|
Needless to say I was very excited when I found this giant sized folio binding decorated with a scrolling leaf border, I had been searching again through all the catalogues and every online catalogue for weeks without coming even close to finding another SLB binding. Then at last I found this in my copy of the Alde catalogue Bibliothèque Vincent Labouret Alde 27 mai 2010, and it can be found online.
.
We see in the information about this binding that The general map of Costes de Bretagne from the 1773 edition was added to the volume at the time of its binding La carte générale des Costes de Bretagne de l'édition de 1773 a été ajoutée au volume au moment de sa reliure. What a stroke of luck to know that this binding was made in 1773. However a new revelation soon dawned on me, that this SLB is rotating clockwise, this is not the same as our Missale Romanum even though it looks nearly identical. |
| In Comparative Diagram 1 we can see that this BELLIN SLB is smaller and rotating in an opposite direction to that of the Missale Romanum. The examples are so similar I am tempted to guess that they were made by the same artist. However after hours of studying this BELLIN SLB example I came to the connclusion that it was not like the others that we have studied. I searched endlesslly for a join or a clue that would alert me to how it was made, finally I realized that the only way I was going to make any progress on it required assembling all of the pieces of this SLB on one diagram. |
| In Comparative Diagram 2, I have assempled all of the strips of this border and searched for reoccuring variations, this tools is so well made that there are no obvious signs of any small or large something that might give away this tool that appears to be a roulette that repeats every six units, still I am only guessing about this. I have pointed out with colored dots what I think are repeating variations. Because the units are not all identical we know it has to be either a palette or a roulette, and a palette would necessarily mean a join somewhere. Here there are no obvious joins anywhere. Therefore this has to be roulette, but don't take my word for it, click to see the enlargement and try to find something that will reveal the secret. My calculations indicate that this is a roulette that leaves an imprint that is 12.16 cm long. |
| In Comparative Diagram 3 , we see another fortunate occurance, part of the inner dentelle roulette can be seen in the map shown in the auction information. Although it is not very sharp when enlarged there is enough detail to reveal that this roulette is almost certainly the same as Barber's ROLL 81. Here is the great utility of Barber's work by providing leads to other bindings that have been decorated with this same tool. If we can find W.Cats 431 that Barber claims to have a A.-M. Padeloup ticket inside, we will be able to identify this binder, I doubt that it will be Padeloup, more likely it will be a binding made by Dubuisson and then this 1773 binding could only have been made by Dubuisson's successor Delorme. One other possibility is that this roulette derives from the Royal workshops and the SLBR equally... we need to see W.Cats 774, 775, 776. |
| In Comparative Diagram 4, we are again thankful for Barber's catalogue, his tool CB 2 matches exactly Dubuisson's iconic bird tool fer a l'oiseau. No other tool is more representative of the Dubuisson workshop, often employed by Dubuisson and Delorme. Barber connects W.Cat 775 to this tool and as you can see above it is also connected to the roulette ROLL 81, linking the Dubuisson workshop to this SLBR binding. |
|
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 |