In December, 1893, the first number of the Society’s Journal was published, entitled _Archives de la Société Française des Collectionneurs d’Ex-Libris_, a handsome folio which has since been issued regularly every month, with numerous illustrations and reproductions. In this publication it will be seen that the name of the energetic president frequently appears as a contributor. _Les Archives de la Société_ are published by Messrs. Paul L. Huard, No. 28, rue des Bons Enfants, Paris, and the Secretary is Mons. Léon Quantin, 20 bis, rue Louis Blanc, Paris. [Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF M. LÉON QUANTIN, _Secrétaire de la Société Française des Collectionneurs d’Ex-Libris_.] CHAPTER II. IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION. A collector will probably find it more difficult to identify and classify the ex-libris of France than those of any other country. The number of anonymous plates of comparatively early date is so large, the coronets of nobility are so irregular and so frequently misappropriated, and the great Revolution created such a general confusion in family history and in heraldry, that the identification of anonymous French ex-libris is embarrassing in most instances, impossible in some. In the rare cases where the book-plate remains fixed in the book to which it originally belonged, some little assistance may be derived as to its date and possible ownership, and at least one point may be settled with tolerable certainty, namely, that the engraving has really been intended for, and has served as, an ex-libris; whereas, when once extracted from its book, many an early armorial ex-libris may be easily mistaken for a woodcut used on a dedication, or for an illustration extracted from some old treatise on heraldry. [Illustration: STYLE HENRI IV. (1589).] [Illustration: STYLE LOUIS XIII. (1610).] The French name the styles in vogue at certain periods after their kings, as the style Henri IV., Louis XIII., Louis XIV., Régence., Louis XV., and Louis XVI.; but it must not be assumed that these styles exactly synchronize with the reigns of the monarchs whose names they bear; neither are they so easily classified or differentiated as are our British styles. The following designs, however, are never found earlier than the periods whose names and dates they bear. The Henri IV. and Louis XIII. styles are very similar, an oval shield surrounded by an ornamental cartouche, either having angels or mermaids, or garlands of flowers, worked into the frame, both sides of which are alike, or only differ in small details of light and shade, etc. Of the two, the later style is the simpler and less decorative. [Illustration: STYLE LOUIS XIV. (1643).]