Difference between revisions of "George Wythe's bookplate"

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(Known surviving volumes with Wythe's bookplate)
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*''[[Law of Actions on the Case for Torts and Wrongs|The Law of Actions on the Case for Torts and Wrongs: Being a Methodical Collection of All the Cases Concerning Such Actions ... to Which are Added, Several Select Precedents of Declarations and Pleas in Such Actions, and References to All that are Extant in the Books of Entries]].'' London: Printed for Thomas Trye, 1741. <span style="color: #3366BB; font-weight: bold;">Library of Congress.</span>
 
*''[[Law of Actions on the Case for Torts and Wrongs|The Law of Actions on the Case for Torts and Wrongs: Being a Methodical Collection of All the Cases Concerning Such Actions ... to Which are Added, Several Select Precedents of Declarations and Pleas in Such Actions, and References to All that are Extant in the Books of Entries]].'' London: Printed for Thomas Trye, 1741. <span style="color: #3366BB; font-weight: bold;">Library of Congress.</span>
  
*Levinz, Creswell, Sir. ''[[Reports de Sr. Creswell Levinz|Les Reports de Sr. Creswell Levinz: Jades un del Justices del Common Bank, en Trois Parts: Commencant en le 12 an de Roy Charles II. &amp; fini en le 8 an de son Majesty William III]].'' London: Printed by the assigns of Richard and Edward Atkins esq; for S. Keble ... D. Browne ... T. Benskin ... and J. Walthoe ..., 1702. <span style="color: #3366BB; font-weight: bold;">Library of Congress.</span>  
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*Levinz, Creswell, Sir. ''[[Reports de Sr. Creswell Levinz|Les Reports de Sr. Creswell Levinz: Jades un del Justices del Common Bank, en Trois Parts: Commencant en le 12 an de Roy Charles II. &amp; fini en le 8 an de son Majesty William III]].'' London: Printed by the assigns of Richard and Edward Atkins esq; for S. Keble ... D. Browne ... T. Benskin ... and J. Walthoe ..., 1702. <span style="color: #3366BB; font-weight: bold;">Library of Congress.</span>
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*Locke, John. ''[[Essay Concerning Humane Understanding|An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding]].'' London: Printed for Awnsham and John Churchil ... and Samuel Manship, 1700. [Signed on title page: ''George Wythe''. Includes list of garden seeds in Wythe's hand.] <span style="color: #3366BB; font-weight: bold;">Private collection.</span>  
  
 
*Pigott, Nathaniel. ''[[New Precedents in Conveyancing|New Precedents in Conveyancing: Containing Great Variety of Curious Draughts, Many of Them on Special Occations, Drawn or Settled by Mr. Piggot, Northey, Webb, and Other Eminent Hands; and Now Publish'd from Original Manuscripts]].'' London: Printed by H. Lintot for J. Worrall, 1742. <span style="color: #3366BB; font-weight: bold;">Library of Congress.</span>
 
*Pigott, Nathaniel. ''[[New Precedents in Conveyancing|New Precedents in Conveyancing: Containing Great Variety of Curious Draughts, Many of Them on Special Occations, Drawn or Settled by Mr. Piggot, Northey, Webb, and Other Eminent Hands; and Now Publish'd from Original Manuscripts]].'' London: Printed by H. Lintot for J. Worrall, 1742. <span style="color: #3366BB; font-weight: bold;">Library of Congress.</span>

Revision as of 16:45, 30 September 2016

The Chippendale style, armorial bookplate[1] for George Wythe's personal library features a demi-griffin (a mythical beast with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion) segreant on the crest and three griffins passant on the escutcheon. In heraldry, the griffin denotes strength, intelligence, courage and leadership. A family of Wythes from Suffolk, England, had a coat of arms with three golden griffins on a field of azure blue.[2] Coincidentally, the College of William and Mary chose the griffin as its mascot in 2010.

Wythe family arms, drawn by Henry Tindal Methold, for the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and Natural History (1900).

It is likely Wythe designed the bookplate himself,[3] having a plate made for him by an engraver, probably in London. Wythe did order, in 1768, an engraved copper plate for the making of bookplates for the library of the House of Burgesses of Virginia:

You will oblige me by sending a copper plate, with the arms of Virginia neatly engraved and some impressions of them to be pasted on the books belonging to the house of burgesses. If any additions are made on the plate in consequence of what is proposed within, I will cheerfully pay the extraordinary cost.[4]

The motto "Secondis Dubiisque Rectus" translates as "Upright in Prosperity and in Perils."[5] This was also the motto chosen by Sir William Blackstone for the commemorative rings given to the King, Lord Chancellor, and close friends and family to mark the occasion when he was called to the Coif: "I was called a Serjeant; the motto on my rings being, Secundis, dubiisque, rectus."[6]

Bookplates

Known surviving volumes with Wythe's bookplate

Main article: Known Surviving Wythe Volumes

There are twenty known volumes containing Wythe's bookplate which have survived:

  • Bacon, Matthew, Joseph Sayer, and Owen Ruffhead. A New Abridgment of the Law. 3rd ed. London, In the Savoy: 1736-66. [Volume II has Wythe's bookplate; volume IV has Wythe's name inscribed.] Library of Congress.
  • Hale, Matthew, Sir. Historia Placitorum Coronæ. The History of the Pleas of the Crown. 2 vols. London: Printed by E. and R. Nutt, and R. Gosling for F. Gyles ... [et al.], 1736. [Also inscribed on inside of front board of volume one: "Given by Thos. Jefferson to D. Carr, 1806."] University of Virginia, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library.
  • The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments. Oxford: Thomas Baskett, 1754. [Includes manuscript note, "The Bible belonged to George Wythe, bequeathed by him to Thomas Jefferson, given by Thomas Jefferson to his grand-daughter Cornelia Jefferson Randolph, bequeathed by her to her niece Martha Jefferson Trist, given by her to her son, Nicholas Philip Trist Burke, Alexandria, Va., after his death given to the University of Virginia by Martha Jefferson Burke, Alexandria, Va., July 4, 1912."] University of Virginia, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library.
  • Homer. The Iliad of Homer. Translated by Alexander Pope. Duodecimo. London: 1750. [Bookplate, signatures of Ellen Wayles Randolph and, George Wythe Randolph.] Monticello Foundation, Jefferson Library.
  • Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. London: Printed for Awnsham and John Churchil ... and Samuel Manship, 1700. [Signed on title page: George Wythe. Includes list of garden seeds in Wythe's hand.] Private collection.

References

  1. Charles Dexter Allen, American Book-plates: A Guide to Their Study with Examples (New York: Macmillan, 1905).
  2. W.J. Corbett and T. Tindal Methold, "The Rise and Devolution of the Manors in Hepworth, Suffolk," Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and Natural History X (1900), 135.
  3. Alonso Thomas Dill, George Wythe: Teacher of Liberty (Williamsburg, Virginia: Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission, 1979), 3.
  4. "[[Wythe to John Norton, 18 August 1768|George Wythe Letter to John Norton dated August 18, 1768]," Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Rockefeller Library Special Collections, SCMS1936.3-0118.
  5. Dill, 3.
  6. Reports of Cases Determined in the Several Courts of Westminster-Hall, from 1746 to 1779 (London: S. Sweet, et al., 2nd ed., 1828), 681.