The Book-Plates of William Fowler Hopson (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Book-Plates of William Fowler Hopson

His work stands another test, secondary but not unimportant, that of the discerning collector who gathers many book-plates and finds it necessary both for convenience and in changing standards of what is desirable, to weed out the negligible and preserve only the truly good. In these moments the plates of Mr. Hopson remain. Many plates which seemed interesting when acquired, come in a few months to raise the query in the collectors' mind, What did I see in that plate that made me want to keep it? The book-plates by Mr. Hopson give more instead of less pleasure as the years pass. In looking over the collection of his plates, one realizes soon that a sense of monotony rather ftc quently felt in the work of many other engravers, does not lay its depressing hand upon his enthusiasm in going completely through the list of Mr. Hopson's work. On the surface this might seem to be due to the pictorial character of the larger number of his plates. Who does not like to look at pictures? Reflection shows that while the pictorial fact, giving its wealth of possibilities of change is an important factor in the sustained interest of his work, other features contribute largely to it, as the absence of the frivolous, the sense of enduring quality each one possesses, the evidence of thought and earnest work, whether in depicting his own designs, or in te producing those of others, brought to him by clients. Mr. Hopson has worked as faithfully to give full value to the designs of others, as he has to give permanence to his own. Again, there is an inward sense of honor which the observer appreciates as the successful pro jection of the personality of the engraver into his work, so that each plate lives, tells its story, and loses nothing in repeated examination. Mr. Hopson is happy too, in creating an artistic feeling, in giving form and color to his work. Color, not perhaps considered by many as possible in the engraved book-plate, is in truth a very present and distinguishing mark of his work. Harmony of form and color to scheme and design is noticeable.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.