d a
signed and dated plate engraved by Nathaniel Hurd, for example, of
Boston, is of some historic value as an example of early American art. He
engraved many plates about the middle of the last century, and died in
1777. Paul Revere, who was an engraver, designed and executed some few
plates, which are rare, and highly prized, more for his name than for his
skill, for, as generally known, he was a noted patriot of the
Revolutionary period, belonging by his acts to the heroic age of American
history.

A book of George Washington's containing his book-plate has an added
interest, though the plate itself is an armorial design, not at all well
executed. Its motto is "_exitus acta probat_"--the event justifies the
deed. From its rarity and the high price it commands, it has probably
been the only American book-plate ever counterfeited. At an auction sale
of books in Washington in 1863, this counterfeit plate had been placed in
many books to give a fictitious value, but the fraud was discovered and
announced by the present writer, just before the books were sold. Yet the
sale was attended by many attracted to bid upon books said to have been
owned by Washington, and among them the late Dr. W. F. Poole, then
librarian of the Boston Athenaeum, which possesses most of the library
authentically known to have been at Mount Vernon.

John Adams and John Quincy Adams used book-plates, and James Monroe and
John Tyler each had a plain name-label. These are all of our presidents
known to have used them, except General Garfield, who had a printed
book-plate of simple design, with the motto "_inter folia fructus_."
Eleven of the signers of the Declaration of Independence are known to
have had these signs of gentle birth--for in the early years of the
American Colonies, it was only the families of aristocratic connection
and scholarly tastes who indulged in what may be termed a superfluous
luxury.

The plates used among the Southern settlers were generally ordered from
England, and not at all American. The Northern plates were more
frequently of native design and execution, and therefore of much greater
value and interest, though far inferior in style of workmanship and
elaboration of ornament to the best European ones.

The ordinary library label is also a book-plate, and some of the early
libraries and small collections have elaborate designs. The early Harvard
College library plate was a large and fine piece of engraving by Hurd.