| The binding shown above is found in the British Library Database of bookbindings, I must thank Philippa Marks for alerting me to this wonderful mosaic binding by Louis Douceur. It is quite small which explains why I have not shown with my usual over sized enlargement. Only about 13.5 centimeters tall, actually smaller than your average cell phone, which maybe explains why it has been overlooked by some of the worlds greatest experts. I say overlooked, I mean unrecognized, some have even said that this binding is related to the "Atelier a la Tulipe" or possibly made by Antoine-Michel Padeloup. I am really surprised that no one has recognized these tools, the same tools that we have be looking at in the last few pages. The bird pairs occur often in Douceur's bindings and are a dead give away in identifying his work, however these birds were also copied by other binders. |
| We see in the decoration of this binding some tools that we have not yet catalogued, this make me think that it is an early Douceur, and I question the date of 1755, I would not be surprised if it is actually from the previous decade, we see here some of the same tools as found on a 1745 Douceur binding shown by the Bibliotheque nationale de France - RES P-YF-243 (click here to see this). A quick search for Jean François de Bastideion in the WorldCat for La trentaine de Cithère comes up with a first printing in 1753 so I suppose I am wrong about when Douceur made this binding, it certainly looks nothing like the mosaic binding that he made for Madame de Pompadour in 1755. In Comparative Diagram 2, below, I have assembled some of the more important imprints found on this Davis562 binding. |
| The Douceur pair of flowers d-22a-2 and d-22b-2 are very interesting as both Dubuisson and Monnier had tools of the same kind. Shown below in Comparative Diagram 3, I wonder if Douceur had this tool before the others. Dubuisson's example looks very similar to that of Le Monnier, where as Douceur's imprint is less complex. |
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In Comparative Diagram 4 we see the distinctive Douceur birds with their feet squarely planted upon the ground, a sure sign of a Douceur binding wherever you see them. Below I show Mirjam Foot's references for this binding, apparently none of these people recognized this as a Douceur binding. I decided to follow up Mirjam Foot's Same tools on reference, I show it below in Comparative Diagram 5. These are NOT the same tools! This is a clever imation BUT IT IS NOT DOUCEUR nor are the tools exactly the same as can be shown in Comparative Diagram 6, study closely this diagram you will see unmistakable differences. Here is the reason why 'experts' have failed in the past, this is sloppy work and the result is total confusion, that is being perpetuated by auction 'experts' who have swallowed all this pretend expertise. |
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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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