A design for a bookplate: two infant boys holding a shield inscribed with the letter 'F'; and an impression of the woodcut bookplate

Frances Horner, née Graham (1858-1940), was the daughter of a Scottish MP and collector who married the barrister John Francis Fortescue Horner in 1883. She met Burne-Jones when she was about eighteen and she became a life long friend, muse and patron of the artist. They exchanged letters almost daily and she posed for several of his paintings including as the bride in The King's Wedding and as a nymph for Perseus and the Sea Nymphs. Burne-Jones also gave her many gifts of friendship of his works of which the present work is a small but intimate example. It is one of only two ex-libris that Burne-Jones ever created.