| I show again here this mysterious binding decorated by Jacques-Antoine Derome, previously documented on another page (see this). At the time I did not carry the research into this binding very far, however now I want to compare the imprints of this binding with certain others where we find the same identical imprints. In Comparative Diagram 1, I show a collection of imprints from our 1754 Derome. In Comparative Diagram 2, I show all the imprints found on the 1743 J A Derome, binding. First I want to point out that this binding may not have been decorated in 1743, many aspects of it suggest that it was made much later. The style of the framed painting under mica in the middle of each board was popular much later on even well onto the 80's. However the auction information states that there is a Padeloup ticket inside this book, therefore it cannot be any later than 1758. We will not get entangled in that for the moment. |
| In Comparative Diagram 3 we can see that these imprints match up even if the quality of the images is somewhat limited, the gap between the circles/rings that is pointed out by the green arrows would seem to suggest that this gap is more than just a coincidence. This Jacque-Antoine Derome imprint is relatively rare in the Derome bindings discovered so far, and the bindings where it is found such as Ricci 38 should be studied closely. In Ricci's information about his signed binding example 38, he states that the particular Derome ticket found in this volume has also been found in a 1761 binding. This is probably one of first examples of the tickets employed by Derome le jeune. We might suspect then that the decoration of Ricci 38 was executed around 1761. |
| An interesting detail mentioned by Ricci in his description of this binding is that the inner dentelle is composed of 'Derome's usual roll-tool (roulette), rosettes in semi-circles, but with the whole tool visible including the three tiny circles above each rosette: Inside, a saw-edge roll tool'. This saw-edge roll-tool (roulette) we can assume to be the same as found on the 'sides' (boards) 'a double fillet and a saw-edge roll-tool' also we see 'End-leaves - Pink tabis'. In Comparative Diagram 6, I show, what I believe to be the same inner dentelle that is found in our 1754 binding! Also he mentions that the 'Edges - A plain single fillet.' this is also the same. |
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In Comparative Diagram 4, we discover something amazing, this roulette that was employed perhaps sometime around 1761, i.e. the beginning of Derome le jeune's official start as a bookbinder and his new tickets that state that he is now the manager of his recently deceased father's shop. This roulette has a very obvious break that made it easy to measure its length. This is the same roulette as found on our 1754 binding and the measurement is virtually the same at 11.87cm vs 11.89cm, however no such damage can be seen on the 1754 example. We can plainly see the break in this roulette that tells us a lot of things, firstly that the double fillet is part of this roulette. and that any bindings with this roulette in an unbroken state such as our 1754 example are guaranteed to have have been executed before 1761. Also this same roulette was used together with the rosette roulette to form the inner dentelle. |
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In Comparative Diagram 6, we discover that the inner dentelle of our 1754 Derome, is probably the same as that of Ricci 38. These roulettes are in good condition and show up well in the 2400dpi scans thus allowing me to measure the exact length of this next important Derome roulette (rosettes) (12.27cm) this is longer than most roulettes, and would be hard to measure on small bindings, especially without significant enlargement. The question then becomes what is the difference in the age of these decorations? Was Derome employing pink tabis end leaves for several years? Or was the 1754 binding made around 1760? The information that Ricci gives about the history of the Bandelis is a bit vague saying only that when Gaignat bought it in 1755 he recorded it as being bound in veau écaille and when it was sold in the 1769 Gaignat auction, the binding was a blue moroccan, presumedly with a Derome dentelle, but that detail was not mentioned in De Bure's catalogue notations. |
| I suppose that we could question the whole issue of J.- A. Derome decorated bindings, why for example do we not have any examples of his work before 1745, if he started out as a bookbinder in 1718? Why are his tickets found in bindings that were wholly decorated by Dubuisson, the Gruel example is the biggest red flag here (see this) or the Ricci examples (see this). Also we need to consider the 1743 binding shown at the top of this page, with a painting under mica, this process of painting under mica only became popular in the 50's, particularly in the work Dubuisson. The decoration of this 1743 binding could actually be from the 60's or later (see Tenchert 2019, no.106). The Padeloup ticket may or may not be a real one? Would he be asking J.-A. Derome to decorate his bindings when he already had Dubuisson doing it? As for the Ricci 38, there are number of issues, first the Pascal Ract-Madoux classification of Derome tickets (see this) (Pascal Ract-Madoux; Essai de classement chronologique des etiquettes de Derome le Jeune). gives a range of 1761 to 1770 for this particular ticket. If we research the broken roulette on this binding we might find that this damage did not occure in 1761, also the pallet found on Ricci 38 is not the usual early jad-p-1 this different pallet is also seen on Maggs 362 that may be from 1764-66 (see this) suggesting then that the imprint jad-58 (shown in Comparative Diagram 3) is not early, not 1743, but possibly from the 60's, which is perhaps why it shows up on Ricci 38. If all of this leaves your head spinning, I am not surprised, we can only hope to answer these questions as our research progresses. |
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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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