Book-plates / [William John Hardy].

  • Hardy, William John, 1857-1919.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Book-plates / [William John Hardy]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    It is but a poor piece of work, heraldically inaccurate and lacking finish,—from which it is thought, and reasonably thought, that it was done in America. Its date must be placed between 1777 and 1781. It is ‘Chippendale’ in style, and bears a strong resemblance to a plate of one Richard Washington, engraved in England by Bickham about the middle of the eighteenth century. Of course there is a forgery of this plate, which, by the way, was pre- pared, not for its value as a book-plate, but to sell a number of books which it was alleged belonged to George Washington himself, and had been captured in Virginia. The fraud was, how- ever, discovered. No doubt these forgeries are now palmed off as the great man’s book-plate. Mr. Lichtenstein’s words about the real book-plate and the sham are therefore important:— ‘ Original examples are noticeable for their sharp black impressions on dampened plate paper of a buff colour mellowed by age. Those of the imita- tion are printed from a plate which has the appear- ance of having seen considerable wear ; besides being printed on a dry paper of a thin quality, and a bluish colour, by its modern appearance it is easily recognised, the engraving of the name being poorly done.’ I do not know if a series of ‘ Presidents’ ’ book- plate, could be shown to exist, but Washington’s successor, John Adams, certainly used one, intro- ducing into it a certain number of national emblems.