| We can see in Barber's W.Cat.204 information shown above, that he has attributed this binding to Derome le jeune (N.-D. Derome) on the evidence of DCR 5 and DCT 4 both are found in W.Cat.138 while DCR 5 is also found in W.Cat.734. Unfortunately for Barber these bindings were decorated by Gosselin, thus the attribution to Derome on the basis of these Gosselin tools is not correct. Here we enter a rather technical problem of definition, even if we speculate that Derome hired Gosselin and latterly sold the binding as his own work i.e. from his workshop, we should not attribute the binding to Derome. Derome is only famous for his decoration (which was often done by someone else after 1770) therefore attributing Gosselin's decoration to Derome makes no sense even if we found Derome's ticket inside. |
| In Comparative Diagram 1 we see the two linking imprints catalogued by Barber as DCR 5 and DCT 4. DCR 5 is very important as it served as a corner tool and is something to watch out for. |
| In Comparative Diagram 2, we compare Barber PAL 23 with an actual imprint from W.Cat.204. Even though these imprints do not look to be a perfect match, I suspect that Barber's example was taken from W.Cat.544, which is one of the very few catalogued bindings that he does not show. However the difference in the drawer-handle lengths leads me to suspect that these imprints were probably made by the same tool. In any case this is a rarely seen Gosselin palette, and in as much as this binding could have been made in 1768 this may be a very early Gosselin palette that was quickly abandoned. |
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In Comparative Diagram 5, I have attempted to show Barber's catalogue tools in green. He did not give a full list of his tools for W.Cat.204, such as FR 35 that is in blue and shown below in Comparative Diagram 6. There are tools that he never catalogued that are found in my catalogue such as gos-38a-2 and gos-38b-2 shown in yellow, these are smaller versions of the gos-38 pair that Barber has catalogued as FL 179. Then there is the Gosselin type 5 this I have detailed on a previous page (click here to see it) Barber appears to have not encountered Derome's model of this type nor that of Gosselin or Jubert. However the one example of this type that he does show (FL 189) is a rare early small Dubuisson form that I have detailed on another page click here to see it)
This is very interesting as Barber attributes the binding on which this imprint is found to J. A. Derome. Hard to believe that not only has Barber confused the work of Gosselin and Jubert and Delorme and now also Dubuisson, to be that of the infamous Deromes! We see here in W.Cat.204 a second Gosselin form of this type that can be called gos-5-2 with a much larger central flower. |
| In Comparative Diagram 7, I show Barbers spine panel corner imprints SP 32 and 33 that seem to match those found in the panels of W.Cat.204 and in theory they should match as they are linked to some of the other Gosselin bindings that we have studied in these pages. |
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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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