François Courboin, Félicien Rops, and Paul Avril have also produced some light and graceful designs for modern ex-libris.
The style of a book-plate may be taken as some indication of the tastes and nature of the owner, and this is particularly true of modern French ex-libris, in which artistic fancy and originality have full swing. From this point of view a collection may have more value than might at first be supposed. It would be claiming too much to assert that no great man ever had an ugly or an inappropriate ex-libris, yet it may be safely assumed that few but men of taste and culture possess really artistic book-plates.
CHAPTER XVII.
ARTISTS AND ENGRAVERS WHOSE SIGNATURES ARE FOUND UPON FRENCH BOOK-PLATES.
It must be borne in mind that a large proportion of the early French plates bore no owners’ names, although they were frequently signed by the engraver. Many of these plates have been identified by the arms, the mottoes, or other peculiarities in design, but some still remain unidentified.
Where engraved dates appear on the ex-libris these have been mentioned, but no notice has been taken of dates inserted in manuscript, these, as is well known, being quite unreliable.
For certain engravers, on whose work no date has been found, a century has been named approximately from an examination of the plates they produced.