| On the previous page we looked at an old Comparative Diagram which presented an assortment of decorative bindings by Jean-Pierre Jubert, in part of that diagram I showed 4 spines grouped together, I have found the original artwork of those particular spines and show this above in Comparative Diagram 1. In a number of cases where Jubert was employed by Derome le jeune, the boards have been decorated by Jubert with his own tools while the spine has been decorated with Derome tools, possibly by Derome, and the binding signed with Derome's ticket. So strictly speaking we do not know if the spine decorations in Comparative Diagram 1 have been decorated in part by Derome, however that is not what we are concerned with here. What I wanted to point out on the previous page was that the spines have been decorated with small plaques, now on this page and coincidentaly in this same collection of spines there is yet another spine that has been decorated with a plaque. |
| In Comparative Diagram 2 we see that these spines all share the same palette as well as being decorated with time saving plaques. We can call them Time Saving Devices (TSD) for that is certainly what they are, they enable a much quicker execution and paossibly a more uniform look to the work. The decoration of spine panels with plaques was never too obvious up until the 18th century when plaque decorated bindings begin to make an appearence. (click here to see examples). |
| In Comparative Diagram 3 we can see yet another example where the corner imprints have not been placed where they would normally would be to fill the panel correctly, and the overlay showing that in fact the imprints align are the identical result of a plaque and are not the result of individual tools. This third spine example comes from Esmerian's third catalogue volume, shown below in his reproduction of several bindings that are found in volume 3, and we can see that it is number 21 in this catalogue (click here to see more on Jubert in Esmerian volume 3). |
| Above I show what must be one of the most important of Jubert's bindings. He has signed the cover of this binding that he executed sometime after 1781 for Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and decorated the center with her arms in mosaic. Here is one of the most prestigious bindings possible for this period by Jubert who has yet to be recognized by the Bibliotheque national de France! Why? perhaps because the experts at the BnF have not been able to recognize the difference between the gold tooled imprints of Jubert and those of Derome le Jeune? I love to harp on this because even though I have been waving this red flag for 10 years the BnF remains oblivious to their errors and oversights. However what I want to point out here, that we can see in this high quality reproduction from the 1936 Rahir catalogue (Vol. IV, item 1140) that the spine has been decorated with the same palette as our eBay binding. However notice the difference in the tools that were used by Jubert for this 1781 binding, we do not see many of the same tools, and this leads me to suspect that our eBay item was in fact executed much later. |
| As a final note on this page I have reproduced above, the illustration mentioned in Rahir's information for item 1140, namely a reproduction from Leon Gruel's famous work Manuel historique et bibliographique de l'amateur de reliures that can be found online at Archive. org (click here to see it). Gruel notes Juberts mosaic treatment of the arms of Marie Antoinette, this coincides with our eBay binding where the central emblem/medalion appears on black leather mosaic. |
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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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