Difference between revisions of "George Wythe's bookplate"

From Wythepedia: The George Wythe Encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
m (Known surviving volumes with Wythe's bookplate)
m (Known surviving volumes with Wythe's bookplate)
Line 21: Line 21:
 
:''Main article: [[Known Surviving Wythe Volumes]]''
 
:''Main article: [[Known Surviving Wythe Volumes]]''
  
There are twenty-two known volumes containing Wythe's bookplate which have survived to the present day:
+
There are twenty-three known volumes containing Wythe's bookplate which have survived to the present day:
  
 
*Andrews, George. ''[[Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Court of King's Bench|Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Courts of King's Bench, in the Eleventh and Twelfth Years of the Reign of His Present Majesty King George the Second]].'' London, In the Savoy: 1754. <span style="color: #3366BB; font-weight: bold;">Library of Congress.</span>
 
*Andrews, George. ''[[Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Court of King's Bench|Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Courts of King's Bench, in the Eleventh and Twelfth Years of the Reign of His Present Majesty King George the Second]].'' London, In the Savoy: 1754. <span style="color: #3366BB; font-weight: bold;">Library of Congress.</span>
Line 30: Line 30:
  
 
*Brydall, John. ''[[Ars Transferendi Dominium, the Second Part|Ars Transferendi Dominium, the Second Part. Or, A Sure Law-Guide to the Conveyancer Consisting of Many Observations and Various Questions, with Their Resolutions, Relating to Feoffments, Grants, Fines, Common Recoveries, Exchanges, Releases, Confirmations, Attornments, Surrenders, Bargains and Sales, and Devises]].'' London: Printed by the assigns of R. and E. Atkyns ... for Samuel Heyrick ... and Isaac Cleave, 1698. <span style="color: #3366BB; font-weight: bold;">Library of Congress.</span>
 
*Brydall, John. ''[[Ars Transferendi Dominium, the Second Part|Ars Transferendi Dominium, the Second Part. Or, A Sure Law-Guide to the Conveyancer Consisting of Many Observations and Various Questions, with Their Resolutions, Relating to Feoffments, Grants, Fines, Common Recoveries, Exchanges, Releases, Confirmations, Attornments, Surrenders, Bargains and Sales, and Devises]].'' London: Printed by the assigns of R. and E. Atkyns ... for Samuel Heyrick ... and Isaac Cleave, 1698. <span style="color: #3366BB; font-weight: bold;">Library of Congress.</span>
 +
 +
*Coke, Edward. ''[[Reports of Sir Edward Coke|The Reports of Sir Edward Coke, kt. In English, in Thirteen Parts Compleat; (With References to All the Ancient and Modern Books of the Law.)]].'' London: In the Savoy, Printed by E. and R. Nutt, and R. Gosling, for R. Gosling, 1738. [Volume IV. Also inscribed on inside of front board: "Given by Thos. Jefferson to D. Carr, 1806."] <span style="color: #3366BB; font-weight: bold;">Private collection.</span>
  
 
*Coke, Edward. ''[[Reports of Sir Edward Coke|The Reports of Sir Edward Coke, kt. In English, in Thirteen Parts Compleat; (With References to All the Ancient and Modern Books of the Law.)]].'' London: In the Savoy, Printed by E. and R. Nutt, and R. Gosling, for R. Gosling, 1738. [Volumes VI and VII only. Also inscribed on inside of front board: "Given by Thos. Jefferson to D. Carr, 1806."] <span style="color: #3366BB; font-weight: bold;">College of William &amp; Mary.</span>
 
*Coke, Edward. ''[[Reports of Sir Edward Coke|The Reports of Sir Edward Coke, kt. In English, in Thirteen Parts Compleat; (With References to All the Ancient and Modern Books of the Law.)]].'' London: In the Savoy, Printed by E. and R. Nutt, and R. Gosling, for R. Gosling, 1738. [Volumes VI and VII only. Also inscribed on inside of front board: "Given by Thos. Jefferson to D. Carr, 1806."] <span style="color: #3366BB; font-weight: bold;">College of William &amp; Mary.</span>

Revision as of 16:48, 24 April 2018

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 in 1770, 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-three known volumes containing Wythe's bookplate which have survived to the present day:

  • 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 Esq. London: Printed for Henry Lintot, 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. "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.