| "Constitution de 1791 : décret de l'Assemblée nationale précédé de la Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen. Exemplaire manuscrit collationné sur l'original, Reliure de maroquin vert estampillée du médaillon de l'Assemblée nationale. la reliure mesure environ 32,5 cm de haut sur 22 cm de large Archives nationales, AE/I/10 N° pièce 1 © Archives nationales, France." |
| I stumbled upon the photo shown above on Pinterest, with the caption as shown. This image cannot be enlarged to any great degree... however this is the internet, you have to work with what you can find. Below I show a detail taken from this binding and compare it with a similar detail found on the MS 1546 doublure masterpiece of J B Gosselin that he made for Louis XVI in 1785. (see MS 1546) |
| In Comparative Diagram 1, we can still make out the imprints of the 1791 binding well enough to be quite certain that this binding was executed by Gosselin. Now if you click on the enlargement of this binding you will see that the centerpiece is stamped with the date of 1789, this was a bit confusing considering the caption given with this photo, so I had to really try to find this at the French Archives nationales, after several attempts I finally found the actual contents of this binding which was indeed the Constitution of 1791. Many authors have said or implied that the French Revolution killed elaborate luxury dentelle bindings such as this one that protects the Constitution. This example then is rather an enigma and possibly one of the last of its kind. |
| Constitution française de 1791 : décret de l'Assemblée nationale du 3 septembre 1791, précédé de la Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen. Cet exemplaire manuscrit comporte 46 feuillets. Il a été collationné sur l'original. En marge du premier feuillet figure la mention d'acceptation " J'accepte et ferai exécuter. 14 7bre 1791.", signée : Louis; contre-signé: M. L. F. Duport. Un cachet cire rouge apparaît à la fin du cahier, à droite des signatures : Vergnier, président ; F. Pougeard, Chaillon, Mailly-Chateaurenaud; Aubry, évêque de Verdun; Couppé, C. Darche, secrétaires de l'Assemblée nationale. Manuscrit sur vélin dans une reliure de maroquin vert et or, estampillée du médaillon de l'Assemblée nationale, équipée de 2 fermoirs et renforcée dans une boîte de métal. |
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click here to see the INDEX of the pages from 2017. click here to return to the HOME page. see below links to previous work |
| 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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