So much for allegory on English book-plates. It is to the credit of Englishmen that Allegoric work did not become popular until something really artistic in this particular style was produced, and that, even before that time, allegory never ran quite so wild on English book-plates as it did on foreign examples. M. Poulet Malassis assures us that into one French book-plate of the last century were crowded the whole personnel of Olympus!
CHAPTER V
ENGLISH 'PICTURE' BOOK-PLATES
In turning now to consider English book-plates which show us, apart from the heraldry upon them, things wholly real, we find much that is interesting. First, we have 'Portrait' book-plates, those which, either combined with heraldry or entirely without it, show us the features of the owner of the volume. There are but few of such book-plates, but they are so interesting that we shall speak of them by themselves later on ([pp. 216-220]); they are common to all periods, and the fashion of using them has increased lately.
Then we have book-plates in which books themselves—book piles or book shelves—are the predominating feature in the design; with these, Sir Arthur Vicars, in the pages of the Ex Libris Journal, has dealt exhaustively. Though the book-plates which show us library interiors would seem naturally to come into this class of examples, I have been forced to except the majority of them, and to speak of them in the previous chapter, as being in nearly every case at least tinged with allegory. Even in the sanctum of a doctor of divinity, Cupid frolics about as happy, and as busy, as in a maiden's boudoir. Still there are a few 'Library Interiors' entirely free from allegory. Take, for instance, the book-plate of Sir Robert Cunliffe. Here we have the interior of a library with a window to the right. Every ornament is thoroughly 'Chippendale' in character; the legs of the table, the cartouche (which contains the name), the shield, and the woodwork surrounding the window. On the table is a globe, upon a stand, the supports of which terminate in Chippendale scrolls, an inkstand with a pen on it, and two books, one closed, and the other open. There are numbers of books confusedly disposed on the shelves, the ceiling of the room is plain, and there is only a plain line for a cornice. The arms occupy the centre of the plate, and appear to be suspended in mid-air, the foot of one of the scrolls only resting on the table.
Again, the book-plates of 'The Manchester Subscription Library,' 'The Manchester Circulating Library,' and 'The Rochdale Circulating Library' all show interiors of libraries, but free from allegoric inmates. These three book-plates are nearly identical. There are shelves of books at the sides, a tiled floor, a table in the foreground, a panelled ceiling with a cornice; and, at the end of the room, perhaps a passage. There is a round arch containing a window of three lights, the centre one having a round top. The general appearance of the room is classical Very similar is the book-plate of the Liverpool Library. Here we have a complicated Chippendale bookcase, with ten columns upon square bases, and ornamental capitals of no particular style. The shelves are filled with books, and the two central divisions of the bookcase are all cupboards. In the centre of the case, among Chippendale scrolls, is the crest of the town, and below the central division of the bookcase are the words 'Liverpool Library' in two lines. Below the whole is a large cartouche, in the same style as the rest of the plate, inscribed, 'Allowed for reading .... days. Forfeiture, ... d. per day.' Mr. J. Paul Rylands, in his interesting Notes on Book-Plates, tells us that this library, now the Lyceum, was founded on the 1st of May 1758; the book-plate was, no doubt, engraved soon afterwards, as all the ornamentation introduced is certainly 'Chippendale.' So, too, is that on the book-plate engraved by John Pine in 1750, which the Benchers of Gray's Inn used for their volumes. Here a shell-shaped shield, bearing the arms of the 'Learned and Honourable Society,' is apparently fastened on to a background of book-shelves filled with books. So much for the 'Library Interiors.' The arrangement of the volumes in the other book-plates in which books form the chief feature of decoration, is generally like that shown opposite in the book-plate of William Hewer, a Commissioner of the Navy, and the friend and secretary of Samuel Pepys. How the scroll, on which are either the owner's arms or his name, is supported, is not clear.
