DOI Heft:
No. 48 (March, 1897)
DOI Artikel:White, Gleeson: Some recent book-plates, mostly pictorial
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18388#0120
Some Recent Book-plates
Burgess, a spinning-wheel is a somewhat novel
introduction. In the ex libris of J. IV. Valton,
the motto " Modern Always," is borne out by the
design, which seems to teach you that an ultra-
modern young woman will not look at a folio tome,
not even though it be opened right under her
nose. The Benjamin and Janet Haughton plate
is very pleasant in proportion and delightfully
lettered.
The plates for Alice Emma Wilkinson and
Walter Raleigh, both by Mr. R. Aiming Bell,
need no eulogy since they are here to show how
admirably he keeps in mind the essentials of a
plate, and how even a hackneyed motive can
appear new and fresh when it is treated as he
treats it. Nor is it needful to comment upon the
plate for James Hoy, by Mr. H. Ospovat, and still
HOOK-PLATE BY HARRY E. GOODHUE
less on that for Walter Crane, by the same artist.
In each a graceful fancy reveals itself. A very
clever device for Henry J. Stock, by E. W. Wimperis,
is a charming example of the label pure and simple.
Careful readers of The Studio will remember
certain designs by the same artist in a book-plate
competition. The armorial plate for F. N. Cart-
Wallace, by Mr. Paul Woodroffe, shows a pleasant
variation of the usual " mantling " which is here
made to serve as the national emblem of Scotland.
The two designs by Mr. A. Kay Womrath, for
116
Leotiard JV. Robinson and Marie Clausen, are good
examples of the use of solid black—in the mannerMr.
Womrath has developed more fully in many of his il-
lustrations. These designs, slight as they may appear,
BOOK-PLATE
BY BERTRAM GROSVENOR GOODHUE
are simplified from quite elaborate drawings ; for the
artist has a peculiar facility for highly finished
studies of the figure and the drapery in pencil,
which those who only know his published designs
would scarcely suspect. From America comes a
charming plate by Mr. Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue
(whose name, in connection with the Knight Errant
and the Updike Press, is familiar in these pages).
This for A. Squire, is a model of a " pictorial."
Another for Amy M. Sacker is by Harry A. Goodhue;
this employs the lozenge, which is in heraldry the
peculiar property of women. The two Dutch plates
by Mr. T. Van Hoytema are also interesting,
and but for their lettering, which is not sufficiently
precise to accord with anything appertaining to a
book, one could find nothing but praise. Mr. Van
Hoytema has a certain vigorous convention of his
own, which is most effective, so that one regrets
still more the really unsatisfactory alphabets he has
chosen to employ.
Perhaps an attempt to formulate certain laws for
an ideal book-plate is not merely a foolish but a
superfluous task, for although the little paper label
may be made into a work of art, it fulfils its purpose
all the same in its most artless specimens. Art is by
no means so common in average life that its
Burgess, a spinning-wheel is a somewhat novel
introduction. In the ex libris of J. IV. Valton,
the motto " Modern Always," is borne out by the
design, which seems to teach you that an ultra-
modern young woman will not look at a folio tome,
not even though it be opened right under her
nose. The Benjamin and Janet Haughton plate
is very pleasant in proportion and delightfully
lettered.
The plates for Alice Emma Wilkinson and
Walter Raleigh, both by Mr. R. Aiming Bell,
need no eulogy since they are here to show how
admirably he keeps in mind the essentials of a
plate, and how even a hackneyed motive can
appear new and fresh when it is treated as he
treats it. Nor is it needful to comment upon the
plate for James Hoy, by Mr. H. Ospovat, and still
HOOK-PLATE BY HARRY E. GOODHUE
less on that for Walter Crane, by the same artist.
In each a graceful fancy reveals itself. A very
clever device for Henry J. Stock, by E. W. Wimperis,
is a charming example of the label pure and simple.
Careful readers of The Studio will remember
certain designs by the same artist in a book-plate
competition. The armorial plate for F. N. Cart-
Wallace, by Mr. Paul Woodroffe, shows a pleasant
variation of the usual " mantling " which is here
made to serve as the national emblem of Scotland.
The two designs by Mr. A. Kay Womrath, for
116
Leotiard JV. Robinson and Marie Clausen, are good
examples of the use of solid black—in the mannerMr.
Womrath has developed more fully in many of his il-
lustrations. These designs, slight as they may appear,
BOOK-PLATE
BY BERTRAM GROSVENOR GOODHUE
are simplified from quite elaborate drawings ; for the
artist has a peculiar facility for highly finished
studies of the figure and the drapery in pencil,
which those who only know his published designs
would scarcely suspect. From America comes a
charming plate by Mr. Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue
(whose name, in connection with the Knight Errant
and the Updike Press, is familiar in these pages).
This for A. Squire, is a model of a " pictorial."
Another for Amy M. Sacker is by Harry A. Goodhue;
this employs the lozenge, which is in heraldry the
peculiar property of women. The two Dutch plates
by Mr. T. Van Hoytema are also interesting,
and but for their lettering, which is not sufficiently
precise to accord with anything appertaining to a
book, one could find nothing but praise. Mr. Van
Hoytema has a certain vigorous convention of his
own, which is most effective, so that one regrets
still more the really unsatisfactory alphabets he has
chosen to employ.
Perhaps an attempt to formulate certain laws for
an ideal book-plate is not merely a foolish but a
superfluous task, for although the little paper label
may be made into a work of art, it fulfils its purpose
all the same in its most artless specimens. Art is by
no means so common in average life that its