alled _the urn style_, makes
its appearance. Book-plates of this period have invariably a physiognomy
which at once recalls the decorative manner made popular by architects
and designers such as Chambers, the Adams, Josiah Wedgwood, Hepplewhite
and Sheraton. The shield shows a plain spade-like outline, manifestly
based upon that of the pseudo-classic urn then so much to the fore. The
ornamental accessories are symmetrical palms and sprays, wreaths and
ribands. The architectural boss is also an important factor. In many
plates, indeed, the shield of arms takes quite a subsidiary position by
the side of the predominantly architectural urn. From the beginning of
the 19th century, until comparatively recent days, no special style of
decoration seems to have established itself. The immense majority of
examples display a plain shield of arms with motto on a scroll below,
and crest on a fillet above. Of late years, however, a rapid impetus
appears to have been given to the designing of _ex-libris_; a new era,
in fact, has begun for the book-plate, one of great interest.

[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Book-plate of P.A. Convers, 1762.]

[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Book-plate of Francis Gwyn of Lansanor, 1698.]

The main styles of decoration (and these, other data being absent, must
always in the case of old examples remain the criteria of date) have
already been noticed. It is, however, necessary to point out that
certain styles of composition were also prevalent at certain periods.
Many of the older plates (like the majority of the most modern ones)
were essentially pictorial. Of this kind the best-defined English genus
may be recalled: _the library interior_--a term which explains
itself--and _book-piles_, exemplified by the _ex-libris_ (fig. 6) of W.
Hewer, Samuel Pepys's secretary. We have also many _portrait-plates_, of
which, perhaps, the most notable are those of Samuel Pepys himself and
of John Gibbs, the architect; _allegories_, such as were engraved by
Hogarth, Bartolozzi, John Pine and George Vertue; _landscape-plates_, by
wood engravers of the Bewick school (see Plate), &c. In most of these
the armorial element plays but a secondary part.

[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Book-plate of William Hewer, 1699.]

The value attached to book-plates, otherwise than as an object of purely
personal interest, is comparatively modern. The study of and the taste
for collecting these private tokens of book-ownership hardly date
farther back tha