Battie by Nature David Battie considers the importance of the Ex Libris and the excitement of ownership

COLLECTORS ARE A PRETTY weird lot.Why spend a large part of your income on objects which you will never use, or which were never intended to be used? No doubt, imagining you to be deranged, your friends will talk about you on the golf course (£70 a round, plus clubs, plus membership fees, plus the 19th hole…) or even on their yachts (don’t even think about it).

Subscribing to the well-known and selfevident adage: ‘You can’t take it with you’, the collector likes to make sure that, even in death, his treasured possessions will be linked to him – and his collection, or bits of it, should be forever attached to his name.

more educated society, there was a burgeoning trade in books.This was largely driven by the aristocracy, or those who aspired to be members thereof.They needed libraries, partly for books to read and partly to display the breadth of their knowledge. It was common practice to lend books with small, engraved and printed slips of paper, known as Ex-Libris (meaning from the library of) or bookplates, which could be pasted onto the inside front cover of the book, announcing ownership.Almost invariably, it was the armorial bearings of the owner which featured on the bookplate.Albrecht Dürer,William Blake and Thomas Bewick all engraved Ex-Libris bookplates and many engravers of armorials on silver probably moonlighted as bookplate engravers.

Albrecht Dürer,William Blake and Thomas Bewick all engraved Ex-Libris bookplates and many engravers of armorials on silver probably moonlighted as bookplate engravers “ ”

BOOKISH MOOD Since books appeared from the earliest time in the form of papyri, they were extremely valuable. Lending these writings (and, later, books) to friends was one of the greatest signs of friendship – and possible dispute. So there arose the practice of inscribing therein one’s ownership, otherwise one’s friend might have ‘forgotten’ whose book it was. One of my most precious possessions is Anatome Corporis Humani by Professor Isbrando de Diemerroeck, Utrecht, 1672. It is a first edition, in Latin, has several plates of dissected bodies and is not particu larly sought after. Its joy, for me, lies in the ink inscription: W Battie. Coll. Regal. (Royal College) .

Dr.William Battie (1703-76) was the founder of British psychology, the leading ‘mad doctor’, of his day and the first to condemn the appalling treatment of ‘lunaticks’ (the mentally ill) in, specifically, Bedlam, where he practiced. He wrote a Treatise in 1752, which led to a new law allowing the setting up of asylums. It is wonderful to hold the book in my hands as a tangible link with the past.

RECOMMENDED READING During the 18th century, thanks to improvements in printing techniques and a

In the 20th century, the armorial plates faded and were replaced by artist-driven, punning, decorative and more personal plates, often linked to the book owner’s way of life.Those designed by artists of standing are very sought after.

A variant of the collector-ordered bookplate, was the It’s mine. It’s mine presentation bookplate, proudly stuck into the school prize. Sadly, unlike the earlier plates for a ‘serious’ book, All the World’s Insects, received by Daisy Gibbins in 1887, will no doubt have disappeared without trace.

COLLECTORS’ LABELS The most useful personalised stickers, albeit post mortem, are collectors’ labels.

Small, usually round, they incorporate the owner’s name and, often an identifica tion code.When the collection came their way, especially if the dealer or auctioneer had access to the collector’s stock book, they provided much useful information. Pointers included where the piece was bought, who had previously owned it and how much it cost.At one time, provenance was of little concern; now, particularly with Chinese works of art, it can double the value.

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Bookplate of Wilbraham Edgerton, Ist Earl Edgerton (1832-1909) in the Catalogue of the A.W.Franks Collection, 1878

The signature of Dr William Battie (1703-1776) the first psychologist to suggest the proper treatment of the insane

Interestingly, dealers’ labels have swung into the spotlight and are now quoted in auctioneers’ catalogues, whereas at one time a dealer’s provenance was shaming, tainted by ‘trade’.As with everything else, collectors’ labels are now being faked.

Indelibly marking an object with one’s name is much frowned on, only rarely increasing the value. One such exception is the classroom desk-lid, carved with boys’ names over centuries. However, unless the name is held in high pre-fame esteem, the lid will be worth little more than kindling. Unfortunately, my school was not of sufficient standing to attract anyone of potential interest, so the oak desk-lid on which I worked had no chance of survival.