Bookplates were from the very beginning a splendid medium of expression
for Heraldry, throughout Europe. The possession of books was a sign of wealth
and a privilege in the days of the Rennaissance and what better
way to affirm one's ownership than to post an armorial bookplate in it?
Especially in the Holy Roman Empire where Heraldry was not just a privilege
of the nobility, the use of armorial bookplates became widespread as xylography
developed.
Germany is commonly said to have been the birthplace of the first ex
libris ever created (1450) - that of Johann (Hans) Knabensperg, with
the nickname of Igler. Or, according the opinion of Warnecke, that of Hildebrand
Brandenburg, created circa 1470 or 1480 (?), bearing an angel and the coat
of arms of the Brandenburg Family. However, other authors, namely G. Amweg
[1], have disputed this preeminence given by Warnecke.
Amwe states that the first ex libris, in the "modern" sense of the word,
was the one used (ca. 1464) by Guillame Grimaitre, a chaplain from
Neuveville, from the Diocese of Lausanne, then belonging to the Bishopric-Principality
of Basle, which was then part of the Holy Roman Empire.
As the central theme for the ex libris, heraldry was predominant until
pratically the end of the XIXth century, when the Artistic Bookplate was
born.
During the XVIIIth century the art of engraving reached its peak as
a means of illustrating books and for the printing of ex libris. Meanwhile,
new techniques had been developed like the mezzotint invented by
a German - Ludwig von Siegen, back in 1611.
It was also in Germany that a new invention was made, in 1798-99, by Senefelder - lithography. From the early 1800's onwards this new method gradually replaced intaglio and wood engraving as the primary means of producing prints.
Many of the eminent German artists who did not disdain entering the field of creating ex libris included: Albert Durer, Lucas Cranach, Hans Sebald Beham, Virgil Solis, Holbein, Jost Aman, Hans Sibmacher, Heinrich Ulrich, Raphael Custos, Karl Crusius, Emil Dopler Jr., Adolf Hildebrandt, Otto Hupt and G. Barlosius, among others.
Bookplates in Germany owes much of its development to the creation of the German Ex Libris Society, in 1891, and the publication of its periodical bulletin - «Zeitschrift fur Bucherzeichen, Bibliothekenkunde und Gelehrtengeschichte. Organ des Ex Libris-Vereins zu Berlin», Gorlitz, (1891-1906), which disclosed and discussed new trends, and provided a medium for putting artists and collectors in contact with each other. Apart from the use of new techniques and artistic styles, a rebirth of the old processes - engraving, etching, mezzotint, wood engraving - took place.
Important works such as Friedrich Warnecke's Die deutschen Bucherzeichen
von ihrem Ursprunge bis zur Gegenwart, Berlin, J. U. Stargardt, 1890,
or Karl E. - Graf zu LeiningenWesterburg's German Book-Plates. An illustrated
handbook of German and Austrian exlibris, English translation by O.
R. Dennis, London, G. Bell, 1901, started to be published helping
collectors of this noble art form.
[1] G. Amweg, Les Ex-Libris de
l'Ancien Evêché de Bâle, Neuchâtel, 1932
| © 1998-2006, J.
Vicente de Bragança (Portugal) & J. Stewart LeForte (Canada), editors
Posted: 4 April 1998 - |
