| I found the above bindings and description on Alde's online auction page (click here to see it). I arrived at that page while searching for images of the arms of Marie Joséphine of Savoy. This is part of a longer story about a binding that recently came up for auction on eBay, the seller was not able to identify the arms of his item but maintained that the binding was by Derome (see this item). A wonderful friend was able to help me identify the arms which are those of Marie Joséphine of Savoy. Within the Alde description of this item, I found a reference to François Gaudreau and to the fact that he signed these bindings 'GAUDREAU RELIEUR DE LA REINE' |
| As we know from out past work, a signed binding is worth infinitely more than an unsigned one, here we find almost certain proof of the identity of the binder, and are thus able to make an invaluable inventory of the imprints of his tools. My first impulse was to search the Bibliotheque nationale de France for more information about François Gaudreau who was officially named the Queen's (Marie Antoinette) binder. Here I was in for a shock, François Gaudreau is not even mentioned in the BnF list of binders, there is virtually no mention of this important binder! The Alde expert notes Thoinan in his references and he has quoted him. So next we have to see what Earnest Thoinan wrote about Gaudreau in his famous 1893 work Les Relieurs français (1500-1800)/Étude sur les styles de reliures |
|
Here we learn that François Gaudreau descended from a family of binders, that he received his papers as a bookbinder on the 26th of April 1756, when he lived on the rue des Sept-Voies near Sainte- Geneviève. He was elected as Guard in the union of bookbinders on the 10th of May 1773 (along with Derome le Jeune) and paid his union fees in 1776 "fut élu Garde le 10 mai 1773, et paya le droit de réunion en 1776." i.e. was a member in good standing. He was shown as the Queens binder in the 1772 Almanach Dauphin. This was before she was officially Queen, then known as Mme la Dauphine and became Queen after the death of Louis XV, when Gaudreau was officially entitled Relieur de la Reine. He sometimes signed his bindings with an engraved label (etiquette) where he also counted himself as binder for the Countess of Artois (sister of Marie Joséphine of Savoy) or, by stamping his name and title in gold on the inner border of his bindings. He later moved to rue de la Sorbonne, third door on the right after entering by rue des Mathurins We do not learn from this when he was born or when he died and I decided to push this research further, and discovered a mine of information in the work of Leon Gruel in his 1887 publication Manuel historique et bibliographique de l'amateur de reliures. |
| Gruel produced a second volume to this work in 1905, however it is almost unknown to most experts, being printed in only 300 copies and coming out 18 years after the first volume. I was lucky to find it as even archive.org does not show it amongst his works even though it is there in their collection. (click here to see it) |
| Gruel produces here facsimiles of Gaudreau's etiquette from his own collection! Now we have some solid clues on which to further our research. On the next page we are going to look at yet more examples of signed bindings by François Gaudreau, Queen Marie Antoinette's personal binder. |
|
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. |
| Virtual Bookings, created by L. A. Miller | return to the Home page of VIRTUAL BOOKBINDINGS |
