Book-Plates

by William John Hardy

Dr. Hector Pömer was the last Prior of the Abbey of St. Laurence in Nuremberg. To him Erasmus gave a copy of his edition of the works of St. Ambrose, issued from Froben's press. That very copy is in the possession of the Rev. H. W. Pereira, and in each of the two thick volumes in which the work is contained is Pömer's book-plate. One is struck with the exquisite detail and treatment; as Mr. Pereira says, in describing the plate, the expression and figure of St. Laurence is full of sweetness and tender pathos.

The list of 'Armories' by Dürer, as printed by Bartsch in vol. vii. of the Peintre-Graveur, gives us some twenty examples, any of which may have been used as book-plates. Some idea as to whether or not an early armorial plate is really a book-plate may, however, be gained by taking its measurement. A very large engraving should be regarded with suspicion, though not necessarily rejected as a book-plate on account of its size. Sir Wollaston Franks possesses a magnificent book-plate, measuring no less than 14 × 10 inches, which is at this moment still fulfilling its original functions. This is certainly the largest example yet discovered. It has been known to collectors for some time in what was believed to be a perfect state, but the copy just mentioned shows that what was thought to be the whole was in reality only a portion of the design, since it lacked the elaborate framework, which is richly embellished with weapons and ensigns, as well as with musical instruments of every description. This book-plate belonged to Count Maximilian Louis Breiner, a distinguished official of the Emperor of Austria in Lombardy. A striking feature in it is the introduction, above the arms of the owner of the plate, of those of Austria, surmounted by the imperial crown, supported by a couple of cherubs. Both the design and engraving are the work of Giuseppe Petrarca, who probably produced them during the closing years of the seventeenth century.

Quite in a distinct style from the other German book-plates mentioned is that figured opposite, which may be dated about the year 1530. It is interesting from its owner, one Paulus Speratus, an ardent preacher of the Lutheran doctrine at Augsburg, Württemberg, Salzburg, and Vienna, and afterwards Bishop of Pomerania, who proved himself ready to undergo suffering in the cause he imagined to be right. He was born in 1484, and died in 1554. The shading in the arms is very peculiar, expressing as it does, on the first and fourth divisions of the shield, argent and vert at a period, as we have seen, long anterior to the use of lines or dots to express the metals or tinctures in heraldry. An explanation is no doubt to be found in the fact that the artist only intended to represent some light colour in the shaded parts, in the same way as in the second and third divisions of the shield he desired in the thickly inked parts to represent sable. The book-plate is now preserved in a copy of the Psalms translated into Russian by Francis Skorina, and printed at Wilna about the year 1525. The peculiar inscription on this book-plate is referred to on [p. 166].

We have spoken somewhat fully about these early examples of German book-plates, because, both from the fact that they are the earliest known to us, and that several of them are the designs of Albert Dürer, they have a very special interest. Space precludes the possibility of alluding in detail to later German examples, though they are, many of them, exceedingly beautiful specimens of the engraver's art, as indeed they may well be considering the men who engraved them—Lucas Cranach, Jost Amman, Hans Troschel, Wolffgang Kilian of Augsburg, and the uncle and nephew Giles and Joseph Sadeler.

Let me, however, speak very tersely of a few examples of the productions of these artists, in order that the reader's attention may be attracted should he come across a specimen of their work.

Two woodcuts by Lucas Cranach have certainly been used as book-plates, though not designed by the artist as such, for they both appear among other cuts in a work illustrated by him. Sir Wollaston Franks possesses both varieties. In one, we have a half-length figure of St. Paul. He is seated, and reading a book, the lines of which he follows with his finger. His head is surrounded with the nimbus, whilst a shaggy beard nearly covers the face. The right hand holds a double sword with the points upwards; beneath this is the shield of the Elector of Saxony. Above the upper line of the plate is an inscription, showing that it was intended to mark the volumes belonging to the 'preachership' ('Predicatur') at Oringen. The other woodcut by Cranach is very similar in design, but the figure represented is that of St. Peter, and it bears the inscription 'Stadt Orngau.'

It is worth remarking that in one instance at least, on removing the book-plate portraying St. Paul, a smaller hand-drawn book-plate was found, which consisted of a shield half red and half white, and upon it a key, placed in pale, countercharged. There is no inscription on this book-plate, nor is there any margin shown—the paper being cut close to the design.

Jost Amman is another German artist who leaves us in a difficulty as to deciding as to which of his many armorial engravings were really intended for book-plates. One undoubted book-plate by him, however, exists, and this was designed for a member of the Nuremberg family of Holzschuher—'Wooden shoes.' Wooden shoes, or sabots, appear as charges on the shield, and afford another example of the punning heraldry which was then fashionable in Germany. This is a fine book-plate, engraved on copper, and signed 'J. A.'; its size, 7³/₄ × 6¹/₈ inches. The shield is supported by two angels and a lion.