Page 36 - The Studio First Edition - April 1893

Designing for Book-Plates

Heraldry prove to be superbly capable, set forth should be distinguished from a student of the
meanly and without spirit. Apart from the artistic drama ; the general reader might prefer an eclectic
rendering it may be design ;
while the
questioned if a book- specialist would rigidly
plate entirely heraldic limit the artist to his
in character is suf- particular theme —
ficiently personal. poetry, history, either
It is true that when of the sciences or
properly quartered, and 'ologies, whichever it
set forth with due at- might happen to be.
tention to the science, Its decoration,simple
the actual " John or complex, must at
Smith " entitled to least be consistent, and
bear arms is clearly with ordered balance of
distinguished—at least, parts, to be successful.
to one skilled in her- A ruined abbey with a
aldry—from others of foreground showing a
his family. Yet we classical statue, sur-
often find, the family rounded by herbage,
arms passed on with- wherein rest, more or
out alteration from less gracefully, some
father to son ; whether books, the portrait of
Samuel Wilberforce (to BOOK-PLATE OF FRED TREHAWK DAVIES. DESIGNED BY the owner, and a label
take an actual instance) HERBERT P. HORNE bearing his name, is
is the abolitionist, or his grandfather, is not indi- not happy as decoration, nor in its jumble of
cated by the plate itself, although experts can make incongruous details a consistent attempt to an-
a shrewd guess of its date from the character of the nounce anything worth proclaiming. Better a few
ornament. But it seems fair to ask that the ideal lines of decent type, recording the bare facts, than
plate, whether it such a label. Neither can a scratchy device of a
take cognisance coat of arms, with the name in old English or
of the owner's italic letters below, be accepted as a design, or
coat of arms or even as a
not, should do decent sub-
more than this, stitute for
and by symbol, one.
allegory, or motto, We have
should convey a seen that a
hint of its owner's picture
taste or occupa- forced into
tion. This does use as a
not necessarily book - plate
imply that a de- by the ad-
sign known to dition of a
DESIGNED BY HERBERT P. HORNE
experts as " Pic- name be-
torial " is preferable to an heraldic one ; but rather low, or dis-
that the properly displayed arms should be a fea- played upon
ture of the plate and not its sole object. a scroll
Thus an ardent collector of old books might across a
DESIGNED BY HERBERT P. HORNE
fitly choose an ancient style of bookish ornament portion of
(Reproduced by Special Permission)
or lettering ; a modern book-lover might select its surface,
some newer treatment of his hobby : an angler, should be equally far from the ideal—apart from
a musician, or a painter, as many instances show, the fact that a picture, even if it be good, should not
can easily find appropriate devices to suggest their be vulgarised by its constant reappearance, and if
various pursuits. One whose studies are scientific had, were best not multiplied. In considering a
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