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I bought this binding on eBay almost uniquely for the fleuron in the corners of the boards. At the time I did not know the name of the owner of the tool that made this imprint, however I had already collected an entire catalogue of his tools, and I knew he must be one of the more important binders in 18th century France. I dubbed him the MM binder after Marius Michel, who was the first to identify his work as extraordinary. Even today I only know him from a signed binding (see this). Giles Barber (2013) lists only one Gosselin in his comprehensive binders list; Jean-Babtiste Gosselin who was officially registered as a bookbinder in 1767. In as much as this eBay binding is found on a 1760 OFFICE DE L'ÉGLISE, we have to wonder if this may be one of Gosselin's earliest works. |
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In Comparative Diagram 3 we have hit the jackpot! Barber has found this imprint everywhere, and as he has found in on a binding that has a Derome le jeune ticket inside, end of story! This binding and all the imprints on it are the work of Derome according to Barber logic. This is what I really hate, a little knowledge that is so dangerous, from this spews endless misinformation and bla bla that you can put in the garbage. The only thing that Derome did to decorate this binding was to put his ticket inside and pay Gosselin for the gold tooling. Barber never considered that possibility? No… instead he relegates all of Gosselin's tools into the tool kit of Derome and assigns all of the bindings that Gosselin decorated to Derome, can you see how pathetic this is? Not because it is a simple mistake, but because Barber presents himself as the all knowing expert, thus leading all the wannabe experts (including those at the BnF) down the garden path to utter confusion. What bothers me is that Gosselin was a far better decorator than Derome! Why all the accolades for the mediocre work of Derome and sweep Gosselin under the carpet? The reason why Barber thought Derome was so great, is due to the fact that he assumed that all of the bindings by Gosselin, Jubert, Delorme et al… i.e. all the bindings where he found Derome tickets were all the work of the endlessly productive Derome! |
| In Comparative Diagram 4, I again employ this technique of matching a photo to the exact size of the scan, thus being able to see the details more clearly than a scan of a curved surface will permit. There are certainly by now programs that will correct the scanning devices to eliminate depth of field problems as well as 3D scanning, however we can use primitive methods in the mean time while our poorly funded research facilities are upgraded. |
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We see in Comparative Diagram 5, that FL 57 is almost certainly the same as the fleuron centerpiece in the Gosselin spine panels…oh there is a Derome ticket somewhere this must be a Derome tool SMH!
Quickly grabs Barber's catalogue to check W.Cat.151. where it is said to be found on the spine… oops a photo of W.Cat.151 is not included in the catalogue. (one wonders about the utility of such references), lets look at W.Cat.21… well I can tell you what happens here, on W.Cat.21 there is a FL 57 in the center of the spine panels and there is also a palette at the bottom of the spine that Barber notes as PAL 100, I was curious to see where that would lead… the references there are; W.Cat.161 and W.Cat.663 (not shown). W.Cat.161 has a simple spine decoration with a centerpiece fleuron Barber's CBB 10 (two birds kissing in a wreath), this has references to W.Cat.136 W.Cat.161 and W.Cat.421. I have documented W.Cat.421 on a previous page (see this) this is a 1785 binding (i.e. by this time Derome has only a few years left to live). This binding looks unlike any Derome binding that you ever encountered, however Barber has attributed it to Derome! Solely on the basis of CBB 10 (two birds kissing)! Here Barber is boardering on the absurd with his obviously false conclusions. Click here to see another example of a Gosselin binding that has a CBB 10 in the spine panels and a PAL 100 palette at the base of the spine (Comparative Diagram 2). |
| In Comparative Diagram 8 we see something that is not readily obvious without a large amount of magnification. When I first studied Barber's PAL 23 I thought it might be the same as Gosselin's spine palette, however after a closer inspection we can identify characteristics that prove this to be so. The green arrow labeled 'a' is pointing to the inner walls of a pod placed over an azured wedge found between the drawer handles, the right wall is noticeably higher than the left, we can observe the same variation in the PAL 23 illustration. The green arrow 'b' is pointing to this same sort variation in the inner walls however in this case the walls are of equal height, the same can be observed in the corresponding parts of the PAL 23 illustration. The green arrow 'c' is also pointing out this variation in the height of the inner walls however in this case the right wall is lower than the left, similarly we see this same pattern in the PAL 23 illustration. Green arrow 'd' is pointing out the unusual reversed curve of a drawer handle knob, this detail is also found in the PAL 23 model. Green arrow 'e' is pointing out an unusual flattening of the drawer handle knob that is even more noticeable in the PAL 23 Illustration. Green arrow 'f' is pointing out that this dot is smaller than the one pointed out by the green arrow 'g'. These details are also found in Barber's PAL 23 example. The sum of all these coincidences seems to suggest that these imprints are the same and derive from the same Gosselin tool. |
| Here in Comparative Diagram 10, I have found identifiers, thanks to a very high resolution scan, that indicate the length of this roulette to be very close to 8 centimeters long. What you will notice is that this roulette model/type is found everywhere, Dubuisson and Delorme had the same thing and Derome too.... according to Barber (see his ROLL 2 found on Delorme bindings W.Cat.9. and W.Cat.647 but ascribed to Derome) |
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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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