night, and the light of the moon falls across the face of the structure, revealing the huge orange-trees in fruit, which flank the doorway. The motto, In veritate victoria, is carved upon the steps, and the name Huntington is given at the very top of the design.
Other plates whose principal features are “bookish” are those of Henry A. Morgan, which has simply a large book, open, with blank leaves: on one is inscribed The page in waiting; of Edward Denham, which has an owl perched upon an open volume, upon whose pages are the following names, Bede, Camden, Bradford, Chaucer, Shakspere, Sandys, with the torch of knowledge and the wreath of victory behind it: the wreath is tied with a ribbon which bears the
motto—Nulla dies sine linea: of Charles F. Jilson, Chicago, on whose plate simply a closed book is seen, with a palette resting upon it; the brush and the drawing tools reveal the art of the owner, while the half-covered lyre upon the book-cover may be an indication of his hobby;—of Alfred Trumble, of New York City, who displays a table whereon the bust of Minerva, the student-lamp, the scroll, ink-stand and quill, and the books jostle each other in delightful literary confusion;—of the Hon. John E. Russell, of Boston, who shows the owl of Minerva seated upon the books of the scholar: the globe, materials for writing, and the lamp of knowledge are disposed about, and the whole is encircled by an oval wreath of holly.
The plate of Thomas J. McKee, of New York City, represents a volume of Shakespeare’s Works, open to the title-page, which is occupied principally by a portrait of the famous author playwright. The arms and name appear upon the fly-leaf of the book, other books are at hand, and the following lines are given at the foot:—