Another distinctive name

Two dialogues in English, between a doctor of divinity, and a student in the laws of England, of the grounds of the said laws, and of conscience (London, 1687) has an ownership signature of Lupton Topham -- whose name reminds me irresistibly of Lipton's Tea! Do a Google search, and the first result which comes up is the online version of the Victoria County History, for vol. 1 of the history of the North Riding of Yorkshire, entry for the parish of Coverham, from which I learn the following:

"The Fitz Hughs retained Bellerby, and in 1518 Sir Thomas Parr was said to have died seised of the manor of Coverham, although his title was disputed by Lord Scrope of Bolton. The manor probably escheated on the attainder of William Parr, Marquess of Northampton, in 1553. From this time its descent is obscure, but it was probably, like the demesne lands of Middleham (q.v.), mortgaged by the Crown and ultimately sold to the freeholders. From the freeholders it has probably been purchased in recent times by the Tophams, Thomas Topham being lord in 1879 and Mr. Lupton Topham Topham of Lutterworth, Leicestershire ... being the present lord."

I am learning miscellaneous heraldic terms, in pursuit of the identification of owners of heraldic bookplates, but I think mastering the technicalities of land tenure terms is probably beyond the call of duty!

The next Google result takes me to ancestry.com, which has records for three Lupton Tophams, the first of whom (born 1702, died 1769) was born to parents named Christopher Topham and Barbara Lupton, but the other two of whom had fathers named William and William Watkinson -- plus a Lupton Topham Topham whose father was Edward Charles Topham. So the name doesn't seem to have passed directly from father to son. There is probably an extremely tedious thesis to be written on the subject of the use of surnames as forenames ... !

More and more Moriers

(or possibly - those of a sensitive disposition may wish to look away now - The More The Morier)

An Enquiry into the Foundation and History of the Law of Nations in Europe (2 vols, 1795), by Robert Ward, has the signature D. R. Morier on the title page. Looking this up on OLIS, the University library catalogue, I found: Morier, David R. (David Richard), 1784-1877. Looking up David Richard Morier in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, I found I'd already looked up his son, Sir Robert Morier, while researching Sir Robert's grand-daughter, who became the Hon. Mrs Cunnack (see entry for 24 May 2012). But the bookplates in Ward's Enquiry state clearly "d.d. The Hon. Mrs Cunnock, 1955" -- given that title and date are the same, and the surname differs in only one letter, I think this must be a lapse in concentration on the part of a predecessing librarian. Next on the shelf is The Law of Natiions, Founded on the Treaties and Customs of the Modern Nations of Europe, translated from the German of Prof. G. F. von Martens and published in 1803. On the title page are three signatures: in the middle, below the title, is that of D. R. Morier; below it, above the imprint, is that of R. B. D. Morier, with the date March 1855 -- that must be D.R.'s son, Robert Burnet David -- and at the top of the title page is another Morier signature, with initials J. P., and in the ODNB is an entry for D.R.'s eldest brother, John Philip. All three Moriers were diplomats, who would have had an interest in international law. Given the coincidence of initials, I think it's certain that the Morier family who owned these books and the Moriers in the ODNB are the same, and that the Hon. Mrs Cunnack (not Cunnock) is the former Hon. Alice Elizabeth Millicent Erskine-Wemyss (although I still don't know her connection to Somerville).

Another exotic-looking name

Bound with the Manuel des consuls de commerce is a copy, published in 1826, of De la juridiction des consuls de France a l'étranger, by the Chevalier Laget de Podio -- about whom I can find nothing, save that a M. Laget de Podio was among those on board the Carlo Alberto arrested during the Duchesse de Berri's failed attempt to restore the Bourbon monarchy in 1832.

This is War

Manuel des consuls de commerce, des négocians maritimes et des armateurs en course, by Louis Lareynie-Labruyere (whose full name, apparently, was Jean-Baptiste-Marie-Louis La Reynie de La Bruyère), published in Paris in 1809 --

Included at the beginning are various decrees issued by the Emperor Napoleon relating to a trade blockade of the British Isles. Any ship, of whatever nation and whatever her cargo, setting sail from an English port, or from an English colony, or from land occupied by English troops, is a legitimate prize, and liable to capture by French warships or privateers.

More royals

The supporters on my mystery coat of arms (I discovered after a bit of investigation of heraldic beasts, where it was sorely tempting to be sidetracked!) are yales, and the arms are those of Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, who founded, and whose arms are used by, both St John's and Christ's Colleges, Cambridge (as are her Tudor rose and portcullis badges). So how does a Cambridge college binding come to be in Somerville? The donor of the book was Mrs Octavia Adler, whose address is given in an old copy of the college register as "Kings and Princes, West Chiltington, Sussex". And there is indeed an 18th century farmhouse called Kings and Princes in West Chiltington - although not even Google can satisfy my curiosity as to how it came by that name! Google can, however, supply the information that her husband Herbert Marcus Adler was an alumnus of St John's College, Cambridge - so I assume he either had his own book bound in a college binding, or acquired the book from the college by some (I hope legitimate!) means.

Learned and right royal ...

The spirit of liberty : papers and addresses of Learned Hand --
I was assuming that "The Learned Hand" was a pseudonym, but it turns out that the author was in fact christened Learned Hand, or in full Billings Learned Hand, his mother's maiden name having been Learned. "His mother's family traditionally used surnames as given names" says Wikipedia -- which could have unfortunate consequences; I have several cousins who bear the no doubt honourable but somewhat infelicitous surname of Daft.

I'm now puzzling over a late Victorian or Edwardian heraldic binding, with an earl's coronet, a Tudor rose and the House of Commons portcullis on the spine, and a coat of arms on the boards which must have some royal connection, as the central escutcheon shows the three lions of England quartered with three fleurs-de-lys. The supporters are some kind of cross between a lion and a goat, I think ...

Heaven at last! or, the convolutions of Scottish family history

A three-volume edition of The book of the farm : detailing the labours of the farmer, farm-steward, ploughman, shepherd, hedger, cattle-man, field-worker and dairy maid, by Henry Stephens. Sounds fascinating as a glimpse of The Way Things Were, and was apparently the 'bible' of the BBC TV series Victorian Farm - but I'm not sure Somervillians will have made much practical use of it! Stamped on the cover of each volume is a Scottish clan badge, the central device being a crescent, and the motto on the surrounding strap and buckle being 'Denique coelum' - At the last, heaven. Simple to type the motto into Google and find out it belongs to the Clan Melville - but their device is a hound's head, not a crescent. Maybe some side-branch of the clan? Google Images found me the following, on the University of Toronto's register of British Armorial Bindings:

which is exactly what I've got, and comes with the information that it was used by the families of Melville of Murdocairnie in Fife 1672, and of Melville of Strathkinness also in Fife 1773. So how does it come to be on a book published in 1844? A bit more ferreting around, and I discover that the Strathkinness estate, which by then had been joined with the Bennochy estates of the Whyte family,  was inherited in 1883 by John Balfour of Pilrig, who assumed the name and arms of Melville of Strathkinness.

So how did the books come to Somerville? Written on the bookplates is the information that they were given by Mrs Stotherd, but there is no Stotherd listed in the College Register, so she must have been a well-wisher rather than an old member. But there is one Stotherd in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, who ended up as director-general of the Ordnance Survey, and who in 1875 married as his second wife one Elizabeth Janet Melville. Serious genealogists may like to pursue this further; I think I'd better get back to my books!