French Book-plates

by Walter Hamilton

A collector might divide his French plates under the following heads:

1. Heraldic. Subdivided thus: Before 1639. From 1639 to 1789. From 1789 to 1804. From 1804 to the restoration of the Monarchy. Modern plates. Plates having printed dates to be kept apart from those not dated.

2. Pictorial. Subdivided thus: Woodcuts. Copper plates. Etchings. Lithographs. And, again, as library interiors, portraits, war trophies, ladies’ plates, landscapes, punning plates, etc.

3. Artists. A collection of signed plates carefully arranged under the names of their artists would, no doubt, be of great interest for comparison and study, but rather more for the lover of engraving pur et simple than for the lover of ex-libris, or for the student of heraldry and family history.

The great difficulty of any system of classification by the design is, that some plates might very properly be placed under three or four categories, so that, unless the collection be carefully indexed, the trouble is great in seeking hurriedly for any particular plate. The labour involved in writing an exhaustive index can only be appreciated by those who have once made one, and many who start zealously to work at the outset, let the new additions fall in arrear, and the whole scheme is then abandoned as being too troublesome.

In conclusion, I can only repeat that the choice of the system of arrangement depends more upon the tastes of the collector himself than upon any other consideration; but that, on the whole, the balance of advantages appears to incline in favour of the alphabetical classification under surnames, keeping each family as distinct as the information, heraldic and other, on the plates will allow.

Plates of royalty and nobility should be kept apart from the commoners, and arranged, first, in order of rank, second, alphabetically by name. The method most generally in use at present for preserving the plates, when arranged, appears to be what is known as the ex-libris case. If this arrangement be adopted, then each plate must be separately mounted on a card of the correct size. These cases and cards can be purchased ready for use from Mr. W. H. Batho, of 7, Gresham Street, London, and the advantages of this arrangement are that any plate or plates can be withdrawn without injury, and additions can at any time be made, whilst the backs of the cards may be utilized for MS. information about either the plate or its former owner, and newspaper cuttings can be affixed. If the plates are to be inserted in albums, the following regulations should be carefully observed:

Arrange the plates on one side only of each leaf in the album, allowing ample room for additions in each division of the alphabet. On no account fasten the plate down firmly on the paper, fix it only at one or two corners with a hinge made of gummed paper, or of the outside strip which surrounds sheets of postage stamps.

This method allows of the easy removal of any plate without damage, either to the plate or the album, as often as may be desired. The convenience of this will be readily appreciated by veteran collectors, who know how often one wants to exchange one plate for another, and how many good examples have been damaged in the attempt to remove them when once they have been firmly fixed down with gum or “stickphast” paste.

Albums are more convenient for large plates than the cases. They are also better adapted for showing off several varieties of a plate on one page, whilst, for collections in large numbers, they are certainly rather cheaper.