John Mayo's book-plate is armorial with a Latin motto meaning "Virtue by nobility only," which he vindicated throughout his life. It is Chippendale in style, being a type of design later than the Jacobean, and it came into vogue when the famous T. Chippendale introduced his ornamental ideas into woodcarving. A book-plate in pure Chippendale form, is dainty and graceful, freed from the heaviness of the Jacobean type, and possessing new and varied forms of decoration. These latter at length became so highly varied and profuse, that they put an end to the style altogether. But that is a later period than we are considering. Mayo's book-plate is an attractive example of the older Chippendale form, having the helmet and mantling which were seldom seen later.

Ralph Wormeley IV of "Rosegill," Middlesex County, Virginia, and Trinity College, Cambridge, was the first of his name to possess a book-plate, so far as we know, tho he was the fourth generation in America. Wealth was hereditary in the Wormeley family, and ability as well. The men of each generation returned to England to be educated, and held high offices in the Colony.

The library for which the fourth Ralph had his armorial book-plate made, was started by his great-grandfather, who had been educated at Oriel College, Oxford, and had been President of the King's Council, Secretary of State for Virginia, and a trustee of William and Mary College. His books numbered 400, and were of a fine and scholarly type, including histories of many nations, and biographies of great men. Wormeley's stands out as a notable collection, and augmented by the second and third generations, was obviously a source of great pride to the boy who went to Eton and Trinity College in 1757, and selected the design for

his ex-libris which is armorial, with a motto meaning "Now for myself, now for another." It exhibits a prominent characteristic of the Chippendale style, an absence of the crest, and has a delicate. flower ornamentation.

Book-plates in the northern colonies, particularly New England, are generally of later date than those of the Southerners. For the hardy settler of Massachusetts and Connecticut were inclined to be more independent of England. They relied usually upon their own talents and creative ability, and thus we find that the first book-plates there to come into general use were the products of American engravers. When we consider that the luxurious conditions of life among the Southern gentry seemed far more favorable to the development of art in any form, than did the rigours of life in New England, where from earliest times the stern tenets of religious faith had been such as to discourage any form of art appealing to man's aesthetic taste, it seems singular, that Massachusetts and Pennsylvannia were the birth-places of native American art, both painting and engraving. So, while the Southern bookplates of English make are superior in workmanship and artistic value, northern plates are of greatest interest to us, being examples of native skill.

However, a book-plate brought over from England, or ordered during residence abroad was that of Jonathan Belcher, a Colonial governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, from 1730 to 1741, appointed by the Crown under

the second Charter. It is armorial, the motto being: "Loyal till Death," and is Jacobean in style.

Although Pennsylvania was one of the last colonies to be settled, it rapidly grew to be the third most populous, early

in the 18th century. The book-plate of its proprietor, William Penn, is even more English than the plates of the Virginians. For while theirs were made in England, they were used and enjoyed here, whereas Penn's plate was engraved in England, and, in all probability, no proof of it left there during his lifetime. For it is dated 1703, two years after he returned to the mother country, from his second and last visit to Pennsylvania. The Latin inscription upon the plate is only half the entire phrase: "While I hold to glory," (let me hold to right) and its appropriate application to Penn is undeniable. This plate is the only one under consideration which is in the style known as "Early English," preceding the Jacobean. The shield of arms with all its accessories is present, with profuse mantling but no other oramentation.

William Penn's name is immortally associated with this country, and he will ever be considered a great American. But he was actually in the New World only four years, 1682-84, and 1699-1701. In that short time, he personally established the Quaker colony, and gained the affectionate admiration of his colonists, as

well as the Indians, whom he always treated with the same justice and honesty accorded the English settlers.

A leader with William Penn's attainments could scarcely be expected to suffer a mediocre secretary, so we are not surprised at his choice of James Logan, a young Irishman thirty years his junior, but possessing a remarkably cultivated mind. He had been a child prodigy, knowing Greek, Latin, and Hebrew before he entered his 'teens. Penn brought him to Philadelphia on his second trip, and he remained in America, occupying high offices in the state for forty years.

He was secretary of the province, council member, judge, chief justice, mayor of Philadelphia, and for two years acting governor of Pennsylvania.

He possessed, like Penn, a gift for getting along well with the Quakers and the Indians, and was so much admired by the latter, that the chieftain Tagahjute received the name of Logan.

Logan's magnificent library, which he bequeathed to Philadelphia, evidenced the owner's intellectual qualities. The books numbered two thousand, not one of them having been printed in America, and they included all the Latin classics, over a hundred Greek folios, and the original edition of Ptolemy's "Almagest." It is interesting to note that Logan's personal plate and the one adorning his gift to the city are quite different.

Another noted Pennsylvanian who owned an ex-libris was Edward Shippen, Chief Justice of the State and one of its most distinguished citizens. He was the fourth generation of the family in America, inheriting not only the name, but the ability of his great-grandfather, who had become identified with Penn's Colony. Penn had appointed him first mayor of Philadelphia, and he held many other high offices, even being governor of the

State for a while.

The ex-libris of Elizabeth Graeme, of Philadelphia, is the only example we have of a heraldic plate used by a lady of the Colonial period.

There were several Colonial Libraries in Pennsylvania. The oldest, the "Library Company," has on its book-plate the inscription, "Belonging to the Union Library Company of Philadelphia, 1746.” In 1757, it had 317 books. In 1765, there were over 570 books belonging to the Association Library Company.

Robert Livingston, founder of that noted family of New York, came to this country in 1674 with but a few hundred pounds. He purchased an estate from the Indians, with the consent of the Colonial Governor of New York, and afterwards added another large tract of land with the grants confirmed by George I. A later Colonial Governor, inspired by jealousy, deprived Livingston of his titles and estate, but nothing daunted, he sailed for England and secured from Queen Anne a warrant for the return of all his possessions.

There is some uncertainty regarding Robert Livingston's book-plate. Richard C. Lichtenstein, an early authority, says it is highly probable that he used a personal ex-libris, and quotes an old letter mentioning a famous engraver of arms, and the difficulty of getting the proper metal. Probably no Colonial American family used more different book-plates than the numerous Livingstons. But nearly all incorporated the family coatof-arms, with the ship in distress for a crest, and the Latin motto, "I hope for better things," the last two features being the original creations of the Robert Livingtson under consideration. He had been nearly shipwrecked on his return voyage from England, and in appreciation of his escape, substituted these features for the ancient crest and motto, retaining only the shield which had long been used by the Livingston family in Scotland. So although the book-plate illustrated herein is of doubtful authentic

ity, it exhibits the main features which we are certain appeared upon whatever plate he may have used.

Little is actually known of William Constable, but much can be surmised from the brief data available. He was a wealthy landed proprietor in northern New York before the Revolutionary War. In 1792, his possessions apparently undiminished, he sold 25,000 acres of land to his friend Patrick Colquhoun, High Sheriff of London.

Constable possessed a large library, and an armorial book-plate, which was obviously made by an American engraver, whose knowledge of the art was limited; as he drew the arms correctly on the copper, and they came off reversed in the proofs. From this plate we may deduce that Constable was descended of a noble family, and was not a parvenu, for book-plates then were the possessions only of scholars. The portrait by Gilbert Stuart is the final proof of Constable's quality. His appearance is courtly, and aristocratic, even should we not remember that to have one's portrait painted by Stuart in those early days was a guarantee of membership in the elite.

These men are but a few of the large number, all the others equally interesting. who loved books and owned the personal ex-libris. For the man or woman who is interested in Colonial history, and an insight into the intimate personal lives of early Americans, no study will yield richer fruits than that of our first bookplates.