Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images available at the Digital & Multimedia Center, Michigan State University Libraries.) [A few typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: In the rare cases were=> In the rare cases where {pg 21} ecrit dans les marges=> écrit dans les marges {pg 238} Rops, Felicien, 299.=> Rops, Félicien, 299. {index} Dans un siècle ou l’or seul fut un objet d’envie=> Dans un siècle où l’or seul fut un objet d’envie {pg 245} The spelling of French words and names has not been corrected or normalized. (note of etext transcriber.)] THE EX-LIBRIS SERIES. EDITED BY GLEESON WHITE. FRENCH BOOK-PLATES. THE FIRST EDITION OF THIS BOOK WAS PUBLISHED IN 1892, AND WAS EXHAUSTED ALMOST IMMEDIATELY. THE PRESENT ISSUE IS LIMITED TO 750 COPIES OF THE ORDINARY EDITION, AND 38 COPIES ON TALL JAPANESE VELLUM (OF WHICH 35 ONLY ARE FOR SALE). [Illustration] [Illustration] French Book-plates by Walter Hamilton, Chairman of Council of the Ex-Libris Society and Vice-President of the Société Française des Collectionneurs d’Ex-Libris [Illustration] London: George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden, & New York. Mdcccxcvi CHISWICK PRESS:--CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. [Illustration] PREFACE. Since the first edition of this Handbook was published in 1892 the taste for collecting book-plates has spread with such rapidity that that which was formerly the hobby of a few, has now become the serious pursuit of the many. Societies devoted to the collection and study of ex-libris have been founded by eminent genealogists and heraldists, not only in Great Britain, but also in Germany, France, and the United States, all of which are in a flourishing condition, numbering many active and enthusiastic members. Each of these societies publishes an illustrated Journal in which the book-plates of all ages and countries are being reproduced and described from almost every point of view. Whilst the ever-widening circle of literature on the topic shows that the taste has now also spread to Sweden, to Italy, to Belgium, to Switzerland, and to South America. Such intense literary activity has led to the recent publication of many interesting records of French ex-libris, and in order to keep my readers _au courant_ with the present state of knowledge, it has been found necessary to increase the number of chapters, to add materially to the others, and to include nearly a hundred facsimiles, in addition to those in the former edition. The writings of Poulet-Malassis, Henri Bouchot, Octave Uzanne, le Père Ingold, Auguste Castan, A. Benoit, Henri Jadart, and H. Jardère, are all well-known to French collectors, but they have not been translated, and what is even more serious for the British collector, the original editions are now for the most part unobtainable.