|
On the previous page we discovered that a roulette that Barber has catalogued as ROLL 95 closely resembles a Jubert roulette. Barber has referenced his W.Cat.212 to ROLL 95 and on this page we are going to study closely this binding. In his notes about W.Cat.212 (shown above) we see that he states that "other copies are found in bindings very similar to the Waddesdon one." I thought it would be a good idea to have a search on the internet for this, and fortunately I hit the jackpot finding that Gallica has a digitized copy (see this). This is VOL-J-1032 shown in Comparative Diagram 1, it is really identical except for a few details in the decoration of the spine panels and one additional small roulette that is not found on this Gallica example (see Comparative Diagram 8.) When I saw these bindings I recognized the imprints due to making previously a number of pages concerning this binder/decorator.
I was very fortunate to collect together a number of examples and catalogue some of the tools, however I never managed to discover the identity of this artist and resorted to a provisional name of Relieur Royal, why this name you ask… well even though his identity remains a mystery his clients were highly placed as well as in some cases Royalty. Such as this example aux armes de Elizabeth de France, soeur de Louis XVI, appelée Madame Elizabeth,
or this binding for King Louis XVI himself. Click here to see more Relieur Royal pages! |
| In Comparative Diagram 1 we see that these two bindings are identical, however life is not always as simple as it seems. When I downloaded the Gallica images for FOL-J-1032 I discovered that they were more than 3% over scale. That is to say the zoomed enlargements downloaded are 400dpi however the imprints are larger than 400dpi. This is a worrisome problem as it makes one wonder how many other digital reproductions in Gallica might have this problem? |
| In Comparative Diagram 2, I have reproduced all of Barber's catalogue examples that he has listed in his W.Cat.212 information. There are a few imprints that he does not mention, these I show below. Note that his FR 72 is in error due to his failing to observe that the imprint concerned is a larger assembly of parts in one tool, this I have catalogued previously as rr-6-4. This is an important signature tool that the Relieur Royal often employed as a corner tool. Shown in an overlay diagram in Comparative Diagram 3. |
| Comparative Diagram 3, is a scale test in an attempt to discover how much over scale the downloaded Gallica images are. First you need an accurately scaled imprint over which you place a Gallica example with its size reduced incrementally. You do this until you get the imprints to align perfectly. Here in this diagram the downloaded Gallica imprint has been reduced to 95% of its initial size and finally after a number of previous attempts with different sizes, this seems to fit. However similar tests with roulettes are vastly more accurate and in this case, appear to indicate the difference to be more like 3%. When you apply then this 3% difference to the entire binding you get a height of more than a centimetre less. Barber gives a height of 34 cm for W.Cat.212 which turns out to be quite accurate. Science would not exist if it were not for measurement, and this is particularly true for imprints, a 3% error is very noticeable and leads one to think that the compared imprints are not from the original tools. In this diagram I have used a perfectly scaled imprint (that appears in yellow) from the British Library Database of Bookbindings, shelfmarked as C6B18 that I show on this page. |
| In Comparative Diagram 4 we run into a sticky problem with Barber's WRE 7 diagram, right away we can see that his small arrows shown above the example do not correspond with the measurement given for the length of this roulette. After a lengthy search I noticed a flaw that would allow me to measure this roulette very accurately, this is indicated by the green arrows, the same flaw can be seen in Barber's illustration. Given the possible error with my Gallica sample it may turn out that Barber's measurement of 115 mm can be taken as accurate. Note that establishing roulette lengths on old leather bindings must always be considered, to a certain degree, as approximate, due to the shrinking and or otherwise changing nature of the leather concerned. |
| In Comparative Diagram 5, I have isolated an imprint that Barber never mentions in his list of tools for W.Cat.212, possibly because it is almost always partially obscured by the overlaying FR 37 pairs. However as he has previously catalogued this tool being found on other bindings this seems a bit mysterious, especially as this is such a diagnostically important tool often found in the corners. A thorough study of corner tools will lead to an infallible guide to identifying the French 18th century gold tooled dentelle decoration on bookbindings. (see this) |
| In Comparative Diagram 6, we see Barber's DCT 35, on his catalogue page for this imprint type, he illustrates several, however as he was first impressed with this imprint as being somewhat like a Christmas tree, he then went on to illustrate the entire collection upside-down so as to look like his trees. However the normal orientation of this imprint becomes obvious after collecting several samples including those from other binders/decorators. I show them therefore in the normal orientation. Barber's description then, of the line below the tree must be envisioned correspondingly… or we might see this now as a skirt and the line at the waist is solid not dotted as in the case of DCT 34 (see this) |
| In Comparative Diagram 7, I show another tool/imprint that is found on W.Cat.212 that Barber has not mentioned. This same tool is missing from the decoration of FOL-J-1032, however is often found in the decoration of spines by the Relieur Royal. Fortunately Barber shows a surprisingly clear example of this palette. This is also another diagnostically important tool, many decorators employed similar palettes however we can also find roulettes that are more or less identical. I have called this a rodeo palette when I first catalogued it as a Dubuisson tool, and it may turn out that this tool originally belonged to Rene Dubuisson and perhaps even earlier examples exist (see Boyet). |
|
click here to return to the HOME page. click here to see the 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. |
| Virtual Bookings, created by L. A. Miller | return to the Home page of VIRTUAL BOOKBINDINGS |
