Showing posts with label Super Libris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Super Libris. Show all posts

Superlibros of Lord Charles Stuart of Rothesay

Reviewed August 2012



Charles Stuart, GCB, PC, GCTS (1779-1845)
1st Baron Stuart of Rothesay (cr. 1828) and Count of Machico (1825) and Marquess of Angra do Heroismo, in Portugal.
For his portrait in fine robes when he was Ambassador to France see, http://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/search/Object.asp?object_key=29014
The son of Lieut.-General Sir Charles Chrichton-Stuart, KB, who commanded a batallion of the 37th Regiment of Foot during the War of the American Revolution, and grandson of John Stuart, KG, 3rd Earl of Bute. His mother was Lady Anne Louisa Bertie, daughter of Lord Vere Bertie.
Lord Stuart of Rothesay married Lady Elizabeth Margaret Yorke, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Hardwicke and had two daughters.
Minister at the Hague (1815), Ambassador to France (1815-24 and 1828-30), Envoy to Portugal (1810), Ambassador to St. Petersburg (1841-45), Ambassador to Portugal (1825-26) and a member of the Regency of Portugal during the Peninsular Wars.
In 1823, acting as a mediator, he was sent as an Ambassador of King John VI of Portugal to Brazil to negotiate the independence and on behalf of George Canning, to assure a new trade agreement with the Empire of Brazil favourable to British interests.
Later, after John VI's death in 1826, he went again to Brazil and brought to Portugal the Constitutional Chart given by the new king Dom Pedro IV together with his abdication on his daughter Mary who was to marry her uncle D. Miguel, the ultras leader, then in exile in Austria.
This however did not settle the dynastic dispute, since his younger brother Dom Miguel was acclaimed king in 1828, giving rise to a civil war- known to British authors as the 'War of the Two Brothers' - which lasted till 1834.
He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and of the Sword in 1812.
Lord Stuart of Rothesay fullfilled his life dream of reacquring his grandfather's estate - Highcliffe - and built a new house - Highcliffe Castle , Hampshire, in the Gothic revival style.
For his earlier house - Bure Homage see, http://www.users.freenetname.co.uk/~bgwells/BAEXCHSite/xchsite.htm


His library, like so many others, was sold in an auction in London in 1855, of which a Catalogue was printed.
Fortunately enough, two XIXth century well-knonw Portuguese bibliophiles bought many books at the auction of Sir Charles Stuart of Rothesay's Library, in 1855: the Count of Lavradio and Mr. João da Guerra Rebelo Fontoura, a wine merchant in London. The latter was married 2ndly, to Cecilia Eleanor Canning. Both these libraries were in turn later dispersed at auction sales, Fontoura's having been sold in Leipzig, by Mssrs. Karl W. Hiersemann, in 1899 (cf. Luís de Bivar Guerra, «A biblioteca de Lord Stuart de Rothesay núcleo de duas importantes livrarias portuguesas», pp. 120-123).
Lord Stuart of Rothesay also used another superlibros (a crest with motto) on the bindings of his books (see, example from a book at St. John's College, Cambridge -http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_collections/early_books/pix/provenance/stuart/stuart.htm)
Part of his papers with important correspondance have left Europe and are at the Andersen Library, University of Minnesota (see, http://special.lib.umn.edu/findaid/xml/mss024.xml) and at Lilly Library (see, http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/lilly/mss/html/stuart.html). An important collection of maps his at the Univ. of California, Los Angeles (see, http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/tf3p300592/)

Lord Stuart used in his books bindings a superlibros described below.

Arms: Stuart of Rothesay
Motto: «Avito Viret Honor», «Nobilis Ira»

The Bookplates of the Claret Fleurieu Family

The French Claret Fleurieu De La Tourrette are a fine example of the love of books and the use of superlibris or bookplates by successive generations of the same Family. Here are some examples although others might appear:
Superlibris


Jean Claret (1620-1704)

The grandson of a needle merchant established at Lyon, he laid the foundations of the family’s social uprising by acquiring the fortified mansion of La Tourette, in 1681, from Jean Michon, bourgeois of Lyon, and by becoming an échevin (municipal magistrate) of the city of Lyon in 1689-90 and later obtained the office of secrétaire du roi, maison et couronne de France et de ses finances en la généralité de Lyon. The alliance between the two families was consolidated by the marriage of the latter’s daughter Bonne Michon to Jean’s son Jacques Claude Claret, in 1690.
The above superlibris is believed to have been used in his books.


Jacques-Annibal Claret Fleurieu de La Tourrette (1692-1776), Knight, baron d’Evreux, seigneur de La Tourette and Fleurieu.
A high magistrate of the city of Lyon – Prévot des marchands de Lyon (1740-45) and Président en la Cour des Monnaies.

A grandson of the above mentioned Jean Claret and the son of Jacques Claude Claret (1656-1741), Knight, seigneur de la Tourette, Fleurieu, Saint-Pierre, Eveux, Bélair, etc. Président à la Cour des Monnaies and his wife Bonne Michon, dau. of Jean Michon, a wealthy bourgeois merchant of Lyon who detained the fief of La Tourrette. His father was a patron of the Arts who built a valuable collection of paintings, books and numismatic.
In 1716, Jacques-Annibal Claret Fleurieu was admitted to the Academy of Lyon, becoming in 1736 its secretary for life. Having inherited his father’s love for books he greatly augmented the Library, reputed as one of the richest private libraries in Lyon, famous for its fine bindings and rare editions. Left many works in prose and verse unpublished.

Arms: argent, on a bend azure, a sun in his splendour or.
A shield supported by two eagles proper, with an earl's crown.
Legend: «Ex Libris Jacobi Annibalis Claret Delatourrette Equitis, Regi à consiliis in Supremâ Lugdunensi mon etalium Judicum curia praesidis, capitalium rerum Pratoris Primarii. 1719»

The Bibliothèque Municipale de Lyon holds however books in which appear bookplates dated «1740».


Charles-Pierre Claret de Fleurieu (1738-1810), comte de Fleurieu

A famous French statesman and scientist interested in the theoretical study of the nautical sciences.
The younger son of Jacques-Annibal Claret Fleurieu de La Tourrette, he entered the French Royal Navy becoming a distinguished Officer. In 1777, Fleurieu was appointed directeur des ports et arsenaux (inspector general of ports and navy yards) and from 1778 till 1783 he elaborated all the plans for the naval war against England, to assist the struggle for the independence of the United States.
In 1790, Louis XVI appointed him Minister of the Navy and Colonies but under pressures from the Jacobins at the Assemblée, he soon presented his resignation to the King. However, as a proof of his esteem, Louis XVI appointed Fleurieu, gouverneur du Prince-Royal - the future Louis XVII.
During the Terror he was imprisoned till the 9 Thermidor having lost all his fortune and properties. Under the Directory he was appointed to the Bureau des Longitudes and to the Institut and elected a member of the Conseil des Anciens in 1797.
In 1800, Bonaparte called him to the council of state and appointed him as Minister Plenipotentiary for the signature of the treaty ceding Louisiana to the United States.
In 1804 he became Intendant général de la maison de l'Empereur, governor of the Tuileries and the Louvre, grand officer of the Légion d’Honneur, a senator, in 1806, and was made a count of the Empire.

Napoleon honoured him ordering a national funeral and his burial at the Panthéon.
His Library and geographical collections were sold in an auction in 1798 (see, Catalogue des livres de la bibliothèque du C.***, dont la vente se fera en la maison d’agence et de commerce des citoyens Mauger, Amelot et Hubert, rue des Fossés-Montmartre, n° 4, le tridi 23 Prairial an VI et jours suivans, à cinq heures précises du soir., Paris, Hubert – Mauger, 1798)

Between 1793-98, he published many works on his travels, nautical sciences, the French Discoveries, hydrography, geography, botany and atlases.

_________
(Sources: http://s.claretdefleurieu.free.fr/biographie%20charles%20pierre.htm & http://www.famousamericans.net/charlespierreclaretfleurieu/)

Bibliographie:
Robert de Saint-Loup, Dictionnaire de La Noblesse Consulaire de Lyon, Versailles, Mémoires et Documents, 2004
Sylvain Claret de Fleurieu, Histoire de la Famille Fleurieu
Pierre Forissier, Les Claret de Fleurieu, seigneurs de la Tourette – Une grande famille d’Evreux

Romanov Superlibris and Bookplates

Bookplate of Csar Nicolas II Private Library in the Winter Palace
(1907, State Hermitage Museum)
Artist: Baron Armin von Foelkersam (1861-1917)


The Bookplates and Super Libris of the Imperial Russian Family

An antiquarian book dealer from the USA presented in his website a collection of
books that belonged to members of the Imperial Russian Family attested by
Superlibris stamped on the book’s covers or spines and bookplates.
The series goes from czarina Maria Feodorovna (1759-1828) to czar Alexander III and czarina Alexandra Feodorovna (1872-1918), wife of czar Nicholas II, including bookplates and Superlibris from several grand-dukes:
See, http://www.romanovrussia.com/ImperialBooksCol.html
Bookplates and books which belonged to the Romanovs, occasionally appear in the market usually fetching high prizes.
The Library of Congress has a collection of books from the Imperial Family, bought in the early 1930’s - Books from the libraries of the Russian imperial family.
Bibliography:
· Studemeister, Marguerite Bookplates and Their Owners in Imperial Russia, Hermitage, 1990;
· the recent study by Khudolei, V.V., Knizhnye Znaki i Sem`ia Romanovykh, [ Bookplates and the Romanov family], St. Petersburg: Zolotoi vek, 2003, unfortunately only in Russian.
· Lee, Brian North, British Royal bookplates and ex-libris of related families, Aldershot, Scolar Press, 1992


On Russian Heraldry, see, Russian Heraldry: A Brief Survey, by Dr. Mikhail Y. Medvedev.