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Isaiah Cox of Rare Tome (see this)
was kind enough to send me this almost 3 hundred year old Padeloup gem. It should be only about once in a lifetime that you get to hold a binding by the famous Padeloup, who was arguably the best French bookbinder of the 18th century. This sumptous fanfare binding is covering a 1726 Collombat OFFICE DE LA SEMAINE SAINTE and is described by Isaiah as a beautiful small-format fanfare binding, with the royal arms of King Louis XV at the center of the boards. 1726 L'Office de la Semaine-Sainte, a L'usage de la Maison du Roy. Filled throughout with the different prayers and devotions associated with Semaine-Sainte printings. Wonderful Dutch gilt endpapers. Physical Attributes - Measures approx. 14 x 8 x 2 cm, duodecimo signed in 6. Reddish-brown morocco binding. Boards with a fanfare design with the central royal arms of Louis XV. Spine with five raised bands; five compartments with a central gilt sun tool radiating a geometric pattern, one compartment with "Semaine Sainte" in gilt. All edges gilt. Dutch gilt endpapers. Some headpieces, tailpieces, and initials. Pages - xvi, 458, [2]
I recognized this binding as the real thing right away due to having bought, some years ago, a similar one, although it was in terrible shape. Anything by Padeloup is still a treasure and I went all out to describe it (see this). I show it here in Comparative Diagram 1. |
| What I discovered from studying the 1728 binding is that the armorial centerpiece has not been created with a single large armorial stamp/block as it usually is. Here, Padeloup has made the armorial with small tools bit by bit and so these armories are unique, you will never find another that is exactly the same as it would be in the case of the regular blocks. |
| In Comparative Diagram 3 we see some high resolution examples of some small tools that Padeloup often used especially on smaller bindings. I have devoted a page to some of these smaller bindings (see this). On that page I referred to the pj-9 pair of imprints shown in this diagram, as pj-12a and pj-12b, this was a mistake that will be corrected one day. I made an initial small catalogue of the imprints of Padeloup in April 2007 and I am trying to keep to those catalogue numbers (see this). I have said previously, (after making a catalogue of these tools) that Padeloup used relatively few tools, keeping to the same few tools over and over for 30 or more years. This then stands as a stark contrast to the opinions of those who maintain that in the last years of his life he dramatically changed all his tools and started making dentelle bindings like Dubuisson :) I should also point out the ridiculous theory about the bird tool used by Dubuisson from the beginning of his career (at least for certain by 1749). Barber maintains that this tool belonged to Padeloup (based of course on the supposed proof of a Padeloup ticket) if this was Padeloup's tool why on earth did he give it to Dubuisson in the 40s? This makes no sense… but supports, I suppose, some half baked Marie-Louis Michon theory that Barber has built an enormous house of cards upon. (the famous three dynasty fable). |
| In Comparative Diagram 4, I show a small imprint that is a bit mysterious. I have taken example imprints from Davis538 because the imprints show up well on the British Library archival photo (click here to see it). This imprint appears to have a small something attached to its bottom. this something is only visible to people who know how to look for it. The same thing is visible in some of our 1726 Padeloup fanfare examples. |
| This another mysterious Padeloup tool, on certain bindings you can only see the 17a and on other bindings you can only find the 17b such is the case of DAVIS538. On our 1726 Semaine Sainte we find both pairs. I once speculated that one or the other of this pair was lost, and that may actually be right because 17a and 17b are not matching pairs, one may be a replacement. The green arrows point out flaws that I have detailed on another page (see Comparative Diagram 1, on this page). |
| You can find many similar examples of this kind of brokat papier on this page , but not this exact one. You might pay hundreds for binding and then find that the brokat or goldfarben inside are worth even more, certain rare examples are collectors items. |
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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. |
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