| The reproduction of two bindings shown above can be found here at the online catalogue of Pierre Berge. In the information for this item they tell us that the library of Beatrix de Choiseul-Stainville, duchesse de Gramont, was composed with taste, it contained more than three thousand volumes which were scattered during the Revolution. By searching out books that once belonged to her especially those bearing her arms, I have been able to find a number of bindings by Louis Chenu. This one was easy because the fleuron that is decorating the spines is easy to identify. I have found a few more that have been decorated with this particular example of her armorial stamp. |
| Here is another example of a Chenu binding with this particular version of the armes of Beatrix de Choiseul-Stainville. Also the set of Rousseau on page 4. However item H on the list of the spines shown in Comparative Diagram 1, is a bit of a mystery item, the tooling is limited to only one imprint, click on the link in the list you will see that this binding is another with these arms. |
| Below I show what appears to be another of this kind of Thuillerie binding it is found in the British Library of bookbindings shelfmarked C67b11, the title of this book is Les Contes des Genies this is the French translation of James Ridley's work Tales of the Genii that was originally published in two volumes in 1764 under the pseudonym 'Sir Charles Morell', British Ambassador in Bombay. Ridley's Tales were allegedly composed by an imam named Horam and translated from a Persian manuscript, but in actuality, they were products of Ridley's imagination. |
| The reproduction of the set of 12 bindings shown above is found on the auction site of Paris Fontaineblaeu Osnat, according to their experts this set of bindings was executed by Derome le jeune who must have borrowed the tools of Louis Chenu to do it. In Comparative Diagram 2 we compare this set of 12 bindings with a set of 7 Rousseau bindings that we have looked at on page 4 of these Chenu pages, shown in Comparative Diagram 1, the fleuron in spine panel E matches that of F, this is the same fleuron found in these 12 Corneille bindings. The arms of Beatrix de Choiseul-Stainville, duchesse de Gramont clearly showing that these bindings are all related. |
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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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