| The binding shown above is found in the Bibliotheque nationale de France (click here to see it). They have attributed this binding to Padeloup however the decorative gold tooling was obviously executed by Pierre-Paul Dubuisson. You can see this binding in high resolution with Gallica, and so we have here a very good source of high resolution images of Dubuisson imprints. I went there today to check the pd-35 pair as we have been looking at them on a previous page (click here to see it) on that page the type models were old and not as good as they could have been if I had of used BnF imprints. |
| From this notice we learn that this binding was originally made for Madame de Pompadour, it was later sold after her death, and wound up in the possession of Queen Marie-Antoinette in 1781, the Queen had her own arms placed over the arms of Madame de Pompadour. This binding was aclaimed as the most beautiful of its kind, yet the Bibiliotheque national de France refuses to recognize Dubuisson as the creator of this chef-d'œuvre |
| I was simply revisiting this BnF page looking for better examples of this pair of Dubuisson imprints when I discovered something strange, something a bit disturbing. I show it in Comparative Diagram 1. If you look closely you will notice that the BnF pd-35b (B) is not same as the Semaine Sainte example (D) which is closer to my original type model (in black and white). Whenever you see this, you immediately suspect something is wrong somewhere and you want to verify all the other imprints. |
| In 2017 we thoroughly investigated the BnF RES-YD-47 Dubuisson pd-12 imprints (click here to see this), in this work we discovered a flaw in pd-12 and now fortunately we can see that same flaw in the Semaine Sainte pd-12 examples (see Comparative Diagram 2) this assures us that the Dauphin's Semaine Sainte is a Dubuisson binding although it won't hurt to check a few more imprints. |
| It is a nice feeling when your type models match up with the imprints of the bindings that you are investigating, such as in Comparative Diagrams 3 and 4, but how do we explain this anomally of pd-35b? First we have to create a new catalogue number for it, pd-35b-2, and try to find some more examples. The good thing about these rare occurances of tools being replaced is that they can sometimes serve as chronologic markers. We might guess for example that the Semaine Sainte binding predates the BnF ex Pompadour binding. I bet too, that there used to be little castles in the corner decorations, that have now been covered over. |
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click here to return to the HOME page. click here to see the 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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