| I want to thank again the British Library for allowing me to show you this classic (neo-classical) 1784 binding by Derome le jeune shelfmarked C42c9. This binding is blessed with the etiquette of Derome le jeune, shown below along with the appropriate Ract-Madoux classification Group F. Enlargements show that the 'le' in Deromes name is different in each example, ending high in example 2 and stubby in example 3, only example 1 matches our 1784 example. Compare also the 'St' in front of Benoist, the derminations of the 't' are all different. The British Library data for this item suggest that we look at Ricci 45 and this is precisely what we have done in Comparative Diagram 1. Below I show De Ricci's notes for this signed Derome le jeune binding, No. 45, French signed bindings in the Mortimer L. Schiff Collection. With: British and miscellaneous signed bindings in the Mortimer L. Schiff Collection. By Seymour de Ricci. In 4 volumes. Published by New York, MCMXXXV, (Printed in France by Lecram-Servant, Paris), 1935. |
| The first major difference between these two bindings is the spine, De Ricci says that this No. 45 binding was made by Derome around 1782 or 1783, the etiquette that he reproduces in facsimile for this binding is not the same as that found in the British Library example. Ract-Madoux has placed this etiquette in the H group as you can see below in Comparative Diagram 3, (the coloured ticket is from De Ricci's notes for binding 45) this would place it at the extreme end of the 1780 to 1785 period, which I think we can show is not accurate. The presence of Derome's 'fer a l'oiseau' on the spine suggests that this binding is earlier than BL C42c9. This would mean that the F etiquettes which we know are at least 1784 or later are actually older than the oldest of the H etiquettes, of course this makes little or no sense at all. |
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| Even experts are sometimes wrong, before you spend thousands on a book, please do your own research! Just because I say a certain binding can be attributed to le Maitre isn't any kind of guarantee, don't take my word for it, go a step further and get your own proof. In these pages I have provided you with a way of doing just that. |
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