friend Saml Farmer Jarvis. Siena, Septemb, 24. 1832.”—is described by Hewins as: “Armorial. Literary. Mottoes ‘Hora e sempre,’ and ‘Sola salus servire Deo.’ The shield rests against a pile of books, and, above, the cross and crown are seen in a blaze of glory.”
S. F. Jarvis, son of the bishop, was born at Middletown, in Connecticut, in 1786, and from his tastes and scholarship his name is well worthy of record where books are concerned. In 1826 he sailed for England, and spent nine years in literary study, exploring many of the great libraries of Europe. The fruit of these labours may be seen in some valuable works afterwards published. His fine collection of paintings and interesting library were sold after his death in 1851.
Leaving now the armorial plates, and coming to a literary name which is almost as familiar a sound in London as in New York, we find the bookplate of Oliver Wendell Holmes, a charming original design—a nautilus shell, with the motto “per ampliora ad altiora.”
“If you will look into Roget’s Bridgewater Treatise,” said the autocrat one morning, “you will find a figure of one of these shells and a section of it. The last will show you the series of enlarging compartments successively dwelt in by the animal that inhabits the shell, which is built in a widening spiral.”
“Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, as the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea.”
A very curious plate is that of Laurence Hutton, the author. The plate consists mainly of a full-length portrait of William Makepeace Thackeray, with “Laurence Hutton” inscribed under it! The author of Vanity Fair stands in an arched doorway, which leads to bookcases and books. Laurence Hutton was born in the city of New York in 1843. As a writer he is well known on both sides of the ocean, and for twenty years he always spent the summer months in England.
Turning from peace to war, the bookplate of Lieutenant E. Trenchard, of the United States Navy, represents another side of life. In this plate, as, happily, in almost all bookplates of American origin, the name is there clear and unmistakable. Behind the horizontal oval bearing the name, are flags, cannon, cannon-balls, and an anchor. The owner of this plate was born in New Jersey in 1784, and on April 30th, 1800, he was appointed a midshipman in the United States Navy, and became lieutenant on February 18th, 1807. In the war of 1812 to 1815 he commanded the Madison in some of her engagements on Lake Ontario, and also rendered distinguished service at the blockade of Kingston. These were stirring times, and the following exact quotation from, not improbably, the only copy in existence of a tiny printed manual, is of real interest. Following Article II. are many other regulations. Then, Firelock Manual of the Sergeants, and the full name of every member of this patriotic band.
CONSTITUTION.