| The binding shown above is found in a Sothebys 2006 auction catalogue (click here to see it) below it I show the auction notes for this item, where it is clearly stated that Derome's tickets are found inside. Certainly many of the tools are familiar as those of Derome le jeune, and we do not see any obvious Jubert tools. Could this binding actually have been made in 1759? Here is an interesting question. Below I show a reconstruction of the board without perspective distortion, even though only part of the board is in focus we can still extract some of these imprints |
| In Comparative Diagram 2, we are spoiled by the wonderful Chateau de Versailles photo of this imprint which I never catalogued in all the years that I have been looking at Derome bindings, it is rare, we see much more often the Jubert example. Now why is it rare, perhaps it is an early tool that he did not use very often? Look closely this 1759 example is flanked with pair of jd-46 this suggests that the binding is early. |
| In Comparative Diagram 3, I show the early Derome imprints from the British Library example 676b1 many of these can be seen in this 1759 example, while below in Comparative Diagram 4, I have added some new items to our catalogue (shown in green) |
| Now we are going to look at another Sothebys auction item this time much more recent, occuring in May of this year 2018 (click here to see it) |
| Here we see an unusual Derome le jeune binding and the Sothebys experts are perplexed, why? because they do not know how to recognize the tools of Derome le jeune, and just as I predicted they have been confounded by the supposed Derome le jeune examples proposed by the Bibliotheque nationale de France. The Sothebys expert cites the BnF bindings B-182 and B-183 these bindings are not by Derome le jeune! even though the BnF has attributed them to Derome le jeune... as I have proven earlier (click here to see the proof) these bindings were executed by the master binder Gosselin. Then for another reference he cites Esmerian's 1972, III, Number 23. This is a binding by Jubert as I have already shown (click here to see it) with only those references we know he does not know how to recognize a Derome. However I think I can show irrefutable proof that this is a binding by Derome, with just a single Comparative Diagram (shown below). The binding sold for the pittance of 1875 EUR! Considering it's rare nature I suspect it was worth a lot more, many thousands more. This costly miscalculation on the part of Sothebys was due to a lack of expertise. |
| In Comparative Diagram 5, we can see the same palette that was used by Jacques-Antoine Derome being used by his son and successor Derome le jeune. Even though we are seeing this palette at an angle, it's quite obvious that this is the very same tool passed down and used by Derome in the early years of his succession. Proof positive that this binding is by Derome le jeune even though it is not the usual sort of design and lacks the all important fer à l'oiseau. |
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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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