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BOOKPLATES THE WORLD OF EX-LIBRIS |
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A historical retrospective 4 EX-LIBRIS: A THEMATIC APPROACH |
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4b BOOKS AND LIBRARY INTERIORS 1680-1930
Even if in the last fifty or eighty years, the link between ex-libris
and books has sometimes become more tenuous, there is, and
must be, a symbiosis between them. Ever since armorial compositions
in bookplates have been placed in a pictorial setting,
library interiors and books have been an obvious choice for
artists. The range of expression, with time, grew wider, encompassing
pride in one’s library to the world of imagination and
dream into which a book leads the reader. The following selection
is but a small illustrative choice within a wide range of book-related
motifs.
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4b/1. ? (CH)  SIGMUND VON ERLACH, C2, 87 x 75, c.1680.
Weg 1850.
Viz. Gerster, ill. p. 23. Marshal of France and Advocate-general of the town of Berne, von Erlach (1614-1699) had this and a second similar plate made for his books. The other differs in that only portrait medallions figure at the top of the bookshelves, whereas on this plate they alternate with his arms. One of the earliest examples of ‘rocaille’ and fish-scale cartouche decoration, which was to reach its peak a century later. |
4b/2. Johann Ulrich Kraus (D, 1655-1719) ZACHARIAS
CONRAD AB UFFENBACH, C2, 124 x 150, c.1700. W 2240.
Viz. Warnecke ill. Four sizes of this bookplate were made for the Frankfurt bibliophile Uffenbach. Obviously, each time the artist engraved from the start a new plate with the same motif, as photographic processes did not exist. |
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4b/3. George Vertue (GB, 1684-1756) HENRIETTA
CAVENDISH HOLLES, C2, 120 x 75, c.1730.
Viz. BNL #54.
Another gem by the great engraver Vertue (see 2e/7, 2e/8 and 2f/9), for the wife of Edward Harley, second Earl of Oxford. It was made for the books she received as presents, and the lower engraved line reads ‘Given me by’, to which she added by hand my Lord, Jan. 1731. |
4b/4. Johann Ernst Gericke (D) JOHANN KARL WILHELM
MOEHSEN, C2, 194 x 147, 1757. W 1320.
Viz. L-W p. 277.
A fascinating plate> on the lower part of the column on the left, there is a picture of Moehsen’s library burning, and the date of September 1, 1753< the date of 1756 above the door indicates when this Berlin doctor, bibliophile and coin collector installed his new library to replace the one which burnt. Formerly in the Butler/Strong collection. |
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4b/5. Johann Jakob Müller (D, 1765-1832) VON
EMMINGHAUS, C2, 101 x 75, c.1790. W 460.
Müller worked in Hanover. The coin cabinet below the arms is worth noting, as are the little putti moving books – one wonders whether they are tidying up the library at the end of the day – if so, most useful! |
4b/6. Georg D. Heumann (D, 1691-1759) G. LUDWIG
BöHMER, C2, 87 x 93, c.1750.
Böhmer was a professor of law at Göttingen University, where Heumann was working at the time, but the artist also worked in Nuremberg. |
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4b/7. ? (F) ALPHONSE LAURENT ANTOINE SALAMON, C2,
123 x 85, c.1770.
Viz. Hamilton, ill. p. 4.
Ostriches are most uncommon as heraldic supporters – but the idea of having ostriches in a library is even more charming. Salamon (1747-1815) was the Secretary of State of the Vatican for Avignon. |
4b/8. Heneage Finch (GB, 1751-1812)) IPSE, C3, 88 x 96,
c.1780. F 10493.
Viz. BNL #90.
The Earl of Aylesford etched this ex-libris for his own books, as he was a good amateur artist. This plate is often mistakenly attributed to Piranesi, though the inscription is obviously weak. |
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4b/9. Josef Mörl (D, = 1735) ABBEY OFWEIHENSTEPHAN, C2, 100 x 68, c.1750. W2397. Viz. L-W p. 245. A fine plate by this Augsburg artist, with a figure whose garb makes one think that the Benedictines of Weihenstephan took the defence of the Faith seriously. |
4b/10. Christian Gottlieb Tobias (D, 1769-1813) IPSE, C3,
65 x 88, c.1775. W2192.
An important German artist from Dresden, who was also a professor of anatomy and painter of flowers and landscapes. Tobias’ choice of a library interior with a lion in it seems wonderfully imaginative. Perhaps he didn’t like people going into his library... or thought a lion would defend his books. |
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4b/11. Gravelot (F/GB, 1699-1773) JOHN CONYERS, C2 + C3,
104 x 69, c.1740.
Viz. GMN p.112.
Hubert François Bourguignon, called Gravelot, is without doubt one of the most important designers and engravers of his time, both in Britain, where he spent a great deal of his life, and in France, where he settled back in Paris in 1745. He designed a number of ex-libris in England, and seven in France. |
4b/12. Francesco Bartolozzi (I/GB, 1727-1825) SOPHIA
MERRICK HOARE, C2, 63 x 50, c. 1810. F 14878.
Another foreign artist in Britain who was the author of many fine designs (see 2f/6 and 2j/11). This is perhaps his most beautiful plate, for Sophia Merrick Hoare (1771-1824). |
4b13 - 4b23
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