| The stunning reproduction of the binding shown above is found in a LIBRAIRIE SOURGET - MANUSCRITS ET LIVRES PRECIEUX - CATALOGUE N° XXI, published in the year 2000, pages 80 to 81, item No. 28. Some time a go I devoted a good number of pages to bindings from this period, rarely do you ever see one in such wonderful condition, and just as rare is the ability of the photographer to capture the detail of blindstamped decoration. Here we are able to fully explore the intricate details of these important early roulettes, roulettes that Denise Gid has painstakingly catalogued in her chef d'oeuvre Catalogue des reliures françaises estampées à froid, XVe-XVIe siècle, de la Bibliothèque Mazarine Paris: Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1984. (click here to see my page on this publication). While Denise Gid did her best to reproduce these roulettes with rubbings here we are able to present them in all their fantastic detail. |
| In Comparative Diagram 2, I show Gid's Planche 85, the original presentation of these rubbings is in black on white, I have reversed this to white on black to present them somewhat closer to how they actually appear. When I discovered this titanesque labor of Denise Gid, and started working with these roulettes, I saw a potential of adding dates to the list of bindings associated with each roulette (shown in green) this is only a rough guide obviously as some of the bindings were not executed in the same year as the publication. Now in Comparative Diagram 1, we have found exactly the Gid roulette that matches the 1511 binding, RCm5. The importance of this is that we will be able to compare this 1511 binding with the others in the catalogue that have been decorated with the same roulette, this is a fantastic process that spreads out as you discover more and more roulettes that have been employed together with this one, in fact you are discovering the work of a unique workshop. |
| In Comparative Diagram 3 we can clearly see the mulitple I B signature of this 1511 roulette, In the rubbing it is much less clear. I show it below in an enlarged detail. I have already devoted some pages to this workshop so we can proceed from here to those pages |
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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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