RETURN OF BOOKPLATE VOGUE

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 2 December 1933, Page 11

RETURN OF BOOKPLATE VOGUE

jjSli'B fashion is slowly reviving for ibook-lovers to have their own [bookplates, and, to a minor extent, to collect the bookplates of their friends nnd relatives and those bookplates of a bygone day which may still be acquired by exchange or purchase. But since the war bookplates have fallen into „ such disuse that a generation that knew has almost forgotten them, and we have many now who have never seen and barely heard of this method of marking their own books with their naime on an artistically decorated plate, writes Boyd 'Cable in the “Manchester Guardian.’’ ■The Ex-Libris 'Society, whieh published a journal that ran for years, has ceased to exist, and its eighteen volumes can now only be obtained at second-hand bookshops. There is no other society here, so far as I know, to keep alive the fashion of using and collecting bookplates, although, rather curiously, both in Australia and New ‘Zealand, as well as in America, there are flourishing “Ex-Libris’ ’ or bookplate societies which even through the recent spell of depression managed to keep going, to maintain or even increase their membership, and to hold exhibitions or publish booklets showing new designs. Although for centuries it was the fashion for bookplate design to ;be armorial or heraldic, and there are some who retain this old fashion in the reviving one, the more general trend is for the design to illustrate a personal occupation or pleasure or tendency of the owner. 'Sometimes the older and the newer fashions are blended, and a good example of this may be seen in a bookplate of the 'Prince of Wales’s. 'The plate pictures an open old-world lattice window, flanked on both sides by the ends of laden bookshelves. 'Seen through the window is a brig under sail i(a reference to the Prince’s nautical service and his wide travels), and in the foreground of the little picture is a desk with a largo book open upon it so as to display on the two facing pages a monogram “E” and the three feathers and “ilch Dion” crest and motto. The inclusion of a row or pile of books might be called a midway fashion between the armorial—which goes back three to four centuries—and the personal, so that here the three normal types are brought neatly into the one bookplate. The inclusion of an open window in the design is common, mainly, no doubt, because it allows the artist" to picture some outdoor interest, and also to bring in a number of objects indicating the indoor works or pleasures of the owner. It used to be an almost invariable Tule that “Ex Libris’’ or “Out of the Books of’’ or “His Book’’ should be attached to the name of the owner, but in a number of the latest designs now being printed this is dropped, and only thb name is given. And in some cases n design is used which -is merely do-

Smalley Designs Finding Favour

■ eorative and does not appear to have any personal connection with the owner. j nowadays are inclined to j specialise and to concentrate their efI forts on finding specimens of armorial plates, or Jacobean,' * ‘'‘lOhippendaie,” or other recognised types which belonged to- certain periods;, while others hunt for nautical, military, or sporting plates in w'hich the illustration is based on or includes a nautical or other item. That of the Prin’ee, for example, might came under nautical) as would any of the .many others which depict a coat of arms in which an item is of a galley or “ lympaid, ’ ’ an anchor or naval crown, or other nautical object. ■Other collectors look for plates of any age which have a connection with their own family. Those who can trace their family and its connections Iback fdr even a few generations have a richer field for • collecting than they might suppose. Fifty to a hundred years ago the fashion w r as almost a rule thaT a family had its bookplate or ‘.“'Eix hubris.” 'The style of to-day tends towards a small bookplate rather than a large, three to three and a half inches square or oblong being about the limit to allow a reasonable margin outside the printed portion when pasted in the normal novel-sized book. 'Woodcuts, which for many generations, had to be used for printing, are still in favour, because the w r oodeut lends itself to the bold and distinctive design which becomes the artistic plate. iLino printing and stencilling are also in some favour, but many who w r ish to own a bookplate and have to find an artist to design one of them get the drawing made in pen and ink, and have a plate made and prints taken by their own printer in the present-day methods.

There are several ways in which the collector may pursue his hobby. The most laborious, which still may yield the richer prizes of rare old plates, is to hunt through the stock in the sec-ond-hand bookshops and stalls, and either buy the book or bargain for the plate from it. In making any such search, remember that in old books a plate may be found cither in the normal position inside the front cover or inside the back cover, and sometimes in both. Those with a longer purse than patience may buy whole batches of plates from dealers specialising; in them, or may buy other people’s collections that come into the auctionroom, or rmay advertise for what they want in particular. 'But the average collector follows an easier course than either of these two. If he has no't a bookplate he gets one designed and printed. Then he writes to all his friends and relatives or almost anyone he thinks may own a bookplate, encloses a print of his own, says lie is collecting, and ibegs the favour of an exchange.