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We have looked at this set of Delorme bindings previously however now we will concentrate on the decoration of the spines as it relates to our previous pages. This reproduction is from a 1999
Librairie Sourget catalogue: Manuscrits Et Livres Precieux - Catalogue XX, pages 196 and 197. I have lost the price list for these bindings however you can be sure that this luxurious set was sold for many thousands of dollars, even though the Sourget experts were unable to say who the binding was made by or when it was executed. Our research of the past few pages confirm that this set of bindings was made by Pierre Delorme, probably close to the year of 1774. |
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In Comparative Diagram 1, the green letters indicate the main important features of the spine decorations of this Boccace set: a - the artificial raised band decoration of a double fillet and Delorme pallet del-PAL-102-2 (as per 1774 Almanach Royal) b - panel corner tools del-105a and del-105b. c - panel centerpiece fleuron del-6-2. d - panel border tool del-DCT-46-2 (as per Cantiques, W.Cat.279 etc, etc. e - double fillet separating the lower panels. f - first row of the pallet PAL 36. g - second row of pallet PAL 36. h - 4 satellite dots (as per Cantiques, W.Cat.279, etc, etc.) |
| In Comparative Diagram 2, I show a pair of fleurons that I suspect are that same as those that have been placed in the corners of the Boccace spine panels. These imprints are relatively rare in their complete form. In as much as their use in decorating the spines usually results in only a limited portion of their entire length being used, we rarely see a complete imprint and in fact these examples shown, derive not from a spine but the front covers of a large multi-plaque binding (click here to see it) This is large binding and the reproduction of such a binding is often not as sharp as those of most others, so here we can only show somewhat blurred imprint examples. |
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In Comparative Diagram 3 we see a complete fleuron that I think may be the same as the partial examples that are found in the spine panel borders, this complete imprint can be seen in the dentelle decoration of the binding shown on page three
this is the 1774 État général des officiers Suisses au service du Roi. Barber has made an interesting observation about the decoration of spines (Vol. 1 p 169, 2013): In general the decoration of the spine stood alone in that the tools and pallets chosen for it were rarely repeated on the covers. We can see this unwritten rule in this binding where this del-DCT 46-2 that we would normally expect to find in the decoration of the spine has been used the elaborate dentelle found on the covers. |
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click here to return to the HOME page. click here to see an INDEX of the 2017 pages. 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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