| The binding shown above is found in a LIBRAIRIE SOURGET - MANUSCRITS ET LIVRES PRECIEUX - CATALOGUE N° XXI published in the year 2000. page 290, lot 113. |
| According to the Sourget information for this 1688 binding, it has been decorated with the armes of Marie-Ursule des Salles who attended Saint Cyr in 1687 and her signature is found on the title page. As she would have been a young student in 1687 we might suppose that she acquired this book somewhat later and that therefore this binding by Boyet may have been executed some years after 1688 although I have no way of knowing that for certain at the moment (click here to see the fascinating story of saint Cyr (Maison royale de Saint-Louis). By a strange coincidence these armes happen to resemble closely the arms of madame de Montespan, who you may remember was the mistress of Louis XIV and the mother of Madame Lucifer. |
| I noticed in the spine decoration of this binding a fleuron that looked very similar to one in a similar position on the binding that we examined on page 9 (Comparative Diagram 3), a 1727 Collombat Semaine Sainte, I show it again here below. |
| To test this I scanned the catalogue photo and resized it to a correct 600dpi scale, and then compared the spine panels, the result is seen in Comparative Diagram 1, here was a great shock not only was the side fleuron the same but also the corner imprints and possibly the framing 3 block roulette. |
| Fortunately after looking at these corner tools in Comparative Diagram 1, checked some of the other bindings that we have been looking at and bingo I find the same corner tool on the British Library binding G2427, not only that but in the G2427 example we see almost all of this tool, this is very much like the work we have done on the 1698 Breviarium, and I knew one place where I might find this corner. |
| The binding shown above is Boyet binding example 36 in Reliures françaises du XVIIe siècle, by Isabelle de Conihout & Pascal Ract-Madoux, Paris, 2002. Here we can see some corner tools that have not been squeezed into a spine panel and distorted, |
| In Comparative Diagram 3, we get a lucky break to find the exact Boyet corner tool that has been used in all three bindings. This is amazing and suggests that Boyet perhaps used less tools than I previously imagined, here he is using the same corner tool for perhaps decades, we don't know for sure yet however we do know that these corners were used in 1727 and possibly later, where as Isabelle de Conihout & Pascal Ract-Madoux estimate that these tools were used by Boyet in the 1690-1700 time frame. Meanwhile this is not the same corner tool that was used on the 1698 Breviarium, we now have at least 2 pairs to catalogue. |
| In their notes on Boyet binding 36, Isabelle de Conihout & Pascal Ract-Madoux refer to this style by Boyet as a pseudo le Gascon. In Comparative Diagram 3, I have reproduce Esmerian's illustrations of Le Gascon's tools as well as similar tools by others. In Comparative Diagram 4, I show some actual examples of Le Gascon imprints, compared with Esmerians model, which is not exactly the same however an excellent attempt to nutshell this imprint. The point being that Boyets corner sprays are more elaborate than those of Le Gascon, incorporating pods to extend their length. These pods were probably at some point, just a normal add-on, that was at some point the fashion, however Boyet advanced this design to include the pods and dots all in one tool. Whether or not he was the first to do this needs some further investigatiion. |
| In Comparative Diagram 6, I show another set of these Boyet corner tools, this is a smaller set that was made without add-on pods, these then are easy to distinguish from the corners shown in Comparative Diagram 3. |
| In Comparative Diagram 7, I show yet another set of these Boyet corner tools, these are on smaller books with less room in the spine panels. The color example has a date of possibly 1700 (click here to see a full study of the many Boyet tools on this binding). |
| In Comparative Diagram 8, this is a certain Boyet, it is shown with the fer 1 from the illustrated diagram of Boyet tools by Isabelle de Conihout & Pascal Ract-Madoux, Paris, 2002. This is a very interesting corner it has a small flower inside it, as well as large pods, it is different enough that you are sure to recognize it. |
|
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. |
| Virtual Bookings, created by L. A. Miller | return to the Home page of VIRTUAL BOOKBINDINGS |