| Here is a rare set of signed Louis Chenu bindings that were sold on eBay, the sellers photos cannot be enlarged to any extent, I only present them here to show an example of this binder's work. Further down the page I will show some highly detailed examples from De Ricci which in themselves are rare. A thorough search of the internet for bindings or really anything about Louis Chenu comes up empty, especially in terms of images of a Chenu binding, there are none, what you are going to see on this page is the sum total of what is known about his work. There are no examples in the British library database of Bookbindings, I have searched through their French dentelle bindings of the 18th century, hoping to find at least a Chenu binding that they had not identified but found nothing. A search of the Bibliotheque national of France for anything Chenu turns up only one reference to him in a discussion of the plates plaques du Sacre that were used to make the large dentelles of Le Sacre de Louis XV bindings... "According to the accounts kept, these plates were used for bindings whose production extends from 1733 to 1747; these same accounts reveal that several bookbinders were solicited and that these two sets of plates were entrusted to them according to orders, which explains that one finds them indifferently associated with the name of Antoine-Michel Padeloup (series A / FE2 and B / FE1 ) (from 1733), by Louis Chenu fils (series B / FE1) (1747-1753), Pierre Vente (series B / FE1) (from 1753), or a member of the Derome family (series A / FE2 )". The fact that Louis Chenu is even in this list, indicates that he was a recognized binder who worked for some highly placed clients. Another reference tells us that it was Louis Chenu, master bookbinder, who in charge of the decorative bindings of programs for the operas & ballets represented at Versailles in front of Their Majesties. However the Chenu were a large family of bookbinders and doreurs and there is more than one Louis Chenu master bookbinder, hopefully Louis Chenu fils is the binder of the dentelles presented on this page. |
| The binding shown above is found on Les oraisons de Ciceron / traduites en françois sur la nouvelle edition d'Hollande 1724; avec des remarques par M. de Villefore:Paris : Chez les frères Barbou, 1732. In 8 volumes however this set is missing volume 4. Below I show Seymour De Ricc's No 92. another signed Chenu binding that is also on a Ciceron, in a green morocco binding with a nearly identical spine and signature. According to Ricci's notes these bindings share many of the same details: pink tabis, board edges with double fillets with alternating bands of slanting lines, gilt edges and an inner dentelle roll tool with zig-zags enclosing half flowers and half acanthus leaves. I would guess then that these bindings were all executed around the same time, quite a coincidence, and very fortunate for our study of the work and methods of Louis Chenu. |
| We start with Chenu's signature at the bottom of the spine as shown above, while in the diagram below we look at his signature fleuron, imprint LC-22 this imprint will undoubtedly lead us to further Chenu discoveries. In Comparative Diagram 1, I show an imprint that appears post Dubuisson, Derome le jeune never used a tool like this however it was a regular tool of Jubert and Gosselin, and probably a number of other binders in the 70's. It is this tool that would lead me to suspect that this binding by Chenu was made in this later period. Study Comparative Diagram 2 to see just how similar these tools are and as such are hard to identify especially when they are entwined with other imprints. This imprint however will be a great help in pinning down more Chenu dentelles. |
| In the Diagram below we see an important corner tool, I seem to remember seeing this somewhere. If you want to search for a binding a corner tool is good place to start, you can quickly brows through a hundred dentelles if you know your corner tools. |
| In the diagrams above I show four examples of each one of this pair of fleurons, showing just one example is not good enough, you can see in each example something that isn't so obvious when the imprint is seen in a different light and or angle, with the four example you get a global idea of what this pair of imprints really look like. Fortunately De Ricci's reproductions are sometimes of a very high quality that allows us to enlarge the imprints, such is the case here all these imprints can be enlarged many up to 1000 dpi. I am impressed with the work of Chenu and his tools have a refined quality about them, rarely is an imprint badly laid down, or over-charged with gold. The over all effect is clean and uncluttered allowing one to appreciate the quality of the imprints. |
| Thirteen is a mysterious number and the Chenu imprint shown above has a certain mystery about it, first one might think that it is two separate imprints joined with a large dot but when you study the four versions of this imprint you begin to suspect that it is one complete imprint thats has been made to emulate two. The dots that are around it look also to be part of the whole but I am not so sure. The thing that I notice is that many of the tools have a certain uniqueness about them they have their own personality that sets them apart from being just copies of someone elses tools. |
| In making this inventory of the imprints I cannot help but notice the number of floral imprints and floral pairs, Louis Douceur is another who had a large number of tools like this and also Le Monnier. Compared to Dubuisson or Derome who had comparatively few. Below I include a few small tools to more or less complete the inventory, not counting dots, rings and rhombi or the small embellishments of the spine. On the next page we are going to look at De Ricci's second Chenu example as well as Leon Gruel's illustration of the same binding, another fortunate coincidence. |
|
click here to return to the HOME page. click here to see an 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 |