THE ANCESTOR A Quarterly Review of County and Family History, Heraldry and Antiquities by Barron, Oswald ; (editor and founder) ; Pierre Chaignon la Rose (bookplate) ; David K. E. Bruce (bookplate) - 1902

London: Archibald Constable & Co.. Very Good. 1902. First Edition. Hardcover. 2 p.l., 282 & ads pages; Contemporary full calf, flamed decoration, swirl marbled endpapers, edges decoratively stained red. Minor rubbing to the binding; outer hinge of front board tender -- still quite handsome; some diffuse foxing to the title page and the fore-edges of the first several leaves. With two large, impressive bookplates facing one another mounted to the paste-down and front free-endpapers. The first is an engraved heraldic bookplate of Pierre Chaignon la Rose (engraved by George W. Eve -- "signed" in the plate). La Rose was born in New York City. Non-admirers of his in the greater Harvard community sniffed that his name had once been Peter Ross, but it is beyond question that he prepared at Phillips Exeter, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1895 from Harvard, where was Phi Beta Kappa and had edited the Harvard Review. He taught at Harvard in the English Department until 1902, after which he described himself as a "man of letters." He was an expert in Heraldic design and designed arms for a number of institutions including The Catholic University of America, Saint Anselm College and Rice University. Closer to home, he designed the seals of all the graduate schools at Harvard University and served on its Committee on Arms, Seal, and Diplomas. La Rose also designed armorial bearings for Princeton, Yale, and Radcliffe College. His undergraduate roommate. the future composer Daniel Gregory Mason remembered that La Rose was frequently and expertly drawing bookplates even in his undergraduate days. It is notable that he had his own bookplate engraved (or more likely, etched) by one of the other great bookplate designers of their time: George W. Eve [ 1855-1914] -- an English artist who shared his involvement with Heraldry. Eve was a member of the Heralds' College and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers -- (his colleages in the latter chose him to design their diploma). Eve designed and etched bookplates for many notables, including Queen Victoria, and Kings Edward VII and George V. Eve also designed and etched the bookplate for the Library at Windsor. We do not know whether Eve merely etched this plate for Pierre Chaignon la Rose, or designed it as well. The result is certainly consistent with George Eve's other work. The design incorporates the motto, 'Fortiter et Suaviter,' -- [“Patience and Fortitude"] Special Collections at the University of Delaware have an entirely different bookplate for Pierre Chaignon la Rose, dated 1905. The only similarity between the two bookplates is the retention of La Rose's Latin motto. An old friend of ours who had been at Harvard in the 1930's remembered La Rose well and relates that he engaged some quiet and genteal trading in rare books. One wonders whether he sold this first volume of 'The Ancestor' to the man whose even larger bookplate is mounted to the facing endpaper: David Kirkpatrick Este Bruce [1898-1977]. Bruce headed the Europe branch of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during the second World War and subsequently helped in the administration of the Marshall Plan before entering the diplomatic service. He served as the United States Ambassador to France from 1949 to 1952, United States Ambassador to West Germany from 1957 to 1959, and United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1961 to 1969 -- and remains the only American to hold all three of these pivotal posts. For good measure, he came out of retirement to serve as the first United States emissary to the People's Republic of China from 1973 to 1974. David K. E. Bruce's distinctive bookplate is decidedly non-Heraldic. It depicts Staunton Hill, the 1850 castellated Gothic-style mansion that architect John E. Johnson designed for Charles Bruce in Charlotte County, Virginia ... etc. Our volume is just the first of the series of twelve volumes published. How many of these 1902 volumes had a more interesting pair of bookplates mounted by previous owners? Contents include: Some Anecdotes of the Harris Family; The Origin of the Fitzgeralds; The English Gentleman; Miniatures at Belvoir; Heraldic Glass from Lytes Cary; The King's Coronation Ornaments; The Grosvenor Myth; etc. .