Armorial bindings; Bookplates, English; Heraldry -- Great Britain
The troubles in Ireland ended, for a time, in the Legislative
Union in 1801. During the latter part of his reign George III.
became insane and the Prince of Wales was appointed Regent.
Almost as soon as George III. succeeded to the throne he began
collecting books, no doubt to a great extent induced to do so
because of the fact that George II. had practically denuded the
Royal Libraries of their treasures in 1757, but in many ways he
possessed the true collector's instinct. The Royal Librarian
was Sir Frederick Barnard, K.C.H., who travelled about the
Continent seeking early editions and desirable books generally,
under the advice of Dr. Samuel Johnson. Besides the books
collected abroad by Sir Frederick, large numbers were acquired
in England, among these the entire library of Joseph Smith,
British Consul at Venice. Sir Frederick Barnard did not neglect
the sale-room, and he acquired especially valuable additions to
the Royal Library at the sales of the important libraries of
James West, John Ratcliffe, and Richard Farmer, all of which
took place about the same time.
The library collected by George III. is now housed in the
beautiful room known as the "King's Library" in the British
Museum. All the books have one or other of the many book-stamps
used by the King impressed upon them, either on the sides or
on the back. The estimated number of volumes in the library at
the time of its acquisition by the British Museum was about
eighty-four thousand, as well as a very large collection of
charts, maps, and drawings, and several manuscripts. The books
in the King's Library are in splendid condition, and among them
are numbers of precious bindings, especially later English,
Scottish, and Irish. Several of the Royal books were bound by
Charles Kalthoeber, a German binder who copied the style and
stamps used by Roger Payne.
The coat-of-arms used by George III. in the early part of his
reign was the same as that used by his predecessor, viz. first
quarter, England and Scotland impaled; second quarter, France;
third quarter, Ireland; and fourth quarter, Brunswick impaling
Lunenburg, in the base point Saxony, and an escutcheon of
pretence bearing the crown of Charlemagne, as a badge of the
office of High Treasurer of the Holy Roman Empire. This coat
was used until 1801.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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