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While I was searching through catalogues for Delorme bindings that connect with our Cantiques binding I came across a binding that was a shock in as much as it was decorated in a nearly identical fashion, shown above it is found in one of my favorite catalogues,
Belles Reliures. Catalogue XII
Published by Gumuchian, Paris, 1929, This is Item 214, that is not really a binding in the regular sense but more of an early form of a 'loose leaf binder' and as such it was difficult for the Gumuchian experts to assess in terms of when it may have been made, there was nothing inside of it other than a few dividing 'cards'. However now that we have an almost identical dentelle on our Cantiques that is closely linked to bindings made in the early part of the 1770's we can say with a high degree of certainty that this item was not made in or around 1950 as stated in the Gumuchian information, but more than 20 years later.. |
| In Comparative Diagram 1, you will notice the striking similarities in the decoration of these two items. loosely speaking this is a décor de dentelle régulière that is to say, a dentelle formed by the repeated use of the same set of tools to form a border that has a regular and relatively unbroken sequence of the same elements. |
| In Comparative Diagram 2 we see part of both dentelles greatly enlarged, and at the same scale. These two decorations being the same on distinctly different items is I think somewhat unusual. It remains to be seen whether or not we will ever find another. |
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In Comparative Diagram 3, I point out the important individual elements. A - del-19-2 a small 5 petaled flower (that Barber might call a tulip) surmounted by a relatively large dot as well as two leafs, one on each side of the stem that is standing on a small ring. This fleuron is not found in Barber's catalogue. B - is a small rhombus that is not found in the Gumuchian 214 dentelle. C - is a dot placed regularly between the elements of the dentelle. It may be that the dot over the del-19-2 fleuron is one of these dots. D - a small ring that is placed repeatedly within the dentelle to form a double row. E - del-60 a pod that sits on a ring and has a stamen emerging from it, surmounted by a small dot. F - drawer-handle roulette similar to Barber ROLL 7 b. G - del-30a small frond. H - del-30b small frond. |
| Another fortunate coincidence occurred when I was attempting to compare these drawer-handle roulettes with those in Barber's tool catalogue. He has measured them in 10 unit lengths and measuring these Delorme examples gave a measurement similar to his Roll 7b and that example he references to W.Cat 6, when we then check W.Cat 6 we discover that it is a Dubuisson plaque binding on an Almanach of a similar size as the bulk of the Almanach Royals i.e. 19.9 cm in height. Then I decided to search for Almanach Royal examples from 1770 onwards to see if I could find a matching drawer-handle roulette, knowing that Delorme decorated many of these Almanachs. First I went through the Gallica collection and did not find even a single example. Then I tried a random image search with Google and bingo what did I find, not just a roulette but another example of this Delorme dentelle on a 1774 Almanach Royal (see this Drouot example) and this after I said previously that I thought these dentelles must be very rare. This example is shown in Comparative Diagram 4. and confirms my guess that these dentelles were made sometime around 1774. One major differnce in these bindings is the presents of del-6 on item 214 and the Almanach opposed to del-6-2 found on the Cantiques binding. |
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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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