Item 65: Bookplate, Honorable William Howard, [pre-1754]

Item — Box: 20, Folder: 65

Staff Only

Bookplate, Honorable William Howard, no date

Dates

Created: [pre-1754]

Disclaimer for Name and Subject Authorities

Some of the name and subject authority tags have been assigned by educated guessing and estimation of persons and subjects by region, age, profession, and familial relationships. They have been thoroughly researched by using primary and secondary sources available digitally, and named in each description, or in some cases linked directly to the person tag.

Access:

All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.

Extent

1 items

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Type of Material:

Bookplate

Measurements:

2 1/16 in. x 2 ¾ in.

Condition Note:

Good

Title:

Honorable William Howard

Description:

A bookplate depicting a lion standing on top of a cushion with the text, “Hon.ble [Honourable] William Howard” underneath it. This is the bookplate of William Howard, the Viscount Andover of Elford Hall, Staffordshire. He was a strong Tory voice, voting against the parliament’s interest in the Spanish convention in 1739. It is more commonly known as the Convention of Pardo, an agreement between Britain and Spain in order to soothe trade relations between the two countries. His contention in the government even spread to envelop his family life, creating strife between Howard and his father, Henry Bowes Howard, who was a sitting member of the House of Lords when Howard voted for the withdrawal on the motion for Robert Walpole’s dismissal in 1741, though his father voted in favor of it with his own seat. Walpole was the first prime minister of Britain, and held a political career spanning 1701-1742. He was most revered for his decisions to keep Britain out of conflict and refusing to engage Spain as trade tensions continued to build during the War of Jenkins’ Era in 1739. The opposing parties advocated for his removal and Howard’s rejection of the motion to remove Walpole tied his interests to a political voice that was quickly losing the public’s esteem. The bookplate possibly demonstrates Howard’s personal interests in his lineage and legacy, as the crest is one tied to his line since the sixteenth century. The history of parliament’s biography of Howard notes that his Tory interests were built on his “return on family interest at Castle Rising” (History of Parliament). Howard chose to use the minimal crest of the Howard line, rather than the intricate and developing crest of each individual earl line. The inclusion of the title Honourable by Howard may also indicate the personalization of a plate. With Howard trying to reassert his familial power and wealth while voting against the political interests of the time, we possibly see a difference in character as read by the individual rather than the public. The lion and crown in heraldry both indicate wealth and power, most commonly by sovereign origins. The see the progression of the Howard family crests, view the compiled history available on European Heraldry’s website. There is an entry in the Caxton Head Catalogue that mentions another instance of William Howard’s plate and crest affixed in a printing of the Canterbury Tales.