Susan Stead wrote:
> Can anyone identify the owner of this bookplate for me?
>
> Square with the intertwined letters 'W' and 'V' surmounted by a baron's
> coronet and around the edge the motto "Vernon semper viret".
> Obviously a member of the Vernon family but who? We have a number of books
> with this plate, many of them 16th C Italian books subsequently owned by
> Sir Herbert Thompson.
This is the English bookplate of Baron Vernon. Motto translates: Vernon
always flourishes.Franks (catalogue of British and American Bookplates
bequeathed to the trustees of the British Museum by Sir Augustus
Wollaston Franks,...by E.R.J.Gambier Howe,... 3 vols,1904) lists 28
Vernon bookplates; at least 8 are of Barons Vernon. Some are armorial,
one with the 16 quarterings. The 5 with interlaced initials are:
30334 W.V. (Baron Vernon) (T.W.(Williment?))
30335 " " " (A different plate. Copied from the last).
30336 " " " ( A smaller plate)
30337 " " " (A very small plate)
These 4 all have interlaced initials, sumounted by a coronet, in a
frame.Franks no. 30353 is:
W.W.V. (Vernon) Interlaced initials in a frame.
It is helpful when identifying bookplates, to identify (as you have
done) the rank of the crown/chapeau etc (Baron's coronet in this case).
As also the tiny cadency marks sometimes present on coats of arms.
Franks does not identify 'W.V.'or give any idea of dates; of the many
Vernon families I think the Venables-Vernon, Vernon-Graham, and
Vernon-Wentworth ones all had similar crests, motto and perhaps all had
barons.Of the 9 baron Vernons of the Chester family, listed to 1963 in
Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, none have initials W.V., except the 7th,
George Wiliam Henry, bn.19th century.I'm pretty sure that W.V. stands
for Wentworth-Vernon, and is probably a plate of George Venables, Baron
of Kinderton (succeeded as 2nd Baron 1807, died 1813).Of Wentworth
Castle. If the age of the plate fits.The present shield carries two
crests, a boar's head for Vernon, and a griffin for Wentworth.I have not
seen the plate, but think the initials would be interwoven so that it
can be read either W.V. or V.W., i.e. Wentworth-Vernon or
Vernon-Wentworth, in order that the families be treated impartially.
Hope this helps,
John Barton