The fashion of 'dating,' as a rule, went out about the year 1714, about the time at which, as we shall see, a new 'style' in book-plates became generally adopted. Anonymous book-plates are rare after this date, though, both in England and on the Continent, they were, in early times, certainly common—a fact which bears silent testimony to the much greater intimacy which people in the good old days had with their neighbours' armorial bearings. The coat of arms of a man of position was almost as well known to those dwelling about him as were the features of his face; and if a volume, having within it an Armorial book-plate, happened to be found in wrongful custody, the finder might recognise the heraldry of the owner, even if he could not read the inscription recording that ownership.
So much for the early use of book-plates in England. In the next chapter I propose to say something about the leading styles of decoration employed by their designers.
CHAPTER III
'STYLES' IN ENGLISH BOOK-PLATES
Lord De Tabley has given us names for nearly all the styles met with in English book-plates, and it is perhaps better to accept these descriptions in the present work, adding to them another—'Simple Armorial'—for the earliest plates, and, indeed, for the great majority of those anterior to 1720.
It is not only in book-plates that we see this style adopted: it is used in almost every representation of shields of arms in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, be it on a memorial brass, in sculpture, or on a stained glass window. The style is simple and effective. The shield, nearly always symmetrical, is surmounted by a helmet, on which is the wreath and crest. From the helmet is outspread more or less voluminous mantling. In the earlier examples this terminates, generally in tassels, before reaching the base of the shield. In later examples its heavy folds descend quite to the base, and often ascend upwards from the helmet to the level of the top of the crest. Below the shield is a narrow scroll for the motto, which is not always given, and at the bottom of all is a bracket (on which the owner's name is inscribed), having indented edges. Occasionally, but not often, the mantling, instead of being foliated, hangs from the helmet in stiff folds at the back of the shield, its upper corners being tied up and tasselled. The book-plate of Thomas Knatchbull, dated in 1702 (shown on [p. 51]), is a very fair, though not a very early, example of this style. In some instances the shield is placed on one side—its right hand upper corner being thus brought to the centre of the helmet. The Simple Armorial style was, roughly speaking, not much used after 1720.
Besides the book-plates described in the foregoing chapter, nearly all of which belong to the 'Armorial' style, there are sundry others worthy of particular observation, should the reader meet with them. There is, for instance, the book-plate of 'The Right Honble James, Earl of Derby, Lord of Man and ye Isles, 1702'; the grandson of the James, seventh Earl, who suffered for his loyalty, and of the gallant Charlotte Trémouille. This is a large and very striking book-plate in every way; its size makes possible the introduction of some fine bold work, which is rendered even more effective by the fact that the arms portrayed are simply those of Stanley; so that there is no crowding in of quarterings. The decoration is that common to the book-plates of peers, or of other persons entitled to use supporters at the time: the mantling spreads from the helmet, and terminates at the heads of the supporters; these stand upon the motto-scroll. There is a smaller variety of this book-plate—one of the ordinary size—which is not so pleasing. When Earl James died, in 1736, the Earldom of Derby devolved on his kinsman, Sir Edward Stanley, Bart., whose book-plate, larger and finer than that just described, is really a very beautiful piece of work in the Jacobean style; the arms are Stanley impaling Hesketh, and the size of the book-plate is 65/8 × 51/4 in.
Similar examples of large-sized book-plates are furnished by those of 'The Honourable Iames Brydges of Wilton Castle, in Hereford Shere' (where the effect is somewhat marred by the number of quarterings displayed); 'Sir William Brownlowe of Belton, in the County of Lincoln, Baronet, 1698,' and his wife 'Dame Alice Brownlowe;' Lord Roos and his wife, Lady Roos; 'Paul Jodrell of Duffield, in ye County of Derby, Esqr, Clerk of ye Honble House of Commons'—a particularly bold piece of work; and 'Sr John Wentworth of North Elmeshall, in the West Rideing of Yorkshire, Baronet.' It is probable that all these, and other large-sized English book-plates, also exist, or existed, in the ordinary size (see [pp. 18], [19]). The largest English book-plate, and one which, from its unusual size, is certain to attract attention, is that of 'Simon Scroope of Danby-super-Yore, in com. Ebor., Esq., 1698'; here, too, much of the good effect is lost by the number of quarterings (no less than twenty-seven) introduced upon the shield.