DOI Heft:
Nr. 116 (November 1902)
DOI Artikel:Vallance, Aymer: Designs for book-plates: some remarks upon the result of competition B XX.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19877#0133
Designs for Book-plates
here illustrated, as representative of the competition
as a whole, only one, that by tl Rep," depicts any
sort of heraldic emblem. Intended as this ex libris
is for the use of an official body like the Municipal
School of the town of Plymouth, an armorial device
was bound to be represented. Yet, even so, it is
merely incidental, forming part of the background
rather than the principal feature of the compo-
sition : while for the use of private individuals
heraldry does not figure in a single example.
What, then, does its absence signify, but that a
decided change has taken place in popular estima-
tion with regard to heraldry? It may be that our
growing democratic spirit is impatient of such
BOOK-PLATE BY " YMER "
chivalric distinctions ; or, again, it may be that
the conferring of arms and titles on nouveaux riches
and other unworthy objects, in addition to the too
common assumption of fancy arms by persons not
warranted to bear them, has brought the system of
heraldic insignia, true and spurious alike, into dis-
repute. Whatever be the cause the result remains,
and it is idle not to recognise its existence, and that
the use of armorial bearings is likely to diminish as
time advances.
But what provision should there be for the
increasing number of those who are either not
disposed or not authorised to bear arms, yet want
some alternative device for the identification of
their property ? It is obvious that the best thing
to supply the place of the old-fashioned armorial
book-plate must be something analogous to it, or
derived from the same train of ideas as suggested
the original type itself. What is needed is a badge
or personal sign, forcible and simple—the simpler
the better, for practical purposes—without abstruse
symbolism, because whatever makes for mystifica-
tion defeats the very reason for the book-plate's
existence. It may be, as in the case of Mr.
Greenleafs ex libris, a " canting " device (to borrow
the terminology of heraldic science) in allusion to
the name;—an opportunity, be it observed, that
was missed in the case of the book-plate of May
Thorne, where the artist might with reason have
chosen a hawthorn in place of a rose—it may be
BOOK-PLATE BY " GAR "
121
here illustrated, as representative of the competition
as a whole, only one, that by tl Rep," depicts any
sort of heraldic emblem. Intended as this ex libris
is for the use of an official body like the Municipal
School of the town of Plymouth, an armorial device
was bound to be represented. Yet, even so, it is
merely incidental, forming part of the background
rather than the principal feature of the compo-
sition : while for the use of private individuals
heraldry does not figure in a single example.
What, then, does its absence signify, but that a
decided change has taken place in popular estima-
tion with regard to heraldry? It may be that our
growing democratic spirit is impatient of such
BOOK-PLATE BY " YMER "
chivalric distinctions ; or, again, it may be that
the conferring of arms and titles on nouveaux riches
and other unworthy objects, in addition to the too
common assumption of fancy arms by persons not
warranted to bear them, has brought the system of
heraldic insignia, true and spurious alike, into dis-
repute. Whatever be the cause the result remains,
and it is idle not to recognise its existence, and that
the use of armorial bearings is likely to diminish as
time advances.
But what provision should there be for the
increasing number of those who are either not
disposed or not authorised to bear arms, yet want
some alternative device for the identification of
their property ? It is obvious that the best thing
to supply the place of the old-fashioned armorial
book-plate must be something analogous to it, or
derived from the same train of ideas as suggested
the original type itself. What is needed is a badge
or personal sign, forcible and simple—the simpler
the better, for practical purposes—without abstruse
symbolism, because whatever makes for mystifica-
tion defeats the very reason for the book-plate's
existence. It may be, as in the case of Mr.
Greenleafs ex libris, a " canting " device (to borrow
the terminology of heraldic science) in allusion to
the name;—an opportunity, be it observed, that
was missed in the case of the book-plate of May
Thorne, where the artist might with reason have
chosen a hawthorn in place of a rose—it may be
BOOK-PLATE BY " GAR "
121