A variety from the sometimes too stern formality of ex libris designs is found in the plate engraved by D. Collin for Monsieur Riston. A fantastic R., or perhaps A. R., is figured on an oval, with child figures, a few books, and a pen and ink, all apparently in the open-air around.
The ex libris of Pierre Antoine Berryer is not of any striking character, but is a fair specimen. In 1855 he was elected to the Académie Francaise; but he was best known for his great defence of Count Montalembert before the French Courts in 1858.
Alsace and Lorraine have given us some good specimens of bookplates, and as might be expected, the manners and styles of several nations are here included. In some an interesting feature is the introduction of a view of the owner’s parish church.
CHAPTER VI
BOOKPLATES WITH MANTLING
Viscount Cholmondeley—James Loch of Drylaw—William Pitt of Binfield.
MR. G. F. BARWICK, to whom the Mercator ex libris belongs, has kindly sent me the following:—
“Nicholas Mercator was born at Cismar, Holstein, about 1620, and after completing his studies in Copenhagen he continued to reside there until 1660, when he came to England. His fame as a mathematician was already well established, and he was almost immediately elected a member of the Royal Society, which had recently been founded. Some years later he entered the service of Louis XIV., and superintended the construction of the fountains at Versailles. For this work, however, he could not obtain payment, in consequence of his refusal to become a Catholic, and the trouble which it caused him is said to have shortened his life. He wrote a number of
