BOOKPLATES 
 
 BY 
 
 EKEDERICK 
 
 GARRISON 
 
 HALL 
 
 With Text By 
 R.CLIPSTON 
 STVRGIS 
 
 JR 
 
 C 
 
DUKE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
I 
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/bookplates01hall 
 
THE BOOK-PLATES OF 
 FREDERICK GARRISON HALL 
 
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 BOOK PLATES 
 BY 
 
 FKEDEKICK 
 
 GARRISON 
 
 HALL 
 
 VVitli a Short Text 
 
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 R..CL1PSTON 
 STVRGIS JR 
 
 SI 
 
 THE 
 
 TROVTSDALE PRESS 
 BOSTON 
 MCMV 
 
ECORATIVE design in 
 America has had in none of 
 its branches so rapid a devel- 
 opment as in that of the book- 
 plate. Twenty-five years ago 
 there were, in this country, few book-plates that 
 were anything more than coats-of-arms or labels. 
 To-day there is a large and increasing production 
 in this branch of design. The book-plate no 
 longer necessarily consists of a coat-of-arms only ; 
 more usually it is a small, decorative composition 
 that in some way indicates the owner’s individ- 
 uality, or else is, in a general way, symbolic of 
 books and reading. 
 
 Mr. Hall’s plates have a place of their own 
 among the foremost produdions of the day. Both 
 in conception and in execution they are notable. 
 
 It is pleasant to see that Mr. Hall, though 
 largely self taught, has fortunately little or nothing 
 
to unlearn. Though we do see in his work a 
 distind: tinge of individuality, it is evident that 
 his efforts have been directed chiefly toward per- 
 fecting his means of expression. As Stevenson, 
 in another form of art,using language as a medium, 
 for years studied and imitated what he considered 
 best in the styles of the great writers, so Mr. Hall 
 has confined his attention to those masters whose 
 method lends itself most rapidly to drawings of a 
 purely decorative character. His study of the old 
 designers has been untiring; in the light of their 
 work he has striven for a satisfactory technique. 
 In his more recent plates we can see the begin- 
 nings of a style distinctively his own, one that is 
 all the more interesting when we know on what 
 foundation it is built. 
 
 His subjects are largely drawn from the past; 
 his method is inspired by the work of such men as 
 Durer, Van Staar, and Rembrandt, masters of pure 
 line. Yet in Mr. Hall’s best work one may trace 
 results of the study, not only of the elder engravers 
 and wood-cutters, but also of modern draughtsmen. 
 
 Turn for instance to the Straus plate. The effect 
 is that of a steel engraving; yet in the rendering 
 of the face may be seen the influence of Mr. 
 
Maxfield Parrish. The Roelvink plate shows this 
 combination still more plainly. The handling of 
 the figure of the young prince is distinctively 
 modern, but the treatment of the walls, especially 
 that of the corner where a lightening of the tones 
 is effected by diamond cross hatching with broken 
 lines, takes us b^ick to the sixteenth century. 
 
 The Hooper plate, on the other hand, though 
 it lacks some of the mechanical perfections of the 
 two mentioned above, will doubtless seem to many 
 one of the most charming in the collection. Pure 
 line work is seldom better applied to pictorial 
 decoration. 
 
 The plate was etched by Mr. W. H. W. Bick- 
 well ; it was one of Mr. Hall’s earlier productions, 
 dating from about the same time as the Fuller 
 plate, engraved by Mr. Spenceley. The composi- 
 tion of the latter is especially noteworthy. The 
 White plate is perhaps the best example of the 
 command of a clean steady pen line. The sky is 
 admirably handled ; the shading of the sails is care- 
 ful and fitting. The natural treatment of the 
 water, and the general freedom from exaggeration, 
 make the plate a good example of what some one 
 has called “sane decoration.” 
 
In no way dependent on elaboration for their 
 effect, the two small plates (of Walton Atwater 
 Green and Clement Scott) are perfect in their way. 
 The reproduction of the latter is hardly smaller 
 than the original. There is little in it; a Venetian 
 lamp and a scroll; but the sense of composition 
 and harmony is excellent. Mr. Hall’s plate is 
 interesting. The hand is his own and the H in 
 its complete form the signature that he has lately 
 adopted. The Allen plate, engraved by Mr. 
 Spenceley, shows a happier use of solid blacks 
 than, lor instance, the Straus plate. The handling 
 of the small shields and the decorations at the 
 bottom is typical in delicacy and completeness. 
 
 In conclusion, one may call attention to the 
 lettering of these book-plates. Few laymen 
 realize that lettering is something more than a 
 mechanical process. Those who have tried it, 
 know that lettering is a difficult art in itself. 
 Mr. Hall has developed a thoroughly good style. 
 The inscriptions of the White, and the Chatman 
 plates may be taken as examples of his best work 
 in this line. 
 
 What Mr. Hall may ultimately achieve is, of 
 course, a matter of conjecture. But one may 
 
safely say that if the normal course of development 
 holds true in his case, his future work is destined 
 to occupy no secondary place in the field of Am- 
 erican decorative design. 
 
AMY 
 
 IVYRS 
 
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