pendentives - the same, that is, as those of the North, East, and South Corridors below. The vaults are covered with a painted decoration of Renaissance ornament which for variety and interest is hardly surpassed anywhere else in the building. The decorative scheme which has been adopted was planned throughout by Mr. Casey, and elaborated, especially in the matter of color, and carried into effect, by Mr. Garnsey, working under Mr. Casey's direction. In addition, each corridor contains, as a distinctive accent of color and design, a series of paintings by a specially commissioned artist in the West Corridor by Mr. Walter Shirlaw, in the North Corridor by Mr. Robert Reid, in the East Corridor by Mr. George R. Barse, Jr., and in the South Corridor by Mr. Frank W. Benson. In the side corridors, also, at the west end, the arch of the vault is spanned by a broad band of stucco ornament containing a series of octagonal coffers, ornamented in relief by Mr. Hinton Perry.

The decoration is varied, of course, from corridor to corridor, in order to prevent any monotony of impression, but the main principles on which it is based are everywhere the same. Thus the color scheme-which was suggested in part by the beautiful Library in Sienna - comprises in every corridor blue in the pendentives, golden yellow in the penetrations, and a grayish white in the body of the vault. The only exception to this rule is in the West and East Corridors, which are terminated by double arches instead of ending directly upon a wall. Here the end penetrations are red and the pendentive yellow. The others remain as before. The delineation of the spaces is at bottom very simple, and though more elaborate, a good deal like that already noted in describing the mosaic in the lower corridors. The penetrations are outlined by a bright colored border, on which, where the lines converge to a point at the top, rests a a border of greater width, enclosing the entire vault in a single great rectangle. This, in turn, is divided into compartments by bands of ornament, varying in number according to the requirements of the decoration, but always occurring immediately over the columns of the arcade. These bands, coming where they do, perform a vital service for the decoration in continually reminding the visitor, if only by a painted arabesque, of the importance of the arch in such a piece of construction as a vault. In the spaces between them are garlands and wreaths, and panels for paintings and inscriptions- the whole making part of one great arabesque, which is as easily intelligible and coherent as it is various, but which would have been bewildering in its wealth of ornament and color if it had not been for the fundamental service performed by these various bands and borders and broad masses of color.

The penetrations and pendentives are richly embellished with a great variety of ornament, both conventional and otherwise. The treatment differs in different corridors, however, on account of the varying relative position of the paired columns which support the arcade - from which results first a series of wide and then a series of narrow pendentives. Where the former occur in the West and East Corridors - they are ornamented with the decorations of Mr. Shirlaw and Mr. Barse; while the narrower pendentives on the north and south carry simple medallions and tablets, and Mr. Reid's and Mr. Benson's paintings find place in the arabesque of the ceiling vault and in circular frames along the wall beneath. The balance is restored, however, by introducing a series of medallions, corresponding to Mr. Benson's and Mr. Reid's, though smaller and of less importance, in the vaults east and west, and by ornamenting the penetrations in the side corridors with greater richness and elaboration.

The Printers' Marks.

The most interesting decoration of the penetrations, however, is a series of "Printers' Marks" which is continued through all four corridors. Altogether there are fifty-six of them - sixteen in each of the side corridors, ten in the West Corridor, and fourteen in the East Corridor. They are painted in black outline, and are of a sufficient size, averaging about a foot and a half in height, to be easily made out from the floor. By a printer's mark, it should be explained, is meant the engraved device which the old printers used in the title-page or colophon of their books, partly as a kind of informal trade-mark guarding against counterfeited editions, and partly as a personal emblem, such as a publisher of good standing would like to see on a long list of worthy books. For this latter reason, and in order to be able to add an interesting piece of ornament to the title-page, the mark has been revived of late years by a considerable number of modern publishing and printing > houses.

Very often, as the visitor will see, the printer's mark is, in its way, a really beautiful piece of design; many have an interest as being associated with the reputation of a famous printer like Caxton, or Aldus, or Elzevir; while others depend mainly for their point upon some special symbolical meaning, very frequently taking the form of an illustrated pun. Thus, in the West Corridor, the mark of Lotter - which means "vagrant" in German is a mendicant supplicating alms. In the South Corridor, the mark of Geoffroy Tory commemorates the death of his little daughter - the broken vase, with a book symbolizing the literary studies of which she had been fond.

There is no necessity, however, of describing the marks in detail, for, with the exception of two or three American examples, they were all taken from Mr. William Roberts's Printers' Marks (London, 1893), in which they are illustrated and explained. Those thought best adapted for decorative effect were chosen throughout, although the marks of as many of the better known printers as possible were included. Occasionally a border or a motto was omitted, but in the main Mr. Roberts's engravings were pretty exactly copied. In the West Corridor the marks are mostly those of German printers; in the South Corridor, French; in the East Corridor, Italian and Spanish; in the North Corridor, English and Scottish and American.1

1 The following is the list, beginning, in each corridor, at the left-hand end of the outer wall. The dates appended to the names are from Mr. Roberts's book: West Corridor - Wolfgang Koepfel 1523; Fust and Schoeffer, 1457; Craft Mueller, 1536-62; Conrad Baumgarten, 1503-5; Jacobus Pfortzheim, 1488-1518; Cratander, 1519; Valentin Kobian, 1532-42 Martin Schott, 1498; Melchior Lotter, 1491-1536; Theodosius and Josias Rihel, 1535-1639. South Corridor Rutger Velpius (Flemish), 1553-1614; F. Estienne, 1525; Simon de Colines, 1520; François Regnault, early part of the sixteenth century; Simon Vostre, 1488-1528; Sebastien Nivelle, latter part of the sixteenth century; M. Morin, 1484-1518; Sebastien Gryphe, second quarter of the sixteenth century; André Wéchel, 1535; Geoffroy Tory, 1524; Guillaume Chandière, 1564; Pierre Le Rouge, 1488; Mathurin Breuille, 1562-83; Etienne Dolet, 1540; Jehan Treschel, 1493; Jehan Petit, 1525. East Corridor — Paul and Anthony Meietos (Italian), 1570; Gian Giacomo de Leguano (Italian), 1503-33; Juan Rosenbach (Spanish), 1493-1526; Andrea Torresano (Italian), 1481-1540; Valentin Fernandez (Spanish), 1501; Christopher Plantin (Flemish), 1557; Daniel Elzevir (Dutch, the mark of the Sage), 1617-1625; the Brothers Sabio (Italian), early part of the sixteenth century; Melchior Sessa (Italian), sixteenth century; Ottaviano Scotto (Italian), 1480-1520; Giammaria Rizzardi (Italian), latter part of the eighteenth century; Filippo de Ginuta (Italian), 1515; Lucantonio de Giunta (Italian), 1500; Aldus Manutius (Italian), 1502. North Corridor - D. Appleton & Co.; the DeVinne Press; Charles Scribner's Sons; Harper & Brothers; Houghton, Mifflin & Co. (the Riverside Press); the Century Co.; J. B. Lippincott Co.; Dodd, Mead & Co.; William Caxton, 1489; Richard Grafton, 1537-72; Thomas Vautrollier (Edinburgh and London), 1556-1605; John Day, 1546-34; William Jaggard, 1595-1624; A. Arbuthnot (Edinburgh), 1580; Andrew Hester, 1550; Richard Fynson, 1493-1527. Of the marks in this last corridor, those on the north are of American houses, all contemporary, and on the south, of early English and Scottish printers and publishers.

Mr. Hinton Perry's Bas-Reliefs. - Mr. Perry's bas-reliefs, at the west end of the north and south vaults, have already been referred to. They are four in number, and measure three feet eight inches from one side to another. Taken as a series they represent what may be called, for lack of a better title, Ancient Prophetic Inspiration. The chief figure in each is a sibyl or priestess - Greek, Roman, Persian, Scandinavian-in the act of delivering the prophetic warnings which have been revealed to her in the rapture of a divine frenzy. She is regarded as the mouthpiece of the god, and therefore as the fountain of religion, wisdom, literature, art, and success in war—all of which are typified, in one panel or another, in the figures of her auditors.

Beginning in the South Corridor, the first panel shows the Cumæan or Roman Sibyl. She is represented, in accordance with the ancient histories, as an old and withered hag, whose inspiration comes from an infernal, rather than a celestial source. Two figures, as in all the panels, complete Mr. Perry's group, one male and the other female. The first is clad in the splendid armor of a Roman general; the woman is nude, and stands for Roman Art and LitAt her feet is a box of manuscripts, and she takes in one hand an

erature.

end of the long scroll (representing one of the Sibylline Books, so famous in Roman history) which the Priestess holds in her lap. The panel on the other side of the arch represents a Scandinavian Vala or Wise Woman, with streaming hair and a wolf-skin over her head and shoulders. She typifies, in her bold gesture and excited gaze, the barbaric inspiration of the Northern nations. To the left is the figure of a Norse warrior, and to the right a naked woman lies stretched upon the ground, personifying the vigorous life and fecundity of genius of the North.

In the North Corridor, the subjects of Mr. Perry's two decorations are Greek and Persian Inspiration. The former is represented by the Priestess of the world-renowned Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. She is seated upon a tripod, placed above a mysterious opening in the earth, from which the sacred fumes rise to intoxicate the Priestess, and fill her with the spirit of prophecy. On one side of the panel, an old man, standing for Greek science and philosophy, takes down her words on a tablet; on the other is a nude female figure, personifying Greek art and literature. In the second panel, that of Persia, the face of the Sibyl is veiled, to signify the occult wisdom of the East. A man

prostrates himself at her feet in a fervor of religious devotion, and a woman, nearly nude, stands listening in the background. With her voluptuous figure and her ornaments of pearl and gold-a fillet, anklets, armlets, and necklace she represents the luxuriance and sensuousness of Eastern art and poetry. Mr. Shirlaw's Paintings. The subjects of Mr. Shirlaw's figures in the vault of the West Corridor are, on the west, beginning at the left: Zoology, Physics, Mathematics, and Geology; and on the east, again beginning at the left: Archæology, Botany, Astronomy, and Chemistry. Each science is represented by a female figure about seven and a half feet in height. The figures are especially interesting, aside from their artistic merit, for the variety of symbolism by which every science is distinguished from the others, and for the

BOTANY.

BY WALTER SHIRLAW.

subtlety with which much of this symbolism is expressed. Not only is each accompanied by various appropriate objects, but the lines of the drapery, the expression of the face and body, and the color itself are, wherever practicable, made to subserve the idea of the science represented. Thus the predominant colors used in the figure of Chemistry-purple, blue, and red are the ones which occur most often in chemical experimenting. In the pendentive of Geology, Mr. Shirlaw employs principally purple and orange; the former is the ruling color in many of the more common rock formations when seen in the mass and naturally; and the latter is the color of the ordinary lichens one finds on boulders and ledges. In the matter of line, again, the visitor will notice a very marked difference between the abrupt, broken line used in the drapery of Archæology, and the moving, flowing line in that of Physics. In both cases it will be found that the line is in very complete sympathy with the character of the science depicted. The method of archæology is largely excavation carried on among sculptural and architectural fragments. The swirling drapery of Physics is suggestive of flame and heat.

Zoology is represented with a lion seated beside her, her hands clasping his mane. She is the huntress and student of wild life, and her body is powerfully developed, like an Amazon's. She is clad in the pelt of an animal, the head forming her cap, and in buskins of skin. She stands on a rocky piece of ground, like a desert. The chief colors employed in the pendentive are the typical animal colors, browns and yellows.

Physics stands on an electric globe, from which emanate rays of light. She carries a torch in her left hand, and she holds up an end of her drapery in her right in such a way that it seems to start from the flame and flow in sympathy with it over her whole body, so that it conveys the idea of the unceasing motion of fire. The same colors as those used in the pendentive of Geology, purple and orange, are used here also, but in this case standing, of course, for the colors of flame.