| On the last page we looked at some of Giles Barber's work, and anyone would think that I am anti-Barber. Heaven forbid, he has made many great contributions to the science of bookbinding research and his book Catalogue of Printed Books and Bookbindings : The James A. de Rothschild Bequest at Waddesdon Manor published in 2013 leads the way to further research. I am going to show on this page some of the work Barber accomplished that will assist us in cataloguing the imprints from the tools of Louis Doucer. In Comparative Diagram 1, we see a large folio binding shown by Barber and attributed by him to Louis Douceur. We can search through his catalogue to find many of these imprints. (see the list shown below ) |
| In Comparative Diagram 2, I show Barber's DCR 18, as well as an example taken from W.Cat 361 and one from the BnF Douceur binding BnF, RLR, RES-V-724. Here we might assume that W.Cat 361 is really a Douceur as the same tool is found on a famous binding held by the Bibliotheque national de France and shown in their online collection of Douceur bindings (click here to see this) Unfortunately there is a flaw in Barber's DCR 18 model and it is one that might befuddle an inexperienced researcher, as it looks like it could be a part of the original imprint. If someone was comparing his example with Barber's model he would be forced to admit that his was missing something and thus perhaps not the same. However the BnF example clearly shows (with a geen arrow) that no such appendage was ever a part of this imprint. |
| In Comparative Diagram 3, I have placed Barber's DCR 18 over the BnF example and inverted the white to black as well as making it transparent, thus we see the BnF imprint below it. I have removed the appendage as it would just confuse the issue. This overlay clearly demonstrates that Barber's DCR 18 imprint is the same as the BnF example both derive from the same Douceur tool. |
| In Comparative Diagram 4, I have used a W.Cat 361, DCR 18 imprint and resized it to be the same as the BnF example that is an exact size of 400dpi when you download it from Gallica. With the overlay you can see that you have resized it correctly. Then it is a simple matter to resize the entire binding by the same percentage to get the image shown in Comparative Diagram 1, the entire folio binding at correct scale. |
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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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