1789. July. Surrender and destruction of the Château de la Bastille in Paris. This marks the actual commencement of the French Revolution. 1790. June. Abolition of all titles and armorial bearings. 1793. Louis XVI. beheaded January 21, and was, according to Legitimist reckoning, succeeded by his young son, Louis XVII., who, however, never reigned, and is supposed to have died in prison on June 8, 1795. The government was Republican in name until 1804. May. Napoleon Buonaparte proclaimed Emperor. 1808. New nobility of France created, titles and heraldry revived. 1814. Abdication of Napoleon in favour of his son, Napoleon II., who, however, never reigned. 1814. Restoration of the Monarchy under Louis XVIII., brother of Louis XVI.; he died September, 1824. 1824. Charles X., King, brother of the above, deposed in July, 1830; succeeded by his cousin-- 1830. Louis-Philippe, as _King of the French_. 1848. February. Abdication and flight of Louis-Philippe. Proclamation of a Republic; Louis Napoleon elected President of the Republic, December, 1848. 1852. December. Proclamation of Napoleon III. as Emperor of the French (the Second Empire). 1870. Overthrow of the Empire; Republic proclaimed. [Illustration] [Illustration] FRENCH EX-LIBRIS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. It is nearly a quarter of a century since Mons. Maurice Tourneux first drew attention to the subject of French book-plates in an article which appeared in “L’Amateur d’Autographes” for April, 1872. This was descriptive of the famous collection of Mons. Aglaüs Bouvenne, who is himself the designer of some of the most interesting and artistic of modern French book-plates. Next followed the well-known work of Mons. A. Poulet-Malassis, “Les Ex-Libris Français,” the preface to which is dated January 20th, 1874; a second edition was issued in the following year by P. Rouquette, Paris, 1875. Then, after a long interval, appeared “Les Ex-Libris et les Marques de Possession du Livre,” by Henri Bouchot. Paris: Edouard Rouveyre, 1891. Beyond these, and a few pamphlets descriptive of local collections, such as the “Petite Revue d’Ex-Libris Alsaciens,” by Auguste Stoeber, 1881, and some articles by Octave Uzanne in “Le Livre Moderne,” comparatively little had been written on the topic until the appearance of the first edition of this work.