| I found this binding on the University of Glasgow Library's flickr pages in 2018 and made a page on it (click here to see it) I the wrote to the Glascow University Library asking about their Derome bindings and Samantha Gilchrist, Senior Library Assistant, of the Archives and Special Collections University of Glasgow Library sent me some photos that she had on file as well as some quick pictures she took as a reply to my inquiry, The shock for me was to see the spine of this Petrarca binding. |
| In Comparative Diagram 1, we see the lower spine panel and palette of the PETRARCA compared with a lower spine panel and palette of a signed Derome le jeune binding (etiquette) lot number 141 from the auction catalogue LIVRES ILLUSTRES du XVIIIe siècle, Librairie Giraud-Badin 1955. Lot 141 is shown in Comparative Diagram 2 with the catalogue information. The palette shown is not a Derome palette but one that Dubuisson used extensively and was laterly employed by Delorme. We know that it was not Dubuisson who decorated this PETRARCA as the work appears to have been executed after his death. This means that this spine decoration was the work of Delorme who must have been employed by Derome to do it. This I know will be a shock to some, however we now know that Derome employed a number of different artists to decorate bindings that bear his ticket. Here however is more proof that Delorme worked for Derome in the early part of his career, and in particular executing all or most of the mosaics that bear Derome's ticket. |
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In Comparative Diagram 3, I show a detail that is barely visible in this photograph of the PETRARCA spine. It was a shock when I first saw it. Here is Dubuisson's bird pd-4 or pd-4-2, this is not Derome's bird as the head is turned to the left, and the crown sitting on a pole that is missing from Derome's example of the same type of bird tool. Any number of small details can be pointed out to show that this is not Derome's bird tool, and yet the dentelle on the boards appears to be very much the work of Derome. |
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In Comparative Diagram 4, I have found a Dubuisson binding with what appears to be the same fleuron as that seen in the spine panels of the PETRARCA. This reproduction is found on the web pages of Le Bibliomane Moderne: Bibliophilie et autres Bibliomanies... by Bertrand Hugonnard-Roche. (click here to see it).
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In Comparative Diagram 5, we compare strips of border dentelle with this 1746 Almanach example, the first from 1770 we have looked at on a previous page (click here to see it). We see that the 1770 Delorme border dentelle found in the doublure is the same. I have found another Almanach Royal with this same dentelle border, this is the 1751 example, and probably was decorated by Dubuisson.
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In Comparative Diagram 6, we see the strong possibility that the fleuron found in the dentelle corners of the 1746 Almanach Royal is in fact the same fleuron that we see in the spine panels of the PETRARCA binding. This is then more proof that the spine was decorated by Delorme and not Derome even though the dentelle on the boards appears to be the work of Derome. This is an important discovery for those of us who want to know the truth about who actually decorated the bindings of Derome le jeune.
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On the next page we are going to look at a Derome page that was made a few years ago and now it has been revived because of another Derome discovery in Gallica that I will reveal in the following pages. |
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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. |
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