| The reproduction of the binding shown above is found in a 2001 Christies auction catalogue (click here to see it ). The first thing we notice is that this reproduction is in black and white where as all the other items have colour reproductions. This is the first sign that something isn't quite right. When I first saw this binding I noticed the decoration and wondered if this could be another Derome as I had recorded a Derome binding a few moths ago with a similar looking and surprisingly unusal decoration. |
| In Comparative Diagram 1, I show these two bindings together, it is easy to see that the decoration of the 1775 binding is also found in the 1764 binding (click here to see a description of the 1764 binding) Thus it was fairly easy to identify this binding as a Derome. I wanted to know more about it and decided to search some of the information given by the Christies experts, first I searched, Bernard-Louis, marquis de Chauvelin (b. March 1, 1716Ñd. Nov. 24, 1773), "he was the brother of Henri-Philippe and achieved great distinction as a soldier and diplomat. He served in Italy and Flanders and became ambassador to Genoa and Turin. From 1749 to 1753 he was Lieutenant general du roi de France in Genoa. He was commander in chief of French troops on Corsica from May 1768 to July 1769 during the Conquest of Corsica. He passed his final days in the French royal court as an intimate of Louis XV, dying of an apoplexy at the king's gaming table". From this information I thought perhaps I had the wrong Marquis as he died before this Almanac was published. Searching for the arms of Bernard-Louis, marquis de Chauvelin produced nothing that looked like the arms on this Almanac. After a long and thorough search found something in the 1890 edition of Nouvel armorial du bibliophile : guide de l'amateur des livres armories by Guigard, Joannis, 1825-1892 (click here to see this at archive.org) Under Chauvelin (Claude-francoise) on page 133 we find virtually the same text describing his rich collection of books. This is the right Chauvelin, however the arms shown in this Nouvel Armorial are quite different from those found on the 1775 Almanac, and even more puzzling is the fact that his arms are found on a book that was published more than a year after his death... or was it? Looking at the fact that Derome le jeune seems to have used this decoration only rarely, it would seem more likely that this Alamanach Royal is actually a 1765 edition. Only time will clear up this mystery. |
| I was not sure if the decoration of these bindings was the result of a repeated use of a large palette or rather, a roulette, and tried to compare the various imprint examples. After some testing I discovered that there was a repeating pattern in the elements that suggested that there was a single element that contained two similar but not identical pairs. I could isolate these by observing differences in the dots around the central crowns, these pairs I show in the diagrams above. The 'a-b' dots aer closer togther than the 'c-d' dots. This exercise also proved that this is indeed, the same Derome tool that was used on both bindings. |
| The next question was then if this repeated element was a palette, if it was then we should expace to see somewhere a join. Comparative Diagram 5, shown above is the result of many diagrams that I made looking for a join. While not a single evident join could be found, there seemed to be an unexplained difference in the length of the supposed roulette imprint, this is shown by the green lines. These show that section 'd' was somehow longer, normally this would not be possible with a roulette, however the explaination maybe shown in the diagram below, where we see that the section taken from next to the spine 'IN' is longer than the 'OUT' outside. Looking at the bindings in Comparative Diagram 1, we can see this difference in the length of the outside of the 1764 board which is perhaps due to shrinkage, while just the reverse can be seen in the 1775 binding. |
| In Comparative Diagram 6 we see that section 'c' roulette imprint is slightly longer than the 'b" roulette imprint. Section 'c' is from the outside and this corresponds to Comparative Diagram 1, where we see the boards of the 1775 binding are flairing. Click on these diagrams to see the enlargements where these differences become more evident. This thorough investigation of this roulette that we can call dj-R-6, will ensure that if ever we see another we will recognize it easily and be able to identify it with absolute certainty. |
| The fleuron dj-82 shown in Comparative Diagram 7 has not been seen on any Derome bindings that I know of and is as rare as the roulette dj-R-6, however we may not have noticed the roulette as it is an unusual tool for Derome le jeune and yet of a very popular style that was used by many binders of this period. |
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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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